Even with the best efforts to keep things to the minimum, toys and gadgets seem to breed and it’s not long before every cupboard, drawer and box is overflowing. 

It can be tempting to simply give lots of the toys away, but with a little organization you can turn a spare cupboard into a seemingly endless toy store that will keep your children occupied three hundred and sixty five days a year. Use a kitchen cupboard, part of a wardrobe or a cupboard under the stairs to properly store toys that aren’t played with every day. Jigsaw puzzles, special lego kits, dressing up etc. can all be kept in tubs or even pillow cases. Then when your children want to play with something, it is easy to locate, all the pieces are there and they can tidy it away themselves easily. 

Storing toys properly will help your children to look after their toys and stop them losing that all important last piece of the puzzle. Having all of their “stuff” organised also helps children to quickly see just how much they have – and perhaps helps to curb the desire for more! It can also be a helpful way for older children to make sure that their tiny pieces of lego, science experiments or robotic set doesn’t get into the sticky hands (or mouth) of their younger brother!

Save craft things (playdough, paints, crayons, paper, glue and scissors ) into old, clean, ice cream tubs or shoeboxes, and keep them on a high shelf out of little one’s reach.  Then, you will be able to choose and supervise their artistic activities and save your walls and sofa from their delightful doodles.