Climbing over mounds of mixed toys can be dangerous, and just looking at them can make you feel overwhelmed. Stepping on those dreaded Lego pieces can also be painful. Plus, your kiddos may not even know what to enjoy. So, keeping the playroom organized is essential. This post will share ten unique toy organizer ideas for organizing that dreaded playroom. These toy organizer ideas are particularly well-suited for small spaces, such as living rooms or family rooms.
Jump to:
- Questions to Ask Kids Before Organizing a Playroom
- Benefits of Organizing a Playroom
- Organize Your Space into Zones
- Labeling is important
- Bins with items in them are okay.
- Strap furniture pieces to the wall
- Organizing Craft Area for Easy Access
- Dress Up Organizer for Kids
- Make Your DIY Wooden Pegboard
- How to Make a Custom Wood Scarf Holder
- Sort Legos and other small things by color
- Place Outdoor Toy Organizers in Garage or Basement
- Store Sport Balls in Totes
- Organize board games vertically and horizontally.
- Limit kids' movie access and online usage.
- Teach kids how to read with labels.
- Store all the stuffed animals in one place.
Setting up a well-organized playroom takes some planning. First and foremost, the children must be involved in deciding what to have in this space.
Questions to Ask Kids Before Organizing a Playroom
To help you plan how to organize the playroom, be sure to ask the kids these questions.
- What do you want to do in the playroom?
- What things in the playroom do you want to use often?
- What is your favorite type of toy?
- Do they want to have a craft area?
- You can also observe their play and see what they gravitate to.
- Do they like to pretend play?
- Are they a fan of Legos?
- Do they want a dress-up area?
- Do they prefer video games?
Benefits of Organizing a Playroom
You may be wondering why you need to organize this space. Below are some reasons.
- It makes them more aware of the importance of organizing a space.
- When they put things away after playtime, they learn to be responsible for their belongings, another vital life lesson.
- Their toys and other things will last longer. No one wants to pull out a game with missing pieces.
- And, it shows them that they can be in control of their surroundings.
Numerous underlying benefits extend beyond these advantages. See how it impacts your kids by organizing their playroom.
Organize Your Space into Zones
Creating zones is effective for organized play among kids. You can visit my post that talks about playroom zones I have used with clients. I share eight different zones you may want to add to your child's playroom.
Toy Organizer Ideas
Here are toy organizer ideas to help you organize your kids' toys in their playroom.
Labeling is important
After you have labeled all the bins, your children will know where every toy belongs. Plus, you will be able to direct them to where the toys belong. This will also help your kids see that items can have a home just like people do.
Additionally, you can place larger toys at the bottom unit with bins that have wheels (Amazon (affiliate) affiliate), label (affiliate) the containers, so the kids can move the unit around easily when needed.
Label Maker Machine with Tape by Phomemo
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Label Maker By Brother P-Touch, PTM95,
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Bins with items in them are okay.
Keeping 'like' small items in an appropriately sized bin works well. However, it can not be too large because other items that are not the same may be placed in it. Keeping only like items, such as My Little Pony and their accessories, in an appropriate lidded bin works great to minimize dust and maintain the items together. However, if the bin is open and too deep, it can easily collect dust, resulting in a bin filled with random items that become dusty very easily. No one wants to play with dusty toys.
Shoe Boxes by EOENVIVS 12 Pk Plastic
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Large Totes by Citylife 17 QT Plastic Storage Bins
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Strap furniture pieces to the wall
Furniture (affiliate) that is holding toys can fall over and hurt your child. Keeping these pieces of furniture (affiliate) strapped to the wall is very important. If you have a kid who likes to climb, doing this is a necessity. For safety, every tall bookcase (affiliate) and storage unit must have earthquake straps (affiliate).
Organizing Craft Area for Easy Access
Keep all craft supplies in one designated area. A foldable rolling cart (affiliate) is an excellent option with inserted organized bins for crayons, markers, paper, etc.. They can move it around and slide it away when not in use.
Foldable Rolling Cart, Folding Mobile Multi-Function Storage
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Dress Up Organizer for Kids
Some kids love to dress up, especially when they are younger. Create a vast dress-up space for girls or boys. Add items like different career outfits, such as a doctor's outfit, a lawyer's outfit, etc. You can also add accessories like hats (affiliate), shoes (affiliate), and scarves to enhance their imagination. You can find a great dress-up organizer to help organize all these things on Amazon.
Make Your DIY Wooden Pegboard
Use a wooden scarf holder to hang scarves and hats (affiliate), and utilize closet shoe shelves (affiliate) to store various dress shoes (affiliate). The DIY tutorial post below is one I created for my cousin's daughter's room, featuring necklaces and scarves.
How to Make a Custom Wood Scarf Holder
I love making things I can use to organize different items in my home. This one was no exception. This custom wood scarf holder DIY project was a lot of fun to make, and I could give it to a relative for their daughter's room.
Sort Legos and other small things by color
We tried everything when it came to organizing Legos. And the best option was to sort them by color. It helps when the kids want to build something that is one color. Here is an example of the Lego Bins we created for our kids.
Place Outdoor Toy Organizers in Garage or Basement
I know I am including this one for toy organizer ideas in a playroom. However, it is essential to understand that some toys should not be stored in the playroom. Outdoor toys are one of them.
Outdoor toy organizers can be easily stored in a garage (affiliate), shed (affiliate), or walk-out basement because they typically contain items that are dirty. These items are hard to keep clean, and let's be honest, we don't want to clean them often. Storing them in a well-organized place for a particular sports activity will keep everything organized and easy to access. Here is a link of all that Amazon has when it comes to outdoor toy organizers.
Store Sport Balls in Totes
I had a client whose kids were involved in different sports all year long, and all the sports they participated in had some form of ball, from basketball to golf. We needed to find the perfect place for the different sports balls. We found that storing them in totes (affiliate) by sport worked well. Here is an excellent container for storing balls in your garage (affiliate). I also found ball carts that you can roll out to hold different types of balls. They have a variety of these on Amazon (affiliate) (affiliate); feel free to click here to see all of them. 
Organize board games vertically and horizontally.
Board games and card games are hugely popular. There may be plenty in your kids' playroom. To keep pieces together, you can leave them in their original boxes (affiliate), where they are organized, or you can add them to a zipper lay-flat board game on its side to save space on shelves (affiliate).
If you want to keep these board game boxes (affiliate) vertically, you can purchase elastic bands just for these board games to keep all the pieces and lids on. Below are some items you may like on Amazon (affiliate).
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Limit kids' movie access and online usage.
If your kids have favorite shows, store them under parental control settings so that children only have access to the shows they are allowed to watch. Each streaming app has settings that allow you to restrict your child's profile when setting it up.
Teach kids how to read with labels.
Label with pictures and words for kids who can't read yet. Here is an example of what a label could look like (Amazon Affiliate). They have several different labels (affiliate) with names under them, so the kids can associate the word with the object stored in the bin or drawer.
Store all the stuffed animals in one place.
Another thing to organize is stuffed animals using this toy organizer idea, which is particularly useful in a playroom. If your child loves stuffed animals like mine does, they may want to have their stuffed animals in one place. I found these options on Amazon (affiliate), you can buy a variety of them and then mount them on the wall.
Whatever you decide to do with your playroom, be sure to gather everyone's input, especially the kids who will be using it. They can also help you set up the space. Have them pick out colors and make it fun so they see organizing as fun, not dull. Enjoy the process.
Here are some additional posts to help you find products for toy storage:
58 Genius Toy Storage Ideas & Organization Hacks for Your Kids' Room
13 Actually Stylish Ways to Organize Your Kids' Never-Ending Toys
Note: I have not previously purchased or used these exact items. They are provided for visual reference only. Please research all of these Amazon (affiliate) products thoroughly before buying them. I receive a small percentage of the sale only if you purchase through Amazon (affiliate) after clicking through to Their Site.
Feel free to visit our other playroom organizing posts!
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