Get Rid of Your Kids’ Storage Boxes
I appreciate the many boxes, baskets and chests that kept my child’s avalanche of toys. They are pretty – we have some braided ombre. They are huge. And best of all, I could quickly throw things in there before guests arrived, and my house instantly looked like it was straight out of the West Elm catalog pages – or at least like Fisher Price wasn’t just sick of it. My permanent solution to get rid of the clutter is to buy prettier containers. And now I understand that these containers must be gone.
At Lifehacker, we take spring cleaning very seriously. We are far from missing out on an opportunity to refresh, reorganize and streamline our home life. We’re also very excited to hit the reset button with our technology, take a close look at our finances, and get the better of our day-to-day habits that have gotten a little musty. Welcome to Spring Cleaning Week as we clear away the winter cobwebs and set the stage for the sunny days ahead. Let’s clean up, okay?
As cute as the trash cans are (have you seen the ones with the pom poms ?), They’ve become trash bins in children’s storage facilities – a dark abyss from which toys never return. I’m not talking about small baskets that hold a particular item like Lego, stamps, or small cars; These are baskets the size of a basket that can wreak havoc. Last week, I watched my 5-year-old daughter frantically rummage through toy baskets in search of a camera, throwing a Barbie, stethoscope, toys, and ukulele on the floor.
“What are you doing?!” I said irritably.
“I can’t find anything,” she replied.
There must be a better way.
I was reading about a Montessori-inspired gaming environment and wondered if I could customize it. I like their philosophy. As Christine Clemer writes on Motherly , “The goal is to make the space soothing so that it promotes concentration.” Principles for a well-designed room include 1) materials are stored on low shelves for children to access on their own, 2) toys are open and “take, not entertain,” and 3) everything has its place. “Young children love order in their daily life as well as in their physical environment, but they definitely need help to establish this,” writes Clemer. “The Montessori environment maintains this desire for order by giving everything a place where it is.”
A favorite piece of furniture among Montessori devotees is the $ 65 Ikea KALLAX shelf , placed horizontally. You can see this in action all over Pinterest. I am thinking about getting one.
With such a shelf, toys are visible, so you can play with them regularly. It worries me that since we have so much more stuff than can fit in these boxes, our clutter will be more vulnerable. But I found out that many of the parents who have created simplified play spaces also have a lot of baby stuff in their homes – they just rotate toys more deliberately, placing only a small selection at a time and leaving the rest in the right place. pantry. It helps the kids to focus. In one study by researchers at the University of Toledo, toddlers who were given fewer toys played more creatively and were more involved in their play than those who had many toys.
It’s one way to help break the tyranny of trash cans – trash cans I loved, trash cans that can end up causing more headaches than they are worth.