Toy Closet is now Tot School Central

Recently, as I posted here, both my boys were spending time away from mom (a shocker as they weren't with my mom!) so I took advantage of the lack of helpful advice and uncontrollable impulses to clean out my toy closet.  This had been a goal for me in order to organize for and prepare to start Tot School with both boys (Tot School is explained here).  I didn't take before photos - my basement is NOT pretty lol, but here's what I ended up with at the end.

I wanted to kind of categorize things to make it easier to have a good variety of toys (I rotate about weekly) as well as find things I want for Tot school activities.  All of these toys are kept in my basement cold room (there's a lockable door to discourage foragers!).  I still use about 1/3 to keep my canning, and a little for storage, but most of it is toys now.  On the top shelf I have stuff for younger tots and musical instruments.  The next shelf is full of wheeled toys (and the aquarium because it didn't fit anywhere else).  The third shelf is construction toys (mega blocks, marble maze, cuisinaire rods) and the bottom shelf is full of boxed puzzle.  On the floor, which you can't really see, the room is too small to get it to fit, is a bin full of balls and outdoor toys such as sand gear and a slip 'n' slide.  Oh, and an empty aquarium and pump that I will probably use someday, but don't have time to keep clean right now!

Here's the shelving to the right of that above.  It's directly across from the door, so it was easier to get it all to fit.  Toys that can be grouped together into shoe boxes are on top - notice there are only three of them!  Most toys we own are bigger than this!  We have Melissa and Doug's cutting fruit set in one, matchbox cars in another, and the third has old cell phones, unused remotes and wallets.  Silas's pet duck its on these (it's a real hunting duck that he adores and drags around behind him!), as well as a basket of home made bean bags and a little barn full of stuffed barn animals. Ha!  You can see my one lonely jar of pickles next to the Mr. Potato Head!  Will be adding more soon!  More construction toys (Melissa and Doug coloured blocks and alphabet blocks together and a bag of foam blocks - I also have a plain set of wooden ratio blocks but they are at my mom's right now) sit with our purposefully small stuffie collection.  Below that are board games - most of them too old for Silas, and I mean to correct that! - and then more outdoor toys and bulky toys that don't fit.  Oliver's walking toy, his busy table, and Mr. Potato Head.  In the bumbo box are books that are too old for my boys, and too young for Tawny, but I love so I keep.  Empty bins are under the chair (which I use when I need to get the Christmas, Halloween and Easter Decorations off the top shelves).  Note:  the floor looks really dirty, but I swear, those aren't lumps of dirt on the concrete, it's just the way the concrete looks!  Granted I could mop down there, but it's really not worth it.

Finally, just outside the cold room (you can see the edge of the door here) I've collected some dressers tother to store mostly Tot School supplies in.  Alphabet games, stickers, scissors and glue, collage and transferring materials like pompoms, beads, activity books and all sorts of things are gathered here!  This will probably be where the bulk of Silas's activities come from.  I intend on adding an accordian file box full of homemade games (such as the parking cars game etc) filed by goal - colour games in one file, number games in another etc.  Also different containers etc used in activities will go on top of the third dresser.  To the right, you can't see it, but my deep freezer sits there.  In the past, when teaching SigningSmart workshops and playgroups, I've used it for prep space and really liked it because I had to clean up after myself right away or I wouldn't be able to get into the freezer!  I'll be using it again, I'm sure!

And finally, I just had to post this.  With two rapidly growing little boys and changing seasons and friends and family handing me bags of hand-me-down clothing almost weekly, I find it very hard to keep up with all the piled up clothes.  This pile is to go to the basement, this pile almost fits, this pile is too small, this pile is for years down the road.  It was getting out of control both upstairs and down!  So I bought some bins on sale at Canadian Tire, and got to work!  Here's a picture of the finished product downstairs:

So, except for some camping gear on the lower right, this is all clothing ranging in size from newborn to size 7+.  Some bins are still overflowing still - I need more bins! - and will have to be divided into two - or just sorted through a little more critically!  The bag in the floor is full of coats and snowsuits for babies and toddlers, as is the big trunk-like bin behind it.  I'm thinking I'll hang a clothes road between two support columns nearby and hang them all up.  They're hard to fit into any kind of bin as they're so bulky!  I'm pretty proud of this corner, it took a lot of doing. There's even a box of clothing missing right now as I've lent one of the newborn size bins (for boys) to a friend for her little one.  I'm going to keep watching the flyers and buy more bins when they come on sale for future expansion!