Five Days to Organize: Small Toys, Big Mess

Anyone else feel desperate to get your house in order this New Year’s week? Luckily, Jennifer Bardorf, a professional personal organizer and owner of Neatspaces, in Wellesley, MA, is here ALL WEEK LONG—yay!—to solve common family organizational dilemmas. She’ll tackle one HHK reader dilemma each day this week. Check in every morning as we transition from 12 Days of Christmas to 5 Days to Organize—I promise you’ll be inspired.

Q. As my kids get bigger, their toys seem to get smaller. We have a zillion little building blocks and gears and little pieces floating around the house. I’ve tried to dedicate a space for them but when they are stowed away, they are forgotten. When they are found, they start to appear all over the house. What’s the best system for keeping tiny toys?

A. I assume you are talking about that dirty four letter word, L-E-G-O. But the same problems and solutions that apply to Lego will apply to other small toys, from K’nex to Calico Critters.

I like centering toy storage around a small activity table, because it will encourage kids to play with their toys on it and therefore reduce chances they’ll spread all over the house. The best I’ve found is the Nilo Multi-Activity Children’s Table, which comes in two sizes and five different stains and will last forever (large size is $229 with free playmat at nilotoys.com). Bins can fit easily underneath, and roll-out ones on casters are best. Nilo makes two roll-out toy boxes that fit underneath the larger size table perfectly. You can store Legos and other building pieces in both of these large boxes—and here’s a revelation—don’t stress out about keeping the toys sorted by color or size or anything. Most kids care less about that then you do. That means it’s easy-peasy when you ask the kids to clean up: they can just pick up the small toys and dump ’em in. Less stress, less mess.

If sorting is important to you or your child—say, if they like to rebuild sets in their original designs—the Ikea Trofast storage system is great (check out the two-column configuration which will fit four large and four small bins that easily slide out, for $88 at ikea.com). It comes in lots of different sizes, configurations, and colors that can match your kid’s bedroom. Sort pieces by color or size along with your child, so he or she knows where to put everything at future clean up times. You can even take a picture and tape it on each plastic bin to make it easier for pre-readers.

Have an organizing dilemma of your own? Check out Jennifer’s website and contact information, here.