With a New Year I have new things coming here on Two Boys + One Girl = One Crazy Mom and we are starting of with an Organize Monday that will include, ideas on organizing the house, cleaning tips and ideas, products, tips and tricks, giveaways and just about anything to get that house sparkling….I’m an organizing freak. Everything in my house has to be organized and in it’s spot; even the kids toys… I know.. just call me German “hausfrau”… that’s just me…
Organizing the Kids room:
Easy clean up; I like to keep all my little ones books on the shelf, it’s not as easy to access, but once she has them out, I let her toss the books that she read in a plastic container that is in front of the Book Shelf, almost like at the Library, I will put them back in order once I have time. But she accomplished “cleaning her books up” on her own. I do the same thing with her baby toys, they are in tubs on the shelf and if she wants them she can pull them down and then just slide them in front of the shelf at clean up time.. hat makes it a little harder to get to the toys and she may think twice if that’s what she wants, but clean up is a breeze for her, so she will most likely clean up instead of leaving it in the room.
Top to Bottom :All the favorite toys, books and stuffed animals, that are being used most frequently should be on the bottom of your shelf or on the floor, where kids have easy access to the toys they usually play with, but remember have a basked, or a toy box nearby for the little ones to clean up, even if it doesn’t belong in the basked, but that will teach them to clean up and then later on you can work on where the actual place is to put it after they are done.
Label EVERYTHING: Inside and outside of drawers, on shelf edges and on the plastic shoebox storage containers that belong there, on boxes and bookcases and filing cubes. Playing “match the label” can be fun–and turns toy pickup into a game. I also write our labels in two languages, German and English, that way she learns both words and recognizes them just like one language. So if you are bilingual or trying to teach another language, this is a wonderful teaching tool
Get a routine going: I have to admit, I’m bad about this, but kids should have routines, and I know at pre_k they do that all the time, so why not do it at home, play and before lunch have your little one pick up all the toys and then go to lunch, the same in the afternoon, before snack time, before dinner. That way they get their routine going and before you know it, they will do it on their own.
Sit down and see how your child sees the room : If you want your little one to keep their toys clean, look at their view, if the Barbie is 4 shelves up, do you really think they wanna look around that high to clean up their Barbies or Hot wheels?? Sit on the floor and look around and build your play room around that, utilize the floor as storage for toy boxes etc. and then move the toys that are not being played with as often to the higher shelfs in the room.
Let the Child Help: organize their room, ask them where they think the best place for the box of hothweels would be, it’s their room, they are expected to clean it, so let them help make the decision on where to put things.
Sort and store: Does your little one really need 2 boxes of legos, or 3 tubs of Barbie at one time? I bet if you ask your little one what they got for Christmas this year, they maybe able to tell you one or two items and the rest they don’t remember. I’m guilty of that, too my kids have way too much. But what I do I rotate toys, take some put them away and then throughout the year I rotate toys, so it’s almost like they have new toys to play with every few month, not really knowing that they had those toys all along. My kids love this, because the toys seem new to them and are being played with. Now twice a year my kids put boxes together with toys they no longer want and we donate them to shelters or goodwill; especially before Christmas we clean out to make room for new toys.
This are just a few of the ideas and things we do at our home that came to mind; what is your favorite tip or how do you organize, what works best for you? Would love to hear it and maybe get some more ideas….
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