Toy overload

How do you keep your house from looking like it's a toy haven??!!

I have toys EVERYWHERE and am tired of cleaning them up all the time. How do you all have your place set up ... do you only have a certain amount of toys out at once? Do you only let kids play with certain bins at a time and they must clean up before the next comes?

I need ideas on how to stop the constant mess of toys and the constant clean up all hours of the day!

ps. I try and get the kids to do their own clean up but my own 2 1/2 yr old is really the only one who attempts it. She then stops when she sees she's not getting help. Others are 13 mths, 18 mths and 20 mths.

I have this problem too and would love some suggestions on how to prevent every toy in the place from ending up on the floor on the days where I only have little ones.

One thing that helps is the idea of centres where certain toys are played with in certain areas only. Too often one way to set up is shelves and bins around the perimeter of the room with lots of floor space in the centre. The result is by the end of play every toy is in the middle of the room. By moving the stuff away from the wall and keeping some things confined like blocks to a certain area or playhouse in one corner it at least limits what is out of place since even piled on the floor in the block corner it still looks more or less clean.

Another option is to have some stuff on shelves that are out of reach. Then if a child wants a toy you get it for them but either they have to give it back to you when they are done or they have to trade as in you put down some toys each day and switch them out but unlike an actual toy rotation system everythign is available as wanted. This means putting down say one stacking toy, one sorting toy but if a child plays with that one and wants another one they are traded so there is only one stacking toy down which means only one to pick up if it ends up on the floor.

When I first started I had a lot of toys, but had a seperate area in the basement just for Daycare so it wasn't to bad(It seems like it was easier to stay on top of it not sure why).

Then I downsized to a 850sq ft space my whole house was that big so I got rid of a lot of toys. Personally I find the kids don't need a lot of options so I would probably rotate the toys especially with such a young group. I think the play at one area is great but I know with my kids and how their imaginations flow that would be restrictive. Sometimes they are in dressup racing each other with shopping carts or cooking at the stove or a variety of different things.

The place I live in now is bigger and I have two children of my own now instead of one but the space I use includes our living room my daughters room and kitchen area. The older children can go with my son downstairs his room. At this point most of the toys stay in the bedrooms I find it really contains the mess unlike the 850sq ft place where the living area had to be the toy area it could feel very cluttered.

I agree with playfelt, categorizing toys into play stations i.e. blocks and puzzles in one center; dress up, kitchen in another center and a book center help to keep toys within those areas. I've also reduced the amount of toys I have out and rotate on a weekly basis. I also don't keep buckets/bins out full of little pieces i.e. I have probably over 50 little people, but i'll put a bin next to the little people playhouse with only 10 little people...that way we're not tidying up a ton of little people.


Again as playfelt said, I also have higher shelves with bins that have potato head pieces / stringing blocks / people / animals etc that our out of reach. If they want to play with it, I bring it down and they play with it on the carpet area. I do the same for puzzles. I have lots of wooden puzzles but I don't keep them all out, otherwise they just pull the pieces out and dump them on the floor. Instead, I'll put one at their little table and seat a child there and they can work on it there.

I encourage them to play in the "designated" areas and not carry toys all over the playroom...sometimes we're successful, sometimes we're not. Mine are young but they know how to clean up the toys except for my 14 month old.

You need bins with lids & do toy rotation. Wal-Mart has bins with lids that come in different colours and it has a black board side so you can write what is inside! The clear ones still look messy to me! I fill baskets with toys geared to certain ages. If it's a day with mostly babies then the baskets get center stage on the shelf.
Puzzles come out one at a time and are brought out by me, the same with Lego, as it tends to end up everywhere. The older kids know they can ask and I will get it for them only provided that they finish the one they started with. I am soooooooooo anal with messes! LOL

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Originally Posted by mlc1982

How do you keep your house from looking like it's a toy haven??!!

I have toys EVERYWHERE and am tired of cleaning them up all the time. How do you all have your place set up ... do you only have a certain amount of toys out at once? Do you only let kids play with certain bins at a time and they must clean up before the next comes?

I need ideas on how to stop the constant mess of toys and the constant clean up all hours of the day!

ps. I try and get the kids to do their own clean up but my own 2 1/2 yr old is really the only one who attempts it. She then stops when she sees she's not getting help. Others are 13 mths, 18 mths and 20 mths.

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kids may be small- but their stuff takes up a ton of space!