For those lucky enough to have a whole room where your children can play, getting some kids playroom storage and organization ideas is very much appreciated.
Such a dedicated playroom can quickly become a disaster area of toys and a land mine of small parts on the floor if you're not careful.
In week #46 of the Organized Home Challenge we tackled toy organization, and this room would definitely count as part of working on that process.
Below are pictures of several organized playrooms shared by readers showing off what work they've done in their home. They look great, I think.
If you've worked on this challenge and want to share your own picture I'd love to see and feature it as well. You can share your own organization photos here.
The second pic is how the toy room ended up looking every day. Chaos.
And my girls wouldn't really play with anything because the mess was so crazy.
We went through every bin and donated lots of toys and threw away trash.
Now it's been like after after picture for a week.
It's easier for them to clean up because there's less mess and stuff to overwhelm them.
My 5yr old says I love it so sparkly clean!
This looks great Libby! Decluttering is almost always the first step to getting control back over a room, and playroom is one that needs to be decluttered frequently.
I also like how you've got lots of kids friendly containers in the room to help hold items.
Yours isn't quite the same, but the organizer and shelving system you've got looks similar to the ClosetMaid cube organizer I've got pictured to the left. Products such as this are great for kids to store their toys, separated into rough categories, but in kid-friendly containers.
There are so many cute colors for these little fabric boxes as well to match almost any decor.
This is my playroom. The drawers on the left hold all the arts and crafts stuff.
The shelves have DVDs and books and the baskets have all the toys sorted in different categories so we have soft toys, car track, puzzles and games, figures, cars, Toy Story, potato heads, food, musical, phones and cameras, odd bits, paper, Lego, and dressing up.
The big blue tub at the end has bigger lego in it like the ships and islands.
Oh and play-doh and other games are on the shelves too.
It was a labour of love but it definitely is organized better now. The kids can find what they want right away and without emptying toys everywhere.
You're right, when there are lots of different types of items it is key to keep them separated in various containers.
I've found the key to keeping them separate though is to allow only one type of toy out at a time, and then make them put everything back in that container before they get out the next one.
Otherwise when cleaning up everything gets just thrown back in whatever basket and soon everything is a jumbled mess.
A reader, Eleri, shared a picture of her kids' toy room.
First, I love the bright colors. A playroom is a great place to have a little fun with color, and she definitely gas with the bright red, pink and blues.
Further, notice the shelf. It really doesn't take up too much room but it provides the organization for the room that it needs.
When you have a shelf like this in a room where kids are playing make sure to bolt it to the wall though, because otherwise a climbing child (do you have one of those too, like I do?) can accidentally pull a large piece of furniture down on themselves and get seriously injured.
Finally, notice right on the far right front of the picture the hanging mesh organizer (like the one shown on the left of the page). These are great for a playroom or child's room and are quite popular. They are great for holding stuffed animals or other large but relatively light and soft items.
You can get even more ideas for stuffed animal storage here.
Here's a similar idea using rattan or wicker baskets for organizing and storing toys in this area.
When you have this type of basket they tend to snag cloth and similar fabric items, and also can be scratchy for little hands, so I suggest using basket liners so they not only look cute, but are more functional.
Ikea is a great place to find products to organize your home relatively cheaply.
Here's how a reader, JosGis, uses some of the storage bins to contain and corral her kids toys in the little play area.
She says: "Ikea storage. It's endless the things you can do with those bins also."
Another reader, Janna agrees. She says, "Playroom organization is easy if you can get to an IKEA. There are these multi colored bin drawers and I labeled every one.
When someone wants to play they pull out that bin only and have to put it back before another is retrieved. It works great!"
Zarina shared this picture of the toy corner her son has in their home.
She said, "One word, Ikea storage. Here's how I've organized all my sons toys. Two toy storage frames with slot in plastic trays and boxes."
A trick for the playroom are "picture" labels on bins.
It makes it easier to see what goes where.
I used this idea in the Toddler room at the preschool after thoroughly cleaning the room.
I took pictures of everything, printed pictures, and used them to label the shelves.
If you can't laminate, cover with clear packing tape.
Great idea Charlene! I agree labels can be very helpful, especially to allow kids to know where to put toys back.
And pictures are especially helpful for small children who can't read yet.
I also like the idea of using chalkboard labels on various bins and shelves. The advantage of chalkboard labels, or other erasable labels, is that as the stuff in the room changes the labels can change with them.
I use two big storage drawers plus two garden trugs for teddies for my two girls (age 5 & 2).
They tidy up after themselves pretty well as everything has a place and old/unused toys go to charity.
A reader, Mary, shared this picture of how she stores the small toys in her kids' playroom.
Unfortunately, she didn't share much information about where she found them.
She said, "Love these as there's no mess on show. Keep meaning to label them but kids now know where everything goes."
Here are a couple of similar containers available on Amazon which could work, although if anyone recognizes what brand this is please share in the comments so I can provide more information for people.
I hope these pictures shared with readers have given you some ideas of how you can organize your own playroom now.
In addition, if this has gotten you motivated to get organized in general I would love for you to join the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge here on the site.
Each week we tackle a different area of our home decluttering and getting things in order, while simultaneously building new habits and systems to keep everything in place, and slowly, over the course of the year your whole can become transformed.
In addition, if you tackle this Week #46's challenge or organize toys I'd love to see your before and after pictures. You can share your organization projects with me here and I'll feature them on the site.
I like how Eleri has everything colorful in the room and most of the items are available in Ikea.
I'm working on the playroom and I use the white wire cubes made into 6 cubes, plus the top of them using bins, totes, etc. And you can really fit a lot in those squares.
When everything gets jumbled you dump it all in a pile in the middle. Then you put the containers all around you. Then sit down and help children learn to sort into proper box. In no time it is done and they learn how to organize without being so overwhelmed. Pretty soon they can do it by themselves. They start to learn that it is more fun to find things where they should be and start putting things away in proper container to begin with. Did this with all 3 boys whose toys had to be in their rooms. They are now great housekeepers as husbands and Dads and use the same skill on their children.
Our church holds a Share the Blessing twice a year. Our boys, 5 & 8, go through their toys and see what they believe they are willing to part with because they are done with them. It is a great learning experience for them as well as a wonderful clean up for me. I haven't had to take anything extra and add it to the give away box so far. They have done well! Keeping my fingers crossed they will always be good about sharing the blessings we have been given.