The One with the Playroom, part one

Over the past year or so I've had lots of people ask me to share more about my playroom/toy ideas/organization. I honestly feel weird posting this. It's as though I'm on MTV cribs, yet bragging about my Duplos.  Lame? Yes.
But I love good a organizing post as much as the next crazy person, so here goes...

Tubs. 
I have everything organized in shoeboxes ($1 each, from Walmart). I was the educational director of a preschool in Houston after college, and they had bookshelves full of tubs just like these. It helps so much with kiddos! Typical 12x12 cube shelves you find in stores don't fit 2 tubs wide, so my husband built this shelf specifically for my tubs! So sweet!

Here are the pros and cons of organizing toys in tubs like this:
Cons:
1. It can be tedious to clean up at times.
2. Everyone thinks you're a freak. A big giant weirdo.

Pros:
1. Containment and Lids:  It keeps each group of toys together. It has a lid, and my kids couldn't open the lids by themselves for nearly 3 years. Yes. That means they didn't open any tubs without my help/permission for nearly 3 years. Awesome. No insane toys spewed all over the house. And in 3 years, I haven't lost any toy pieces. 
2. Classification, Responsibility and Order: From about 10 months old and on, my kids were able to sort and differentiate which toy goes into which tub. I usually allowed my girls to have 1 or 2 tubs open at a time. Then they had to clean up in order to choose a new group of toys. (Now that my girls are older, I let them have tons of tubs out at a time!)  They do have to clean up before bed time though.
3. Moderation: Let's be honest. We can get completely out of hands with little kids toys. They multiply in the middle of the night and somehow you have 4,563 Happy Meal toys. This way, each genre of toy is limited to one shoebox sized tub. I won't allow more than 1 tub of princess dolls. I don't want more than 1 tub full of matchbox cars. Having 1 tub limits quantities.
However, I have more than 1 tub full of some related items. Some of our favorite items I have broken into smaller subgroups (duplos, duplo figures, etc).

I'm particular about what type of toys my kids play with.
What you will see more of: wooden, classic, creative, constructive, hands-on, open-ended toys.
What you will see less of: battery-operated, plastic, "overly girly" or gender specific toys.  (Although these toys do have their merit at times!)


So here's the breakdown...

On top: These are just classic preschool board games, but they look like books! Adorable! They are hard plastic instead of flimsy cardboard boxes. Also, that blue game on the right is Barnyard Bingo, one of our FAVORITE board games for 18m+
(p.s. See the orange dots at the bottom of the games? Any items with an orange dot have tiny pieces that my baby can choke on. I've trained my big girls only get these toys out when she is taking a nap! Yessssssssss.)

On top:  Ikea shape sorting house, Ikea wooden stacking toy, Melissa and Doug shape sorter, Melissa and Doug gears, Melissa and Doug hammer pounding game, Ikea wooden bead maze, Fisher price farm.
All of these are baby-safe, and my 3 year old twins still play with them! Ikea has such great wooden toys for super cheap! Usually under $10!

Shelf one (with links to some items): Duplos, Duplo animals and dinosaurs (I highly reccomend these! Favorites!) Duplo Letters, Star Builders, hand and finger puppets, Melissa and Doug stacking train, and a tub of transportation things. (a few wooden cars, wooden stop/traffic signs, etc)

Shelf two: a tub of cheapo fun plastic jungle animals, Wooden magnetic dress-up dolls, Mr and Mrs. Potato Head, Wooden train and track, small, Plastic tool kit, Lakeshore peg set (another favorite!), Leapfrog Alphabet bus (discontinued) Again, any tub with an orange dot has small pieces that little sister can choke on, so the big girls only get those out when she's sleeping.

Shelf three: Fisher Price Tea Set, wooden stacking block animals (similar to these, but mine were $10 at Michael's!) various science tools, and stacking cups (another favorite since the twins were babies!) Fisher Price Noah's ark and animals, Fisher price princesses

These are some of the things in the girl's science tools kit. They love getting the different pieces out and it's neat to see them intentionally getting out this tub because they need a tool. (Magnifying glasses, magnetic wands, measuring tapes, color mixing paddles, etc.)

Shelf four: twin doll bunk beds, two doctor kits (from target in the baby doll section, I love that they are hard cases!) alphabet beanbags (I sewed them a long time ago for my classroom), build-your-own saxophones, simple wooden blocks, Tag, Jr readers with books and flash cards

So there you have it. I feel like I've just made some embarrassing confession, but you know what? I like being organized. But please know that my entire house doesn't look like this. At all. My closet looks like an episode of Hoarders. Nobody goes into my master bedroom because there are mountains of laundry in there at all times. Such is life. 

Hope you enjoyed the tour, and I'll show you the other side of the playroom next time!