There are a variety of methods to organizing your kids stuff.
I know many of us start with a simple room. I know I started with a simple crib, no real toys (I had read, Buy, Buy Baby during pregnancy)... and then guess what. We have an explosion and two kids later, the crib was only used as a bed... 4 years later!
We now do our best to utilize bins and now my goal is to keep everything in the CORRECT bins. I attempted to use the high/scope idea - group in areas (reading/pretend play/building, etc) and then label with a picture and the words.
A walk around the formal living/dining. I mean, play area.
If we have this extremely unorganized attempt for craft supplies...
Why do we have this?
I know many of us start with a simple room. I know I started with a simple crib, no real toys (I had read, Buy, Buy Baby during pregnancy)... and then guess what. We have an explosion and two kids later, the crib was only used as a bed... 4 years later!
We now do our best to utilize bins and now my goal is to keep everything in the CORRECT bins. I attempted to use the high/scope idea - group in areas (reading/pretend play/building, etc) and then label with a picture and the words.
A walk around the formal living/dining. I mean, play area.
If we have this extremely unorganized attempt for craft supplies...
Why do we have this?
How do you keep your kid's space organized? What tools do you use to encourage proper use/storage of the toys? Our goal is to have intrinsic motivation and our 4 year old is getting used to an item being lost meaning she needs to find it or go without. We can help remind her to put things away properly, but she's beginning to get old enough to understand that she has to take pride in what is hers. If we only pick up after her and spend 45 minutes finding one piece of a set after she didn't put it away, we're only encouraging her to not put things away. The natural consequence to leaving something out is that it would get lost. Or, if it is in the way of another family member, we can bring it to their attention or we can take care of it, perhaps by it being put away for a while, especially if someone was hurt by it.
But the point is to find something that works for you and your family. Something that shows respect to the kids and also so they can learn respect of the items AND your home.
1 comment:
It is hard keeping toys organized. I tried for many, many years. Some ideas were better than others but honestly nothing worked very well for us. Now that my kids are older, I shut their bedroom doors. When they cannot find something, I shrug and suggest that they clean their rooms. :-D But that is just me!
I found your blog through the blogger comment club- thanks for letting me visit.
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