Keeping Organized

Alright- down to business today.  Keeping organized is detrimental to my sanity, and also to a smooth and constructive day for the kids.  There is a place for everything, and everything is in it's place.   ♪♫Clean up! Clean up! Everybody, everywhere..♪♫

Keeping a shelf with bins is helpful.  Each bin contains only one type of plaything.  One for trains and tracks, one for legos, one for geo boards.  This way, the kids have no confusion when it is clean up time.  Some of the bins are for table time only.  This simple rule prevents our playroom floor from turning into a land fill.

The kitchen area is fun, and there are lots of pieces.  To catch the clutter, we keep a bin and a small shelf along with the actual kitchen unit.  By the way, my handsome hubby is going to build us a nice wooden kitchen, wall to wall.  We will soon say goodbye to the plastic kitchen.

These wooden puzzles are hard to contain, so we keep them all in one drawer together.  That way the pieces stay in the drawer if they fall out of the puzzle. 

The books are easily kept as long as the shelves are not TOO full.  I keep a back up book supply on a shelf in the garage.  If I expect the kids to be able to put the books back on the shelf, there should be room allowed for that.  I think the bottom shelf is almost too full right now, actually.

A lesson learned the hard way- keep the puzzles up.  The kids must ask for one and take it to the table.  It is returned to me when the child is done, and returned back up onto the shelf out of reach.  Too many puzzles available = mixed puzzles and missing pieces.

These are some helpful ways to keep organized.  Eliminate clutter by moving toys that  do not have a place.  Put them in the attic for a while.  When the kids are getting bored of the toys that are available, swap them out with the ones that are in the attic.  It will feel like Christmas to them!   ♥