What helped us (control the toy clutter)

Like most toddlers, Mia likes to scatter her stuff all over the house. Her toys were taking over the house, but I felt like she never actually played with them. 

Toy clutter

During her 15 month Ages and Stages questionnaire, one of the questions asked about her stacking capabilities. I had to really think about it and I didn't think that Mia had ever actually played with her blocks. Scattered them all over her room, for sure, but she did not really use them for their intended purpose. Which was concerning to me. I wanted to make sure she was meeting her milestones, but she did not seem interested in using her toys "correctly." 

I was thankful when I came across this article. The article touches on how a mom set up her son's playroom so that he could maximize his learning through play. 

By using the same Montessori principles, we reorganized Mia's nursery to make sure she had access to all of her toys and their potential for learning. 

Here is a picture of her nursery beforehand:

Here is her nursery now:

So what did we do?

1. Got rid of most of the bins (according to the article, the bins encourage digging and dumping, which leads to toy clutter). This alone was the best tip from the article. It makes so much sense. Toddlers are curious and want to explore, so they keep going until everything is dumped out and all over the place. 
2. Got rid of any toys that she had outgrown
3. Gave each toy its own space
4. Made all of the toys easily accessible
5. Turned off the electronic toys to help foster Mia's imagination (and keep the noise levels down for my own sanity)
6. Sort and declutter her books. I put away her non-board books until she's older and now I rotate the ones that are actually out on the shelves (there were one too many book avalanches for my comfort level)
7. I left one bin that holds her stuffed animals

It helped that we already had this kind of cube shelf to easily create this type of play space. If you are interested in this kind of cube shelving unit, you can purchase it from Ikea, Target or The Home Depot (Home Depot has the best price). I bought the ledges for the books at Ikea.  

Which toy should I play with?

So did it help?

Yes! Mia actually uses her toys for their intended purpose! She uses her Little People in imaginative ways (instead of just chewing on them). She stacks and sorts (instead of scattering). She plays and dances with her musical instruments. She will even set up a picnic for us. It's amazing how this simple change made such a difference!

She will still have toys all over the place at times, but the clean up is much easier when each toy has its own spot. It takes no time to put everything back where it belongs. 

We are really happy with how it is working out and I just wanted to share how this style of organization helped us control the toy clutter and get the most use of Mia's toys. It was a quick and easy process to set up initially and has helped a lot.  

Do you guys have a method to control the toy clutter? Any organizational tips you would like to share?