This Christmas, my son slept until 8:30 (he normally gets up around 7), leaving two very anxious parents sitting on the couch waiting for him to wake up and see what Santa brought.
When he finally woke up, he spent over an hour playing with his new train . . .
but then got the hang of opening the rest of the gifts.
Later that night, with a toy explosion occurring in our living room, I knew I needed to get the situation under control and find a new home for these toys.
I gathered all the toys together, including emptying out James' two toy boxes in the living room, and sorted his toys into piles. Five main categories of toys emerged and I figured the quickest, easiest solution was to put them in baskets with labels so he knew where they go when it's time to put them away.
To make the labels, I googled clip art for each item, then copied and pasted the image into a blank document on my computer and also spelled out the word in an easy-to-read font.
I cut each label and taped it to a pieced of card stock, then laminated it and tied it to a basket.
I moved the big leather chair and ottoman back into the bedroom sitting area so James could have more room to play downstairs.
Now, he helps put all the toys away before nap-time and bedtime. We still use the toy large white toy boxes for miscellaneous toys. It's nice to have the living room cleaned up at least twice a day now!
If you have kids, have you figured out what to do with the new toys?
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