Game Cabinet Reorganization

We're continuing our journey to set up and organize my new house and today I just had to show you how I reorganized the cabinet where we keep all of our board and card games! This may seem trivial and inconsequential but it honestly makes me giddy every time I open it- this simple reorganization has made it so much easier for us to see all the games we have without anything getting buried in a pile, and most importantly so much easier to grab the game we want without having to take out 5 other games that are stacked above or around it. So we can get to playing together faster, and never forget about all the cool games we have!

I am a huge fan of games. I grew up playing board games and card games with my family and now I love playing with my own daughters! So over the years we have accumulated a pretty good collection of them. I honestly never gave a second thought to the way we had them sorted- in a few drawers of our china cabinet, and stacked on top of each other on some shelves in the playroom. I wish I had a picture of the drawers because they were honestly terrible, because I was trying to cram in big boxes of board games with decks of cards, little games with little bits and pieces in bags- they were a mess and I honestly forgot about some of the games we had that got shoved in the backs of the drawers until we packed it up to move! Here's a picture of one of the shelves where I had some stacks of games- not the worst thing, but it meant any time I wanted the game on the bottom I had to take out the whole stack:

I'm saying all of this to try to convey just how excited I am about this seemingly small change to this:

Why did it never occur to me before to put the board games on the shelves vertically?!? Now we can see them all, and grab just the one we want without moving all the others, just like books on a bookshelf. There were some games that didn't fit on the shelf vertically because of the shape of the box, so I just moved the first shelf down to the lowest spot and put the next one just above it so there's just enough room to store those bigger boxes horizontally without having to stack multiple games on top of each other- the only exceptions are the ones at the very bottom, but with only a couple of games to slide out from under another box, I'm calling that a massive win!

Storing the board games this way actually took up a lot less space too. When I first put the games in this cabinet those games took up all of that shelf space plus one of the drawers on the other side, but now that I got those out of the drawer, the smaller game pieces and decks of cards can sit in one layer in the drawer where we can see everything and grab what we want from there as well (and I even realized there were several decks of cards and smaller games that I could store vertically in the drawer as well).

All of that reorganizing not only made it easier to find and get everything, but it freed up two entire drawers where I can now keep puzzles and recipe books (this game cabinet is next to the kitchen and living room- it makes sense, trust me). Here's a quick video tour of the whole cabinet so you can see how it all came together:

So the moral of the story is if there's a storage or organization system that you're unquestioningly using that is adding some annoyance to your use of the items being stored, there's probably a way to fix it that will bring great joy to your life without buying or building anything or even requiring much time or effort. At least if a well-organized thing brings you joy like me.

I've actually written about my toy storage systems a number of times over the years (though none of them seem as revolutionary as this one to me at the moment!)- here's what I've used over the years, especially when my daughters were toddlers and preschoolers, if you're interested in seeing what else I've done (click on each photo to visit the blog posts explaining how I set them up):

 

 

How do you store your games and kids' toys? Most importantly is there anyone out there who has been holding out on me and never told me I could store my games vertically? Because I would like to have a word. 

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Outdoor Toy Storage

Summer time is all about spending as much time outside as possible! And as my daughters get older, we're beginning to have a collection of outdoor toys: bubbles, sidewalk chalk, balls, bats, bikes.... I was looking for a way to keep everything near the door so we could easily grab what we needed as we head out the door, without clogging up the entryway or getting the house too dirty from the toys that we bring back in.

*this post contains affiliate links*

My simple solution: a hanging organizer (like this one). I happen to have hooks all over my ceiling from previous owners, but if you don't, these are the ones I have and they work really well. I love this setup because, while it's really close to the door, it doesn't take up any extra floor space (I have it hanging over the bench where we put on our shoes) and it keeps anything dirty off the floor. The spaces for storage are the perfect size for all the different things I want to store, from bicycle helmets and bubble bottles to sandals (we keep some near the door for quick runs outside) and balls.

How do you corral your outdoor toys? I'm guessing the situation is only going to get worse as the girls get older.... Hopefully this system will continue to contain the mess for years to come! ;)

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Travel Tips with Kids: DIY Sticker Activity Sheets

I'm back with another tip for traveling with kids, and today is all about providing some easy, cheap, and engaging entertainment (that doesn't involve a screen)! We all know stickers are pure magic, but I wanted something a little more exciting than just stickers on plain paper, and I honestly haven't been that happy with the "sticker activity books" I've purchased in the past. This easy DIY is my solution!

It's not the most complex idea but it allows plenty of room for creativity and imagination! Here are the supplies I used:

Because I'm taking the girls to Disneyland this summer, I went against my normal avoidance of character merchandise and got a bunch of sticker books with different Disney characters. Everything else I already had: dry erase markers, laminating pouches, and a few pictures of different background scenes I printed from the internet.

The idea is to give kids the tools to do some creative storytelling by giving them lots of different stickers with different objects and characters, and background scenes with a variety of locations (I have a jungle, underwater scene, village square, ice palace, ballroom, and an outdoor picnic area). Of course you could change this up to match whatever your kids are interested in- get some animal stickers and print a zoo, farm, or pet store scene; use car stickers with a city scene.... you get the idea.

I used the laminating pouches to laminate the background scenes so that we could reuse them. Hopefully this will help us avoid any arguments over who gets to use which ones!

Tip: if you stick the stickers on the back of your hand before using it, you'll remove some of the adhesive and make it easier to take off without ripping the sticker!

I left the back of the paper blank so that the girls could color with the dry erase markers and make their own backgrounds (or just draw whatever they feel like):

Depending on your children's ages, you could also put some pre-made activities on the back side, like letters for them to trace, crossword puzzles, tic-tac-toe boards, hangman board, mazes, and more.... the options are endless! If I have more time before our trip I'll probably print some ;)

What are you taking with you on your trip to keep the troops entertained? If you're planning a trip with young children this summer, here are some other posts I've written on traveling with kids:

Safe and happy travels, everyone! :)

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Top Games for Young Kids the Whole Family Will Enjoy

Family game night is a great way to spend quality time together having fun as a family, but finding games that the youngest family members can enjoy, without boring the rest of the family, can be a challenge! I've found some gems over the last couple of years that will keep everyone happy though, so if you have young children at home like me (ages 3 and up), grab a couple of these and get playing! :)

*this post contains affiliate links*

I'm listing these in order from the games accessible to the youngest kids (from around age 2 or 3 depending on the child) to those that are best for preschool age and up.

1. Busytown

This board game is awesome because nobody is playing against each other but it's still competitive- all of the players work together to try to race the pigs! It's also a game where, if they have a keen eye and a little patience, the younger kids can often outperform the grownups ;) And of course it doesn't hurt to have Richard Scarry's illustrations and characters! You can get it here on Amazon. 

2. Old Maid

This classic is a great first card game for little ones. I bought my deck of Old Maid cards at the Target dollar spot last year, but you can find them in lots of stores or get a deck online here. 

3. Go Fish

I found this card game was a little bit harder than Old Maid for my girls at first, but once they got the hang of it they loved it! You can use a regular deck of cards to play (just take out some of the numbers to limit the number of cards each player starts with), or get a deck here.

5. Uno

I was surprised at how quickly my girls picked up this game, and how much they love it! When we first started playing, we all put our cards out on the floor instead of hiding them so I could help them figure out what to play. When they were younger I had to remind them what the special cards did (reverse, draw two, skip etc) but they still figured out pretty quickly how to find a card to play next by matching the color or symbol (great practice in identification!). This is another game available pretty readily, but here's the classic card deck on Amazon if you want to buy online.

SIDENOTE:

These card holders are SUPER helpful when you're playing card games with young kids! It makes it so much easier for kids to hold a set of cards without showing everyone else what they have. My parents bought these for the girls, but I've seen them at Walmart, Walgreens, and a few other places. Here's the same thing on Amazon.

6. Dominoes

There are so many games you can play with dominoes, but when we first started playing (when the girls were 3.5 years old I think?) we would just split up all of the dominoes amongst the players and then take turns adding onto the starting domino in the middle by matching the numbers (another great way to practice identification!), adding on to any open side on any domino. Once the got the hang of it, we started playing more standard domino games, which they love too! This set on Amazon has colored dominoes like mine, which I found was really helpful in the beginning when the girls were first learning how to match the numbers.

7. Quirkle

This one works the same way as my made-up domino game by matching shapes and colors, but requires a little more strategy! This is a great game because young kids can get the hang of the rules pretty quickly but older players can enjoy the strategy that goes into getting a high score. Here's where I got ours.

8. Bananagrams

I know what you're thinking- this can't possibly work with young kids! But trust me, if they are starting to work on beginning CVC words (consonant-vowel-consonant), they will love this (simplified) game! Basically we use the letter tiles to take turns making words. We each start with 7 tiles and lay them out so everyone can see, then on each person's turn they try to spell the best word they can think of. Usually I will tell them a word they can spell and they try to figure out how to spell it with their tiles. When they're a little older, we'll start working on connecting the words together like the traditional game. Here it is on Amazon, but this is another game I see in stores a lot.

9. Whoonu

This one is fun to play with the whole family because it reinforces everyone's unique personality. The only adaptation for pre-readers is that you'll obviously have to read the cards for them, but otherwise it's easy to learn and fun to play for any age! Here it is on Amazon, but check around and see if you can find it used somewhere. 

I hope you find some new games to enjoy with the whole family on this list! Have fun!

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Lego Storage Idea

This past Christmas, my 5-year-old daughters graduated from duplos to legos, and they have absolutely loved their new lego sets! With all of these new legos, though, comes the inevitable storage issue. After a few months of having them laying around my living room, here's my storage solution!

*this post contains affiliate links*

First of all yes, I am aware that I am a crazy person, and not everyone wants to sort their legos by color. But let me explain myself. See, along with a wonderfully large set of basic lego blocks in tons of different colors, shapes, and sizes, I got my girls this set for creating a ballet studio and this set for creating a city park (both of which I HIGHLY recommend, by the way), and they also got this book of lego building ideas. The themed sets are great because they come with step-by-step directions for creating every last detail of the set:

I'm sure once the girls are older and get used to the legos, they will do more experimenting and start creating their own things from their imagination, and they are already doing a little bit of that, but they really love the idea of being able to see a picture of something to make and then find out exactly how to create it for themselves, and following along with the directions has been a really great way for them to develop their spatial reasoning (score!).

The problem: any time you're following a specific plan like these, you have to be able to go through and find very specific blocks to create each item. When we had everything dumped into one big bin, that got pretty frustrating! We were spending more time combing through hundreds of blocks looking for one tiny lego in a certain shade of green than we were actually building! Not to mention I was the one doing most of the searching- the girls were getting too frustrated trying to look through all those legos- so they weren't able to work on it independently.

Now that I've attempted to justify my insanity, let me explain my storage solution! :)

It's pretty simple, actually. I found these photo box storage cases on clearance at Michael's and sorted each color into its own case:

The nice thing about this system is that, when the girls decide to make something, they can pull out just the colors they want and look through those boxes to find the blocks they need. It makes it so much easier to find the exact lego they're looking for! And bonus for me: the clean up pretty neatly in those storage cases:

I'm actually thinking about leaving the individual boxes out of the storage cases most of the time. I think when they're put away like that the girls aren't as likely to reach for them on the spur of the moment. But even if I do that, I know I'll be able to use those storage cases for something else, and if we want to tuck them away or take them with us, it's easy to pack them up into the cases!

I know lego storage is a perennial problem, and this is one of those organization challenges that I'm sure I'll be revisiting as our needs change, but for now I'm pretty happy with our solution! What do you do with your legos? Do you attempt to sort them at all or do you dump them all in one spot? Let me know in the comments!

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DIY Family Game: Rainbow Scavenger Hunt

I'm always looking for new ways to have fun with together with my 5-year-olds at home this time of year. Whether we're home because someone is sick, or stuck in the house during a snow storm, I love to find things to do together that we can all enjoy, but so often end up getting tired of doing the same things over and over again! I threw this game together for my daughters' rainbow-themed birthday party last month, and I had no idea that it was going to be such a hit- the girls are still begging to play it every chance they get (almost two months later). If you're looking for a fun game to play with the whole family, this is a great one- there's little to no cost and anyone can play (even toddlers)!

The rules are pretty simple. One person is selected to be the "hider"- that person takes each of the colored "drops" and hides them while the other players wait in another room. We always try to stick the drops on items of a matching color (so the green drop on something green and the purple drop on something purple, etc) but if you have younger kids you may want to start by placing them on contrasting colors. Once the hider is finished, each of the other players takes a sheet with all of the colors on it and something to write with and goes to look for the drops. If they find one, they leave it there without saying anything and circle the drop on their paper. The first person to find all of them wins! If you want to mix it up, have players race to find a row of 3 (like BINGO) instead of finding all of the colors.

This is a great way for little ones to practice identifying their colors, and the older kids have fun trying to camouflage the drops to blend in with the surroundings. We specified at first that all of the drops had to be visible without having to move anything, but we've eventually evolved to making any spot fair game- some of them get really hard! It's like an Easter egg hunt without worrying about forgetting where you put that 30th egg.

If you want to try this game with your kids, you'll need:

writing utensils (enough for each player)
9 cut out pieces of paper in "raindrop" shapes (one of each color on the game sheet)
printouts of the picture below (set your printer to print the image full-page and in color)

What are some of your favorite games to play as a family when you're stuck in the house? I'm always looking for more ideas- share yours in the comments below!

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Favorite Gifts for Preschool / Kindergarten Age Kids

Now that November is here, it's time to start getting ready for the holiday season! One of the tasks I really want to take care of this month is shopping for my daughters. With their birthday falling at the beginning of January, right after Christmas, I need a pretty good list! Today I want to share with you some of the things I am considering for presents this year, along with the top hits from last year, to help give you some inspiration for the 4-6 year olds in your life :)

*this post contains affiliate links*

Practical but fun

Although these are "practical" gifts, my girls really enjoyed getting them last year and I know will be excited again this year to find some of the same things in their Christmas stockings :)

1. Fun socks (like these, but you can find them almost anywhere)

Socks come in so many fun designs! One of my girls loves knee highs because she can see the design better (she wears them over her pants), and I like them because it keeps them warm AND lets them get away with wearing pants that are too short.

2. Chapstick (like these)

Chapstick is another thing that comes in lots of designs (and flavors), which is a big part of the appeal for preschoolers looking for independence- give them options and they feel empowered!

3. Umbrella (like this one)

Seriously, this was quite possibly the most popular gift I got them last year. These umbrellas are nice because they are designed to be easier for kids to open and close.

4. Gloves (like these)

When they're younger they pretty much have to wear mittens- gloves just aren't worth the time you have to spend getting and keeping them on! But this is a good age to get them their first pair of gloves, and they're perfect for active play.

Arts and crafts

1. Washi tape (like these, but seriously just go to the dollar store and find the cheap stuff)

Washi tape (or colorful masking tape) is great for this age because it comes in lots of fun patterns and colors and it's easy for little hands to manipulate.

2. Pencils (find fun ones like these almost anywhere)

At this age kids are getting better at gripping skinnier writing utensils, and this is a great age to practice handwriting too! My girls think pencils are so "grown up" (unlike markers and crayons).

3. Scissors (like these)

If your kids (4 and up) don't have scissors yet, this is the perfect age! My daughters spend a lot of time practicing cutting at school too- it's a great way to develop fine motor and hand-eye coordination skills.

4. Activity books (like these, but again you can find these almost anywhere)

My girls are starting to get into mazes, word searches, and other simple games that come in coloring and activity books. I love throwing these in my purse when we're going to be waiting somewhere, and the girls like to pull them out while I'm getting dinner ready.

Toys

1. Pretend play props

Pretending is a huge part of play at this age! The girls still love this school set they got last year, and this cash register is a great way to learn about money while playing shopping. Costumes are another great idea for pretend play- I love costumes like these that let them pretend to do different jobs.

2. Games

This giant board game has been a family favorite for a couple of years now. and the girls love playing basic card games too now (we have a set of all the basics, like this one, and UNO too). 

3. Building kits (like this one)

Of course legos, magnet blocks, and other basic building sets are awesome gifts too, but I'm excited about getting the girls some building kits that include some more specific things (like bicycles, benches, and people) to help them use their imagination even more.

4. Bicycle (like this one) or Balance bike (like this one)

My parents got the girls some balance bikes (basically bicycles with no pedals so the kids balance on it and push themselves with their feet) and I've been very impressed with how they're learning to balance on the bikes! The time is coming when they'll be ready for regular bicycles soon, so I'm looking at some for their birthday.
5. Books
Now that my girls are just starting to read for themselves, I've been looking for easy readers that are actually easy. I finally came across this blog post and found some great ones! I'm excited for them to have some books that they can read all the way through without any help.

Of course I could go on and on, but these are some of the things I am looking at right now that I know my daughters will love! Are you looking for presents for your preschooler or kindergartner? What are your top picks? Leave your suggestions in the comments!

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Open Shelf Toy Storage to Foster Independent Play

My biggest home improvement project since moving into our new home almost a year ago has been the finished basement. I've gradually been transforming it from a dark TV room into a bright, happy kid's playroom. One of the biggest changes to the space, besides painting the dark wood paneling white, was putting in some new white shelves to hold a lot of the girls' toys. The new storage has been working out really well and has allowed the girls to play more independently, so today I wanted to share what I did!

I had this open space in my wall after taking out a giant china cabinet (that I moved to another room), and these Billy bookcases from IKEA fit perfectly! I already had the colored fabric bins (craigslist finds from years ago), but I also wanted to get some clear bins, especially for the higher shelves, so that the girls could see what was in the bins without taking them off the shelves. It may not look as clean and sleek, but I decided long ago that when it comes to toy storage, ease of access for the people using them is more important than how magazine-ready it looks!

I found these clear bins at IKEA to use on the shelves. Put sideways, they fit perfectly on the shelf. Turned longways, they stick out from the shelf a little bit, but they still stay just find and allow more room to put other bins and toys next to them. Also, they're a lot cheaper than most anything else I saw that was tall enough to maximize the shelf space!

I put all of the toys that the girls use the most (and that I'm comfortable with them using without supervision) on the bottom shelves, and gradually worked my way up to the items that I don't mind them playing with, but definitely require supervision. For now, that mostly includes things like big paint bottles, beads, and board games with lots of pieces that I don't want to lose :)

Although it's probably not ready for any home decorating magazine features, I do like that the girls can see everything clearly and access all of the toys that I want them to reach on their own, and I don't really mind the "eclectic" look of the fabric bins, clear bins, and loose toys mixed together on the shelves. Now that they know where everything is, the girls will quite often run down the stairs and start playing on their own without me even being in the same room (which is no small miracle for me!). Mission accomplished! ;)

You don't need big bookcases to utilize the concept of open shelf storage for toys at home. If you're interested, here is my previous post on how I organized the toys in our old apartment with the same principles:

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Mommy Monday: top gifts for 4 year olds

With a full-blown Christmas season and birthday for my two daughters just behind me, I am now officially an expert in the best gifts to give 4-year-old's. So here are my suggestions for great gifts to buy for 4-year-old's (or any preschool-age child, really). I'm going to list some over-arching categories to give you some more general ideas, and then I have included links to some of the specific items that my girls got (and loved) this year below if you want some more specific suggestions. If you have more ideas, please share them in the comments below!

1. Crafty things

Most children this age are into arts and crafts- don't think this is just for girls. Coloring books, bead sets, collage kits, even kits for making their own puzzles and play houses have been huge hits in this house. The great thing about crafty gifts is you can go with a pre-made kit designed for a specific project, or you can just head to the dollar store and pick up some pens, paper, stickers, and anything else you like and give the kids free reign- there are benefits to both and I guarantee the kids will be equally thrilled with either option.

2. Building things

It doesn't get much more quintessential than building blocks. Wood blocks, lego's, and magnetic blocks have all been popular with my preschoolers, and they even combine different blocks to come up with some legitimately awesome creations!

3. Costumes and pretend play accessories

Pretend play is a big part of learning and fun at this age. My girls were thrilled to get some tutu's from their ballerina aunt, and some jewelry, purses, and nail polish from other friends and family. Pretending to be different kinds of people is fun, but pretending to be like the adults in their lives is by far the most popular choice! A set of school teacher items was another popular gift.

4. Dolls

Dolls can be tricky- there are some really great ones out there (check out my favorites below) but there are some not-so-great ones too. The biggest consideration with dolls, and any other pretend play toys, is what kind of people they encourage children to pretend to be, and what kinds of people, places, things, and ideas those toys will likely expose them to. Done right, though, dolls are fantastic. My girls love their new dolls and insist on putting them to bed before they go to sleep, and getting them ready before they themselves start getting ready for school in the morning (so I guess that's actually a pro and a con...).

5. Umbrellas

I know this probably seems out-of-place in this list, but I'm not gonna lie, I got my girls umbrellas this Christmas and it is one of their favorite gifts! If you think about it, having their own umbrella that they can use on their own is kindof a big deal! This is the perfect age to get them their own umbrella- just be sure to get one that is age and size appropriate :)

6. Clothes and books

I would be remiss if I didn't mention these- this year the girls especially loved their knee high socks and their leapreader books, but you can never go wrong with books or clothes (as long as you know their size)!

Want more specific recommendations? Here are some of the items my girls received and loved this year! Click on the picture to read more about each item.

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Mommy Monday: organizing toys for preschoolers

As I shared with you last week, I recently re-organized my preschool-aged girls' clothes closet to make it easier for them to dress themselves and put laundry away. I also finally put away all of their diaper supplies (now that they've been fully trained for many months!). In that process, I managed to clear out an entire closet (a small one in their bedroom), and I knew I wanted to move some of their toys into that space. Today I'll be sharing my new setup for all of their toys- I'm pretty excited about how much easier it will be for the girls to use their own toys!

So before I re-organized the toys, diaper supplies, and clothes, the closet in the girls' room looked like this:

And the main toy storage area in the living room looked like this (see my previous post explaining this and other toy storage ideas here):

I love using bins to store toys- easy cleanup, attractive, and easy to find what you need- but a few of the bins were getting overcrowded and, therefore, underused. I also had started to accumulate more and more toys on top of the shelves (even more than you see in the pictures above), which was unsightly and difficult for the girls to reach.

The two worst bins were the stuffed animals and the costumes. Especially the costumes. The girls have grown more and more interested in pretend play, and when they do manage to find what they want, they LOVE wearing all of the fun costumes we have. The problem was that the bin where I kept the costumes was chock-full!

(Yes, there are costumes under there... this is what I'm telling you. It was a problem.)

Although I was hoping to keep the costumes in a place where the girls could reach them on their own, I decided it was better and more accessible if I hung up all of the costumes in their closet, and put the accessories (hats, tools, jewelry etc) that go with the costumes in another bin in the same closet.

The girls won't be able to reach the hanging costumes on their own, but they will be able to see them all more easily and, I think, be more likely to use them- especially since they can pull out the accessories on their own easily. And if they dump a costume or two in the bin from time to time I won't complain :)

The other problem area was the stuffed animals. The girls don't honestly use them very often- they are more interested in the smaller figurines and baby dolls- but they do occasionally pull them out, and I myself really love them (shh, don't tell!) because many of them are my old toys. I got this hanging storage from IKEA and hung it from the hanging rod next to the costumes:

To be honest, if the girls played with the stuffed animals a lot, I probably would not use this system. It's not as easy to take things in and out of the bins as I thought, and because it's so long, you have to hang it pretty high to be able to use all of the bins (I actually have one that is not being used because it is squished against the floor as it is), making it impossible for children to access all of them. Still, for something that doesn't get used a ton, it works well. Again, I think it is easier for the girls to see the toys, and therefore encourage and inspire them to use them more often!

Here's what the closet looks like now, with the costumes and stuffed animals stored inside:

With the two biggest bins completely empty in the living room toy storage shelves, I got to do some re-organizing there as well!

The biggest thing I was able to do was to move 2 bins off of the top of the unit and into the shelves. I moved some toys from other bins into the large wicker ones that I had just emptied:

Then I had space to move some of the other toys that were haphazardly sitting on other shelves or in other smaller bins into the ones that those came from, including putting several tinkering/crafting toys that I had spread out around the room into one canvas bin:

SO much better, you guys!!! The tea set in the purple bin was one of their favorite toys, but it had sadly been practically forgotten in a mismatched bin full of odds and ends (like playdough and alphabet blocks). I bet it will get a lot of use now that it is paired with another favorite that is a more logical combination- the birthday cake!

I hope you got some new ideas for organizing preschoolers' toys, or at least some inspiration to tackle your current system and give it a fresh start! The whole process didn't take very long once I figured out where I wanted things to go, but everything seems much less cluttered now than it was before!

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