thread about 'toy management', any ideas?

[TigerTail]

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...26#post4212026

[root*children]

I think you got some excellent ideas already! Here's my .02

The first storage pic you posted (not the bunkbeds one) - the one with all the plastic bins - while it is a decent amount of storage, is STUPID. I shy away from those because of the "DUMP" factor That many removable bins full of small objects are just begging to be dumped. I have seen this downfall at several friends' houses, and that's why we have not fallen into that trap

I prefer a regular deep bookshelf with baskets/bins/whatever if necessary. Obviously big toys sit by themselves, we have a "vehicles" basket, "guys" basket - like little bendy guys, action figures, etc., "instrument" basket (obviously not all instruments can go in, but little maracas, and glockenspiel and harmonicas and stuff can). We have a lego basket that got dumped too much, so I found a nice picnic basket that had a wooden lid on it, and slid the basket under an end table in the living room. It's not dumped nearly as frequently now! I guess that's all our baskets I can think of ... well, no there's one in the kitchen with cutting foods for my 2yo.

Did that help at all? I don't go for spending lots of dough on stuff like that. DH made our bookshelf in 1/2 a day. Coulda bought one from the local classified paper, but I'm too lazy to drive around town looking at them! All our baskets are NOT matching and are from the thrift. I especially like to grab produce baskets when I find them ... the one with metal handles with a wooden grabber on top ... those double nicely as berry picking/pine cone gathering/collecting baskets. And baskets at thrift stores & yardsales cost about 50 cents each, so I dont' really care if it gets stepped on one too many times and crushes

[Amys1st]

I too stay away from the stacked bins- its a dumping ground. We still have one and its the stray toy area. Every few months we weed out stuff and toss or donate. Usually the residents of this area are- goody bag rejects, happy meal toys, stray parts/pieces of some other toy etc.

Thankfully I have a very handy dh. He built me last summer to plain bookshelves with both sides open and low. They would also be perfect in a preschool setting (where the idea came from). I found in my very infrequent trip to Ikea bins. They were not even 1$ a piece but the perfect size.

But each bin is stocked with specifics. One holds play doh, one art supplies, one zoo animals, instruments, cars/trucks, thomas trains, doll house furniture etc. We have a lego table with a bin underneath w the legos. # bins hold the ever growing inventory of dress up stuff. I am thinking of having him build a "wardrobe" and hanging all the stuff in there. On top of the shelves (they are about chest level w a 2-3 yr old) sits puzzles, dolls, etc. Also dh made a wooden kitchen last year (copied from pottery barn catalog) and the fridge stocks different foods and the oven stocks different pots n pans.


It makes for an incredibly easy clean up since if a bin is out and dumped it needs to be cleaned up before another can be dumped.