Keeping Toys and Play Areas Organized

To my way of thinking you can't hold children accountable 

for keeping their toys organized until you provide

 the system behind that organization.

Here's a little look into my granddaughters (who live with me) playroom area.

I went to IKEA and purchased this bin system.  I must also say that I assembled it myself without CURSING- which is a positive change.

Each bin is labeled with a picture of the contents and a word label. I did this because I have one reader and one non-reader.

At Christmas time, my gift to the girls was this art center. I bought the cart at Sam's and filled it with crafting supplies.  Each drawer is labeled with words and pictures too. I took pictures of the contents with my camera and printed them out on the printer.

Here is the kitchen area.  I still want to put up a hanger for the aprons, chef hat, and potholders.  This area also houses the cash register, bags, and money drawer for a grocery store scenario.  

All those stuffed animals drove me crazy. But this fabric storage cart fits the bill perfectly. 

A rocking chair, book in a cabinet and larger books in a bin encourage reading or playing school. There are also white boards, markers, reading tube, coloring books, sticker books, and erasers here.

I put up this pegboard over some exposed studs and now we have a place to post that school work on the magnetic board, hang our kite, a mirror for dress up, an old karoke machine and stage under it, and of course "Our Frozen Painting" that we made this summer.

Lastly, here is an area for dress up clothes, wigs, shoes, and the shelf housed the play-dough that is only brought down after asking if it is okay. (I have a love/hate relationship with Play-dough!)

This area is located in our basement with a foam square floor, no ceiling, and painted concrete walls...but my girls LOVE IT!

Smiles,

Deborah