November 30, 2019December 11, 2024
by Jessica Whitney

In our home, there is a constant love/hate relationship with toys. I love seeing the look of joy on my kids’ faces when they open up a new present or enjoy a really great toy. Yet, the daily toy clutter does the opposite of bringing me joy.

According to a recent study, clutter actually affects our kids too. In the study, researchers analyzed whether or not clutter affected Kindergartener’s ability to learn in the classroom. The study confirmed that a child’s environment matters for their focus and attention, which is related to development.

This article simply reinforced my desire to better organize our playroom and declutter our toys, especially before the upcoming holiday season! I want to create a home where imaginations can develop, my kids can relax, be themselves, and find joy in the day to day moments. Part of this means keeping the home clean, organized, and clutter free!

Let’s talk about the keys to successfully organize your playroom once and for all!

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10 Simple Tips to Organize and Declutter Your Toys

With a 6, 4, and 1 year old, we’ve been through several birthdays and Christmas seasons. And my theory on how to organize toys has changed little by little each year to meet the challenges of each new stage.

So, I want to provide you with playroom organization tips to manage the toy chaos! If you want to know how to organize too many toys and don’t want to go through the same growing pains I did as a mom, use this advice from an experienced mom!

Get rid of the toy box

First things first. As convenient as a toy box is to simply throw toys in for a quick tidy up, it teaches our kids the wrong values. Not only do the toys filter to the bottom never to be seen again, but it teaches a disregard for “stuff”. We should be teaching our kids to take care of and treasure each item that they own, not haphazardly throw into a box.

Move all the toys to one room

In a salute to Kon Mari, moving all toys to one room does several things for you. First, you are able to see how many toys the kids actually have (and duplicates). Second, you decrease the need to move toys back and forth between rooms when they do eventually get moved.

What’s the best room in the house for toys?

Well, of course, I’m going to give the “it depends” answer! But, we prefer a room on the same floor to our regular living space. We picked a room close by to where, we as the parents like to hang out, and if you can, we picked a room that had a door.

Which room should you not put toys in?

The bedroom. Even though it hurts to write this because I loved playing barbies in the bedroom growing up, I believe toys should stay out of the bedroom! This encourages community, sharing, and playing together between siblings. It also prevents the kids from getting up at 2 a.m. to play with their toys. (We do keep books in our kids’ bedrooms)

Provide a special spot for each item

I love the box-like cube shelves that are easy to reach for my little kiddos because they also provide plenty of shelf space for each toy. When each toy has a special spot, kids will know how to organize and keep toys tidy. We’ve found ours used on Facebook Marketplace but there are some not too expensive 4-star ones on Amazon if you’re organizing toys on a budget.

Use low bins for storage

Low bins keep toys tidy, but still allow the kids to see what’s inside. The low bins allow for easy access and prevent toys from being buried at the bottom. This also decreases the chance that kids will dump the bin of toys onto the ground to get to the one they want! Bonus points if you can find clear bins that work like this one!

Encourage contentment

Are your kids content with what they have? If not, it might be time for some reflection. Do you demonstrate contentment daily with your belongings? Do you encourage your kids to appreciate what they already have?

Cultivate generosity

We started a new tradition this year post-Thanksgiving. We went through all the kids’ toys and clothes and asked THEM to choose toys to donate to others who might have nothing. They LOVED it and truly embraced it. In fact, they were willing to part with toys that I would have never thought they’d be willing to get rid of!

Analyze buying habits

A great question to ask when trying to organize and declutter, is where did all the toys come from? Did you buy them for your kids? Were they gifts? Controlling your own spending habits and making wise choices when it comes to toys will help keep the mess to a minimum in the future. And added bonus? It will also help you stay on your budget.

Buy Simple Toys

I love toys that inspire creativity or have multiple uses like this scarf or wooden blocks and train tracks. I avoid toys with batteries that play music or have bright flashing lights. Not only is that music annoying (most of the time) but you also save money on battery replacement. Double win.

Purge items that don’t bring you joy

After you’ve done all of the above, you’re probably thinking a purge is in your future.

Here are some tips on purging:

I recommend the Kon Mari method of holding a toy, book, belonging and asking if it brings you joy. If not, toss it.
Try not to keep too many toys for nostalgic reasons. I think one or two baby favorites is totally thoughtful and will be appreciated in the future!
I purge toys with too many pieces. (Like this thing!) These toys become time-suckers as far as cleaning and definitely do not bring me joy.
You’ve bought all the awesome shelves. Now, if it doesn’t fit on a shelf after you’ve gotten rid of the toy bin, toss it.
Not educational or has batteries? Get rid of it.
If it’s not age-appropriate, put it away somewhere for a younger child or toss it.

To help with the transition, we loaded up toys into a box and kept them in the garage for several months. If the kids didn’t bring up any of the toys in that amount of time, we simply took the box to be donated! There were only 1 or 2 items the kids even noticed were gone!

Last tip for decluttering the toys

Once the playroom is decluttered, make a conscious effort to screen toys before they are purchased and brought into the home. When you make choices that align with your beliefs from the beginning, you’ll have less clutter to manage later!

If you have any other decluttering tips, I’d love you to share them below!