From: tigger@satyr.Sylvan.COM (Grace Sylvan)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: toy storage
Date: 8 Nov 92 08:32:42 GMT
Organization: Sylvan Associates

In article <1992Nov5.163809.25071@odin.corp.sgi.com> doering@froyo.esd.sgi.com writes:

   I am looking for suggestions of styles and places to purchase toy storage
   systems/toy chests.  Obviously I am looking for something safe and durable,
   but since we keep the toys in the family room, the alternative also needs
   to be some what aesthetically pleasing.  HELP!!!

A toy chest (or wicker chest, it will look nice in a family room,
we've got one in our living room) is good if you have a large
collection of stuffed animals, dolls, balls, and the like. Little toys
get lost in it, so we only throw big items in it.

We re-did Katherine's room with some large units (about 6 ft tall)
that were 16" deep - they had 4 shelves and sliding doors (that could
be removed). I've ordered, but not received a divider for one of the
shelves. The nice thing is that we can have the sliding doors on or
off, choosing to use any part as an open shelf or closed cabinet. The
depth was important for us, as all of Katherine's Fisher Price Little
People sets are stored on the bottom shelves, and large containers of
duplos and the like are stored on other ones. Her puzzles and games
also fit in the shelves easily. Katherine is 3, her brother is still
an infant. She can reach the 3rd set of shelves using a chair - so
things we don't want the baby into go there. Items requiring my
intervention are on the top shelf, and special stuffed animals live on
the top of the cabinets.

We bought these units unfinished at OSH for about $35 each. I am sure
you can find something like it finished for some not too unreasonable
price, as they're meant to be storage units, not fancy furniture.

As for smaller toys, we use the bin method. Using either those open
mesh bins that look like mini laundry baskets or ones that are kinda
clear, so you can see into them to see what is stored. This is so that
the kids, particularly younger ones, can find their toys. I've also
heard of labeling the bins with words and pictures (for younger kids)
so that they can find their stuff. We have a bin of cars, 2 bins of
fisher price little people small parts, a bin of plastic animals, and
soon a bin of headbands, and so on - you get the idea.

The baby's toys all go into a wicker basket in my livingroom (when
they're not all over the floor :-)) and we don't bother to sort them.
But as soon as the child gets a bit older, then there are more toys
with related parts. A friend of mine even went and bought a bunch of
small plastic food storage containers (semi clear) to help store her
daughter's different toys with pieces, like dominos, a bead stringing
set, etc. It seems to work better and look nicer than keeping all the
items in their original boxes. The containers were then all uniform
size and stacked well on the shelves they were put on. She bought a
cheap brand when they went on sale - no Tupperware for this project!

I also have a friend who bought 3 large bookcases to put into a room
for her (4) kids to store a lot of their toys on. It looks pretty
good. She also uses mini laundry basket bins to store small toy
collections, and has a couple of large wicker baskets to store some of
the larger collections - like her daughter's play kitchen items and
their large duplo collection.

When I was a kid my mom bought me a small dresser that fit in the
bottom of my closet that I stored some of my toy collection in. We had
16" deep metal storage shelves in our basement for part of the mess,
and a toychest in our room. My mom never bought us any bins or bags to
keep toys sorted with, and the toychest was often a disaster area.

If you really like the bin idea, Childcraft (800)631-5657 has some
brightly colored furniture that works with their brightly colored
bins. Toys to Grow On (800)542-8338 has a shelf set with 12 clear
indestructible bins.

My only advice is to look carefully at what you need to store (do you
need bins, wide shelves, what?), think about what things you'll need
to store in the future, and then plan for more storage than you think
you'll need :-)









-- 

Tigger (Grace Sylvan)                Mom of Katherine Yelena, 8/8/89,
tigger@satyr.sylvan.com              Corey 1/31/91; we loved him so,
                                     Robin Gregory born 2/28/92

 "It seems to me that our large goal is to find the ways to help our
 children become humane and strong."
 
              - Dr Haim Ginott quoted by Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish