How WE organize toys

Please check out my blog and follow the link to the video on how we organize toys at our house. Maybe it will help. I made this the other night after the kids were in bed, so I'm not looking too glamorous.

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I LOVE those bins from WalMart. I have them all over the house. Here is a pic of them in the laundry room which is on the way out to the garage so I can quickly grab stuff when we're heading out. I have them labeled for sunscreen & swimsuits, snacks, hats & sunglasses, Jake (dog leash/treats), cameras and vacuum parts.

Here is another pic showing one side of the family room which is how I keep our CDs and DVDs organized (and diaper changing stuff in the big one on the bottom shelf). The other side of the family room has more that look just like those ones. My son has 2 big red ones in his room for toys. I'm a little addicted to those bins but boy do they help keep clutter at bay!

 

Wow, great job organizing and good narration on the video. Thanks for the ideas.

 

Great ideas! That's awesome that you made a video. I love to organize (and the kids toys is definitely an ongoing process), so I'll be trying out some of your ideas! Thanks.

 

I would love to hear more about the folder activities that you use if you have time.

laurie

 

QUOTE(Three4Me @ Jun 11 2007, 08:19 PM) [snapback]288131[/snapback]
I LOVE those bins from WalMart. I have them all over the house. Here is a pic of them in the laundry room which is on the way out to the garage so I can quickly grab stuff when we're heading out. I have them labeled for sunscreen & swimsuits, snacks, hats & sunglasses, Jake (dog leash/treats), cameras and vacuum parts.

Here is another pic showing one side of the family room which is how I keep our CDs and DVDs organized (and diaper changing stuff in the big one on the bottom shelf). The other side of the family room has more that look just like those ones. My son has 2 big red ones in his room for toys. I'm a little addicted to those bins but boy do they help keep clutter at bay!

They are adorable! I never saw them in Walmart. When did you get them?

 

the bins I got maybe year ago. I just went to see if they had anything like it at walmart.com and didnt see it. I also recently checked my store and didnt find them but didnt complete my search. I use alot of baskets in the twins rooms but the problem with baskets is that they tear up too easily -- and kids like to eat the broken off reeds. YUM (not).

Folder activities are handmade things - mostly a variety of matching activities. Labor intensive but worth it IMO. You HAVE to laminate anything you glue onto a file folder otherwise they will rip it off.

1. Put the (animal) to bed: cut one rectangle out of each color of construction paper. laminate them with contact paper. staple or tape to manilla file folder, so that they are attached on 3 sides of the rectangle. Leave the top open, making a little pocket. These are your "beds". Cut out animals (using a template in the pack of construction paper or cookie cutter or make your own). Each color rectangle "bed" has an animal that color. Put the red bunny in the red bed, the orange bunny in the orange bed. etc.

2. Emotions: copy and paste 2 sets of smile/frown faces (other emoticons). glue one set to the file folder and the other cut out and laminate with contact paper. and have them match up smile with smile. Label each emoticon happy, sad, sick, angry etc. Helps the children learn how to express what they are feeling.

3. numbers - cut out pairs of snowflakes. label each with a number, 1-10. put dots on each snowflake. 10 dots goes on number 10, etc.

4. fall leaves. different shapes of leaves, different colors of paper. match the brown oak leaf, the yellow maple leaf etc. teaches colors and trees (we live in the woods so that is important to us). You could do this with cars, shapes, anything.

5. color/shapes. I made a chart which can be read horiz or vert and has all colors ROYGBIV plus pink, gray, white, brown , black .. major shapes like circle, square, tri, rect, diamond, star, heart. easily done on Publisher. put in clear sheet protector. read red square, red circle, red triangle etc or red square, orange square, yellow square etc.

 

Heather!! That was amazing! What a great service you provided for those of us that are "organizationally challenged" :clapping: Thank you!

 

Thanks for sharing, that was really great.

 

Terrific job Heather! I wish I was as organized as you... and that I had more closet space. My home has such little closets.

 

Wonderful Job!! I am working on my house now, and hoping it can be as organized as yours!!

 

QUOTE(TwinsItIs @ Jun 11 2007, 11:07 PM) [snapback]288725[/snapback]
They are adorable! I never saw them in Walmart. When did you get them?


I got mine maybe 5-6 mos ago. Funny thing is one Walmart near us had a ton of them in lots of fun colors (the small in 3-pack and the large in 2-pack) but the new WM Supercenter right by our house has never had them :umm: They don't have them online either.

 

Great job Heather!

 

Heather,
I wanted to show my DH but the link for the video on your blog isn't working anymore. Is that temporary?

Thanks so much,
Stacy

 

QUOTE(stacyann_1 @ Jun 13 2007, 11:09 PM) [snapback]291322[/snapback]
Heather,
I wanted to show my DH but the link for the video on your blog isn't working anymore. Is that temporary?

Thanks so much,
Stacy


Stacy, I am Heather's DH and web design guy. I'm not sure what happened but I copied the same link back into the blog and it worked. Just keep convincing your self that "technology makes life easier, technology makes life easier..." Please let me know if you have further troubles and I'll try to fix it so we can all stay organized in our physical space and cyberspace.

 

Heather, you rock!! This is great! I loved your video. It definitely gave me some ideas that I will be putting to use. Thanks for typing up your folder activities too. I like those ideas as well. It was so nice of you to do this.

Many Blessings~
Cindy

 

I have seen similar bins at Bed Bath and Beyond. I usually use baskets but those bins certainly are more modern than baskets, maybe I'll change

 

THANK YOU! GREAT IDEAS!!!!