A TOY ROOM SHOULD BE A HAPPY PLACE FOR KIDS
When you look at toy rooms on Instagram, many that receive hundreds of likes look like out of a magazine. For those photos, you should know that all the props and toys were carefully curated for the styling purpose and these photos don’t mean that these rooms always look like in the photos. Nevertheless, the bar to copy those play rooms in your own home looks super high. You don’t need that. Kids don’t care.
What’s important is that kids know and love what they own in their toy room. It’s important to keep your toy area neat and organized so that your child will play with the toys. Owning less is a key. If you observe how your kids play closely, you know that they play with certain toys, and not necessarily with all of the toys they own. I have never seen kids who play with ALL of their toys. Kids don’t need a lot and they know what they like to play with and what they don’t care.
Here are the steps to make tidying up your kids room easy.
HOW TO TIDY UP KIDS TOY ROOM
1. BLOCK 3 HOURS OF YOUR DAY TO DECLUTTER
You need about 3 hours. That’s not that much in your day if you think about it. You can find 3 hours on a weekend that you spend with your children tidying up. Using 3 hours will allow you to achieve a neat looking toy area. It’s so worth your time.
2. GET EVERYTHING OUT OF TOY STORAGE
I follow the KonMari method. I got everything out of the toy area and wiped all the shelves. Nothing feels more refreshing than removing dust from the kids toy storage.
3. GO OVER EVERY TOY WITH YOUR CHILD ONE BY ONE
You may think that your child will not be able to let go of any toys. You might be surprised. I recommend you go through all the toys your child owns by asking, “do you love to play with this toy?” You can tell by the way your child looks at the toy or responds to your question to figure out whether he or she likes it.
My son got bored and started playing with a mask…
4. MAKE 3 PILES: KEEPER, DONATION, DISCARD
When you sort, make 3 piles. One for the toys you’re going to keep. Gently used toys that are still in good shape can go to a donation pile. Lastly the third pile is for trash. Any toys that are not in good shape or missing pieces should go to a trash pile. I usually send cheaply made plastic toys to this last pile.
5. PLASTIC BOXES FOR ORGANIZING
Use plastic boxes or other storage boxes to organize. They are handy for storing some small pieces such as lego pieces, blocks, small figures, cards, key holders, etc.
6. SIMPLE ORGANIZATION
Your kids’ toy area organization has to make sense for your child. Group toys that would be in the same categories. For example, store animal and human figures in one box while mini cars, airplanes and any vehicles in another. Keep all the nerf guns and bullets in one box and use another for race car structure or other games.
7. DO NOT BE AFRAID OF OWNING LESS
Kids don’t have to have a ton of toys to be happy. It seems that kids these days don’t play with their toys all the time anyways and prefers computer games or devices. My son needs to go outside and get his wiggles out. However, toys are important for days when kids can’t go outside. I was grateful to have this wonderful space for my son during the lockdown in March, April and May, though.
As you can see two rooms were simultaneously in a process of tidying up. I had put my daughter in charge of going through her own stuff. Here are posts to read about the other two processes: komono & papers.
Declutter Kids’ Rooms Part 2 Komono/Miscellaneous
Declutter Kids’ Rooms Part 3 Papers
That’s it! My son really loved cleaning up with me. He even volunteered to vacuum the rugs. It was questionable if he really vacuumed the room, but it made me happy to see him participate in the tidying up process.
Even the air in the room felt lighter by removing some toys from the space. Win win for me!
OUR KIDS PLAY ROOMS SINCE 2010
Here is a collection of our previous kids rooms in the last 4 homes in 3 countries between 2010 and 2018. You can see how our kids rooms have adapted and evolved based on our children’s ages and different layouts of our homes in different countries. To see individual posts, please click either on a photo or highlighted title.
VIRGINIA USA (2008-2010)
*Warning: The quality of my photos from the time in Virginia is not great!
Apartment Solution ☆ living room + play area
A small play area in the living room. This was when we lived in a 2-bedroom apartment in Virginia. Our oldest was 5 and my younger one was two.
Our Kids Room
This was my girls’ bedroom in our 2-bedroom apartment.
Kids Room Has Evolved
We got rid of a sofa bed prior to our move to Jakarta. Then, we purchased some IKEA furniture and redecorated our girls’ room. The change was subtle, but it was still refreshing.
JAKARTA INDONESIA (2010-2013)
Before & After ☆ Kids Play Room
How I decorated our girls’ play room in a den.
Wednesday Wall2Wall ☆ Kids Playroom
After our son was born, we moved the play room upstairs (above post) to a basement. This is how we decorated our play room.
Wednesday Wall2Wall ☆ Baby Boy Nursery
We converted kids’ play room (above post) into a baby’s nursery after our son was born in 2012.
MUMBAI INDIA (2013-2016)
Kids Toy & Media Room ☆ Our Home in Mumbai
Our kids’ play room in a landing of our apartment in Mumbai, India.
How I Decorated Study & Kids Drawing Room ☆ Before & After
This was an office, music and kids’ craft room. I used to blog in this room.
VIRGINIA USA
Tips For Decorating A Small Home
Our 3 children shared a room for 2 years when we lived in a condo in Virginia. You can see their room in our home tour.
I hope you enjoyed my blog post!
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