How many toys/how do you store them?

[laughymama]

I am at my wit's end with our DS and his toys. Right now we are in a two bedroom apartment with one of the rooms used as storage. (and it's FULL)

DS' toys are in a basket in the living room. This is where we spend 99% of our time so we're happy to have his things in here. He doesn't actually have many toys at all. The basket is a small, round laundry basket. The problem is somehow clutter gets collected in it. Spoons from the kitchen, boxes, markers, blank disks, bowls..etc. Just things he's played with and get thrown into his basket.

He just...Dumps it out. Then he plays with maybe one thing. The dumping is the main idea for him though. He LOVES dumping it out. He is 19 months old and the idea of picking his stuff up still hasn't clicked even when we show him and invite him to help out. He just wants to dump the basket again after I have put it all away.

He really doesn't play with many of them. Then I feel like we're neglecting him if he only has 5 or 6 toys. We've had friends make comments about how he almost has "no toys at all".

I guess I just don't see why he needs 10 cars and trucks when he typically only plays with 3 or 4 at a time. I feel like it's just asking for more clutter and mess.

Where do you keep your toddlers' toys kept? Do they have a lot of toys?

I just honestly feel like he wouldn't even notice if we took away half of what is out but then when I start to go through it all I feel kind of guilty.

[mommariffic]

We keep most in our living room area/downstairs because that's where we spend 90% of our time also. We have a section of the room where she has her wooden barn, and dollhouse and I try to keep a basket of dolls in there for her otherwise they will end up in the mouths of hungry dogs. DD also has a ton of craft supplies - probably more than toys? We keep those in a storage-on-wheels center I got from Community Playthings. It was way too much money, but it's huge and keeps all her paper/glitter/stickers and whatever else in place without being all over.

I think my main peeve is puzzles. We love them, but the pieces end up missing or all over, so I'm so DONE buying them! She can enjoy them at friends houses, but if I have to wrestle a wet puzzle piece from my dogs mouth or find 20 of them under the couch one more time I'm going to loose it.

She also has a lot of books, and a few other toy toys like a treehouse and view finder, but she doesn't have TOO too much really. We homeschool so a lot of the stuff is used on a daily or weekly basis. I'd LOVE to purge some though and plan on doing so in the upcoming month!

[ASusan]

We store 2/3 of DS toys in the basement, and rotate things about once a month (usually longer). Puzzles we have out only 2 at a time - one in the playroom, and one on his little table in the dining room.

Before Christmas, we were like you, OP, with only a couple of cars and a couple of trains. We just about doubled things at xmas. I'm in a playgroup, and every household (7+) has more toys than ours. And I plan to keep it that way. I even rotate books, and half are in his closet at any one moment.

Dumping is where your LO is at, developmentally. Same with the non-toys ending up in the toy basket. I would put aside half of the toys in a closet, and also get a toy specifically for dumping (for us, it was a container of lincoln logs). Dumping *is* play to them at this age.

[kittykat2481]

My son has a ton of toys. You guys would roll your eyes so far back in your heads they would stick, if you saw his playroom. It's not necessary at all. 99% of them were gifts or hand-me-downs, but he enjoys and respects them all, so I'm ok with it. We have a playroom where most of his toys live, and I keep a lot of them on the shelves in the closet in there. Books and puzzles are in his bedroom. Again, he has TONS of books, but only a few in his rotation at a time.

The toys in his playroom and bedroom are all very neatly organized on shelves or bins. He's not a dumper, but it's perfectly normal some children to go through a dumping stage.

[just_lily]

I have a home daycare, so we have quite a few toys - and multiples of each to cut down on bickering. I have the TROFAST series for Ikea, and love them. We have a few different pieces, including the change table. The bins are removable and you can buy lids for them, so it is super easy to just pull out a bin, pop the lid on and stick it in the closet in order to rotate toys. There are different sized pieces, so you can just get something small if you prefer, or something larger if required.

I keep out just enough toys that I can still clean up in less than ten minutes. I find any more and the kids just get overwhelmed.

[hotharmony]

We have a ton of toys, I have a MIL who shows affection through buying stuff, so we have some of the toys in a toy box in his room where he doesn't play that often and some in the living room in this awesome coffee table storage thing, http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/prod...1&SKU=16516899, but ours was only 3 pieces.

[Artichokie]

I'm pretty happy with dd's toy situation. I'll try to take some pics.

[lach]

I store the toys in baskets with a photograph tied to each basket saying what's in it. It makes it very easy to clean up, and it means DD can go directly to what she wants to play with without dumping everything out. I started this when she was probably about 15 months and I could tell it affected her play so positively to really understand where her things were when she wanted them. I just took the photos off to reorganize the baskets (post Christmas, plus now she has a brother who will be old enough to work this system too, and for the first time we've moved some of her toys upstairs to her bedroom) and the chaotic effects were immediate. Baskets strewn everywhere, toys everywhere (and there aren't that many toys, I don't think... it's just harder for her to find what she wants and then to tidy up afterwards so things just get tossed and strewn about). We just keep the baskets on shelves: the shelves are built in so I went to Ikea and bought baskets that would fit the shelves.

[sapphire_chan]

We've given her the space under the TV, one long (~6' wide) low book case and the bottom two shelves on another book case. Then her stuffed animals are in a pop out hamper.

My suggestion is to at least get some sort of shelving. Yes, part of why he's dumping his toys is because he's 19 months, but it's also because that's the only way he can see what he has and decide on a toy.

If you get one of those cubby cases, don't get the cloth cubes to hold the toys. Use dishpan-sized baskets instead for small groups of toys and set big toys into a cubby space all alone.

[sapphire_chan]

Oh, and jenga in a dishpan makes a great dumping toy and take a can with a plastic lid (e.g. coffee can) and punch some holes in the top and let him stick q-tips through the holes. (and then he'll take the lid off and dump them out. )

[flower01]

Out of reach! Most toys are up high in a closet - only the play kitchen, baby dolls and books are out all the time. She asks for everything else. Before she could ask I would just hide stuff for awhile in a box and bring it out occasionally. I think having a good number of toys is nice for variety...when the child seems bored, bring out a new "old" toy and that will keep them busy for awhile.

[Materfamilias]

We rotate toys and books or it'd be Bedlam here. Wait ... It is still Bedlam but it'd be worse. I liked the idea I saw on MDC to get clear bins so you can see inside. I'm not sure I'm capable of that much organization though.

[NicaG]

We also have Ikea Trofast storage in our playroom. It's nice because the bins come in different sizes, so you can customize somewhat. So for us, we have small animal figures in one bin, puzzles in one bin, dolls in one bin, stuffed animals, matchbox cars, etc. etc. We have a few larger toys that get stored on top of the shelves. Generally, I keep books in square canvas bins on the floor. It seems easier for the kids to access them (and put them away), and I got sick of them falling off the bookshelves.

Ds also has toys in his room, in canvas bins on Ikea Billy bookshelves.

And we keep three small baskets of toys downstairs. When more toys migrate downstairs, I take a laundry basket and collect everything and bring it back upstairs.

I try to edit the toys pretty agressively. If things don't fit into our current storage....I take old stuff away until the new toys fit. I either throw the old (often broken or yucky) stuff away, or I put in an "out of rotation" box. Then sometimes on a rainy boring day I bring some of the old stuff back, and it's new again. I keep meaning to be more systematic about rotating toys, but I never get around to it.

Dh always teases me because when we talk about toy purchases (birthdays, Christmas), my first question is always, "do we have room to store that? where?"

[brennan]

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan

My suggestion is to at least get some sort of shelving. Yes, part of why he's dumping his toys is because he's 19 months, but it's also because that's the only way he can see what he has and decide on a toy.

This. I was a nanny and the kids that I nannied had one bin to store everything in, yes it was a quick clean up, but in order to get anything (or the parts to something) you had to dump the whole thing up. We have this: http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/70103085 turned on its side. We have a couple of bins, one for building blocks and one for balls/ball like objects and cars, but other than that everything is laid on with a couple other toys on each shelf. It does take a little longer to set up that way, but dd can pick and choose what toy she wants to play with and all of the pieces are right there. She doesn't have a ton of toys right now, just that one shelf full, but when she's a little older she has a ton waiting for her, and I intend to cycle those toys, to keep it at just the one shelf.

[GeeDee]

We have toys all over the place! Most are smaller toys like hot wheel cars and little stuff that size. We have a big bench seat toy box, then a stacking crate with 3 crates filled with stuff.... a train table and then a couple smaller baskets I use to round up toys that have made their way out of the living room. The living room is the predominate place for all our toys.

Color books, crayons and markers are kept in their own storage bin and only brought out when the kids are going to use them. Lego's and train set are also kept in separate storage bins and only brought out when they want to play with them. I try to keep stuff as organized as possible