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Blog: Organizing Kids Of All Ages
 organizing preschoolers
Ever wonder how in the world your child's preschool teacher gets all of the class to put their things up without major meltdowns?
It is because everything is in the form of a center. The center will include all toy and accessories for that particular task. Each item is combined with other like items in a container and stored at a height each child can easily reach.
Now at home, is that the scenario or are toys and crafts consuming 3 out of the 8 rooms in your house? It isn't that we do understand what to do, it takes time to do it and time to maintain it. The project of organizing around your children can make you feeling completely hopeless.
However, broken down into mini-projects it can be dissected and implemented without a full day tear everything out and put it all back up. We want to try and avoid that full tear everything out and start over mentality. Unfortunately, the odds of us being disrupted for 2-3 hours to complete a full day's work just do not exist anymore.
Start with the closet. Until we make some room in there we can't utilize it. As a professional organizer, we will start by removing it all and sorting to combine like items and then put it all back up. But we do not know all your personal items like you do. I have no idea your child may have as many as 3 Spider-man figures.
As we start in the closet it is important that the children be able to reach their storage if possible. For children standard reach is at 48". For best results adjustable shelving is always a good bet for children's closets. A unit like Freedom rail from Schulte Storage will provide configurations which will change as your child grows.
In my experience, breaking down items that are worn casually for play and those required for more dressier occasions, i.e. church clothing, is best split apart. For example,. The pants worn to school and for play will be separated from the pants worn to church. The dress shirts are to be separated from the school and play clothes. Short sleeves separate from the long sleeves. In summer, jackets and heavier fleece-like items for winter can be stored in the corners for a later time. Shoes can be stored in plastic boxes. Usually pants all on the top and shirts on the bottom will allow visually a more organized appearance.
Only clothes we are currently wearing need to be located in the closet. Any items to be pulled out for a younger sibling or clothing passed down from an older sibling but not into yet can be stored either under the child's bed or closet shelving in top of closet.
Now…onto the toys. Sort all puzzles, games, action figures, Barbie dolls, etc. and group all like items together. Determine size of items to be stored and measure for appropriate storage container size. If there is a bookshelf already in place that you intend measure the space required to store that item on the shelf. Always measure before you go to the store. Keep in mind how easy it will be to pull down from the shelf and will it hold up to some destruction. Plastic containers tend to crack or split due to abuse or someone standing on top of them. Canvas bins are great, providing an open top to have items easily tossed in for cleanup.
posted on: 11/1/2007 9:00:00 AM by Melissa Searcy
category: Family
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Organizing Kids Of All Ages
by Melissa Searcy
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About Melissa:
Melissa Searcy is a professional organizer and independent decorator now living in Jasper, AL. Formerly of Montgomery, Melissa owns Lulagrace Interiors where she was a regularly featured guest on morning television and had articles featured in the local newspaper and many local monthly publications. For more information you may visit her at www.lulagrace.com. Melissa is also a member of the Facebook community at Facebook.com/melissa.searcy or on Twitter at Twitter.com/LulagracePO.
Melissa's Website:
www.lulagraceinteriors.blogspot.com
Melissa's Other Blogs:
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