Organizing Ideas for Kids By Age

The best tips for organizing toys and keeping clutter under control in your child’s room, plus get a free toy organization labels printable too!

As any parent knows, keeping clutter and toys under control in any child’s room is quite an undertaking. One way to do this is to use labels to organize everything. Here are some tips for organizing toys and keeping the clutter under control in your child’s room, no matter what their age.

Organizing Toys: Toddlers and Preschoolers

Since at this age, most kids can’t read, the best way you can help them know what belongs in each container is to use labels to show images of what belongs inside. A good way to do this is find images online or in magazines and print them off. Cut them to fit and affix them to the outside of the container.

Great tips on organizing toys with labels from toddlers to teens, plus a free printable!

Click on the image or here.

Toy Organization: Early Elementary

Since this age group is just learning to read, a good rule of thumb is to be general with terms when it comes to what goes inside the box. Using words like “dolls”, “cars” or “crayons” will be easy to read and help your child find the proper place to put things without being too complicated.

Organizing Kids: Middle School

By now, many kids have started transitioning from playing with a lot of toys to having lots of things like books, art supplies, video games, and so on. You can still organize by placing labels onto areas of the bookshelf where you want things placed such as “art and crafts books”, “novels” or “educational”. For video games, separate out by type or to which game console each belongs. Art supplies can be kept in separate tubs such as colored pencils, crayons, markers, paints, and so on.

Teen Organization Tips

By now, your teenager is no longer interested in action figures or dolls, but there are plenty of opportunities to still use the same system with their belongings. Place types of makeup together or sports cards in one spot. Use the labeling system to keep them organized in their homework. Continuing this into the teen years will help your child understand the value of keeping things organized so that when they fly the nest, you can at least hope you instilled these values.

Here are some more tips on why this system works and how to further utilize it

When looking for containers, try to find ones that fit together or interlock. You should also try to buy one style so they all go together without a lot of wasted space.
Think about a color scheme that will fit your child through many years. You don’t want to pick something too babyish or childish that they won’t want in their older years. Go for solid colors and patterns and skip licensed character sets since your child’s likes with change very quickly.
Consider buying labels that can be erased. This way, you won’t have to spend a bunch of time taking labels off and re-doing them every couple of years as your child outgrows certain interests.

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What are some ways you use labels to organize your child’s room or toys? I would love to hear in the comments!