Are you wondering how to help your child get organized? Here are the organization tips for toddlers that every busy mom needs to know for success!
As a mom you quickly realize how important being and staying organized is in just about every aspect of your life! As a mom of three I know organization is absolutely the key to being successful!
We are going to go over the basics organization when it comes to toddlers. We will go over organization tips, tricks and hacks to help you and your toddler get organized and thrive!
After this post you will have all the basic organization tips for toddlers and the knowledge you need to keep your toddlers stuff organized and clutter free!
This post is all about organization tips for toddlers every mom needs to know!
Organization Tips for Toddlers
1. Teach Them Young
Encouraging your child to simply pick up after themselves can be started at an extremely young age!
As soon as my daughter started to be more engaged at playtime at around 6 months old I started having her help clean up. This can start as simple as just talking about what you’re doing, “Its lunch time! We’re all done playing with blocks, let’s put them all back in this box before we go eat!”
As they get older you can give them bigger and better tasks.. Luckily for us, babies and toddlers always LOVE to help out!
2. Establish A Routine
Most of us know that babies, toddler, kids… literally everyone, thrives off of a routine!
Have a routine for everything and always make picking up part of it. Routines help toddlers know what’s expected of them and the order that things need to be completed in.
Here are a few ways to incorporate cleaning up into your routines:
- Getting ready in the morning – Always put toothbrush and hair brush back in its proper spot, pajamas go into the dirty hamper and the bed gets “fixed” (to the best of child’s capabilities).
- Meal time – Let your toddler empty his plate in the trash and then put his plate, cup and silverware in the sink for you. Give your toddler a wet wipe to wipe down their high chair tray or placemat.
- Playtime – Have your toddler put one activity away before getting out another, always pick up before leaving a room.
- Bath Time – Put all bath toys back into organizer, put away dirty clothes and bring towel back to be hung up.
- Bedtime – Pick up any toys left out, put books back away after reading.
3. Keep Things Simple
One of my biggest mistakes when organizing my daughters toys in the beginning was over complicating things..
I wanted everything to have a home and be aesthetically pleasing. I had a separate section for Barbie dolls, Barbie clothes, Barbie shoes, Barbie accessories, Barbie house accessories, Barbie food, Skipper Barbies & Skipper accessories. It made her finding exactly what she wanted very easy BUT she would get sooo overwhelmed trying to section out every little thing when picking up.
It was way too complicated!
We simplified it to Barbie Dolls of all kinds, Barbie clothes, shoes & wearable accessories and Barbie play accessories. Simplifying things still allows her find what she needed pretty easily but isn’t overly complicating things at clean up time.
I now try to keep things organized in 4 sections max.
{Related Post: 5 Worst Organization Mistakes To Avoid | Organization Tips For Parents}
4. Label Everything
This one seems kind of silly because toddlers obviously cant read but this is still important.
Even if they cant read, I’ve found that toddlers will start to recognize words and know what they mean even if they don’t know what it says.
My daughter at 2 years old recognized which laundry basket was for darks despite it being empty. I asked her how she knew and she pointed to the label, she had connected the two without even being able to read.
5. Use a Toy Rotation
Toddlers can become overwhelmed very easily..
Giving them a lot of options seems like a good idea in theory but limiting choices allows your toddler to stay focused for longer and makes picking up a lot less daunting for them – there are only so many places it can be put away in.
Some people have a very strict and active toy rotation schedule but I don’t really have time for that.. I personally keep my toy rotation very simple and only change things out 3 or 4 times a year, typically with the seasons.
6. Cube Organizers
These are very popular and for good reason – they are absolutely amazing!
Chances are you already own one but if you don’t, I’ll link my favorite one from Target here for you.
This should be the first organizer you buy since its so versatile. If you have bigger, single toys you’d like to display openly for your toddler, this is perfect as is – just place it on the shelf. If you have smaller toys or multiples, it’s a great idea to pick up a few bins for the cube organizer.
These bins with label cards from Amazon would be a great option!
7. Avoid A Toy Box
Even before becoming a parent, one thing I could never stand was a toy box!
Are they good for fast and easy pick up? Sure.. but thats about it.
The problem with toys boxes are that the toy the child wants always seems to be at the very bottom of the box. Naturally, that means every. single. toy. in the way will end up all over the floor! This happens every time, without fail.
These are the equivalent of shoving everything in the closet. They don’t help teach organization skills and they don’t allow your child to easily find what they need. Avoid these at all costs.
If you already have one or were gifted one, you can easily repurpose them as blanket storage or at very best, a storage bin for large, bulky toys that you don’t want displayed.
I feel like this should almost be the rule number1 when it comes to organization tips for toddlers!
8. Utilize Under The Bed
I talked about my daughters Barbie earlier but I’m mentioning it again to tell you where I store it all – under her bed!
Growing up this is exactly where my parents had a lot of my Barbie stuff stored too. This is a great space for toys with many pieces that you want to put in a closed bin.
Amazon has a few great, flat bin options or you can always use smaller, regular closed storage boxes too! Grab a crib or bed skirt if you don’t already have one to keep this storage concealed.
9. Have a Catch All Basket
I still use this tip as an adult and its so helpful!
It’s not uncommon to somehow find kitchen items in the bathroom and bathroom items in the bedroom.
When picking up a room, put a small basket or bag by the door to put anything that belongs in another room in. Once finished picking up that room, grab the basket on your way out, carry it with you and put thing away room by room.
10. Arts and Crafts Cart
The toddler stage is the most fun age for arts and crafts projects but all the supplies you come to accumulate can get very overwhelming and dragging it around is super annoying.
The BEST solution I’ve found is setting up an arts and crafts cart with wheels! It’s perfect to easily bring everything you need for a project with you wherever you go in the house.
If your toddler is extra grabby, keep it in a locked closet so that they don’t have full, open access to it.
{Related Post: HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR ART CART IN 7 SUPER QUICK & EASY STEPS!}
11. Make Piles
When a mess gets out of hand we easily go into shut down mode and toddlers are the same way!
The easiest way I’ve found to start tackling it all is by making piles.
Don’t make a million piles, try to keep it simple at first and then you can narrow down as you go. I try to keep it to 4 piles.. any more than that and it becomes confusing.
Help guide your toddler to start picking a messy bedroom up by having them make these four piles:
- Trash pile
- Clothes pile
- Dirty clothes
- Pants
- Tops
- Pajamas
- Toys pile
- Trucks
- Legos
- Train toys
- Doesn’t belong pile (catch all basket)
Create the first 4 piles and then work on sorting through one pile at a time.
Ex. After you have all 4 piles above made (trash, clothes, toys, other), pick 1 pile to focus on first.
First: toy pile – (sort into trucks, legos, trains), get those piles put away and then move on to making your Clothes piles (sort into dirty, pants, tops, PJ’s), etc.
This is definitely something you’ll have to guide them through for a few months but they will catch on. My 4 year old now does this all on her own when cleaning up large messes.
12. Practice Sorting
Similar to sorting piles, having sorting games and activities for your kiddo will help them get used to the idea and is great practice.
Sorting games:
- Sort by color
- Sort by shape
- Sort by environment (land, water, air)
- Sort by size
- Sort by number
Sorting activities:
- Sort laundry (clothes, towels, bedding)
- Sort silverware (have them put away forks, spoons, butter knives)
- Sort groceries (freezer, fridge, pantry)
- Sort clothes (socks, shirts, pants)
13. Use Wall Space
Floor spaces gets taken up SO quickly!
Be sure to utilize wall space by using hooks, shelves and baskets!
Hooks are great for bags, jackets, hats, bows and towels. Shelves are pretty self explanatory and hanging baskets is another great option! We use these long, mounted baskets as a bookshelf right now but we’ve used them for stuffed animals too!
14. Baskets and Crates
Use ALL of the baskets and crates!
They are perfect for organizing just about everything. Whatever it is, put it in a basket and it’s immediately easier to keep organized!
I absolutely love Melissa and Doug toys/items because most of the time they come in a crate you can keep the toy in or repurpose. Even with things like our toy kitchen food – we keep them sorted and in small crates.
15. Out of Reach
I really didn’t have to worry about this one with my daughter.. She was super good about asking before just grabbing anything and knew what toys and items she needed mommy’s help for.
My son, on the other hand, gives absolutely no sh*ts lol! If he can climb up a wall like spider man and reach something, he’s 100% going to do it.
Things like puzzles, family games with small or many pieces, etc. all should be kept UP and maybe even locked if you have a little ninja like me! If you have a cabinet that you can baby proof with locks this will avoid so many messes! I use these magnet locks from Amazon and I swear by them!
16. Be Sneaky
I have pretty strong feelings about lying to our children and respecting their spaces and belongings but sometimes a mom just has to do what she has to do.
Sometimes, this includes throwing away that totally amazing McDonalds toy they got in their happy meal that they won’t actually play with but insist they need to keep. (I’m looking at you too Kinder Egg Joy!!) Somethings we just gotta quietly toss out after bedtime.
Chances are they won’t remember or even ask about it again!
17. Monkey See Monkey Do
The absolute best way to help your child get organized is by staying organized yourself.
Monkey see, monkey do!
Lead by example.. If your kids grow up with a clean and organized house and surroundings, they’ll likely come to expect this type of environment themselves too. This isn’t to say they won’t be teenagers and have a phase where you cant even see the floor (I did this too!!) but ultimately they will come to appreciate and understand why organization is so important.
Just by searching and reading this post on organization tips for toddlers shows that you are doing your best and deeply care about the environment you are raising your children in. If no one else has told you today, you are doing an amazing job!
