Just wondering where everyone stores/keeps your children's toys and where do they play when they are in the house. Do you have a playroom, keep them in a box in the living room, only in the kids rooms, etc. My kids are almost 4 and 13 months so I keep most of it in the 'den/playroom/whatever I call it room'. I needed a place for the kids toys to be in and this one nondescript room kinda became the toy room. And when my daughter came along last year, I lost my art studio room (was a pretty small room) so it could be her bedroom and half my art stuff got labeled and put in the attic and my art tables and the other half of my stuff went in the 'den/toy room'. At first I didn't like not having my own art room, but now I like it because we can all be in the same room and I can do my stuff and keep an eye on the kiddos. My husband doesn't like that the toys are all in here but, so what, they need someplace to play in. The toy room basically houses 'baby safe' toys and I have a cabinet in my living room that has my son's 'big kid' toys. So he plays in there or the family room and the baby plays in the toy room. I also removed all the small pieces from all the toys just to be safe. I am on top of cleaning up all the toys at the end of the day too. Pull them out, play with them, but they have to be cleaned up before bed because I don't want to see toys in every room. I do keep a few toys in the kids rooms too but we don't really play up there much except for in the mornings sometimes. I guess as my son gets a bit older, I can store more of his toys in his room and he can play in there. My big problem is I that there is no room in their bedrooms and I am just running out of places to store toys in the house period! I'm sure everyone has that problem. So where do your kids play with toys?
When my ex and I were married, we had a big 5 bedroom house. Our kids each had their own room and I had a "play room" set up for them. It had the tv and vcr, a daybed and all their toys. thier bedrooms only had thier stuffed animals. I'm now remarried and in a smaller house. the kids all have their own rooms, but they are older now so not as much stuff. its kept in their own rooms.
My kids are 2 and 7. The 7 year old has most of his things in his room. He has shelves in his closet and over his desk that he keeps things on. He also has some tupperwares under his bed. He is into legos and puzzles and the kind of things he does NOT want his little sister getting into. We keep almost all their clothes folded in their dressers - so the closet is mostly free for shelves. The family games (many are his - like Battleship or Master Mind) are all in the upper part of the entertainment center in the livingroom behind a closed wood door. We don't have a TV so that whole space is used for games. The 2 year old has half her toys in her room (shelves in her closet) and half are in the bottom of the entertainment center so she can easily play on the livingroom floor. We have some baskets in the livingroom filled with kid books to encourage them both to read. The 2 year old's toy kitchen is in the diningroom and they both have an art easel they share that is also in the diningroom. The 2 yr old also has one low drawer in the kitchen with some small toys and she likes to play by my feet while I cook. We only have one livingroom - no playroom or 2nd livingroom. I like to do art too - I have my studio in our bedroom. One wall we put up shelving (with doors to hide art stuff!) and a work table underneath. I love it! Like you, we also clean up toys in the livingroom every night before bed.
Most of my 3 year olds toys are in his room. He has a play table that we can slide rubbermaid buns under and his toys are sorted in those. One for Thomas the Train, Legos, Cars ect. He is allowed to bring them into the living room and play but most of the time he likes to play in his room by himself. I have a cabinet in the living room that will house baby safe toys for when our second son comes in about two weeks. I also have more baby toys in the nursery. I don't like having the toys all over the house so this works out well for us. We are considering turning our back patio into a sun room and that will then become the play room and my sewing room, I have taken over the formal dinning room as my sewing room.
Everywhere! Just kidding. We have a two bedroom townhouse, so I often feel like the toys are taking over. Our kids have toys in the living room and the bedroom that they share. Most toys are in bins on shelves so it isn't completely messy, but there is no escaping the fact that they are there!
I have grandchildren now. I keep the toys in a corner of the living room in a plastic bin. I have found that no matter where you store them the kids will bring the toys into whatever room you are in at the time. They like to be able to see you and be in the same room. It seems to give them a sense of security.
I guess because I am soooooo used to having toys around I don't consider it a mess if they are left on the floor, as long as I know the floor under them is clean.
My son, almost 2 keeps most of his in a box in the living room. Keep them in a medium size box and he pulls them out and plays during the day. He has some in his room too but he just wants to play everywhere so no biggie to us. Our apartment isn't very big so until we get a bigger place the living room it is! We just pick them up a few times a day to keep tidy.
My husband also doesn't like toys in the living room, so we store no toys there; and while we let our kids bring toys into the living room sometimes (just yesterday, they built a big railroad track in it), all toys are stored in their room, and most play happens there as well.
