As many families are preparing their children for a return to fall schedules and back-to-school routines, it’s a great time to start thinking about decluttering the kid zones in the house. Organized toys and effective clean-up routines will help children feel prepared for school, have more fun during playtime, and ease the stress on parents.
1. Buy Less
One of the biggest reasons that children’s spaces can get cluttered is due to an excess of toys. Consider making a conscious effort to purchase less and encourage creative playing. New toys are always fun, but too many can result in children not valuing their toys and losing the natural ability to be imaginative with what they do have. Buying less teaches our children to be satisfied and creative with less, rather than always wanting more, better and newer things.
2. Purge Often
Purging and simplifying regularly will result in a less cluttered children’s space. Whenever new toys come in, it’s the perfect chance to send some less used things out. Include your children in this process by getting them excited about donating toys to children who need them. This is a wonderful way to teach your children to be generous and selfless givers, while also decluttering their space.
3. Create Zones
Divide children’s rooms and playrooms into zones whenever possible. A place to play with costumes in one area, building sets in another, art supplies in a craft area. This will greatly help the organization process when there are clear zones for different activities.
4. Simplify the Clean-Up Process
Kids will be much more likely to clean up their toys if they know that there are only a few steps involved in the clean-up process. Bins and baskets are a great tool for organization, but making systems easy for kids to maintain is important. For example: it’s great to have a basket of toy animals, a basket of cards/trucks, and a basket of musical instruments – but keep the organization expectations flexible and manageable so that kids can easily be involved.
5. Teach Good Habits
Make cleaning up a daily habit for your kids. A great goal would be to have them put away their toys every night before bed. Consistently doing this every day will instill organizational habits in kids at an early age. Nightly clean-ups simplify the process every day, rather than becoming stressful after toy clutter has built up for weeks.
What systems do you use to help declutter kid zones?
