How To Organize Toys for Young Kids

Is your house drowning in toys? Do you constantly wish your toys were more under control? That is the modern dilemma of so many moms that I know. Toys take up so much space within a home, so I believe that if you can organize your family’s toys effectively, you will significantly reduce stress and make your home feel more at peace. Let’s talk about the best way to do that…

1. Less is More

The market for toys in the United States was $29.2 billion in 2022. Do you know who’s paying for this? Moms. No, not literally. (I have a feeling a lot of grandparents are involved in the monetary transactions…) But, when kids are young, moms are usually the ones cleaning up the toys, managing the toys, and organizing the toys. This takes a lot of time. The more our toy industry grows, the more time moms are having to spend taking care of their kids’ possessions. Additionally, clutter in homes negatively impacts mental well-being, particularly among women. And not only can too many toys affect moms, but it also affects kids in a similar way. The more toys available in the area, the less likely kids will be able to focus on what they’re playing with. So when it comes to toys, less is more.

Declutter Your Toys

The easiest first step to organize toys is to declutter them. Get rid of as many toys as you can. Seriously. If you are reading this post about how to organize toys, you probably have enough of them. So do not hold back.

I know it seems crazy to get rid of an item when it feels like you just acquired it within the past year or so, but keep in mind that all toys are temporary. When your kids go off to college, are you still going to keep these same toys in your home? No, obviously not. That’s a long way off, but it highlights the fact that you WILL get rid of these toys one day. They will not stay useful to you and your family forever. So, the question isn’t: “Should I get rid of this toy or not?” The question is: “When should I get rid of this toy?”

If a toy was well-loved in your home, but your kid has since moved on, then it’s time to get rid of it. If your kid never got into the toy, even when it was age-appropriate, then it’s time to get rid of it. Be as ruthless as you can.

When it’s time to actually get rid of the toys, listen to me: you have permission to just throw them away. Especially if you are in a difficult season, and the toys are contributing to your feeling of overwhelm. It’s more important to get your home and mental health under control first. If you have more capacity and you want to be more intentional about your decluttering, you can usually give your toys a good second life by donating to some local toy donation centers or daycares. (If you’re local to Columbus, let me know and I’ll send you some ideas!)

Store Away Toys by Age

What if your kid isn’t old enough for the toy yet? (Ex. The toy is for ages 3+, but your kid is only 2.) I recommend that you store these out of the way as “future toys.” If your kid isn’t playing with it right now, then it’s clutter.

Similarly, if your child has outgrown some toys, but you have younger kids or plan on having more kids, then you may want to hold onto those younger toys. These are essentially now “future toys” for your next children. But again, if no one is currently playing with it, then it’s clutter. So it’s best to get those out of the way for a more peaceful home.

I personally keep a couple big bins in our basement for future toys. Maybe one day I will organize those toys by kid and/or age group, but I don’t feel the need to do that right now. The generic bins are out of the way and labeled, which is organized enough for me.

Continually Rotate Toys

Once you have eliminated all of the unnecessary, you should only have good, engaging toys remaining. Even among these good toys, I encourage you to narrow down even more by adopting a toy rotation system.

Once you organize the toys (see below), designate some of the toys as “active,” and keep them in your play spaces. Designate the other toys as “inactive,” and remove them from your living areas. Keep them in storage, up on a high shelf, whatever works in your home.

Then set up a schedule, maybe once every 1-2 weeks, where you switch out the active and the inactive toys. By rotating what toys are available, you will cut down even further on the toys occupying your living space, and your kids will be able to focus more on the active toys. Plus, kids are usually so delighted when they see the new toys again! It’s truly a win-win.

2. Be Realistic

Where You Go, Toys Will Go Also

When your kids are young, the concept of a “playroom” just isn’t super functional. You can designate certain areas of your home for toys all you want, but the reality is that your children will be by your side most of the day. Where you go, they go. And where they go, toys go. So you can tirelessly work to return all of the toys back to the designated play space all of the time, or you can learn to live with toys in every room of the house.

I have chosen the latter. Here’s what this means: we don’t have a playroom, but rather we have a little bit of toy storage all over the house. I use pretty baskets and bowls in our living room. We have a toy storage bench and cabinet in our family room. We keep toys in the master bathroom/closet. There are toys in the basement, toys in the boys’ bedrooms, and so on. But each area is organized with intentional toy storage.

On a good day, we try to clean up one room before we move on to a new room. It doesn’t always work, but as much as I can, I try to teach my kids to clean up after themselves. Because I believe this is a valuable skill for adults, too. If you tidy as you go, you might have to wait an extra 5 minutes before you can move onto the next activity, but you are respecting your space by resetting it to how it was when you found it. If you take this approach with your kids, not only will you be so glad you did by the end of the day, but you will also instill in them a valuable life lesson.

Embrace This Season

If you want to truly keep your toys organized, it’s also important to be realistic about the fact that you are in a toy season. As I mentioned above, you will not have these toys in your home forever. What does that mean? Well, give yourself a little bit of grace. Your home doesn’t look Pinterest-perfect probably because it’s not supposed to when you have young kids! The goal of organizing toys is to feel at peace in your home and optimize your kids’ ability to play. It’s not to have a perfect-looking home. Don’t forget that.

3. Get Organized

So, what does it actually look like to organize toys?

Create Play Zones

As with any organization project, it’s important to categorize. Put like-items together. On this note, if you have toys in multiple locations across the house, remember that every place doesn’t have to do everything. Instead of having a little bit of everything in each location, create play zones, with each category of toy assigned to one specific location. Even better, try to align that type of play with the types of activities that would work well in that space.

Here are a few examples from our home:

• All dress-up clothes and pretend play (ex. kitchen & food) work best with an engaged adult, so we currently have that in the basement, where adults will usually be more present for intentional play.
• We also keep some big muscle play activities (ex. our Nugget couch, ball pit, tunnel, etc.) in the basement, next to where our workout supplies are. I try to encourage my kids to do their “workout” while I do mine.
• We keep building supplies in the spots where I need my kids to play independently: Legos are next to the kitchen, and magnetic blocks are in my 3-year-old’s bedroom for his “rest time”.
• All of the stuffed animals live in the bedrooms, next to the beds. They of course wander downstairs sometimes, but there are no “permanent” storage locations for soft things outside of the bedrooms.
• We keep a bookshelf in our living room, because that’s often where we greet guests and grandparents, who love to read books to our kids. In this scenario, we do also keep some books in each bedroom, but outside of the bedrooms, all books belong in the living room bookshelf—not in the basement, family room, etc.

Invest in Toy Storage

Once items are categorized, they need to be stored. If you follow my suggested method of keeping some toys in every room of the house, then it’s important that you match the storage pieces to the room, not to the toys. Just because it’s created organize toys doesn’t mean it will look good in that room. And the opposite is true, too—just because it’s not created to organize toys doesn’t mean it won’t work well storing toys in your space. My opinion here is that it’s best to buy multi-functional, high-quality storage pieces. In this season of life, you can use it for toys. In future seasons, you will surely find new things to store.

4. Go Slow & Steady

Organizing toys is a continual journey, not a destination. Much like laundry, there is never really going to be a point in time where it’s “done.” And if there is, it will be short-lived.

Remind yourself of your “why” and declutter often. Take it one toy at a time, and you will surely find some moments of peace along the way. You can do this!

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Check out the rest of my blog for more organization tips and ideas for organized parenting! Happy organizing!