Good Toy Storage
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A good method of toy storage will become important as you acquire toys and other play items. Being able to quickly locate a toy you or your child wants is important not only for your sanity, but also for your child's enjoyment and being able to quickly put your hands on a certain toy allows you to foster their development in areas you think of in the spur of the moment.
Storage for Kids Toys - The art of De-cluttering
Make stored toys accessible to your child through good toy storage.
- Separate containers for each type of toy help keep things organized. Make use of kids toy boxes and toy chests for kids toys so it's easier to keep the bits and pieces together.
- Some toys, like blocks, lego and puzzles, have multiple parts. Kids love to dump out blocks from a container and it's easy to see how toys can easily get mixed up. Provide a kids toy organizer, which could be as simple as an old shoe box, to for storing all the pieces together.
- Ideas for containers include empty nappy boxes, baskets, shoe boxes, even tissue boxes.
- Rotating boxes of toys helps keep your child's interest in those toys - they seem almost new again. It also saves on packing up time by putting out only one or two kids toy boxes out at a time.
- Also think about where you store toys. You might like to have some items such as books available on a low shelf. Giving your child easy access to imaginative play props is also a good idea. This gives them the opportunity to choose their own activity and make their own decisions.
- Having some order in the way toys and activities are presented, rather than a random collection, can help your child get the most out of the activity. For example, set out an activity with choices, such as a selection of similar types of toys in different kids toy boxes.
Clutter and Chaos -or- Organized and Overjoyed - Where do You Fit?
Influencing kids to keep the house tidy is an art! Having good toy storage solutions is key. Do you have a great story about your toy storage strategies? One that will make others cringe or delight? Then let's hear it. It's EASY.
More Tips and Stories about Super Toy Storage Ideas
Click on the links below to read some great stories mums have shared about their strategies for toy storage.
Super toy storage tip for keeping chaos at bay
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Clutter and chaos. Toys everywhere. That was before we discovered this toy storage tip: we contacted our old nappy boxes with beautiful bright coloured ...
Toy Storage, Play and Space Considerations
A space set aside for toy storage is important. But also have a space for play where your child can leave their creation set up so they can return to it, adding to their masterpiece. This allows learning to be extended over time.
Young children need plenty of space to spread out but they also need smaller, snuggling-in spaces, where they can hide away. This could be a big old box - you can cut out a window and cut away a door, or it could be behind the couch, or a little tent.
A carpeted area helps to define the play space, reduces noise, and provides a comfortable work surface.
Cleaning up is a skill that is learned. Helping children learn how to pack up in an orderly manner is a benefit of a great toy storage system.
When packing up or cleaning up you can involve your child in practising language and math skills. It gives you the opportunity to reinforce concepts such as sorting identical and dissimilar shapes and organizing by size. You can use this process to further assist your child in classifying and learning the names of shapes and toys or colours of objects.
Treasure baskets and Toy Chests for Kids
Your baby engages and learns with all the senses. A treasure basket or toy chest for kids provides objects of various sensory qualities for your baby to investigate and explore their world and is most helpful at the stage when a baby can sit but is not yet mobile, as it provides for exploration in one spot.
Engaging the senses:
Many everyday household articles provide a variety of sensory experiences. In contrast to plastic toys which offer little sensory stimulation - they smell, taste, and feel like plastic - natural objects have a wide variety of sensory properties.
Select items of varying tactile qualities - a large feather, bottle brush, pine cone or sponge to squeeze for texture; leather glove, piece of velvet, nail brush, wool pom-poms, wooden spoon, rub, shake, mouth, drop, and pick up; a seashell or lemon to explore with gums and tongue, she simultaneously catches its texture, colour, scent and flavour; shakes or bangs a whisk, measuring spoons or a bunch of keys - your baby notices the sounds produced as well as the sensations in the arm and hand. Such actions also strengthen cognitive development and motor control.
You might even like to set up some items that are hanging so your baby can tap and knock them. Babies love cause and effect and take great pleasure in tapping a suspended toy and watching as it moves back and forth until it comes to a stop.
You'll need to regularly check for safety and cleanliness of objects, as well as replenishing the treasure basket to maintain your baby's interest.
Watch on as your baby explores the object. Let your child make their own discoveries. Be close by. Your presence will give your baby security, and they will let you know with body language and other signals when they have had enough of exploring the contents of the kids toy boxes.
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