Skip to main content

8 excellent tips for a well-organized playroom

Playing, pretending, and creating make up a major part of a child’s development. However, with this constant action comes clutter and a bit of a mess strewn across the room. Furthermore, as children grow from babies to toddlers, their interest in toys and articles of clothing begin to waver. The disinterest might contribute to the clutter on the playroom floor.

At that point, you might look around and wonder how to organize a playroom. Here are eight excellent tips for a well-organized space that you might find useful and easy to maintain—with help from the kids.

little girl standing in front of shelves
Image used with permission by copyright holder

How to organize a playroom

Invest in wicker baskets for storing toys

An old wicker basket might just be the lifesaver you need. Wicker baskets come in varying sizes and shapes and play a variety of roles in the game of organizing clothes and toys. Additionally, you can opt for a shelving unit with cubes for placing the baskets, or you might consider a shallow, wide basket for situation stuffed animals in a decorative manner.

Make the decision between cabinets or shelves

Deciding between installing cabinets or shelves in your child’s playroom presents a common dilemma for some parents. The decision of installing cabinets or shelves as a storage unit depends on your child’s age and ability to reach things in higher places. However, a combination of colorful shelves and cabinets might just do the storage trick for older children.

The top to bottom order

Have you considered organizing your kid’s playroom from top to bottom? The top to bottom order storage arrangement works for parents with toddlers and older kids. When implementing the top to bottom order, you should think about items that should be stored at the top of shelves or in cabinets and which items/toys are best stored at the bottom shelf or on the floor.

By following this order, you’ll focus your attention on the best places to store items while keeping ease of access and safety in mind.

little girl painting play house
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Show off your children’s artwork

Let’s face it; almost every group of kids will have a budding artist. Nevertheless, the works of art often pile up in a short time, but who wouldn’t be proud of these accomplishments?

You don’t have to worry about how to organize a playroom or how to decorate it when you can acquire some picture frames to display their artwork—a definite way to avoid papers cluttering around the playroom.

Provide easy access to art supplies

Every artistic masterpiece requires art supplies, but finding what you need gets rather cumbersome if the supplies are all over the place. Wall shelves would be a great preference for storing and organizing your kids’ art supplies in their playroom. To make organizing easier, you can include colorful shallow trays or some caddies for storing scissors, rulers, paper, and markers.

Create a clean-up routine

Teaching your children how to clean up their playroom is an excellent educational practice. You can create a clean-up routine with the children to sort and categorize toys and items into their exact location. The best part about this practice involves fostering teamwork and cooperation while encouraging creative play.

To add more motivation, create a fun game and see who can put away toys and other items faster. Your kids will love it.

Create a library in the playroom

Who says the playroom can’t be a learning space also? How cool would it be to organize a library in your children’s playroom?

You can create an organized, comfortable area for your kids to read. This idea includes storing all books in an upright position and keeping them on eye-level shelves. This setup prevents the books from getting damaged while providing accessibility for the children to select their favorite titles.

Apply labels to the storage units

Another easy hack is to label everything in the playroom for identification, organization, and easy storage. For children ages 3 to 5, you can also include a photo or sketched illustration right above the label. This will help your child with word recognition and literacy as he or she enters the pre-K years.

Also, as you go through your child’s possessions, you might consider setting aside outgrown clothing and toys for donation. Finally, while figuring out how to organize a playroom, always remember to instill the three fundamentals for a child-friendly space which are to keep it teachable, reachable, and repeatable.

Editors' Recommendations

Leslie Anderson
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Leslie Anderson is a freelance writer/writing coach from Roswell, N.M. She enjoys gardening, cooking, and helping students…
Tickle the funny bone with these kids’ knock-knock jokes
Knock, knock! Who's there? The top kids knock-knock jokes
Grandpa and grandson laughing at a knock-knock joke

Knock-knock jokes have been a staple of American humor since the late 1930s. Despite the eye rolls, the knock-knock jokes have most certainly stood the test of time. Bob Dunn is thought to be the creator of knock-knock jokes since the cartoonist penned the first book containing them. The book was a huge smash and Americans became obsessed with them in the late 30s.

Turns out, though, the knock-knock setup actually appears in William Shakespeare's Macbeth, though not in the form of a joke. So, did the Bard invent knock-knock jokes? No one really knows for sure, but the knock-knock joke remains popular, especially among kids.

Read more
Need to clean out the playroom? This is where you should donate toys
Need help on where to donate toys to tidy up your child's room? We have the local spots to go to first
A child's room that's a bit messy with toys and items all over

Between holidays, birthdays, and "just because" moments, the playroom and kids' bedrooms fill up pretty quickly with all sorts of items. If you want to declutter that toy room and get rid of the things your children no longer play with, donating will teach your kids to help others while letting you see the floor again. Instead of the places that are the usual stops for toy donations near you, try these other places first.
Local Buy Nothing group
If you don't know about your local Buy Nothing group, please look into it. It's a safe place to swap, give away, or ask for items or services completely free of charge. Sure, we'd all like to get a few bucks back from our child's toys, but if you don't want to go through that hassle, this is the best option. You don't even have to leave the house if you're more comfortable with porch pickups in your neighborhood.
Ask hospitals what they could use
Hospitals have tighter rules about what they can take, but it's never a bad idea to ask. The hospital would be the best for when you purchased something, it was the wrong size or item, and now you can't return it. Though items still in the packaging and with tags are always preferred, there are exceptions. Call and ask what your local hospital would take.
Reach out to local day cares/schools
If your children have ever gone to day care, you know how quickly they ask for donations. Day cares are open to more kinds of things, not just toys, so if you need to do a bit of an overhaul in your kids' rooms, ask your local day care facilities. The schools in your area are a great go-to, as well. Teachers always need classroom supplies, and the younger grades would need toys, books, and even clothing for when accidents happen.
Parent groups
Whether you're in a bunch of Facebook groups or are part of a group that meets in person, ask people you already know if they could use some toys your children have outgrown. You have a rapport with these other parents, and if you meet up in person, you could bring the items along and not have to make another stop.

Women's and children's centers in your area
For your donations to make a bigger impact, make sure women's and children's centers are on your list. If you were a struggling parent, you know how much it means to have a place like that to go to when in need. If you're a parent who doesn't have to struggle, pay it forward and count your blessings by donating to one.

Read more
Your favorite childhood movies will be your kid’s favorite, too
Want to rewatch your beloved childhood movies? Grab your kid and revisit these nostalgic films
A family watches TV on a couch

We all have a soft spot in our hearts for the movies we were raised on. We grew up on those films and they helped shape the adult version of ourselves more than we might want to admit. These are the childhood movies that you have to watch with your little human that will show them the value of family and friendship and that kindness is always the right choice.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)

Read more