The day just started and already every toy bin has been emptied out and the room is a mess! Your child is in the other room playing with the tissue box instead of the toys you purchased for them. Sound familiar?
How you organize your child’s playroom can make all the difference in how they play. If you’re constantly thinking, “they have so many toys and they don’t play with any of them!” then this post is for you. Check out these 8 tips to keep your playroom organized and your child playing independently.
1. Have different areas for different activities
You have a dedicated room just for playtime…
If you have a room in your house that can be dedicated to a playroom, great! Use the extra space to your advantage. Our playroom has:
- An open area with a blanket or mat designated for independent play. We love this play mat. Think about how much space they would need to drive their cars or stack their blocks.
- Shelving with easy access to toys.
- A table and chairs for arts, crafts, and fine motor activities.
- A cozy corner with pillows or cushions for reading books. We love The Nugget couch because it doubles as a couch for reading and a fort for playtime.
- Larger items are in their own corner or area. If you have something like a play kitchen or train table, find a way to separate these larger items from their toy bins.
You DO NOT have an extra room in your house…
If you don’t have an extra room for just play, spread out toys utilizing different rooms in your house. The last thing you want is your living room to turn into a toy graveyard. Try these tips for setting up different play areas.
- Determine which room in the house you spend the most time in, like your living room. Choose a shelf, toy chest, and/or bins to organize toys for independent play. Teach your child where they can spread their toys out so the room can still remain a living area for the rest of the family.
- Decide which activities might be better suited to do at the kitchen table and put those items in a kitchen cabinet.
- If you have limited space in your common areas to store toys, consider using your child’s room for toy storage. Purchase a soft bin, like these to transport toys from their room to their play area. This is a fun way to get them involved with choosing their own toys for the day. They can put them back in the bin when they head to their room for nap or bedtime.
Now that you have specific areas in your playroom to encourage play time, it’s important to keep these things in mind…
2. Rotate Toys and Books!
This was a BIG game changer for us. Ever notice when your child plays at someone else’s house they are very interested in their toys? It’s because they’re novel to them! Kids LOVE novelty. As soon as I started rotating my daughter’s toys and books each week, I noticed how much more interested she was in playing with them.
How often you rotate your child’s toys is up to you! This will likely depend on their personality, their age, and how often they are at home to actually play with their own toys. Once a week works best for us! After I put my daughter to bed, I change out all the toys and books on her shelves for new ones that I’ve stored away. This seems like a lot of work, but I promise once you start doing it, it’s very easy, doesn’t take much time, and is well worth it.
3. Include Variety
When it’s time to rotate toys, I make sure to choose different kinds of toys. Here’s an example of 8 activities I might put out for my 18 month old:
- 1 Puzzle
- Puppets
- Bean bag toss
- Cars and trains (The younger the child, the less you should put out)
- Baby doll and accessories
- Magnetic Tiles (The younger the child, the less you should put out)
- 1 electronic toy like a musical xylophone
- Little people barn and animals
4. Provide open ended toys
Sure, kids love light up toys that make fun sounds. After a few uses though, they realize it does the same thing every time they play with it and eventually it gets tossed into the toy graveyard. That doesn’t mean you should throw out all of the electronic toys you already own. Just know that there are better options out there that keep kids engaged and foster creativity.
What is an open-ended toy? It’s a toy that provides many different opportunities for play instead of a toy that is a 1 and done deal. Before you go out and spend a fortune on brand new toys, think about items you already have around your house that your child can explore. Check out the dollar store for some cheap finds. If you are in the market for some new toys, take a look at my list of favorite open-ended toys.
5. Organize items for pretend play in 1 bin or area
Put the kitchen items in or near the kitchen. Put the baby doll, clothes, bottle, and blanket all in one bin. Gather all of the musical instruments and create a music box.
6. Make toys easily accessible
Toys should be at eye-level so your child can see their selection. If you’re using bins to keep things organized, think about what bins are appropriate for age, how much you want them to hold and easy access to open them. For example, don’t put all their toy cars in a plastic bin with clasps that are difficult to open. Wicker baskets look nice, but a soft bin is a better choice for a toddler.
7. Less is more!
I don’t know about you, but I can’t begin cooking a meal when the kitchen countertops are cluttered with dishes, piles of mail, and Amazon boxes. Kids also can’t focus when their environment is cluttered. They will get more use out of their toys when they only have a few to select from and the space to explore them.
8. Add clean up into your child’s routine
The worst way to end a long day is coming downstairs after finally getting your kid to bed and stepping on a small Lego piece. While you were able to unload the dishwasher, cook dinner, and do the laundry, your child was creating a quiet mess in the other room.
Add in structured clean up times. In our house, we clean up before nap and then again before bedtime.
Some of you might be thinking, “my child isn’t able to clean up independently.” Until kids reach a certain age, cleaning up has to be modeled and taught. For my 18 month old, this is what works best for us…
- Using the same direction every time, “Put your toys back.”
- I show her what it looks like to put the toys back and then hand her the toy and repeat the phrase.
- I don’t expect her to know where every toy should go. When children are younger, teaching them to just help with cleaning up is the main goal.
- We listen to a clean up song every time we clean up. When she hears the song, it’s her cue to start putting her toys away.
Begin with setting up those play areas in your playroom or different rooms in your house. Then you can start to implement some of these tips to keep your space organized. Pretty soon you’ll find that your child is more excited about their toys and more independent during play time!
