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Children's Playrooms are so much fun to organize! It's one of my favorite places. There are no restrictions on how to do it. Kids are very flexible when it comes to their space. Whether your playroom is large or small, these tips will help you get your space more organized, resulting in less cleaning and straightening up and more fun at play.
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Use Small Bins for Small Items.
Store items in the container, and be sure to label (Affiliate Link) the front of the bin. Find containers with attached lids and handles because no parent wants to carry awkward bins. They are perfect for children who like to move around the house and play. Just take the lid with you, and the handle will help them or you carry it. Brilliant idea!
Create Children's toy labels.
If your child can't read yet, use a photo of the object that is inside. If you want to help them associate words with objects, add the name to the top of the image, similar to the picture below. You can create this easily in Microsoft Word or Google Docs. I like to use a large label (Affiliate Link) template and print it out on full-sheet Avery labels (Affiliate Link). They are sturdy and can easily come off plastic bins. If you want to dress up the tags, you can create a decorative box around the image and word.
Create a Craft Area that Makes Pablo Picasso Jealous.
Gather all the writing and drawing utensils (Affiliate Link) your kids have into one area. Sort them by type: some types are pencils, markers, crayons, charcoal, and pastels. You can see how we made our school supply organizer for the home for tips.
If you don't like the carousel idea, you can use plastic shoe box bins with lids and add labels (Affiliate Link) to the front. Here is an example of a set of craft area labels (Affiliate Link) for our carousel organizer and bins when my kids were smaller in their art zone.
Using sheet labels (Affiliate Link), you can make them on your computer (Affiliate Link) and print them out exactly the way you want them. Customize them for each craft item you have in your kids' playroom. I used these labels (Affiliate Link) below for my kids' craft supplies bins when I used shoe boxes (Affiliate Link) to store them. It worked great and was super easy to clean up when craft time was over—no need to place them in the bins neatly.
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Visit our post about How to Make a Fun Kids Craft Room and Our Essential Products For a Well Organized Craft Room.
Lego Organization Made Simple
There are many ways to organize Legos. Over the years, we added them to cloth bags and organized them by project, and really none of them worked until we decided to do what the Lego Store does and organize them by color and type. Visit our Legos experience in The Easiest Method When Organizing Lego Pieces. To this day, we still have the Legos in these bins sorted by color. While there are a few larger Lego projects in their own containers, my kids preferred to make their own creations instead of using the Lego instruction guide.
Tip: Watch your child play and identify how he/she plays with them. Do they group them by color or by size? Then, determine how you are going to store the Legos.
Gather all the Electronic Games, Cases, and accessories in one area.
Let’s call this area the "gaming zone". Keeping all the electronics used in a cabinet near where it is played works nicely for everyone. Open bins and stackable ones will give the kiddos access without making too much of a mess. Some organizers can hold controllers, headsets, games, and other items needed to play the games.
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Sort the Board Games by Age Group.
To keep the gaming clutter at bay, try using a cabinet or closet to sort all the board games. Use the lower shelves (Affiliate Link) for games they can pull from themselves. Use the higher shelves (Affiliate Link) for the games that you want to be present when they are playing them. Not all games are appropriate to be played by themselves, so sorting them by age works perfectly. Visit our post about Board Game Organization for more tips.
Tip: To keep the clutter at bay, you can also transform a large or small closet into a place to store games and other larger toys. In the image above, I found that just labeling every box and rearranging the content on the shelves helped this client. She was even able to close the doors when the kids weren't in the room. It was a win-win for the entire family.
Have an area for larger toys and create pretend zones
Having zones in your playroom, like dress-up, playing house, and Barbie world, allows kids to emerge in the pretend play experience. My kids loved it when they had all their things around them in this area. For larger toys, set up an area of the playroom for them. I find it is better to have a corner used for these types of items. If it is an outside toy, see if you can store it in the garage (Affiliate Link) or shed (Affiliate Link) or even the backyard instead of inside the house.
I hope these tips help you make a beautiful playroom for your kids and they spend many hours using their imagination in it. I would love to hear from you on how your playroom organization is going, and if you encounter any issues or have any tips, feel free to share them in the comments below.
But wait, do you need more kids' playroom tips and inspiration?
Feel free to visit my other posts about kids' playroom organization.
8 Zones To Make An Amazing Child Playroom
Talking with a Child about Purging and Organizing
Clever Kid Craft Room Organization
The Easiest Method When Organizing Lego Pieces
Essential Products for a well Organized Craft Room
Here are some other experts and their advice on playroom organization.
45 Small-Space Kids' Playroom Design Ideas
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Suzanna Kaye says
I love the video game organization. They can get sooooo messy!
For little kids I have also had them draw the picture for the bin. They know what it is and love seeing their own artwork on the bin. It's super cute and the love it. 🙂
Great ideas!!!
Linda Samuels says
I also love organizing playrooms. Play is so important...not just for kids, but even for adults. Having TOO much stuff in our rooms of play can overwhelm not just parents but kids. Creating play areas with different activities works really well. And as you've suggested using labels, boxes, bins, drawers, etc... also helps to get things accessible. One of the biggest complaints I hear from parents is that the kids never put their toys away. Most kids need help with that...either by specific instruction, like "It's time to put the cars back in the car bin," or they need you by their side, working with them to put things away.
Sabrina Quairoli says
I agree. Parents need to remind the kids too. At least until they remember where the items go. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Liana George says
Wow! Great list! If my kids were little again this post and all its resources would definitely be a game changer in my house! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Seana Turner says
I love working on playrooms. Floor planning is a big part of a play space, as are labels. I love that cowboy hat!! I've just worked on 2 playrooms recently and the best part is that both Moms tell me the kids are playing more in this space. When the kids are happy, it feels like success!
Sabrina Quairoli says
Thanks for sharing, Seana. I love it when we hear the playroom area is more usable for the kids. It's the best. =)