If you’re overwhelmed by all the toys your kids own and tired of either telling your kids to clean up their mess or doing it yourself over and over, it’s time to figure out how to organize toys and keep your sanity!
It can be daunting to really figure out how to organize toys and kid stuff so today I’m going to walk you through step by step to finally getting organized so you can stop yelling at your kids to clean up their mess!
First up, you need to edit down and figure out where the toys should go. At the end of this post I’ve rounded up some great storage ideas for you to look at to get some ideas for your own home!
Let’s begin learning how to organize toys!
How to Organize Toys
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1. Edit and Purge the Toys
Step one for organizing toys is to go through all the toys and edit them down. This is truly the hardest part but the most important!
Get rid of anything that is broken, missing pieces or hasn’t been played with in months (or weeks, depending on how aggressive you feel!).
If your kids are older, get them involved! If a birthday or Christmas is coming up it’s an easy way to let them know you need to make space for new things (can be done before or after the event!). I’ll ask them to pick out a few toys that they don’t play with anymore. They can usually find at least a few things to donate without me saying anything!
If your kids are younger, it can be best to choose things to get rid of when your kids are away. That way they won’t decide the stuffed animal they haven’t played with in a year all of sudden becomes their best friend!
If you’re not sure where to start, here’s one of my best tricks. Fill a box or bag with items you haven’t seen your child play with in a while and put it in a separate room. If a few months go by and they haven’t asked for them, then you know they won’t miss them if they get permanently donated!
2. Sort the toys and put some in storage
Oftentimes giant messes can occur because your kids pull out all the toys they love and play with all at once and bounce from one toy to another toy without focusing on one thing.
Help them (and yourself!) out by putting away duplicates of toys. This will help them focus on what’s out and also create less of a mess since there’s fewer toys that they can actually take out!
Here’s an example. Say your kids have 15 puzzles and love them all so you don’t want to get rid of any. Great! But they don’t ever do 15 at the same time!
Keep a few puzzles out for your kids to play with and then put away the rest (in a closet, storage room, cupboard, etc). This keeps the puzzles that you do own fresh and interesting to your child and when they lose interest you can rotate them (more on that in step 4) with other ones!
3. Find a home and put them away
You want your kids to be able to find their toys but even more important, know where they should go when they’re done and so they can easily put them away.
Start by combining like items with like items. Once you have them all collected and know which ones will be staying out for your kids to play with, find a spot for them.
I have more ideas of toy storage below but the biggest rule of thumb is to make it easy for your kids to access and easy for them to put away. Stay away from things with hard-to-open lids and keep them in places where they can reach them. This helps them be more independent and not have to rely on you for everything!
The one exception is for things that need adult supervision (like paints or scissors). Either keep these in a spot where your kids can’t reach them or put them in a container that they can’t open. Then you won’t have an accidental paint spill on the carpet!
4. Rotate them!
I share this trick in my mom hacks post ,but this is one of my favorite tricks in the mom handbook. As we mentioned above, you’ll want to put away some of your toys. You can also disperse your toys into different sections of your home.
You can have some toys in your child’s room, some in your main living area and some in a playroom or other room that your child likes to be in. This helps things to get back to their home when you have toy storage in multiple areas of your home.
Every couple months or whenever your kids seem to be getting bored of the toys the see everyday, rotate them!
Pull out some of the toys that you had put away and put some that haven’t gotten much love lately into a cupboard or storage area.
Take the toys and books from your kids bedroom and put them in the living room (or wherever other toy storage is). Oftentimes all you need to do is put the toys in a different location for your kids to see them with fresh eyes again.
The one thing to make sure you do is keep the toy storage spots in the same places. For example, we have a basket of cars in our living room and a bucket of cars in our playroom. I’ll swap the cars from the 2 rooms but keep the basket and the location the same so my kids can find them and know where they go.
If you need to completely switch up your storage, make sure your kids know what belongs where so they can find their favorite toy and put it away when they’re done!
Ok, now that we know how to organize toys, let’s chat through some toy storage ideas!
Toy Storage Ideas
Paisley + Sparrow is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This post may include affiliate links which means I may earn a small commission if you shop using the links below at no additional cost to you.
1. Stuffed Animal Toy Hammock
This hammock is great for all your kids stuffed animals to keep them organized and not all over your entire house!
- Expands up to 6 feet, measures 72' x 54" x 54".
- Premium fabric reinforced with double-stitched lining.
- 3-point triangle mesh net, made with extra strong, heavy-duty elastic edge for tighter, customizable fit.
2. Stuffed Animal Storage Bean Bag Chair Cover
Another fun idea for your stuffed animal toy storage is this bean bag chair cover. All you do is unzip it, put your stuffed animals inside and use it for both sitting and storage! Comes in lot of colors and prints!
- Bean bag cover (no filling)
- It is extra large at 38" and can hold up to 100 various size stuffed animals.
3. 12 Bin Plastic Toy Storage Organizer
This toy storage bin makes your kids toys very accessible! Use it in a playroom or their bedroom to ensure everything has a home yet it’s easy to get at. Comes in 4 different color schemes to fit your decor!
- Plastic
- Removable toy storage bins for playtime and easy clean up.
- Sturdy engineered wood construction frame reinforced with steel dowels, 20 pound weight capacity per level.
- 12 durable plastic storage bins, 8 standard and 4 large interchangeable storage bins. BPA and phthalate free.
- Product sizing— Organizer: 34”W x 11”D (16”D with stabilizing braces) x 31”H, Standard Size Bins: 12”L x 9”W x 6”H, Large Size Bins: 16”L x 12”W x 6”H
4. Mesh Zipper Bags
Use these bags for things like puzzles, stickers, doll accessories, etc! These bags help keep toys that have lots of small parts together. We love these for puzzles for our kids, as well as art supplies!
Zipper Pouches with Label Pockets: 20 Packs, 13.3"x9.4" mesh zipper bags in 10 colors (2pcs for each color).
5. Puzzle Rack
Our kids’ preschool has these, and I’m convinced that if a preschool has them then they must be good! We love these for puzzles for our youngest since there’s no boxes with them. It also make them easy to get to!
- The Melissa & Doug Wire Puzzle Storage Rack is a strong and sturdy metal puzzle storage rack made to hold Melissa & Doug Peg Puzzles or other 8.5” x 11.5” x 0.5” puzzles.
- This metal puzzle storage rack has three-quarter-inch slots that hold up to 12 puzzles.
6. Basket
Any type of large basket is a great option for larger toys! Bonus is you can get a cute one that matches your decor so it’s not an eyesore!
- The large blanket basket is in a huge size of 22" x 22"x 14" which is capable to hold up to 35 bath towels.
- 100% woven cotton rope
7. Storage Basket and Play Mat
Tired of picking up Legos or blocks? This will help contain the chaos! It’s a basket for all the toys with a connected play mat for easy cleaning!
8. Magna-tiles Storage Bin
Nothing’s better than storage that doubles as a play space! This storage bin collapses into a playmat for your kids’ Magna-tiles!
- 12 x 1.5 x 11 inches
- Polypropylene bin with Polyester Lid
- Holds up to 300 Magnatiles
9. Storage Ottoman
Another great trick to keeping the clutter away is to cover it! These ottomans are a great option for places like your living room. Your kids toys are close but you don’t have to look at them! Comes in multiple colors.
10. Clear Storage Bins with Handles and Latches
Bins like these are great for things that your kids like to take out and use in a different space of your home. For example, blocks that are best used on a hard wood floor or art supplies that need to be brought to the table. We also use bins like this for items our youngest shouldn’t have access to but our older kids can (since he can’t open them).
- Outside Dimensions: 10.6"L X 7.6"W X 6.3"H; Inside Dimensions: 9"L X 6.5"W X 5.5"H
- Black latches keep lid attached and content secure.
- Handle for easy carrying; Lid design for stacking of multiple units.
11. Small Bins
Same as above but these are great for smaller things! We love these for art supplies (crayons, markers, etc).
- 5 qt. (or many other size options)
- Anti-break, durable polypropylene material
12. Cube Organizer
Another easy way to keep your kids’ toys organized but out of sight is a cube organizer like this! This one comes with bins and also comes in different colors.
(Do you have a Lego lover? Here’s all my best Lego organizers!)
There you go! Now you know how to organize toys and have lots of amazing toy storage ideas.
I hope this helps!
Want more organization tips? Check out one of these!
Kitchen
- How to Organize Your Kitchen
- 7 Kitchen Pantry Organization Ideas
- Spice Storage Ideas
- 13 Kitchen Products to Get Organized
- 16 Genius Under the Sink Organizing Ideas
Closet
- How to Purge Clothes and Organize Them (Expert Tips!)
- 11 Places to Sell Your Clothes for Cash
- 6 Tips to Sell Your Clothes Online
- How to Organize Your Shoes
Bathroom + Linen Closet
- Bathroom Organization
- Organizing Your Hair Products
- How To Organize Your Makeup Drawer
- How To Organize Your Linen Closet
Living Room, Storage Room + Garage
Kids
- How to Organize Toys (& 12 Toy Storage Ideas)
- 7 Genius Ways to Organize Baby Clothes
- 25 Lego Organization Ideas
Misc
- Entryway Drop Zone Organization
- 14 Simple Secrets to Keeping a Clean House
- 7 Genius Home Organization Hacks
If you want to do a 30 day declutter challenge, get a free guide here!