Curb the Kiddie Chaos

Does Kids playtime leave you riddled with anxiety?  Well, Mum, you’re not alone. One of the most common questions I get asked from Mums is how to keep the kids play area and toys organised. Kids like nothing more than getting stuck into the toy box, filling every corner of the house with colour and as one mum said ‘it leaves me feeling like I’m the subject of some crazy art installation’. And when this happens several times a day, keeping on top of toy organisation is no mean feat. You’re on the go for so many hours a day that the last thing you want to do is spend hours after the kids have gone to bed decluttering and organising toys! So I have worked with many Mums to devise space optimisation techniques and organisation solutions to help you keep on top of the kiddie chaos. Here are my top 4 ‘Toy Tidy’ Tips Store Toys in Categories:  Separate the Dolls from the Action Heroes and the Lego from the Cars by storing them in different boxes. By storing the Toys separately it will be easier to locate toys and more importantly the kids won’t need to unpack everything each time they play which means less pack up time! Labels, Labels and More Labels Labels are a great way to help children learn where to find what they are looking for and best of all… where to put them back! If they are too young to read labels, you could add pictures to create associations and help them understand. Implementing this toy organisation system early will make it easier for the kids to follow as they get older. It also makes it simple for husbands, babysitters, grannies and any other helpful visitors to see where things need to go without asking Mum!

Out with the Old, In with the New Let’s face it, even if the toy box is overflowing kids have their favourites and will play with the same toys over and over. So the One-in, One-out rule is a great system to keep the abundance of Toys at a manageable level. At Christmas, Birthdays and on spontaneous gift giving occasions ask the kids to choose which old toys they would like to replace with their new goodies before they are packed away. Better still, you can share these old toys with children who aren’t as lucky as yours by donating to a charity. Teaching your kids an invaluable lesson of generosity and giving. The Lost Treasure Box How many times do you find an unidentifiable plastic piece of toy and have the urge to throw it out, only to discover down the track that it’s an essential piece of a new game. Instead of caving in to that urge of putting it out with the recycling, start a box of Lost Treasures. Once your children get back around to playing with the game you know exactly where to look for it, making for happy kids and a calm, happy Mum. Finally, don’t be so hard on yourself! There will always be an element of mess where there are little people involved and embracing kiddie chaos is a  big part of motherhood. The trick is to gradually introduce the kids to some structure and boundaries to how the toys are stored. By learning these systems from a young age they will become second nature as they grow older. Meaning Mum can spend less time toy packing and nagging the kids and more time having fun with them! Please let us know how you go!