Toy Labels: Cars & Trucks, Music and Animals

Too many times, my husband and I have walked into disorganized playrooms.  Toys strewn everywhere.  Dolls mixed with the trucks.  Blocks with the dishes.  Orphaned puzzle pieces with the dress-up clothes. It can look like a tornado blew through!

Toy rooms can easily be left in a mess, as it is much easier to close the door.  "Out of sight, out of mind."  Or, parents may give in and organize the toys themselves, picking up after their children each night, only to have another tornado blow through the next day.

We do not have a toy room in our home.  Our play space consists of a corner in our upstairs living room, and a (future) shelving unit in our small basement rec. room.

Of course, as more toys have entered our home throughout the last 10 months of Baby J's life, that little 'corner' has started to grow.

As a result, we thought it would be wise to begin early in teaching our little man to organize his own toys, thus helping to keep the chaos under control.

In my kindergarten classroom, every bin and shelf that the children were responsible for, had a label attached to it.  This label included both a picture and the associated word(s).  They knew quickly where writing utensils, books, manipulatives, and toys were to be put away.

Giving children the opportunity to put away their own toys teaches:

• independence
• organizational skills
• respect for ones belongings
• one-to-one recognition (i.e. the trucks go into the truck bin)
• literacy skills (i.e. matching the image to the word on the label)

Of course, I can replicate this system in a simpler form in our own home!  I recently inherited three very rugged milk crates from my father-in-law.  It is my goal this week to sew covers for these otherwise unattractive crates, and attach some useful labels.

We are beginning with the most frequently used toys: Cars & Trucks, Musical Objects, and Animals (mostly 'stuffies').

I will share more labels over the next while as our home and toy organization continues.

Happy Organizing and Playing!

I plan to link up here:

Tip Junkie

Someday Crafts

Skip to My Lou

The Girl Creative

A Bowl Full of Lemons
Toys in the Dryer