S/O - Where do you keep all your kids toys?

[AutumnAir]

I was reading the lists of toys in the other threads on here and it seems like lots of people have lots of toys in their home. My question is where on earth do you keep them all?

I've only got one so far. She has a lot of toys by my standards (though not nearly as many as some of the lists here!) and I feel like we're drowning in toys. I'd like to figure out where/how to keep them so they're available for her to play with but so I don't spend half of every day picking up toys or tripping over things.

Right now she's got the lower two shelves of our bookcase full of her books, two large Trugg tubs full of stuffed toys, balls, cups, teaset etc.. I thought it was a great idea to get the tubs, but all that happens is DD just picks one up and up-ends it all over the floor, then gets overwhelmed by the amount of stuff and doesn't really play with anything, just drags it all over the house.

I'd love to have most of her toys in 'her' room, but she won't play independently at all right now, so she has to have her toys in whatever room I'm in - usually either the living room or kitchen downstairs.

So, how do all of you wise mamas keep the toys organised and tidy in your homes?

[ann_of_loxley]

Various places of the house. Mostly the areas I spend most time in. They are all arranged in wicker baskets.
We also have a playroom. This is because we have a two bedroom house and all share the same bed - so made sense to make the other room the 'playroom'! lol In the playroom...what else but IKEA storage? lmao

[Alyantavid]

In the playroom. There, most of the random stuff goes in the toybox, but we have lots of boxes and things like that to store them in. Like all the little animals are in a clear plastic box with a handle so my 3 year old can cart them around.

We have several shelves that hold things. It seems to work pretty well, the kids can get things put away easily and find things easily.

[rightkindofme]

We turned our garage into a playroom. We live in California so we would, of course, never use it for a car. We keep all toys out there because otherwise things are under foot and my husband gets very cranky. She can bring a toy or two into the house if she is playing with it, but stuff gets picked up and put away every day.

[noobmom]

We have an open floor plan and a "great room" (big family room). So one half is a normal family room with fireplace, couches, tv, etc. The other half is where DS's train table and toys are. Books are kept over in the bedroom area since we mostly use them at naptime/quiet time and at night.

I know a lot of people who keep a playroom/basement/etc. But, at younger ages the kids want to be around you, so it seems like keeping the toys close to the main areas of the house makes more sense, if you can swing it space-wise.

We have something like this
http://www.target.com/Storage-Organi.../dp/B000W9PM7A
and it works okay. Better than one big bin, I think, but it's not perfect. The toys still get jumbled up and lost to some extent.

[BetsyS]

We have a train table and a bookshelf for toys in our "eat in" area of the kitchen (it's really too small and awkward for a table).

We have some toys in the buffet that we use as a TV stand in the living room. Books are upstairs in one of the bedrooms. We have a few other toys on a bottom shelf of a bookshelf. I've yet to find a good place for the enormous amount of Duplos we got for Christmas.

We have a good many toys, but we also have a basement. I keep a couple of boxes down there, and I try to rotate out the toys so that there aren't so many out all the time.

[Just Kate]

We have a relatively small house (1024 sq feet) with only two bedrooms, three closets, no basement or garage and a space wasting layout. By default our toys are in the living room and "dining room" (a room that is actually a glorified hallway, since you have to walk through it to get to any other room in the house.)

In the living room there are two toy boxes, one with stuffed animals and one with the boy's larger trucks.

In the dining room we have a shelf with plastic totes containing the smaller toys (train set, mega bloks, small cars/trucks and puzzles) a sling bookshelf with most of the boys books and a child size table and chairs in one of the corners. We keep a tote full of art supplies and clay in our only downstairs closet.

I'd love to keep the boys' toys in their bedroom, but there really isn't any space to play in there (and there definitely wouldn't be if all the toys were kept in there too) and they aren't quite old enough to play alone on a different floor than the adult(s) who are home.

[limabean]

In the kids' room, they have a toy box and this.

Downstairs, we have two tall narrow shelving units with nice-looking baskets on them, all full of toys. The baskets are tall enough that when you push them in on the shelves, you can't see inside them, concealing the toys completely.

We also have a storage ottoman that has puzzles and board games in it.

There are a couple of larger toys that are tucked into the space between the couch and the club chair, like DD's little dollhouse and DS's large Tonka truck, but those can easily be put in the garage if for some reason we need the space to be completely clean (like now, when we're getting ready to sell our house).

I like the downstairs living space not to look like it's full of toys, even though it is. Also, since there are 8 toy baskets between the two shelving units, it's easy to sort of have categories for each basket -- there's the big car basket, the small car basket, the doll basket, etc., making things easier to find and to put away.

[Llyra]

I have three kids. My kids' toys live on shelves in their room. They all three sleep in there, and there are two large closets (technically, it's the "master bedroom"). There are a few larger toys and outdoor toys that are kept in the basement, and only brought out when somebody wants them, but for the most part everything goes in those closets, on shelves, or on one set of shelves that's out in the open in their room. If stuff starts not to fit on those shelves, we prune, and give some toys away. The only kids' items that officially "belong" on the main floor of the house are the play kitchen and the food/dishes/pans that belong to it, and some art supplies. That stuff lives in the kitchen. And books, of course-- the kids have two shelves on our downstairs bookcases that belong to them for their own books. (They also have bookshelves in their room, and plenty of book storage space in the basement. We're not big on toys, but we have a LOT of books.)

[seaheroine]

We also keep a good number of DD's toys in our "great room". She has two play areas -- one with a bookshelf with tubs for blocks and play food, alongside her toy kitchen/doll bed. On the other side of the room she has her dollhouse on a train table with huge drawers for wooden animals, puzzles and playmobil. She has a table full of books to browse, too.

She makes a huge mess daily but I don't mind picking it up. I usually sort it all back. BUT, she loves playing around us and will play independently for hours while I read or study on the couch. I love having her play in the same room as me!

[cappuccinosmom]

Apart from a few things in their bedroom (for rest-time play and reading), everything is kept in one corner of the living room. There are two open tote boxes for the toys, and one shelf for kid books.

Toys are sorted into smaller boxes within the tote boxes, so the kids don't have to dig through them to find what they want (and strew toys all over the floor in the process. They have a train box, a lego box, a k'nex box, a block box, and then the random-stuff box. It makes cleanup so much easier.

[Shannie77]

We have three rooms that we keep toys in. For the record our house is a very small townhouse

I like all DD's toys to be accessible and to all have specific homes to make clean up easier for her. Most of her toys are wooden and I don't mind those toys out in the open as I find them pleasing to the eye. If we get an influx of toys I will donate, find a new home or pack up anything that no longer fits.

1./ Living Room/ Dining Room
--- 2 bottom shelves of bookcase have her wooden puzzles
--- behind the couch is a bin with dress up clothes although I want to get them more organized
--- We also store her wheely bug & balance bike behind there
--- shelves on TV stand have baskets with puzzles, and animals. I keep some books there for her and set up some of her little animals/ people there
--- she has a wooden barn we keep on the floor for her
--- Her wood kitchen and table are in the dining room that connects to the living room
--- We an end table with baskets. One has odds and ends and the other additional play food

2./ Her room
--- We have a long tv stand with three shelves we got off craigslist. I have some toys set up on that and she uses it as an activity table.
--- I have hooks for playsilks
--- rain gutter bookshelves for her books

3./ Basement - it is split into a TV room and playroom
--- We have a storage unit along one wall from Ikea with different sized baskets, each basket holds a specific toy and she knows where each toy is kept
--- we also have a train table my DH made for DD with a trainset on it

[MJB]

We live in a small 2BR apartment. My boys share the larger of the 2 bedrooms, and all of their toys and books stay in their room.

They have built-in shelves on one wall. I put all of their pants, hanging clothes, and socks (in a basket) in the closet so we could use a couple dresser drawers, with drawer organizers, for small toys (blocks, Schleichs, finger puppets, cars, playmobil). They have a narrow "bookshelf" (actually a stack of milk crates) next to the dresser with all their books. Their toy kitchen is in a corner of the room. Under their bunk bed are a couple larger toys-- the marble run (in box) and science kit (telescope, microscope, etc). Their doll house is under the built-in shelves. On the three shelves are several big baskets (13" cubes)-- one for dress-up stuff, one for trains, one for stuffed animals, one for handheld video games and accessories. There is a stack of puzzles, and a plastic Lego box (which is overflowing post-xmas and needs to be replaced with something bigger). The top shelf has paints and some other stuff they don't need regular access to.
The only stuff they have in the rest of the house is a drawer of homeschooling stuff and a drawer of art supplies in the dresser we use as a TV stand.

[SparklingGemini]

We keep everything in its space and also spread out all over the house. I don't like to lock all the toys in one room because they are just going to get drug out to a room where you spend the most time and get left all over the place. In this way, there's always something to play with in whatever room she's in and its not overwhelming for either of us.

DD's train set is kept in the ottoman because she plays it the most in the front room.

The majority of her books are in a tall bookcase in her room but get rotated in baskets in other rooms; some downstairs, some on my nightstand(we cosleep), some in the car, and some in her kitchen. I tend to pull out seasonally themed books and books pertinent to whatever interests she currently has. In this way, its like books are always new.

Her blocks are in a large basket that can be move from upstairs to downstairs, depending on where she wants to play with them. I like having the basket twice as big as it seems we would need because this makes it easier for digging around in rather than dumping out.

Her babies are kept in her room on a doll bed. We have a small lidded basket next to the bed that stores the baby clothes and blankets and accessories.

In my kitchen I have a small cabinet that stores craft supplies. Its close to her table as well as the big family table and at her level so she can use it as desired. Everything in the cabinet is organized by type into baskets, metal buckets or jars. That's where we store paper, scissors, stickers, glue, markers, crayons, color pencils, etc. The cabinet was made for a bathroom so it small and has one glass door, nice for remember what's in there.

The games are kept in the armoire that houses our TV. One cubby holds games and the other one holds puzzles. It makes more sense to have those downstairs because we usually play with them as a family.

The same armoire has two drawers, with one designated for DD's stuff. This is were the small "homeless" stuff goes; a set of Matryoshkas, small easily lost instruments, flash cards, her flashlight, etc.

The end table next to the couch has a basket underneath with all of her vehicles.

Under her table, which is downstairs, we have a basket with playsilks and streamers and some beaded necklaces. Fun.

In my kitchen, is her kitchen. Everything in her kitchen is organized into baskets by type of food or kitchen utensil. For example, all the baking stuff like cookie cutters, rolling pin, tart pan and loaf pan is in one basket. All the fruits and veggies are in another. And all the baskets get stored in the respective spots in her kitchen.

In the guest room/office we have a shelving set of cubbies that we have baskets in. This is where her wooden animals and little people are. The top of the unit is short enough that DD can use it like a playtable but it does double duty of holding the organized baskets.

We spend more time upstairs in the guest room this time of year because our house has horrible insulation and downstairs runs very cold comparatively. So this time of year, more of the baskets end up in the guest room but that's OK.

Also, each of the basket in the house has a laminated label on it with the name of what goes in the basket and a simple picture. This helps DD put things away in the right spot and can also be used as a learning tool to match the words with the items when she gets to reading age.

And I'll be honest it helps DF put the right things away in the right spots too!

[Mittsy]

In a open storage bin in the child's room. Although, we do keep art/crafts, play-doh, books, and board games in a small bookcase in our living room.

[shanniesue2]

we have various toy storage around the house.
Living Room
We keep the toys he plays with most in the living room/den area
--cloth basket to hold his train tracks (we don't have very much track at this point
--bigger trucks on bottom shelf of coffee table
--large rubbermaid basket with random toys in it. We tuck the basket under the baby grand piano in the corner of the room
--we also have a few large balls that we tuck under the piano
Den
--We have three low shelves on our entertainment center that we store a few board books, puzzles, shape sorters, etc on.
--we don't really have a good space for a train table. Instead, I took a half piece of plywood and covered it with one of those plastic-y table cloths (the kind that sort of felt-y on the bottom). When it's not in use, we slide the train board behind the entertainment center
DS's bedroom
--One bookshelf for books
--One bookshelf for toys with cloth baskets used to store toys.

I like having places for the toys spread through the house because it makes clean up easier. He can choose which play space he wants to play in, and doesn't have to drag toys around to find a good place to play with them. Plus, I can sort of rotate the toys around to create (or re-create as it may be) interest in them.

[Nansense]

We have a storage ottoman...LOVE IT. When all toys are in it, the living room looks "adult". I also, use a few small/medium laundry tubs and they get put in a closet or play tent. So eventhough you can see the play tent in their room or basement, all toys are put under it so you don't see the scattering. I also clear out many times a year so we don't have the abundance. If you feel like you have too many, clear out and donate to charity.

[Llyra]

I, too, have found that toy boxes and tubs sometimes encourage dumping rather than more focused kinds of play. That's why I store the kids' toys in their rooms, rather than all over the house. We go in the morning, and again after lunch, and choose a few things, and bring them downstairs, and then they play with those. With fewer toys in their immediate environment, they're more likely to settle in closely with one toy or activity, and focus on playing with it. It's not that I keep them "locked away," though. Any time they want something else, they can go get it, or ask me to get it.

[newbymom05]

We turned the dining room into the playroom. It's usually pretty chaotic, but at least it's contained. I keep everything in bins and they move that around, usually to the LR. W/ our open floor plan, that allows everyone to kind of be in the same room. My 2010 resolution is to make the LR a clutter-free zone, which means they'll have to put the bins back when they're done, something that doesn't always happen.

Books, those are bigger clutterers by far in my house. I have them in baskets in practically every room, and they both dump books out all. day. long.

[earthmama369]

We've got two kidlets in a 1100 square foot, three bedroom house. However, one bedroom has been converted to a home office, and one kidlet refuses to sleep on his own, so we've got only one kidlet sleeping in the kids' room and we keep all of their toys in there. There is one corner of our dining room that contains the art easel and two craft bin "towers," and any number of toys migrate through the living room on a daily basis, but the kids' bedroom is where the toys officially live. No toys allowed in our bedroom or the office. The office is cluttered enough without adding the kids' toys to the mix and I am legally blind without my contacts, so I keep our bedroom floor clean so I don't kill myself walking across the floor when my contacts are out.

ETA: The kids' room is approx. 11 x 13 feet with one closet. There's a twin bed with drawers built into the frame, where dd keeps her clothes, along the first wall. A wooden cabinet for blocks and a very full bookshelf are on one wall. A small desk and a couple hanging storage baskets (for balls, puppets, etc.) are along the next wall. Two sets of modular wooden cubes are along the last wall, which holds most of their toys. And the closet holds the games, stuffed animals, and extra blankets. We have a few floating Ikea bookshelves mounted on two walls that contain the book overflow.