How do you deal with toy sets?

[deborah_r]

OK, I've gone crazy, I think. I have to work in the morning, yet I am up at 1am sorting the kids' toys. They have so many but they are so mixed up you can never find the thing that goes with those other things...you know what I mean! How do you deal with toys that are multiple pieces? For instance, DS2 was really interested in this Little Einsteins airplane/spaceship thing (what is that? I haven't watched the show in a long time), and I wanted to find the interchangeable parts for it, but they are EVERYWHERE! I think it had about 10 or 12 parts that can be switched out to make it do different things. Since you can't attach all those things to it at once, where do you keep the other pieces so that they can all be reunited. We have tons of toy bins and such, but it never seems to get more organized. I tried to label the bins, but will have to wait til DS2 is older, because he pulled all the labels off. (lucky for him that he's so cute...)

[egoldber]

LOL! We have that same LE Rocket. ;) They all live in one bin. I do try very, very hard to have a "place" for each toy. It isn't always an attractive place, but there is a place where it lives. And Amy knew where that was very early. I never labeled things either, just put them in the same place all the time.

[jgenie]

I was just going to post a similar question. DS has different types of toys that all live in the same bins - wood blocks, duplos, wood vehicles, and such. I was thinking of getting mesh laundry bags with zippers to contain different toys within each bin. He wouldn't be able to open them himself just yet, but eventually he would. I'll be watching for more ideas. :)

[vonfirmath]

I find the toys don't ge so messed up if I am diligent about making sure things are put up EVERY night before we go to bed.

[Globetrotter]

We sort out into plastic bins or metal buckets, and the kids know the system so they can do it. I cannot stand to have one big catch-all because things do get lost in those! I find they play with things much more since they are organized.

Maybe you can stick a large label inside the container, facing out (tape it there with packaging tape). That way your younger one won't be able to remove them so easily :) You can also take a photograph of the toy and tape it to the container, which makes it easier for the little ones to sort out sets. Make it a matching game and eventually they will get used to it.

It also helps to put things away after playing, but right now our playroom is full of Playmobile sets so I know how that goes!! :p

[KrisM]

Most of ours are contained in bins with one bin per set. But, things that are very similar go together - all Little People are together and the bigger pieces (Farm, cars) are together as well. They're interchangeable, so it works.

But, we do end up with a lot of bins. We have one of those organizer shelving units with 16 bins on it. We have multiple sizes for things like Snap N Style, MLP, Legos, etc. For the Legos, we have them sorted into zip bags in the bin and they're labeled so we can find the instructions.

[egoldber]

We have one of those organizer shelving units with 16 bins on it

What is this? I have things in bins, but the bins are just sort of stacked.

[KrisM]

What is this? I have things in bins, but the bins are just sort of stacked.

This: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3509991. Nothing fancy, but it works.

[egoldber]

Oh, I have two of these, but I really don't like them. I find that the kids really only play with whatever is in the top bins and ignore the other bins that they can't see into.

[wendibird22]

We have the Ikea Trofast system with a variety of bin sizes. LP and Weebles are in a bin together, legos in a bin together, LP and Weeble vehicles in a bin together, puzzles in a bin together, you get the picture. DD knows what goes in what bin and what bin to pull out when she wants to play with a certain item. We *try* to only have out one bin at a time so that we don't end up with the legos and the LP and the puzzles all mixed together throughout out living room.

I like the idea of the laundry bags for containing smaller pieces in a larger bin.

[KrisM]

Oh, I have two of these, but I really don't like them. I find that the kids really only play with whatever is in the top bins and ignore the other bins that they can't see into.

It seems to be working for us. But, I have kids of different heights and 2 are short enough that the top is too high :). I don't have the bins packed full and I think that helps, too. One just has some calculators in it, one has play phones, one big one has the Little People.

[new_mommy25]

Toys that we want to keep together are in clear plastic bins with lids. For instance, we have Barbies in one, Playmobil in another, Star Wars action figures in another, Furryville, etc.
We also have one of those bin organizers and those are loosely organized. Hot Wheels in the bottom 3 bins, My LIttle Pony in one, small stuffed animals in another, Automoblox etc. It helps that my kids are 3 and 6 so they are good about cleaning up and putting things back into the right bucket. DD goes to preschool and they always clean up their mess so I make her do it at home too. :) We use shelves for larger toys. For instance, the bottom two shelves of our book case in the living room have wooden blocks, Little People Ark, Doctors Kit, etc. Upstairs I use wire cube shelving in their room.

eta: My SIL uses those sturdy plastic drawers for toys. The big ones that have 3 drawers. Transformers in one drawer, and so forth.

[Melaine]

I find the toys don't ge so messed up if I am diligent about making sure things are put up EVERY night before we go to bed.

:yeahthat: Also toy rotation. I don't rotate toys out without searching out every single piece. If I can't find it, I don't put it away. I'm sort of fanatical about finding all of the pieces to the toys each night before bed. Sometimes DH will do bedtime routine while I meticulously assemble all the Melissa & Doug cutting food. I know, I am weird.

I've been searching for several days for one of the Safari Ltd. animals and it is driving me crazy. In this one aspect, I am a little OCD.

[egoldber]

I've been searching for several days for one of the Safari Ltd. animals and it is driving me crazy.

We were missing a Safari dolphin for about 3 weeks and it was driving us all a little nuts. :o

[tarahsolazy]

I like Sterlite boxes with lids that have handles, like this:

http://www.spacesavers.com/showstortot.html

So each toy has one, like Potato Head pieces, play food, Lego, K'nex, etc.

We have open bookshelves that they are placed on. We've also got one of those open bin things, which I'm not super fond of, it encourages the mixing into toy mulch problem that Deb is facing, IMO. Ours has stuff like cars, animal figures, and random stuff in it.

[egoldber]

I have several of those Sterilite boxes and I think they work well. I am having a hard time finding more lately though. My Target has stopped carrying them.

I also have some of these in the accessory size and they are great for items with a small number of pieces that need to be together:

http://www.containerstore.com/shop/storage/storageBoxes/plastic?productId=10000166

[Melaine]

We were missing a Safari dolphin for about 3 weeks and it was driving us all a little nuts. :o

Thank goodness it isn't just me!

[tarahsolazy]

I have several of those Sterilite boxes and I think they work well. I am having a hard time finding more lately though. My Target has stopped carrying them.

I also have some of these in the accessory size and they are great for items with a small number of pieces that need to be together:

http://www.containerstore.com/shop/storage/storageBoxes/plastic?productId=10000166

JoAnn Fabric has them, and they have a version with a hinged lid which is particularly fabulous. Evil WalMart also carries them, and hey, any port in a storm.

[vonfirmath]

I have also found, with Duplo (And I suspect it is true for other toys) that I need to be careful how MUCH of the toy I have out at once. If I overwhelm him, then it all goes to a mess longer than if there is "just enough" to play with.

When he was younger, that meant I had 12 pieces in his Duplo box instead of the set of 77 pieces he had.

Now he has about 140 pieces -- one big Duplo box full. He can still pick it up and carry it. But its just about what he can handle. We have about 100 more pieces stashed away that I don't want to get out until he can handle more. Maybe when he starts wanting to leave some creations up over time?

[MamaMolly]

Maybe you can stick a large label inside the container, facing out (tape it there with packaging tape). That way your younger one won't be able to remove them so easily :) You can also take a photograph of the toy and tape it to the container, which makes it easier for the little ones to sort out sets. Make it a matching game and eventually they will get used to it.

:yeahthat: This was a requirement for setting up my Pre-K class. Each toy (manipulative ;)) had it's own shoe box and we had to have a photo label stuck on it. I used catalogs and box packaging photos and taped them on with the clear packing tape. To this day (10 years and many job changes later) I have plastic shoe boxes labeled dinosaurs, farm animals and zoo animals!

OP, Part of the problem may be the number of accessories or parts. Remember the toy manufacturer makes 75 parts to the airplane to get Mom and Dad to buy all 75. Same thing for the train sets, doll clothes, etc. The accessories *are* cool and it is really fun to get them, but do your kids play with all the parts? Or are there a set few they seem to come back to?

I find it helps to limit the number of items in each bin. With DD, when the bins were overflowing she had a hard time just playing. I found she's more likely to play with cars if she has 6 than 36. Same for blocks, little people, animals, etc. Then all the animals go on one shelf, transportation on another shelf, dress up on another. The bins are also useful for rotating through toys and keeping things fresh and interesting.

I'm the *worst* when it comes to buying bits and parts for DD, or getting stuff off Freecycle, thrift stores and yard sales. We ended up with about 5 junky plastic tea sets that way and I had to bite the bullet and choose just one to keep. Same for Matchbox cars. A lady was unloading her son's set from the 80's. I bought about 40 cars and 4 vinyl cases for $10 and justified it by telling myself that the price was great and the cases made for easy transportation and storage. But DD only played with one case, so I put a variety of cars in that one and will be passing along the others.

I saw no point in picking up 40 cars a day because at that point all she did was dump them out and walk away. :irked:

Anyway, I hope this helps some.

[deborah_r]

We sort out into plastic bins or metal buckets, and the kids know the system so they can do it. I cannot stand to have one big catch-all because things do get lost in those! I find they play with things much more since they are organized.

Maybe I will get some smaller bins to go in the 4 very large drawers that have toys in them, because, yes, they get all mixed up in there! It's kind of like trying to keep socks and underwear separate from eachother in the same drawer.


Maybe you can stick a large label inside the container, facing out (tape it there with packaging tape). That way your younger one won't be able to remove them so easily :) You can also take a photograph of the toy and tape it to the container, which makes it easier for the little ones to sort out sets. Make it a matching game and eventually they will get used to it.

I did exactly that, with one picture on the outside front, and one on the inside back. This was on little bins that rest on a 4-tier shelf (got it at Target) and the bins are at an angle so you can see in them. DS2 peeled almost every one off. I thought the packing tape would stick well, but it came right off and I found them all stuck to the wall. Part of the problem is *I* can't remember where to put the toys if it's not labeled!

[jgenie]

I have also found, with Duplo (And I suspect it is true for other toys) that I need to be careful how MUCH of the toy I have out at once. If I overwhelm him, then it all goes to a mess longer than if there is "just enough" to play with.

When he was younger, that meant I had 12 pieces in his Duplo box instead of the set of 77 pieces he had.


This is a great tip - DS just empties out the bins and then I think he's overwhelmed by the sheer number of things on the ground. I'll pull out some of the pieces and see if that helps.

[o_mom]

I have several of those Sterilite boxes and I think they work well. I am having a hard time finding more lately though. My Target has stopped carrying them.



I have had good luck at JoAnn Fabrics for these (with a coupon, of course!).

[egoldber]

I don't even know if we have a Joann Fabric around here any more!

[deborah_r]

I have several of those Sterilite boxes and I think they work well. I am having a hard time finding more lately though. My Target has stopped carrying them.

I also have some of these in the accessory size and they are great for items with a small number of pieces that need to be together:

http://www.containerstore.com/shop/storage/storageBoxes/plastic?productId=10000166

I found some Rubbermaid ones yesterday at Target that fit *almost* perfectly into Expedit shelves. They don't look as nice as the canvas bins I have in the Expedit shelves, but I like that I can see into them.

[alexsmommy]

Pretty much what all pp's said - lots of seperate containers, pick up frequently (minimum 2x week I "help" the boys with clean-up and I make sure things aren't going in incorrect bins), rotate toys in and out, and for things we have tons of (legos, duplos) I actually have them seperated into several containers and just take out one at a time so there is not too much of something. It's still an uphill battle.