hAppy Friday: Organizing Kids Toys

My child was exceptionally spoiled this holiday season. Apparently that’s what happens when you’re an only grandchild, have 6 aunts/uncles ect. Then of course Santa stopped by too! This was the year of small toys – barbies and accessories, doll house accessories, dress up toys, and then there were hundreds of other miscellaneous little things. It wasn’t two days after Christmas before I was griping about the nth toy I had stepped on or tripped over.  At first we were putting them in the over sized toybox but that posed another problem. All of the little toys would slowly sift to the bottom to be buried under the larger toys. A very frustrated toddler informed me she could not lift all of those heavier toys.

It’s not easy organizing kids toys but I think I found a solution that works well for us.  I ended up purchasing these 15qt storage containers from Sterilite because I found that they could save space by easily sliding under her bed. Once we got them home and we separated toys by group into the bins but I knew they wouldn’t stay neatly organized without some help. ZINK hAppy to the rescue! 

I created the labels using the 2in paper at 3in long. My toddler isn’t reading yet so I made each label a distinctly different color and included a shape as well.  Now when it’s time to put away our toys she knows Doctor Supplies go in the purple bin the with the square. It’s a great way to keep her utilizing her colors and shapes. I also included the word ‘Doctor Supplies’ to work on word recognition. 

Tip: If you’re storing the bins under the bed I would recommend ditching the bed skirt. We have found that if toys are out of site they’re also out of mind. (To avoid looking at an ugly box spring I bought a fun sheet to cover it.) 

What projects have done with your Zink hAppy? We would love to see or hear about them!