Playroom Organization Ideas: Toy storage hacks in small spaces

Do you have a toy storage problem? Everyone is looking for playroom storage hacks. Having small spaces to store kids’ toys is a big problem but it can easily be fixed. Today I’m sharing some easy toy storage ideas for small spaces. Keep reading for my best toy storage ideas.

Once upon a time I was a mom with many small children and I wanted to have kids toys that interested them and engaged their minds, but we had an 1,100 square foot house, with about 50 square feet for toy storage space and play. I needed LOTS of storage options and organization ideas!

Do not miss my 5 word organization challenge:

Toy Storage Ideas for Small Spaces

Here are my top 5 tips for having toys in a small space.

Quick side note about playroom storage:

When my kids were small, it was important to me that toys not be in my children’s rooms. It made for a non-sleeping naptime once they could get out of their crib. I had much happier children if they had a nap, so that prevented me from putting too many toys in their room (I still used the top shelf in their closet for toys in bins).

I also have a podcast on organizing your playroom for kids under 3:

5 Playroom Ideas for your organization:

5 Playroom Ideas for your organization:

Use toy rotation to cut down toys in small spaces

The idea isn’t brain surgery, it’s just about holding back a portion of toys and rotating them out as your kids get bored with what’s out. This has a variety of benefits including:

• Fewer toys to clean up
• VERY happy days when new toys come out
• It allows you to REALLY clean/organize the toys every so often

You can use a variety of spots to put the toys you’re not using:

• Garage
• Top shelf in closets
• Attic/basement

I always made sure to put them in storage baskets which made it difficult to see what was inside. I don’t need little climbers putting their skills to use. This also helps if you’re trying to keep small toys or toys with small pieces out of little ones’ reach.

Yes, toy rotation can be painful — but in the end the sweet freedom/quiet of when I brought out the “new” toys was magical. This was the best way for me to keep toys organized which made it totally worth it.

Related Post:  Busy Bags for Church

Use cabinet storage for toy organization in small spaces

We used a cabinet we had gotten at a local big box store. You want to try to use as much space as you can to organize, this includes vertical space.

Be sure to put smaller storage bins up top. That way no little faces get smashed as they take out the bins. I like to keep board games up higher too.

Combine as much as you can

All the action figures go together, no need to separate superheroes and soldiers. Toy cars and lego bricks can also all be stored together, this is a great option to reduce needing extra storage.

That allows for bins to take up less room and be fuller for kids to enjoy.

Use the corners for family room toy storage

I had bins stacked in the corner. My kids needed my help to get them out — but I also was able to control how many toys they had out at once. This is a great example of using space you have. I had easy access to get them out but other toys were in plain sight so it was easy to have them clean up before we got out more toys.

Clean up those toys before you get out new toys — that is a valuable lesson to learn!

Using the corners freed up the open floor space which gave them more room for play.

If you’re looking for another easy toy storage idea check out storage ottomans. These are a great solution for favorite toys that you want your children to be able to access whenever they want. A storage bench is another option.

Paring down toys is important for small spaces

That’s right — the golden rule of organizing is to have less to organize. If a toy is annoying or not getting played with…

Chuck it. Too much stuff can be overwhelming and actually reduce creativity.

I don’t care if grandma gave it to you. Until she gives you a larger house, you only have room for the 5 star toys!

Having organized toys helps your kids learn organization skills early on, and by having less toy clutter you can all stress less.

Toddler Playroom Organization

I swear all toddlers toys are BIG TOYS!!!! Make sure that you only have a few large toys and that they have a spot for them.

Toddlers are a GREAT one to use toy rotation with because they aren’t great at putting things away and young children get overwhelmed easily.

Open shelving can be great for those larger toys and toy hammocks, have you seen those? They’re great for stuffed animal toy storage!

Playroom Organization on a Budget

There are easy ways to organize on a budget. We aren’t all professional organizers and we don’t need to run to the container store to organize.

Some of my favorite toy storage ideas include:

• Using boxes from Amazon, etc to put toys in. Storage boxes don’t have to all match and be pretty.
• Finding storage items at Goodwill
• The dollar store also has a lot of good organizational items!

I hope you’ve found this post helpful in helping you organize your kid’s toys.

If you liked this post — I have a whole course ALL about home organization. An easy way to keep your home clean is to organize what you have.

The Organized Home Course helps prove that families can be organized and enjoy their home and time together.

I just launched a whole section on Playroom organization.  Lots more ideas like what you see in this post to make toy storage easily doable!  You can see all that is included here.

In fact, I spend more time with my family because I spend less time taking care of my house.  I think you’ll love it!

Looking to get organized? Join my 5 word organization challenge, and check out all my other organizing post below that!

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