Wednesday, October 1

How Do You Organize Your Toys and Children's Books?

Being the nosy the person that I am, I love to see how other people live. One think that really fascinates me is seeing the way that other mothers keep their children's toys organized and in check. We don't have a playroom (which I like!). Instead, we keep almost all of our toys and children's books downstairs. Since the children's things are in the main area of our home, I try to find attractive and kid friendly options for storage. Here is how we do it:

When you first walk in the front door of our house, you'll see a closet. We keep coats, hats, and mittens, dvds, and some toys in here. We have a dress-up trunk and mirror, a cart with some toys on it (beads, puzzles, animal train, shape sorter, etc.), the bilibo, and our daughter's tricycle in here. I'd really like to get a child-sized clothing tree to hang some of the dress-ups on for this Christmas.


In our reading room, we have a bookshelf with some of our children's books.


Someday, I would like to organize our books into categories and store them on the bookshelf in baskets like this one (I found it at the thrift shop!). New baskets like this are a bit expensive for me!


My husband is also thinking about making a display bookshelf (something like this - but one that is free standing not hanging) for our seasonal and featured books.

We also have our dollhouse in the reading room. The furniture and dolls are stored (usually) in the house and the basket underneath contains our farm animals, fence, and tree).


Our family room contains the most toys. We have two baskets with stuffed animals and baby toys (the round baskets), and two with blocks and musical instruments and games (the ones of the table). The large glass cabinet has all of our art supplies, paper, children's magazines, and library books. Our board books are in the house bookshelf and you can see our little rocker next to it.


Our kitchen has our little cradle and doll accessories - blankets, pillow, and doll sling. The dolls are usually here.


We also have our play kitchen in the kitchen. The drawers on the table hold the food and pots and pans. The basket on the step stool has our "church" books inside of it.


Our dining room has our little art center. We hang our daughter's work on the bulliten board and she uses her easel for it's felt board, chalk board, and for drawing and painting. We're planning to get a child sized table and chairs for that spot soon.


Our child-sized cleaning supplies are in the pantry in a box.


Our daughter's broom and swiffer are in the closet where I keep mine.

Will you give us a tour of your toy and book organization?

Leave a comment and we'll head over to check your house out!!

13 comments:

Tracy said...

Emma, I think you have done a most excellent job. Your home is beautiful!!

Kate Linnea Welsh said...

I always love seeing pictures of your beautiful home. And I really love the way you have incorporated the children's things all over the house in main living areas instead of putting them all aside in one room.

Courtney said...

As you know, I've been trying to get a post like this done. I will try my hardest today!

Phyllis said...

Beautiful! I can only wish. :-)

A Little Of A Lot said...

Your toy storage is wonderful. LOL, I am soooo not sharing ours *BLUSH*

Xenia Kathryn said...

I can't say I'll be posting pics of our toy storage anytime soon, unfortunately... unless there's a producer from TLC looking for a huge mess to "makeover." :D

THANK YOU for sharing your wonderful pictures. Your home is just beautiful, you have inspired me to get crackin' on my toy organization! I love the way you've integrated your daughter's things into your living space.

Anonymous said...

Hey Emma,
I was so inspired by your beautiful toy storage areas. Like many other ladies it seems, I am often slightly intimidated by the incredible beauty of your house in each and everyone of your pictures.
Never the less, I took courage and photographed the toy storage in my house:

http://faerieeva.vox.com/library/post/toy-storage.html

New Mom said...

Hi Emma,

Your house is always so neat and tidy! Are you a natural born neat-freak/organizer so that your house stays like this, or does it get messy like mine? I'm really curious how you keep it so neat with the two kiddos.

Anonymous said...

Your home looks so wonderfully organized as well as child-friendly, I applaud you!

M xx

Agape said...

Do you have a link for the cradle?

Everything looks beautiful! Good job!

Anonymous said...

To begin with , I love your blog and have been secretly admiring it for a while now. If yor intention is to make a lovely life for your family you are most assuredly succeeding, and thank you for being an inspiration for me and my family!

Saedee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
flowersforTeacher said...

I've often considered giving this a go, I think it would look lovely in your home : http://www.marthastewart.com/goodthings/making-childrens-bookshelves

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