playroom organisation - board games and small toys

My theory on board games is that is they're accessible then my children are more likely to play with them independently as they don't have to ask my to get them down! 

Of course, we do play games together regularly, but there's only so my times I can play dotty dinosaurs before the name becomes all to applicable to me!

So I keep the board games one shelf from the floor so my children can easily grab the one they want. I purposefully arranged them into "quick games", which are ones they can do independently and in a short time. These on the left normally need an adult. 

These bottom containers hold my two youngest children's smaller toys. There's a unit the same side opposite this one that has toys sorted by category, but these tend to not fall into a specific category. Or with Esmae they'res too many small ones to put separately. 

Side note, I get questions about these tubs whenever I post about them. They're Curver brand and I tend to get mine here from Amazon, but I've also found them in Homebase and Wilkos. They're a lot more cream in real life than the Amazon photo suggests, which is my preference!

A while ago I made some of these small drawstring bags to hold some of Ethan's collections. He has his super hero mashers in one and Minecraft mini models in another. 

There's more toy categories in this unit along with jigsaws and awkward sized games like "poppin' pig", plus the drawer unit for all the craft supplies. This side is really for creative play and social games, where as the other side is more specific toys like cars, Happyland and Lego. 

I've just honestly tried to see how my children use this space and work it around them. In the year that we've had it it's changed several times and I'm sure it still will. But I've stuck with systems that are flexible and easy to change around for that reason. 

Oh, and those craft supplies that I don't necessaraly want them to have easy access to? Those are in the top cupboard. Of course I did sort the beads and hama beads by colour as it's how my children use them, and because most things are better sorted by colour! But with the loom bands I lost the will! Even I have my limits.

I use each of these large units for larger items like the Sylvanian house and castles, but I also try and keep it decorative so I found these mini suitcases at The Works and Accessorise and use them for small collections. 

So, there you have it. A really hard working storage unit meaning more space for my children to play in. 

And a few hacks to make my life easier, both with children having access to toys - but also so tidying up is simple and quick.

What methods do you have to keep toys organised but accessible?

book organisation

Books are one of my big loves in life! I studied English at college and university and while my children have been young I've tutored high school students on and off. I just love being able to share that love of words and stories with people and see them develop. Of course that includes my children too!

If you've read any of my posts before you'll know I just love organising by colour, but sometimes even I have to admit there's a better way, so with my kids' books I organise by series (and then by colour usually!).

Some of these books I've had since I was a child and my mum has passed them down to my own children. I really like the juxtaposition of the new spines with the broken and well loved ones. 

This whole shelf area is in our living room and multi tasks as a place for chargers, photo albums, board games, and children's keepsake boxes. I've added some other bits of colour but it really is a useful and well used area. These few books on the picture above in the left corner is the kids' "to be read" pile. I like to keep them accessible for reading time or when they're choosing a new night time book. 

I've slid this light board to one side to see some of our extras, these boxes are keepsakes labelled by holidays we've had. 

I have to say, chatbooks have been amazing for me. Once upon a time I was an avid scrapbooker, but years went by and I never found the time. This app just prints me a book a month from my Instagram photos. It's so perfect. They do have a promotion where you can get your first book free, which is how I got hooked! If you click here you can set up an account. 

My books are all organised by colour, of course. But to be honest when I organised by type the whole area looked untidy even though it was organised, so for me as a very visual person this works great!

There's a couple more shelves down there too, but when you know what you like, well there you are! (Moana reference anyone?) A few book are my husband's, and there are even a few university reference books we decided to keep, but for the most part its fiction, which is my favourite. I've got to say that most books I've been able to find second hand, but for kids' books I tend to buy from Amazon as they normally have 3 for £10 on books for them and for me. We tend to do at least one book per child for Christmas and birthdays.

I do like to take dust covers off hardbacks immediately as I just love the look of the actual hard backing. Anyone else?

I'm going to link to a few of my favourites for children and adults at the moment, which is actually really hard so I'll probably do a proper post on book recommendations another time!

                 

dresser organisation

For me, having items I use every day all in different drawers just wasn't working - especially my more bulky items like hair supplies. Add in that my husband likes to have his products out it was casing chaos on our dressers!

My make up is always in a little bag, I don't have nearly enough to warrant a big organiser! But those bulky bottles were trickier until I found this pretty basket. It's plastic so I can wipe it out if anything spills and its the perfect height as I can see what I need to grab (small girl problems!) but they're mostly disguised by the lace effect on the basket.

Another tip is to leave the lids off bottles if you're like me! I was only ever putting them on to tidy so i just bin them right away instead! They're high enough that they're away from little hands anyway and it makes getting ready even quicker!

My husband's and son's items are in the little wire basket I found in Primark and they're actually pretty good at putting their things back in their "cage"!