How do you keep your toy rooms tidy

[toddlers896]

For those of you that have all your toys stored in one room how do you manage it? I changed my dining room into a toy room because i wanted the children to have access to everything and to be able to choose what they wanted to play with and I have everything stored really neatly on shelves and in labelled boxes. When we have free play everything gets pulled out and the place just gets trashed. They dont play with one particular thing, everything just gets pulled out and it's a nightmare. I find myself just cleaning up all day.

[moggy]

We have all in Ikea square open shelves. We do not pull everything out- once 2 or 3 things are out it is 'put one away before you get another out' rule.
I will not have mess over the floor- trip hazard and too much work to tidy.
Once they learn the rule it is easy to enforce (I only have 1-3 yr olds).
I also limit how much stuff there is, a good spring clean and sort out works a treat- they do not need all that many toys. I have stripped out a lot and no one has missed anything.
I also change over stuff- some stored in garage and swap over every month or two (for big stuff like wooden castle and wooden garage- so only one is available at a time).
And we use the Toy Library to cut down on stuff that is here permanently.

[jackie 7]

Either do what truss wants and be a French style setting and make them sit in a chair all day or tidy up as they go along. Here they are getting good at helping to tidy up. I direct them as they tidy.

[toddlers896]

I forgot to mention that one of my storage units has 12 compartments on it and has different items in each compartment like threading, tea sets, duplo etc and because it's open they have easy access to everything and this is where the problem is. I know the solution would be not to have an open storage unit but I like it and just wish everything didn't get pulled out

[AliceK]

I do have the same problem unless I keep on top of it and by that I do not mean that I tidy up but that I get the children to tidy up. I have to tell them though otherwise they wouldn't do it. Most of the time it is 1yr, 2yr and 4yr olds and with the exception of the 1yr old the rest are really good at tidying and do a good job but only when they are asked. I have threatened to take all the toys away if they don't tidy up.

xxx

[blue bear]

How do you keep a toy room tidy :ROFL1::ROFL1: that's a good one
Well I suppose you could ban the children that would keep it tidy.

[clareelizabeth1]

How do you keep a toy room tidy :ROFL1::ROFL1: that's a good one Well I suppose you could ban the children that would keep it tidy.
I was thinking that as what you store things in is never the problem it's always the children.

As for helping the op I go for the being really strict and saying nothing else out till some things are tidy. Other people I know use a tidy up song to great effect but I normally just say time to tidy and normally they are so used to the drill they just do it.

[Glitter]

I had the same problem, the children got out all the toys, but didn't really play with anything. I covered the toy boxes with blankets and told the children we weren't getting any of the toys out.

The children played happily with hardly any toys so I bought a big toy cupboard to keep everything in. From now on I only get out a couple of toys at a time. Children can look through photos of the toys and choose the ones they want. I have found the children play much better, and I don't have to wear out the knees of my jeans crawling around on the floor tidying up all day.

[funemnx]

I've got a shed which everything is kept in - not ideal but it means only a couple of boxes out at a time. Ofted would probably prefer children had access to all but it's just not possible in a small space :thumbsup:

[toddlers896]

I've got a shed which everything is kept in - not ideal but it means only a couple of boxes out at a time. Ofted would probably prefer children had access to all but it's just not possible in a small space :thumbsup:

Good idea becks and lock myself in it too lol x

[alwaysright]

we also just get out few things at a time, children arent allowed to just drag stuff off shelves and if they get fed up with something they put it away before we get something else out, i've nearly broke my neck a few times tripping over toys! we then have tidy up time before snack, before lunch, before afternoon snack and then home time, kids get used to it very quickly and know where all the toys go, so when we come back into the room they choose what they want out again

[Jiorjiina]

We have a 'one thing per child' rule, then when they've finished and want something else we have to tidy up first. With a couple of children it still gets messy, but it's not uncontrollable. By the time they are about 18 months they should be able to understand, even if they need some help or reminding.

We also tidy up before eating, or sleeping, or going out, so I still feel like I spend the majority of my day tidying!

I also try not to have too many toys available, so I can rotate them around and keep them interesting. Otherwise the kids just lose their heads completely when the come into a room full of toys!

[toddlers896]

Ok so as of tomorrow my plan is to be more organised with toys/activities. Only one box will be taken out at a time.all toys will have to be put away before we go out to our group in the morning. Half an our before home time will be quiet time, tidy up and watch peppa pig. When I have one year olds I will bring a couple of boxes into the living room and their will be no access to toy room or I will put a blanket over the open storage unit to stop it all getting thrown around the room whichever works better.
This is going to be a challenge as the three year old likes to tell me no and ignores what I say but ime sure with a bit of structure this will work. My mistake was not being in control so with a few ideas from you guys hopefully my home won't look like a bomb has hit it :laughing:

[alwaysright]

Ok so as of tomorrow my plan is to be more organised with toys/activities. Only one box will be taken out at a time.all toys will have to be put away before we go out to our group in the morning. Half an our before home time will be quiet time, tidy up and watch peppa pig. When I have one year olds I will bring a couple of boxes into the living room and their will be no access to toy room or I will put a blanket over the open storage unit to stop it all getting thrown around the room whichever works better.
This is going to be a challenge as the three year old likes to tell me no and ignores what I say but ime sure with a bit of structure this will work. My mistake was not being in control so with a few ideas from you guys hopefully my home won't look like a bomb has hit it :laughing:

sounds like a plan!

[danemi1]

Ok so as of tomorrow my plan is to be more organised with toys/activities. Only one box will be taken out at a time.all toys will have to be put away before we go out to our group in the morning. Half an our before home time will be quiet time, tidy up and watch peppa pig. When I have one year olds I will bring a couple of boxes into the living room and their will be no access to toy room or I will put a blanket over the open storage unit to stop it all getting thrown around the room whichever works better.
This is going to be a challenge as the three year old likes to tell me no and ignores what I say but ime sure with a bit of structure this will work. My mistake was not being in control so with a few ideas from you guys hopefully my home won't look like a bomb has hit it :laughing:

How is it going???

[toddlers896]

How is it going???

So far so good thankyou. We tidy before we go out in the morning and I say only one thing out at a time. I have only had one all week so it's been easy but tomorrow I have three so this will be the tester. I plan to keep toy room door closed and just bring out a few toys and we can rotate them. Going out all day so it should be pretty easy. It is a struggle to get them to tidy and I end up doing most of it but ime sure if we keep persevering they will soon get used to it. Thanks again x

[mrs robbie williams]

I know have a huge chest it all goes in its my home and I don't want labels :)

[loocyloo]

I have a playroom and we generally have a box or 2 out at a time and put 1 away before getting another out ... However sometimes we have a few things from each box and then I have a spare box that bits get tidied back into. But if a game is ongoing then it may stay out for the whole week.
Currently the play food etc is out and we've made cookers and menus and all sorts of things ... This has been out (although sometimes tidied a bit! ) for the past 3 weeks!