I’ve mentioned before how much Miss Madison loves Littlest Pet Shop toys. Not the current ones that are easily available in stores and online, but the limited edition, not-in-production, impossible-to-find, pay-way-too-much-on-ebay and hope-for-luck-at-garage-sales kind. As much as I joke about these toys, I’m sure your child/children have their own collections of books or toys that they absolutely adore….
but make you crazy….
because they are NEVER put away!
Well, Santa was kinder than I was this year and found Madison even more LPS to add to her collection. (I’m showcasing Madison’s collection, but these ideas would work equally as well for dolls, cars, Star Wars, books etc)
Her HUGE collection:
We had to return a couple of duplicate gifts, so we told her she could have the money to purchase whatever she wanted…. but gently suggested that some kind of storage solution for her LPS toys “might be nice”. If you do not have enough storage room then you may be interested in introducing your kids to kids toys via Youtube, there are so many fun and fantastic kids videos on this special social media platform that can both entertain your kids whilst increasing child development, and the bonus is that all they need is a laptop, tablet or phone, and there is no need to cram so many toys all in one place…
Creating a storage & organizing solutions for her toys became a learning process (although she didn’t know it). She had to measure out her book cases and come up with the length, width and height of each shelf. Hubby then took her to the dollar store to figure out what containers would fit on her shelf, be sufficient storage for her toys and be within her limited budget.
She calculated it out and found that these two sized bins, two per shelf would nicely fit her book case. The small, clear containers were 3 for $2 and the larger ones were $2 each.
We divided up her toys and accessories into categories and she labeled each bin herself.
She, like most kids, also wanted to be able to display her collection, and the shelf I built her a while back was no longer sufficient. Again, she measured out her shelves and she and Hubby went to Home Depot to calculate out how much wood she’d need. She had to figure out how many pieces, at what thickness and cut to what length would maximize her space. I’m pretty sure Hubby helped her a bit, but for the most part it was all her brain.
He cut some 2 x 4’s down to the width of the bookcase and then layered them so that her toys could be on a tiered display.
That’s it – just a few inexpensive 2 x 4’s!
With small toys come small accessories – items that would get lost in the larger bins, so we came up with the idea of a makeup organizer
Each little compartment holds a different category of item, and because it’s a lazy-susan spinner, she can easily spin it around and/or carry it around to play with whatever and wherever she wants.
Can you imagine all of this:
before it was organized?
Complete and utter mayhem.
With about $20 and a little imagination, she now has this incredible display that she is so proud of.
Her brain, her money, her creativity and (with a little nudge from Mommy & Daddy) her room is both livable and fun.
She’s MY daughter – I know this because Hubby can’t even organize his underwear drawer. lol
Have a great one!
Linked to:
- Craftberry Bush
- Between Naps on the Porch
- Skip to My Lou
Love your blog . Read it every day (at work … shhh) Can you tell me where you found the make-up organizer. It would be prefect for Lego or my stained glass bits. Thanks Shelly
We found it at JYSK for under $20, but I can’t find a link on their online store to send to you. This version http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X8BSJCO is very similar though and can be ordered online. Thanks for reading – work shmerk – we all need a little brain-break here and there. Hugs.