I have a problem. It’s called: “I buy toys for my kid, and then other people do too, and we have way, way too many.”
And I can’t figure out what exactly to do about it.
Prior to Christmas, we knew Colton would be receiving several new toys that presented storage problems. We got him a train table (he was excited about it for DAYS – best gift ever!), which thankfully has drawers for storage, but is HUGE. He also received the Little People Farm and tractor, plus Noah’s Ark. And all of those come with animals and people to add to what he already had.
Since we knew these things were coming, we made some room before the gift opening extravaganza began. I finally forced myself to pack up all of the baby toys (Sofie the Giraffe, lovies he wasn’t attached to, rattles, soft books), which helped a lot. Then, I moved his music table to the basement. He still played with this some, but I decided it took up a little too much space for the time he played with it. I also packed up a couple other toys that didn’t seem to get played with enough to justify the space they took up.
But, we still have a lot of toys to store. I’m not sure I want to go the route of toy rotation. I think it’s a good idea in theory, but I don’t think I would keep up with it, realistically. Right now, most of the toys are in our den/playroom, and are stored on an old MDF shelf left over from Hubby’s college days. I picked up two inexpensive bins from Wal-Mart to help coral some small pieces until I figure out what I ultimately want to do.
I don’t think I want to end up going the bin route as a permanent solution, since Colton is a big fan of dumping the contents of the bins all over the floor, but I do like the convenience of dumping everything back into bins when I clean up. Maybe something with drawers would be the way to go?
I love the train storage and display I found via Pinterest,
Source: carleykayphotography.com via Mary-Carolyn on Pinterest
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And would love to do something similar when we finalize our den layout. Since my ultimate goal for the space is for it to be fun, but also double as guest quarters, I’d like toy storage that looks good and has some display space. I found an option that looks like it would work well for us, but at over $300, seems a little pricey.
Source: potterybarnkids.com via Mary-Carolyn on Pinterest
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Have you seen any other similar options? I bet Hubby could build something similar, but it would take eons.
My other big conundrum, is whether or not to keep some toys in Colton’s room, or transfer them all into the den. He only has one small bin of plastic toys in his room (and another bin of stuffed animals), which he mostly plays when I shower. I do have a free drawer in Colton’s bookcase, and could very easily have a second, but I’m not sure I want to store lots of little pieces in his room right now.
So, any brilliant ideas? Help!
2 comments
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January 9, 2012 at 2:38 pm
Emily
Lol, I was about to comment about the wonders of toy rotation when I saw that you don’t want to go that route…I’ll still try to convince you briefly but then offer another idea:
We don’t have a ton of toys, but I still rotate them – for my sanity and for T’s entertainment. I switch them out whenever I’m feeling bored (so could be once a week, but is usually more like every month – month and a half), and it keeps things new and fresh for T without me having to buy more toys.
So beyond that :), we keep smaller part toys (duplos and train tracks for now) in plastic tubs on the bookshelves in the office/playroom, like you do. And target usually makes pottery barn and land of nod knock-off furniture, I’ve been looking at this for T’s next room (we have more of a book storage than a toy storage problem, but it’s a problem in and of itself): http://www.target.com/p/Espresso-5-Shelf-Bookcase-32-x-13-x-54-37/-/A-13540472
January 12, 2012 at 6:23 am
Caroline
I had the same problem after Christmas. Joseph got SO MUCH and it just sat in the living room for a while as I stared at it all in dismay, thinking, “Where am I going to put all of this???” Fortunately, I had anticipated this problem and had separated the baby toys into the new nursery and taken all of the toys and excessive stuffed animals that I hate or that Joseph doesn’t play with and put them in a box to go to Goodwill. So once I moved everything up to his room, it actually wasn’t so bad. I kept the bigger toy items (rocking horse, wagon, four wheeler, vacuum) downstairs for Joseph to play with, but mostly when we are downstairs together, Joseph is following me around and “assisting” with the chores (dishes, cooking, laundry… vacuuming if he wasn’t afraid of the vacuum). I also moved most of his books up to his room, but keep a few in the living room for him.
I find drawers more helpful than bins because Joseph CAN’T dump them out. He likes dumping bins too. Go figure. I’ve been keeping all of his cars, blocks, duplo, lincoln logs, etc in this three drawer piece of furniture that we found by a dumpster a few years back. I’ll post about his new room sometime soon so you can see it. I keep his stuffed animals in a giant bin that is too big for dumping and all of his costumes/dress up hats in Stephen’s old toy bin. All in his room because I got tired of having them in my living room.
I hadn’t considered toy rotation… I might try it just to see how it goes.
I say keep an eye out at Goodwill, Salvation Army and other thrifts for a suitable piece of furniture that you could easily revamp for your purposes. Maybe something with drawers? You could remove a top drawer and put basket/bins in there? Or make the top drawer space into a book shelf space? It could easily be painted to suit whatever room you are looking into.