reading time – 7 min
How to organize a child's room?
Do you believe in having a tidy and organized children's room? Sometimes it quickly becomes chaos! Between toys, dolls, a toy kitchen, Playmobil, clothes and books… A few weeks ago, we met Marie QUERU, founder of L'ARRANGEUSE, alias the professional organizer. So we decided we had to share all her great ideas and her concept of Interior Ecology® with you to help organize a child's room!
Before tidying, sort (really)!
How to sort easily with your children?
Before tackling tidying, to organize a child's room, sort first! And teach your little ones to do it with you. If you tidy without having sorted beforehand, you won't solve your problem and you'll spend all your time having to tidy your little ones' room. So take everything out of their wardrobes and drawers, silence your inner voice telling you to keep everything and start your sorting. To sort quickly and efficiently, trust your instincts — only keep the items you have absolutely no doubt about. It's as simple as that! Children can start sorting from the age of 4 or 5, but they need to be taught, so don't start with the hardest thing for them — toys. Start instead with what interests them a little less, clothes for example. If you start with toys, it's a bit like asking them to make a choice about their comfort blanket — it's too hard! Sort by category (clothes, accessories, books, toys…) and only tidy once you have finished sorting.
To organize a child's room, guide them
Children, unlike us, don't rationalize and are perfectly capable of engaging in this exercise, but you can guide them! You can, for example, point out that this book or that piece of clothing is no longer suitable for their age… or explain to them that the toys they no longer play with will bring joy to other less fortunate children.
The more you make a habit of sorting with them, the more they will learn to do it spontaneously. At first, to help them get that spark, you can give them a little extra motivation by telling them that everything they give away will be magically transformed by a fairy into a super fun outing with mum or dad, or a subscription to an awesome magazine…!
Categorize to find things more easily
Once sorting is done, make groups of objects belonging to the same category. For clothes, for example, it's simple: gather jumpers, t-shirts, trousers, skirts… For toys, it could be by material (the wooden toys on one side, fabric toys on the other). Or by type of use (board games, educational games, role-play games), etc. There are no predefined categories — have fun finding the ones that best match your habits and your little ones' routines! Objects in the same category should be stored together, according to the logic that is most useful to you!
Make everything visible at a glance
Out of sight, out of mind! Your children have a whole bunch of clothes and yet always wear the same ones? The room is overflowing with toys, but they always want more? Maybe it's because the ones they already have are not very visible…
Think about a clear and intuitive classification system. This will allow them to find their way around easily. Young children can't read, so be creative and very visual! Use containers through which they can see the contents, like transparent boxes. Label the boxes with drawings or polaroids showing what's inside. Or use colour codes to help them find things quickly!
Everything must be within a child's reach!
Would you like your children to prepare their own outfit for the next day? To be able to quietly read a book in their room? Or even to be able to tidy their room after playing? For that, they would first need to be able to reach everything without your help! This is true for any type of organization, but even more so for your dear little ones' room! If you want them to be independent and do everything like grown-ups, make sure everything is at their height! Simplify your life by allowing them to do as many things as possible on their own. Along the way, they'll gain self-confidence!
Set limits
We want to spoil our children and give them the most wonderful childhood. But have you noticed how creative they are and how capable they are of playing with anything? Don't be afraid to set limits — children need them to grow! When it comes to organization, it's exactly the same. Define a space that is their own (one for each child is best). It can be a number of boxes, a shelf, a corner in their room. In this little sanctuary, they can do whatever they want, but when evening comes, it's time to tidy up. And if it overflows the defined space, there's too much and it's time to sort again!
Optimize space — go vertical!
This works for almost everything, from clothes to game boxes and obviously books — to optimize a space, nothing beats verticality, it's unbeatable! Many objects can be stored vertically. Challenge yourself: pick up the object, turn it in all directions and dimensions — maybe you've always laid it flat, but it could stand upright on one of its sides? Use crates to contain things better, stand puzzle boxes upright, stack drawer boxes to store small items, place coloured pencils and felt-tip pens in jars… and obviously fold your children's clothes and household linen vertically! The drawer or stackable drawer box in particular will be your best ally for small scattered items like building bricks, little figurines or mini animals! If you have the patience, sort them by colour to stimulate your children's creativity!
To go further
And to make the result even better, set yourself a few more goals! Here are some ideas for reflection or inspiration to finish organizing a child's room:
- Decide to get rid of plastic toys in favor of beautiful wooden toys — you'll find plenty of them, each more beautiful than the last, right here!
- Eliminate busy packaging in favor of neutral containers — for example, transfer puzzle pieces into pretty Petit Picotin pouches and you'll save space while eliminating mental clutter along the way.
- Replace polluting items with their more sustainable equivalents, choose noble materials for the children's room, pay attention to where things are made and support local craftsmanship or young companies that are trying to do things right!
Things your little ones say
« I'm not tired, it's my eyes that are a little sleepy. »
– Victoire, 3 years old
« If "farm" is a bad word, is "barn" one too? »
– Charlie, 5 years old
« I'm putting on my long-sleeved shorts. »
– Joséphine, 2 years old
AUTHOR
Hello, moi c’est Capucine ! J’espère que cet article vous a plu. Passionnée par la rédaction et spécialisée dans les contenus autour de la petite enfance, je fais partie de l’équipe éditoriale de Petit Picotin. Au fil du blog, j’explore les questions du quotidien des familles pour vous partager conseils, idées et inspirations, en m’appuyant sur des recherches, des sources spécialisées et l’expertise de notre équipe.
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