Organising toys

theSun, Tues 31 Mar

When children come into your life, they not only take up your time and energy but they take up lots of space as well! There’s the baby cot, changing table, clothes and diaper storage bins, cupboards, playpen, pram, car seat, other rather bulky necessities, books and of course, toys! As they grow, they accumulate toys very quickly and that’s when our nightmare begins. Every corner we turn, we trip over a doll or get poked on our bare soles by a gun-toting toy soldier. Containing all those pieces of building blocks, teapots and teacups, jigsaw puzzles, stuffed toys and mini figurines in one place is an everyday challenge.
For starters, if you are not able to spare a room and turn it into a playroom, designate a suitable section or corner in your home as your child’s play area. Get boxes or bins with lids and categorise them with labels such as “blocks”, “dolls”, or “cars”. For children who have yet to learn how to read, use picture stickers to denote the items those boxes contain. Teach your child to tidy up his toys according to their categories, and to keep those he doesn’t want to play with anymore before taking out a new set of toys. Sorting and labeling helps your child find and put away toys more easily.
Weed out those that are broken and if they can be fixed, do so when you are free. Put them aside with the forgotten and less-frequently-played toys and rotate them with toys that he gets bored with in future. Some could also be given away to friends and relatives or donated to charity. Giving away toys to less fortunate children is a valuable lesson for a child to learn.
Create mini play sections within the room or space. The box of cooking toys could be placed next to the kitchen set, art and craft items in boxes or shelves nearer to a worktable or easel, and role-playing costumes next to a mirror for example. Place some hooks at a suitable height along a wall to hang bags and pouches to keep other small toys such as stuffed animals, hats, and costumes.
Sturdy shelving units also help get toys off the floor and minimise clutter. They can be used to keep some of his larger, favourite and most-frequently-played-with toys so that they are within reach and sight. Small side tables or sideboards also help in providing counter-top space for toys that need to be displayed for ease of playing such as doll houses and train sets.
Decorate the playroom in his favourite colours, pin up some of his drawings, hang posters of his favourite cartoon characters or superheroes. Making the room or play area a place to call his own would make him more likely to care for it and keep it tidy.
Organising your child’s toys takes some planning and lots of patience. The effort, however, will be rewarded as you begin to see less clutter around the house and more importantly, your child learning organising skills and developing a sense of responsibility.