Keeping Pre-schoolers Small Toys from Baby About to Crawl

My kids are 4 years apart.
So my daughter was in preschool when my son was born.
We had and have, those plastic draw organizers.
From Walmart.
This is it:
http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_query=p...

ALSO though, I had always explained to my daughter, about her baby brother's development in ways she could understand. I explained explicitly, that a baby can choke, on small things or get hurt etc. So she as well, was cognizant of things. I actually would take her around the room, crawling with her and saying "Look... that small ball, it can be dangerous for brother, it is small enough to get stuck in his throat. Round shapes or ball shapes are not safe." And we'd crawl around on the floor, scouting around for things. It was an exercise I did with my eldest, so she could understand. And she did.
She would be very aware of things, around her baby brother. I did not expect her to be responsible for it, but that she also was aware about potential baby hazards. For me, teaching her this information was proactive and cautionary.

But we also, kept everything non-baby friendly, in those plastic drawers, or plastic boxes.
Things you store small/non-baby friendly objects in.... has to have a cover or lid or something to cover it. If it is just a basket or pencil box, those can be opened very easily and baby can grab it. It is not safe.

I also had, just a clear box for me/my daughter to put things in, as a "catchment" type thing. I kept it in the room we were mostly in most of the time and where my kids played. And I kept it up high enough that baby could not get to it, but my daughter could. So for example: IF my daughter found something on the floor, like say a bouncy ball... she would tell me "Mommy I found a bouncy ball. Not safe for brother..." and I taught her to put it in that catchment box. ANYTHING that was found, that was not baby friendly, went in there. It was easier that way, because I was not about to expect my then 4 year old daughter, to go all around the house putting things away. Nor me, when I was busy. So... that "catchment" box, was the place we'd put the various miscellaneous things we might have found laying around. And then later, when I had time, I would put those things away or organize it where it belonged.
It was very convenient and a good repository for me and my daughter to quickly put things. But yet it was contained, high up and not reachable by a baby. And it had a lid.

I had a friend who got her son his own little table that he could have those sorts of toys on and little brother was not allowed to play with them.

One thing I do, and I only have the one so I'm not sure if it will help or not, but I have little totes (like your pencil boxes and stuff) and my daughter can get one at a time, and when she's done playing with the toys in one, she has to put them back before she can get out another one. Hope that helps, at least a little.

Good luck!

One thing I've done with kids who want to use their little pieces in the common areas is to offer them the Pack-n-play for the big kids to sit in while they play with those toys.

Also, yes, only on the table. Or have kiddos keep them in their room-- and just gate them in if need be, that way your crawling child won't have access.

Do, for sure, allow the kids to bring them out when baby is taking a nap.

Sara B also had some good suggestions. In regard to storing, I liked Mamazita's idea of rotating the little toys and Everley's suggestion of clear bins. And if you don't have room for bins, consider one bigger box and putting each collection in the 1 gallon heavy-duty ziplock bags, or in plastic pencil boxes if they fit.

You must decide now to address this issue because for the next 2 years you are going to have to deal with it.

Take everyone's toys to their rooms and put up a gate in the bigger kids doorway so the little one can't get in there but the older child can.

I had a rule when we moved all the toys. If a toy found it's way out of the kids room then the toy found itself in time out for the rest of the day. Once it found it's way back to it's room it was free to play again...lol. I had a basket on top of the piano where they went. Once it was there it was not allowed to come down until that night. The kids learned quickly to keep their toys in their rooms.

You have to keep their items completely separated. Keeping all toys in the separate rooms makes life much easier for you.

Clear plastic totes with lids so big brother/sister can see what's in the box and get it off the shelf, but baby can't pull it over?

Gate off an area where your older child can play with their toys and the baby cannot get to them. There's gated enclosures if you have the room, your baby can crawl inside while your preschooler plays outside, or vice versa, or sit your preschooler at the kitchen table with a gate preventing the baby from going in there, in school they usually play with small toys on a table rather than the floor. You want your older child to be able to play with his toys but also have to consider the safety of the baby, the kitchen table may be best for all. I'm raising my little guy around his older cousin and the Legos were a nightmare, now at three years old I can finally relax. Explain the dangers to your older child and make them responsible for picking them up and putting them away each and every time they're played with, and put them up a couple of days when they're not.

Store the small toys in clear totes or drawers with latches in your preschoolers room where your little one cannot get to, but your older one can see what is in each one and bring out what he will play with wherever you decide that is. Sort them in gallon size ziplock bags so it's easy to take out and put back without dropping them everywhere on the way to putting them away.

I bought an Expedit from Ikea and the bins that fit the cubbies. All toys go in the bins, and we always clean up what we're done with before moving on the to the next thing. Each bin is labeled with what's inside as well as a picture so my preschooler can easily see where things go. For example, one bin is "Blocks" with a picture of blocks on it. Other examples are "Cars and Cards", "Musical Toys", "Balls", "Art", "Little People", etc. I put the messy stuff on the top bins so she needs me or her daddy to get them and the innocuous stuff is in the lower bins so she can get them and put them up herself.