When my hubs and I started talking about having babies one of the things we discusses was TOYS. Matt mentioned that he would like if our house didn't look like a toys store and would love if the living room wasn't overtaken by toys. I agreed and thought that was a reasonable request. Thus, the "centers" began.

With just Maggie, our 2 bedroom 1 bathroom house was easy to keep clear of too many toys. Over the past 3 years we've double the size of our house and family. Here are a few key things we've set in place to organize and minimize the TOY craziness of life with kids. These tips are to know what toys to keep, which to share, how to maintain a pick-up home quickly while allowing your child to help in the process as well as instilling in them some independence.

1. We purposely keep very few toys. We purge so often that it's often the 'talk' among relatives if their toy will make the cut {sorry guys!}. We want to keep it simple. Here is the criteria for keeping a toy: educational either physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. There are so many kids in this world that have nothing, we don't need to hoard crazy amounts of toys. Why not share!?
2. We attempt to be purposeful about toys we have. We generally don't do Happy Meal toys, stuffed things, or small pieces. We enjoy basic things that can be used in a variety of play arenas {ie blocks- used from staking, pretend furniture, to detailed cities layouts; dolls- comfort, pretend friend, to parenting}. I will be sharing more about skill building through centers next week. We don't buy toys. Well, let me explain that one. Relatives and friends will more than likely always provide plenty of toys for our children and we do get our children 1 toy for holidays {mainly Christmas/Birthday...usually}.
3. We have chosen not to have toys in our children's rooms so they know bedrooms are just for sleeping. Providing your child with a restful environment that is peaceful, dark, quiet, and almost boring is the best way to encourage good sleeping.
4. We have had many ways to organize the toys. We used to have "adult colored" baskets of toys in the living room but they were easily slipped under the coffee table or off to the corner. When we moved into our current home and had the HUGE blessing of a playroom we still stuck with baskets but they are now there are more of them {as are there more children} and they divided more specifically.
5. We rotate toys so our children stay interested in what they have and so there aren't too many scattered around the house. We never put all new toys out after a holiday. A couple are places among the other toys, a few older toys as well as the rest of the new toys are put into a closet and rotated out later. Some times our children have been know to be "grounded" from a specific toys for being selfish with it, or for mismanagement such as not it cleaning up when ask or playing with it rough or inappropriately.

Hope these are some practical hints to help you manage the Toy Monster that eeks into everyone's house the moment you find out your pregnant ;o) If you have any awesome ideas, we'd LOVE to hear them.

NOTE: We are about to transition to a new {smaller} home so we'll see what kind of organization comes with that and keep ya update!

Return for 5 Days of Organizing & Cleaning TOYS into centers!!!