15 Simple and Effective Playroom Storage and Organisation Ideas

Are you overwhelmed with the amount of toys your kids have, and want to get them organised better? This is such a common situation for parents, especially after the holiday season.

Here are a few simple playroom storage ideas to help out! Regardless of the size of your space, it’s possible to keep everything organised and tidy.

I am determined to clear out a lot of our excess toys in the next few weeks, and to bring in less new toys in the coming year. Despite that, there’s always going to be a certain volume of toys in the house, with multiple young kids.

Here are a few simple ways to organise and store the toys, and deal with areas that can quickly get out of control.

Bonus – Having set storage areas for each type of toy makes clean up much easier, and is less overwhelming for the little people to help out and manage their own toys and belongings.

Visual Labels for Toy Boxes

Create visual labels for toy boxes, so even the youngest kids can see what belongs where – and put things back in the right place. This is great for the cube storage systems, like Ikea’s Expedit or Kallax storage unit (what we have) and similar versions.

This is one of the simplest playroom organization ideas that really pays off in building your child’s independence for easy clean up.

Organise Your Lego

Organise your Lego. Once our kids hit about 4 years old, the Lego starts to multiply and multiply, and we’re in need of storage solutions. Now with three of them from 4-7, it’s one of the most played with toys but does have a tendency to spread over the entire home.

For a small selection of easy to see pieces, you could try re-purposing an old tool box into a Lego storage area

Or for Lego storage on a larger section, try using the Ikea Trofast system and colour coding.

Storing Coloring Books and Art Supplies

Organise your kids coloring books with individual baskets. Each child can have their own with a selection of colouring books, paper and colouring pens or pencils.

You can use plastic bins with bright colors like these below, or wicker baskets are a great option too.

You can also use this idea to store favorite books in plain sight, and rotate them out periodically.

Set up a wall display area too, using clothes pegs, that way the kids can display some of their art work once they’re done and hopefully avoid the ever growing piles of paper that start to appear after an art session.

Writing, drawing and art supplies can also be organised in a homework caddy, using jars or tins to store each item. Again, each child can have their own. I love how organised this feels!

Since we have so many arts and craft supplies, I’m also tempted to go down the Ikea art cart route. These are found in the kitchen section, but I’ve seen many families using these to store their craft supplies in a practical and accessible way.

Toy Cars Storage Ideas

Another great idea from the kitchen section, is to use these magnetic knife bars to hold small toys like hot wheels cars.

They’re so much more accessible here than at the bottom of a large toy box full of vehicles, it keeps floor space clear, and it makes a cool feature for the playroom wall too. This is definitely on my to do list.

Doll Storage Ideas

If you have a lot of dolls clothes, small dolls and accessories like shoes, then one of these over-door clear shoe organisers works as a doll clothes wardrobe.

Keep each outfit in one slot, and kids can easily see the ones they want, rather than dealing with a crumpled pile of kid toy clutter with everything mixed together – with stray shoes getting lost here and there.

Dress Up Clothes Storage Ideas

It’s not only dolls clothes that can be hard to organise, the kids own dress up clothes can get out of control too! My kids have accumulated a lot and we definitely need to work on a new storage idea for them.

This DIY  dress up storage includes hanging space and bins for other accessories like masks, hats and shoes, which is a great way to keep everything in one place.

You could look out for something like this at the thrift store or even customise old dressers to create something like this for your play room.

Storing and Organising Small Parts

When clearing out the toys, we always find a few lost parts here and there. It can be hard to know whether to just throw them out, or whether you’ll come across the other pieces soon enough. Using a lost parts bin is a good way to handle this during your clear out – toss all of the missing pieces, lost parts and small parts here in the storage bins, and once everything is done, you could throw out those that can’t be matched up.

You could make this part of your regular tidying and organising routine too. When you find stray Lego pieces or pieces of toys around the home drop them into the lost parts bin and reunite them with their correct places at the end of the day.

Stuffed Animals Storage Ideas

Do you have a tonne of stuffed animals too? Try containing them in a stuffed toys zoo – you can DIY it, like this one made from a bookshelf and bungee cord

Or even make them their own animal swing!

Board Game Storage Ideas

Board games are another type of toy that we always seem to accumulate. Some of their art work makes a great decoration for your playroom walls, and this can double up as storage too!

Some people take all of the pieces out of the boxes and store each of the games in individual zipper pouches. As long as you make sure to keep the instructions page, this can work.

Puzzle Storage

For wooden puzzles, try stacking them up in racks like these. You can buy ones specifically intended for puzzles, from Melissa and Doug, or try repurposing some of the racks you’ll find in the kitchen or office sections.

Finally, for those toys with lots of little pieces, these clear drawstring bags are a great idea. You can easily see what’s inside, and keep all of the pieces together.

We hope you liked these clever playroom storage ideas, whether you have a dedicated playroom, toy room or small spaces to work with, you’re sure to find the best approach to help with easy cleanup and to promote independent play.

The good news is that proper toy organization makes play time flow much better too, the kiddos will be less overwhelmed and can focus on what they want to play with.

More Kids’ Playroom Inspiration

You might also like:

35 Creative Playrooms and Play Spaces for Kids

Free Printable Wall Stickers for Kids Rooms

DIY Sensory Table Ikea Hack

Pods Play Sensory Play Environments

For more kids playroom ideas, make sure that you’re following our Playrooms board on Pinterest

Follow Anna – In The Playroom’s board For The Home – Children’s Rooms & Playrooms on Pinterest.

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