How to: Organize the Playroom

After the holiday season, there tends to be an influx of new gifts scattered about the house. Sure, Santa Claus may have delivered all these new toys for the joy of your children, but he surely didn’t offer any advice on how to organize them!

If you have a playroom in your new house, there are a couple of ways to arrange it so your kids can play independently, while keeping your house tidy. Even if you don’t have a designated room, these tips can be used to keep toys stowed away neatly in bedrooms or living rooms.

Maybe one of the easiest ways to keep toys off the floor is to invest in a toy chest or bin. At the end of playtime, just toss everything inside. This is an especially easy habit for children to adhere to and will be very low maintenance. While this might be a quick cleanup, it lacks further organization and toys can become lost in the abyss.

Installing cubbies with removable bins against an open wall is a smarter way to store items – without taking up too much floor space. These are easy for children to get to and can keep everything sorted by color, toy type, or age group. Sorting toys into the categories after playtime is also a fundamental skill learning opportunity and can help to increase dexterity.

For items like books, cards, and board games, keeping all of the pieces together can be a challenge. You might lose a few parts over time, but to keep them together as best you can, use containers that aren’t as cumbersome as the original packaging. Using travel soap cases and plastic pencil boxes keeps the sets together while still being accessible to children.

If you have the space, provide a miniature table and chairs for your kids to sit at when they want to color or host a tea party for their dolls. This is more of a suggestion rather than an organization technique, but it will keep watercolors, markers, and other art supplies off of your new carpeting. And when they’ve completed their masterpieces? A magnet board is a perfect way to display artwork in a playroom. The magnets allow kids to hang their own creations without the possibility of poking themselves on thumbtacks.

And finally, keeping a playroom organized requires maintenance. By making it a habit to pick up after playtime, you won’t need to overhaul your playroom again any time soon!