Last Updated on April 9, 2022 by ellen
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If you’ve ever walked through a toy room, carefully stepping over LEGO pieces, Hotwheel cars and doll clothes, you’ve asked yourself at least once how to eliminate toy clutter. We all want the kids to be entertained, but their toy collection can become overwhelming if we’re not careful.
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How to Eliminate Toy Clutter
There are ways to keep the toy explosion under control and still provide the kids with entertainment, education, and options to express their creativity. I’ve found that following these tips for purging toys really helps get the toy clutter under control.
If your child has problems settling down for the night and falling asleep, you may want to consider figuring out how to remove toys from the bedroom. Their bedroom should be a peaceful calming place. And, that can be difficult if it’s filled with lots of things they get excited about playing with.
How to declutter toys
Eliminate any toys, games or puzzles that have broken or missing pieces and are no longer usable. There’s no need to hold onto things that no longer work. This is a great time to toss out all of the fast-food toys that no one ever plays with as well.
How to tidy toys
Make sure that each toy has a spot that it can be returned to. Your child won’t be able to put away toys with nowhere for them to go. Consider bins, boxes, bookshelves and toy boxes.
Implement a rule that there is one toy out at a time. When your child is done, the toy is returned and they can take the next one out.
How do you organize and get rid of toys?
Remove the toys they’ve grown out of or no longer use. Donate them to the women’s shelter or pass them on to relatives with younger children.
Less is better. Your child does not need to own every single toy in the toy store. So, avoid duplicates and really pay attention to the types of toys your child likes.
How to eliminate toy clutter long term
Eliminating toy clutter long terms means that you need to be mindful about what you allow your child to bring into the house. If you use toys as a reward for good behavior, you may want to consider using a different type of reward. Consider offering a trip to the zoo or a play date with a friend instead.
Finally, when it comes to tips on purging toys, this is the process that I follow.
- Bring all the toys to the center of the room.
- Group like with like cars with cars, LEGOs with LEGOs, puzzles with puzzles.
- Verify all pieces are present for any multi-piece toys. Get rid of the ones that are no longer usable.
- Clean up and donate any toys your child has outgrown or no longer wants.
- It’s important to work with your child to find out which toys they really love and want to keep.
- Decide how you will store the remaining toys (bins, shelves, baskets, etc.) I love these toy bins and this basket.
- Make sure that all toys have a home that they can be returned to.
- Work with your child to return the toys to their home. Make sure that it’s easy for them to understand what goes where.
Once you’ve learned how to eliminate toy clutter, be sure that you keep it that way or it will be a problem again in the future. You will need to repeat this process as your child gets older and outgrows toys.
Ellen is a mom of a 25-year-old son and 30-year-old daughter. She is Grandma to one adorable toddler. In what little spare time she has, she loves to read, watch movies, and check out the latest toys and games.