Easy Toy Storage Solutions  

Oh, toys. Many toys. Many big toys. Not to worry, these easy toy storage solutions can help clear things up.

There's one rule to keeping these friendly faces from taking over the house: Divide and label. Everything.

Since most preschoolers can't read, these won't be your file-folder labels. Instead, use something entirely different but equally control-inspiring: picture labels.

Pictures of socks, shorts, shirts, and dinosaurs will help your preschooler know where things go. Color or tape pictures on every box, bin, or bag of the items that go inside.

Here are some easy toy storage solutions for corralling playtime favorites indoors and out.

Easy Toy Storage Solutions for Big and Bulky Items

I like using practical, kid-friendly storage solutions for games and toys, such as lidded plastic bins that tuck under the bed, roller drawers and cubbies, small bookcases, and toy drawers. 

Create a play area in one corner of a room where big toys can be left. Confine it with a small, kid-friendly area rug.

Put fire trucks, trains, and larger-than-life stuffed toys in big plastic dish tubs. Stuffed toys can also be stored on wall shelves or in inexpensive stuffed animal storage hammocks.

Past Meets Present Easy Toy Storage Solutions

Instill an appreciation of your family's past by turning items with sentimental value into unique, easy toy storage solutions for kids' precious treasures.

Turn a trunk or footlocker into a storage compartment for athletic gear or toys. As a precaution, disengage the lock and add a safety latch or device that keeps the lid open. 

Store the kids' artwork in a small dresser in the family room or a child's bedroom. Store art supplies atop a dresser in metal beach pails; add a basket to hold fresh drawing paper.

Many wooden toy chests are attractive enough for toy storage to grace your living room. (Again, you'll make sure that any chest you use has supports that will hold the hinged lid open in any position.)

Benches with storage underneath are another solution, and they can neatly camouflage an entire battalion of G.I. Joes. 

Otherwise, group toys by type (LEGOs, Barbies, train tracks ad trains) in plastic storage containers with lids, and stack them neatly on shelves or in cabinets.

Save the zippered plastic bags that new comforters come in and use them to pack away whatever stuffed animals or other toys are currently out of favor. Use an over-the-door clear plastic shoe bag for Barbies, LEGOs, and airplanes in search of a hangar.

If you're space-crunched, create a toy library. Rotate the preschooler's faves in and out every week or so, and store the rest in another room, the basement, or the attic.

Easy Toy Storage Solutions For Outdoor Toys

Keep favorite toys in a wheeled container or wagon so kids can roll them outside. You can also consider a deck storage chest for them to use as a toy box.

Another way to keep your yard tidy is to provide ample, accessible storage for toys in the kids' corner of the garage.

Consider what you would put in a standard room. For little ones, protect them from the sun with a "ceiling" (umbrella or awning), a "floor" (a quilt, splat-mat, or old blanket), and "walls" (some sort of barrier such as container plants, toy chests, or fences) that will keep them from wandering off (or at least slow them down). 

The older kids might want more privacy, but keep the little ones in view.

You're probably running out of room if you have a yard and small kids. Outdoor toys, for some reason, tend to be big—very big. It takes only a few gifts from the grandparents to seriously junk up the yard. 

Let's see; there's the swing set, plastic playhouse, sandbox, wading pool, bikes, and trikes. Argh! Just moving the stuff to mow the lawn can take an hour.

Limit how much plastic you want in your yard unless you're running a daycare. You wouldn't fill your lawn with junked cars; why is a trashy swing set different? Try setting some boundaries.

Give the kids one area of the patio and yard as their play area. Confine toys in that space.

Limit the number of toys that can be out at any given time, just as you do indoors, to help the kids keep their area tidy.

Just because your kids have more room outside doesn't mean they can play with ten toys at one time. And the sheer quantity of toys strewn about also reduces the odds that they will actually pick them all up at the end of the day.