Kids love toys and we spoil them sometimes with too many. Every parent would agree to me that before you even realize their toys are literally everywhere like never-ending and leave you with no space to accumulate them. So the first thing to learn here is “decluttering toys”.
We never comprehend when we give the idea to the kids that more is better. But it is now that we understand to spend as much as possible, more quality time with them as half the amount of money spent on their toys. There are some practical tips you can use to get rid of children’s toys at home for good. Although it looks like a never ending battle for the parent’s everyone hates the clutter. It is time we fight this together and know tips on how to declutter toys.
How many times you might have just kicked the toys on your path to clear the way at night in dark? And how many times would you have broken a toy just because it came under your foot! Well, these are true and the same stories almost everywhere. However hard you try each day to clear the mess and sort them out in the corner of the room, they make their way out! Especially the Lego is literally everywhere in the house. You see the bits and pieces of the toys lying in the kitchen, the garden or even sometimes on the dining table and underneath the bed or in drawers.
Each day the kid manages to spill the contents out on the floor either to play or in search of the missing bits. And all you have is to either do it yourself or teach and expect your kid to pick them up. When there are 20 pieces of toys out scattered, and your child picks 5 of them, all you do is clap and appreciate that they have done a great job especially when you want them to go to sleep and not spend time doing anything at the moment. How to figure out what to do and how to deal with these toys?
Calm down and let’s help you streamline things better. Let us set up and follow some rules for decluttering toys and make our lives simpler.
How to Declutter Children’s Toys?
1. Special Place:
Have a dedicated for kids to have their own comfort zone for their things. This would be the first and the foremost advice from anyone to you on decluttering toys. Have a big basket, a carton box or a bag for their recent favorite set of toys. Next, when the child asks you for a toy, simply ask them back the golden question “where did you put them” and let them find it out instead of you doing the job for them. When they struggle to find and finally get the toy, give them the bag/ basket or the carton box and ask them to always keep their toy in there to be safe.
Then ask them to find rest of their toys and put them in there too. Tell them how special the toys feel on getting a special dedicated space for them; tell them the toys are happy and safe in the basket. Also tell them that it is safe from their siblings, which is the major worry usually among the young kids. Pick up all these points and tell them how good it is to keep the toys in the box or the basket. Let them know that they will always find the toys here safe and hence make it a routine to put it back in the box dedicated after the play each day. You will be surprised to see them all excited about this new home for their toys and follow it. What a relief would this be, isn’t it?
2. Convince and be Convinced that Less is Better:
The primary thing in knowing the rules for decluttering toys is to understand that minimalizing or simplifying is the key to a bigger project. Well when a toy is less desirable, you must remove them from the list. Adding new toys with newer technology is not a problem but hoarding toys is. You can always donate the older toys to an orphanage and let the unprivileged kids have the best utilization of them.
You might as well decide to sell the toys which are in excellent condition or pass it to a friend or can take it to the thrift store. Keep only the things that you think the child truly loves and enjoys using or playing. Do not hang on to the older toys in the hope that the kid might start using them again. Do it right away else you just pile the clutter. Give yourself a deadline as to when you would want to dispose them off and free up some space or rearrange the other toys for the kid.
3. Have a Toy Bin:
The kid’s toy basket or box could be like a black hole. Who knows which toy is buried in the bottom and never has made it out since the last it was put in there? The stuff stored in deep opaque boxes mostly undergoes the same thing. Yes, the container provided for the kid was a big one, but obviously the child might struggle to dig in and reach the bottom of the container and forget about the toys gradually in the deepest layers.
The boy could not play with them. Well, a smart approach here is to know which toys could be grouped and know their sizes. Tiny things might go into a shallow box like accessories, small cars etc. The larger one like an aero plane or bus and others that match the size could go into another larger bin along with big balls etc. This way, the child knows what he has and could enjoy playing all the toys available.
4. Teach the Kid to Let go:
There are times when the kid themselves is bored of a lot of toys and the other time they just do not play with many of the toys but as well do not like to throw them. They notice where a toy is missing, especially the bigger kids and do not like it. Kids might as well have hoarding syndrome. A great way for decluttering toys could be to give new toys and take away the old ones. So a rule for decluttering toys could be where the parent replaces the old with a new one than teaching how to let go off the old toys which might be touch because they are young. Especially the ones with broken or missing parts must be discarded (charity or pass it to another kid).
5. A Workstation for the Kid:
While you want your kid to use one space and play their toys, you will have to smartly arrange the things for the kid. You might want to look out for kid’s toys rack or a table and chair set for the kids. Set up this in their room displaying all their toys and fancy it up by creating a gallery for them. The kid will be surprised to see they now have a dedicated space and would love to use it. Teach them to use this space for playtime and re-arrange the things in the rack for display to others.
Put on all their collection and create a display element. You will see them doing it each day and keeping it a bit more organized. It is indeed the happiest room in the house. You will be a bit more relaxed and in case the child has yet not learnt to put the toys back in the rack, at least they have a dedicated place for cluttering now. There are many ideas you can use for the kid’s dedicated playroom:
- Book shelf: If you have a book shelf in your house, you could use it to organize all the Lego masterpieces and toys in rows along with the books. They not just look nice but also neat since they are no more jumbled.
- Basket in shelves: the handy baskets in the shelves could be a great way to make some space in the room. These selves could have similar grouped toys in them such that the kid knows what to expect in a particular basket.
Decluttering toys should not take a lot of time; it is only a stepwise approach which you make a routine. Parents will no longer feel burdened or frustrated and more manageable house to run. All you need to know is to take it slow and not lose hope. The child is always learning. Appreciate every small step of the kid and encourage them further. And yes, do not feel that you are depriving them of toys by decluttering it. You are making space for new ones and more than anything reducing the mess. Gradually you will never even realize when you stopped discarding toys and started decluttering the craft items. Yes, kids are going to grow out of toys very soon to newer things in life. You have to dedicatedly continuously teach them to discard old things and save the only ones you need.
Hope these tips helped you out and have reduced your mess. Write to us your thoughts via the comments section and keep reading with us.
