Organization Ideas for Son's Toys

We bought an expedit shelving system from ikea for my son's closet. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50103086 It's great for larger toys. And you can buy rater large drawers for the toys with pieces. We liked it so much we even bought a larger one for my son's room. Many of his tracks will fit in the drawers. It takes a little work, but as long as we don't include the cars, his shake and go track even fits in the drawers.

Before we bought this shelving system, we used milk crates (Walmart sells them for holding files near the office supplies). They sort of lock together. We would put them on their sides and make shelves for the larger toys and trucks. And we filled them with the car tracks and stacked them. They were lighter than the bins and with no lids to get off, accessible to my son. It worked very well for two years.

The other thing we did, was added a peg board to one wall of the closet. It has been great for all the random stuff....light sabers, nerf guns, back packs, binoculars. With his step stool he can reach everything and it's all easy to see and off the floor.

Congrats on the new house!

Our boys are the same age and have the same toys, it sounds like!

I separated out all the toys into categories and I bought a bin system at Ikea, the stair step one where you can use different size for each toy group.

He has a few hot wheels tracks. I let him keep one set up for a week or so, and then we break it down and set up another one. I use the Ikea soft toy chest that looks like a treasure chest and put all this tracks, swords and anything long in there.

Anything that comes in a box, like board games and puzzles, goes on the shelf b/c they are flat.

All his stuffed animals and costumes are kept in an oversized toy box w/a lid so it doesn't collect dust when not in play.

I use the clear containers and put a label on each one with a picture. I tape the labels on the inside with packing tape so they don't get ripped off when the kids are pulling them out. I also got a shoe holder for the door with clear pockets and the kids put smaller toys in them. I have one of the rolling storage containers that slides under the bed for their bulky zhu zhu pet stuff.

CONGRATS on the new home!!!

For our race tracks and such - we use the long rectangular Rubbermaid boxes...this fit...we use the taller ones for their NERF guns and ammo!

The trains? We had the Thomas the Tank set and bought the train table - which had the storage drawers with it...LOVED IT!!!

We had a similar closet and situation. We put shelves in, put the stuff in storage tote type containers with a picture of what was in each one on the outside. (We cut pics out of catalogs or weekly ads.)Then when they cleaned up it was easier to put the correct parts in the correct container.

Not sure if this is possible for you somehow but we put in IKEA freestanding, adjustable (3 ft. between slats), wide, garage style "bookcases" in an area of the playroom for the bulky items you described. It worked great. They stayed organized, accessible and "put together". Now I use it in my laundry room for storage. Very flexible...