Using Large Plastic Containers in Kids' Rooms

If you have kids, you've noticed how many toys come with multiple parts.  It's nearly impossible to keep track of them all.  Even traditional toys, such as race tracks, baby dolls, or farm sets, come with their own accessories. 

There are several good choices of large plastic containers for these accessories.  Stacking bins give you a handy place to store blocks, crayons, Legos, cars, baby bottles, and Barbie clothes.  Closed containers can be stored with games or activity sets and hold things like small plastic farm animals, Hot Wheels tracks, or the dishes that came with the play kitchen set and would otherwise be lost for years at the bottom of the toybox. 

Large Plastic Containers in Older Kids' Rooms

These large plastic containers can be great for older kids, too.  A large container is great for storing posters, for example.  It can also be a handy place to put all the sports clothes that are separate from the general clothing population, or musical instruments and all the supplies that go with them such as guitar strings and picks or reeds for woodwind instruments. 

Art Supplies

One of the best uses of large plastic stacking containers is for art supplies.   Without a centralized location, art supplies end up all over the house—papers on the table, crayons in the couch cushions, scissors and glue lost in the junk drawer.  But large plastic stacking containers have enough room for different sizes of construction paper and poster board, boxes of crayons, markers, colored pencils and paints, and the scissors that you can never seem to find when you need them.  If they're all in these large plastic containers, they'll be easy to find and always at hand when you need them. 

Storing Clothes

Parents are constantly dealing with kids' clothes.  You have to keep the right clothes out for the right season, but then what do you do with the clothes for the off season?  And kids grow so fast, they seem to grow out of clothes before they have a chance to wear them out.  What do you do with all those clothes that don't fit your children, but still have plenty of wear in them?  Having a couple of large plastic containers in each child's room solves those problems.  When the weather's getting warm, put sweaters in a large plastic container, and when it gets cool again, trade in summer's shorts and get those sweaters back out.  Keeping the container in the room makes it easy to grab a jacket or short-sleeved shirt for those days that are unseasonably warm or cool.  You can also take too-small items off your child and put them right into one of these containers for storage for a younger relative or friend. 

Kids create a whirlwind of stuff—toys, clothes, supplies—wherever they go.  You can manage the chaos with a few well-chosen large plastic containers in each room