How I organize

As a parent, I feel like most days I am constantly picking up toys and putting them away. I don't like looking at messes, but obviously with children messes are inevitable and quite frankly are usually a sign my kids are having fun!

I love taking a step back and allowing the kids to create "messes" or "cities", or "tracks" or "dinosaurs" out of Powerclix from Guidecraft. It usually resembles a picture of chaos, but I know my kids are creating and imagining, and to me, that is beautiful. Today, I thought I'd take you inside Jake and Kinsley's room to see a few ideas on how we create messes and keep everything organized when we are done.

For little hands, these magnetic shapes are incredible as they easily connect to form wild and crazy 3D shapes. Jake made a "dinosaur" out of his and I was so captivated by his imagination. 

However, when we are done creating and are ready to move on, I find having bins for toys makes cleaning up quicker and easier for my little ones. Our white bookshelf with tan storage bins has been perfect for organizing Jake and Kinsley's toys. 

The white hexagon shelf you see with the wooden animals and mountain are from Trae Designs and I love this little adventure corner in Jake's room. We moved into this house last summer and I am slowly bringing together each room in our house. Trae Designs has so many great decor pieces that double as toys and the best part is that they are a Canadian company, located in Squamish, BC! 

I've slowly been introducing little clean up routines with Jake that are finally paying off and I am thrilled. Here are a couple helpful tips I have learned as a mother that work for our family. Maybe they will work for you too!

First step: the clean up song. "Clean up, clean up everybody everywhere, clean up clean up everybody do your share!" Maybe you sing a different version or have never heard of this song. My kids love music so at the end of the night or just before nap time, we all sing and clean together and it works!!  

Second step: Find something to organize toys in that works for your family and get your children involved. I like these bins because they aren't too heavy for Jake to carry and he can easily take one off the shelf, dump it out, play, and then put it all back where it belongs and it looks neat and organized.

Third step: Let them play. Let them create. Let their imagination run wild. These days, Jake is using his Powerclix to make dinosaurs and garbage trucks. Tomorrow it might be trains and snakes. 

At the end of the day, I always think its better to have loved and created a mess, than to have everything perfectly clean with no fun at all! (Or maybe that's just me trying to get out of cleaning my house) Any other tips on how to organize kid's toys? Or maybe just keeping them organized for more than a few minutes? We would love to hear your tricks and tips.