Toy Storage

[Julie-Ann]

A friend of mine on Facebook spent yesterday trying to tidy up and sort out her kids toys.
Do you have any ideas on how best to store kids toys?
Whilst you are here if you have any ideas on how to get them to tidy their toys up that would be helpful:D.

[TikTok]

I store my boys toys with a storage cube unit such as this - http://www.smartfurniture.com/shop/images/catalog/assembly.0306x12.real.white.jpg

But I buy some plastic tubs that are coloured and fit into the 30cm boxes, and then fill those with toys! I alternate the boxes' colours too so it looks really neat but still nice and colourful, and kiddy!

[Lanne]

I agree with tik tok.

My aim with everything is to make it neat, sorted and easily accessed and put away.. otherwise... you are just making it hard for yourself IMHO

We have expedits from ikea. previously he had a 5 x5 and since we swapped rooms last week he now has two 4 x 4s... ikea have blue containers for 1.95 that fit perfectly. They dont get too heavy etc.

I also bought an antonius rack with the BIG plastic storage ..one for lego and one for thomas.

And I have a red fabric chest (also from ikea I think it is the minnen? range).. it holds a HUGE amount of dress ups..

I find having containers that store different types of toys.. and everything super accessible makes cleaning up easier. we can all clean up quickly if we know where they go.

If the room is OUT of control..which happens every 6 - 8 weeks i guess (or when other children come to play... we just start making piles on the floor according to the box and then upload back into the boxes.

I have also bought a rail from ikea (i think you hang ironing on it?) and the kiddie coat hangers but kids dont rehang stuff so i gave up.

[Elements]

I currently have a large upholstered blanket box that he uses for larger things.....and in his wardrobe we have clear plastic buckets full of different items, crafts, train sets, cars and motorbikes.....

A friend of mine has this bookcase, its massive and she has woven boxes along the bottom 2 shelves filled with like toys cars, trians, action figures etc
I love it and would love to swap our existing system to this. She then puts all the larger (need help with) (or keep out of reach from other kids hands) toys

http://www.earlysettler.com.au/images/product/225/93330875_MonashBookcase.jpg

[giggle_smile]

We currently have trundles under both boys beds which do not have mattresses :) so we have bought the lowline plastic tubs for little or flat toys. They both have a toy box in each room and the tops of their built ins are stacked up in plastic tubs filled with toys that are swapped around every month or so.

Now that my business has moved out of the house we have our converted garage to transform into a play room and I cannot wait to get started on it.

[Julie-Ann]

Having a play room that you can close the door to is bliss Giggle-smile.
Do you have to do much to change it over to be a play room?

[giggle_smile]

Not alot, To start with I need to sort thru all my paperwork thats in boxes and get it into some sort of order :(

We have kept the roller doors on for resale value as we are likely to sell up next year, but we need to somehow seal the top of them as you get a draft coming in. We had an internal access door put in about 18 months ago, so everything is freshly painted and clean.

Apart from that get the pest controller in, because I had lots of cardboard boxes and deliveries from all over Australia, I just want to make sure there are no nasties hiding and the far wall is double brick which the spiders love.

We already have a desk to setup out there and a lowline for there tv and playstation etc so there wont be alot of cost involoved just finding the time to get it all done :)

I cant wait to throw them out there LOL

[Julie-Ann]

It sounds great. I have a separate room for Mr16 and it is wonderful. I go in there once a day and do a spruce up and basically leave him to it:).

Do you have any ideas on how to block the draft?

[giggle_smile]

I will leave that to hubby :) We could put up a temporary wall but im not sure how much it would cost.

Initially we were going to replace the roller doors with some sort of sliding door and do a full renovation, however a house within our family that we have been eyeing off for some quite time looks as if it will be up for sale possibly by the end of the year so we dont want to spend a whole lot of money here as the new place will need a whole lotta TLC and Money LOL

[daphadills]

I went through all this last year.
I found having things organised, a place for everything helped. So not the traditional big toy box, rather a few smaller ones.
I am a fan of the expedite systems.
We are just using a bookcase atm with boxes. Then other tubs, one for the playing cooking, one for Barbies and another for little people etc.
Certainly makes things easier.
I also have things in the hallway closet so not everything is access-able at once. I rotate things around. I actually find things get played with this way and it means they have to put something away before pulling something else out. Of course it doesn't always work but it does sometimes:D

[Julie-Ann]

Very wise not to spend too much when you are planning to move. Plus many people want to have a garage more than an extra room, so something temporary is a good idea. Maybe start a new thread and let's see if anybody have any suggestions on how to do this easily and preferably inexpensively. It amazes me how many great suggestions people can come up with:D.

[tracyel]

I have a few different storage boxes as you can see in the pictures. Each toy has it's own place. For eg, there is one for their musical instruments, 1 for their stuffed toys. Then I have shelving with 6 individual boxes, again each one being for specific toys.
Each night before my boys go to bed, I make cleaning up a game. I tell them that I will race them. I give them a choice of which toys they will clean up, eg. books, cars, animals. I then tell them it's time to start. Whichever ones they don't choose, I clean up. By the time they have finished cleaning up the toys they chose, they are enjoying the game so much, they continue cleaning up the rest of their toys.

[jaz_ben]

Ive got the expedit white bookshelve from Ikea with the pink storage boxes down the bottom, with dress ups in one, duplo, babies, mixed toys and the bigger kinda toys i sit in the cubes. It looks really neat and I get loads of compliments Ive got a pre-school desk with the sliding drawers with all the paper and pencils neatly put away. with bright coloured pink and blue ikea chairs. we just need a bright rug for the floor.

its a same i cant upload pics at the moment to show you all.