Storage ideas for Kids stuff

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CountryGuy

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Central PA
Wondering if anyone has some good ideas on how to best store things like kids craft supplies, legos, and other toys. We've been trying for years using plastic tubs and totes but then we end up with totes stacked. Or when we go to get more you can't get the same tote and so they won't all nest together.
 
When the grandson spent a lot of time here, we used these:

713fMikSQbL__SR500,500_.jpg


Kept all the little toys organized and visible.

We used the larger bins for his Legos.

https://www.amazon.com/Tot-Tutors-Storage-Organizer-Collection/dp/B000067PTO?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_1
 
We have an entire closet dedicated to kids stuff, mostly craft supplies and certain toys. We installed shelves and use marked storage bins, etc. The closet is right next to our activities table, which is also where kids play with things like legos.

art closet - left side view.JPG
 
We have an entire closet dedicated to kids stuff, mostly craft supplies and certain toys. We installed shelves and use marked storage bins, etc. The closet is right next to our activities table, which is also where kids play with things like legos.

View attachment 33114
Oooooo! Your activity closet has a sewing machine!

Kids or adults, I think keeping things organized is a never ending challenge. Daughter has ADD and her stuff was always a mess. One of the things that I did in her room was to install a single 12 inch wide shelf about a foot down from her ceiling. That was where I put things that weren't really played with, but were hers, such as soccer trophies, photos, special figurines. It helped to keep some things picked up. She recently sent me a photo of something her dad had given her that I had completely forgotten about, that lived on that shelf.

Many of children's toys have so many little pieces. I like having those plastic cabinets with drawers. Some of them have drawers that cannot be removed, while some have drawers that are easily removed. I wish we had had them when daughter had so many legos, light brites, etc.

Toy needs also change with children's age, and storage needs do as well.
 
When my kids were small I taught them that if they left toys on the floor they went into the goodwill bin or the garbage.
My kids always had clean rooms...
 
:Do_O If not there, someplace close!
 
Thanks for the ideas. We had one of those racks like Sparky showed but wasn't big enough for a lot of their things and always seems that whichever of them was a toddlers would inevitably dump the bins in the 2 minutes you took your eye of them. That was one reason we went to the totes with lids as the lid stayed on most of the time when they got flipped over.

I really like your closet Sentry. That gives me some ideas. Maybe I just need to figur out a design for their closet in their play room. We keep their board games up on the shelf but then their is all the dead space in the middle. I might need to build a shelf unit similar to what you show to expand it, just bolt it to the wall. Our 2 oldest teens are not so much the problem but the 3 youngest (7 & 6yo boys and our 3yo daughter).... all those dang death trap Lego's or all the crazy small, hard pointed death spikes princess crowns that come with little dolls... my poor sensitive footsies...
 
Thanks for the ideas. We had one of those racks like Sparky showed but wasn't big enough for a lot of their things and always seems that whichever of them was a toddlers would inevitably dump the bins in the 2 minutes you took your eye of them. That was one reason we went to the totes with lids as the lid stayed on most of the time when they got flipped over.

I really like your closet Sentry. That gives me some ideas. Maybe I just need to figur out a design for their closet in their play room. We keep their board games up on the shelf but then their is all the dead space in the middle. I might need to build a shelf unit similar to what you show to expand it, just bolt it to the wall. Our 2 oldest teens are not so much the problem but the 3 youngest (7 & 6yo boys and our 3yo daughter).... all those dang death trap Lego's or all the crazy small, hard pointed death spikes princess crowns that come with little dolls... my poor sensitive footsies...
Many people miss getting good use of storage space. Closets are a good example. Many people use the shelf up high, then the pole for clothing and keep shoes on the floor. Closet organizing companies have helped many people make better use of their closets. I have a number of closets where I have put shelving units in, usually on the side, to create ways to store certain things. I have a closet that I used a shelf on one side for VHS tapes. Those are gone now. I found a shelving unit with several shelves in it at a yard sale that had been used for VHS tapes that I put on the side of my coat closet in my entry way. It fit in their perfectly and created storage space that would have otherwise gone to waste. We seem to have quite a collection of spray paint. We keep things like that on the shelving unit there. A hall closet upstairs had room for shelving units on both sides. I have used various bins to store things like greeting cards, and other office type supplies on those shelves. Originally, that closet had a shelf at the top and a bar to hang clothing. The original shelf now has a paper sorter such as those used in offices where I keep a collection of card stock that I used when I was teaching, for making classroom materials. It is up high, out of the way, but makes the card stock easily accessible.

Children dumping bins of stuff is really frustrating. If there is no consequence for such behavior, why would they stop? There are parents who keep cleaning up the messes. That only teaches a child that if they make a mess, mom or dad will clean it up. When I was teaching, there were certain children who were frequent mess makers. My cure for any of that was that the mess maker was then the mess cleaner. If a child decided to dump something, they were the person responsible for cleaning it up. I had a student who took a pencil and scribbled on a wall. It was bad. Guess what he spent quite a bit of time doing? Erasing and erasing, then scrubbing and scrubbing. No fun! In some instance, but not all, children had behaviors that caused bins of things to spill, but not necessarily on purpose. They were responsible for cleaning it up, and others could help in most instances. If certain materials were abused in my classroom, they would disappear for a while. I at least needed the children to miss said item and to ask about it. I remember certain children who deliberately made messes, I believe for attention seeking. I would tune into said child, without them necessarily knowing I was tuned in. I might have my head turned 90 degrees, so it didn't appear I was watching them, and when the mess started, I would walk over and remove said item being misused. Sometimes I would say, "That is not how we use that." Sometimes, especially if I had already removed something, I wouldn't say a word. No need for me to be angry, mean, upset, just gently remove said item and set it up on a counter and then proceed to appear as though I was tuned in elsewhere until said child moved on.
 
We had a lot of unruly preschoolers in our school that never had to pick up after themselves. They would "lose a star" for the day if they threw a fit or left a mess. 4 stars got you a treasure from the box when you left, and 5 stars got you two treasures.
At home, nothing happens until chores are done. Not even dinner. Chores include cleaning up your room.
Granddaughter (14) just told little sis granddaughter that there's no maid service with this house. She is not used to having to do anything. So now she has a chores list: set the table, clear the table, clean the glass top kitchen table, clean the glass kitchen door, keep her room clean, put her own laundry away, and dust the front room weekly. She gets $2 a week for her own pocket money. The first week was hard for her, now she's doing fine. She's 8, and the chores will get more difficult as she gets older.
 
We have an entire closet dedicated to kids stuff, mostly craft supplies and certain toys. We installed shelves and use marked storage bins, etc. The closet is right next to our activities table, which is also where kids play with things like legos.

View attachment 33114
You are far to organized.....
 
Don't have to worry about kids any more. Mine are long grown and gone. If I did have to worry about them I would just send them to the basement. They may never come back. Jimmy Hoffa could be buried down there, and nobody would ever find him.

Seriously, my wife did an incredible job of rotating toys. She would put things away when the kids lost interest. They never missed them. Every few months or so things would reappear, and they were like new. Others would be put away and never missed. That system at least reduced some of the clutter, and the things that were put away were not in the way.
 
Maybe I'm way off base here, but when we were kids my brother and I shared a toy chest. All of our toys fit into that one "box." My kids each had a toy chest and a book shelf. I'm just curious about the volume. The more they have, the less they respect. Just my 2 cents.
 
Maybe I'm way off base here, but when we were kids my brother and I shared a toy chest. All of our toys fit into that one "box." My kids each had a toy chest and a book shelf. I'm just curious about the volume. The more they have, the less they respect. Just my 2 cents.

Most of kids toys were for the yard,except ball gloves ,etc..Also had camping and fishing supplies and lors of beach things for our kids and the grands.
I hope the beach is not a thing of the past now with all this red tides and algae.
Although I'm a staunch conservative, I do agree with the libs on one thing our environemnt is in serious trouble. So why do the toons want more peopel using up what little we have left that isn't in danger ?
" Liberlaism is a mental disorder" M.S. , sure has that right.
 

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