Top Organizing Tips for Kid Spaces

I love organizing for kid spaces and seeing such great results at the end of the day, but more importantly I love the opportunity to share a few life skills with the kids that I hope they carry with them in the future. Organizing with kids may take a little longer and will require extra patience and follow through- Think creatively before you even begin.

A Toy Room is a GREAT Place to Start: 

Lay out several baskets or boxes and start with broad topics. 

• all things paper, books, etc
• all things clothes
• all things baby doll, barbie boll and stuffed anmals
• all things art supplies (pens, pencils, crayons, crafts, etc)
• all things with wheels (cars, trucks, etc)

*Give each child a 'job' per topic. They will feel important and part of the process. 

Then take each one of those like items and sort down from there to:

give away, throw away and put away.

This will give you a good idea of the space needed to house the remaining items to keep.

• Keep like items together so they are easy to find and allow creative stations
• Allow extra room for items not put back exactly the same way
• Organizing drawers and baskets are a GREAT way of storing grouped items and allow for children to easily return when finished playing
• Clearly label organizing storage to avoid the guessing game of where things belong
• And remember- It doesn't have to be perfect, it just needs to be picked up and put away!
• ALWAYS use positive reinforcement and praise. Consider a sticker chart that can be marked each night the room is cleaned up and prizes (affordable or no cost: like game night, movie night etc) are earned for the clean up efforts

BIGGEST TIP: Take 5-10 min EVERY SINGLE NIGHT to run through and pick up.
Turn the radio on, crank it up and go- for 5-10min set a timer and make it a game. But be sure the items are getting put away in their correct homes. This is an IMPORTANT LIFE SKILL to pass to children.

"A little bit done each day is a lot of time saved each week"

This job was completed from start to finish with one adult and two kids in less than 3 hours for both rooms. 

I would love to hear your thoughts, questions and comments. Please share in the comments below!