Teaching kids how to declutter their items is an important task to instill in them, especially when they are young. Toys are amazing for creative play, but when you have outgrown them, it is important to learn how to part with toys.

Teaching Your Kids How To Declutter Toys

This post was created in promotional partnership with Hurricane Munchkin. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Start After Your Declutter

In order for the kids to truly learn how to declutter is for you to do a giant sort first. This eliminates extra time spent grouping like items together. I suggest doing a giant sort of all the toys by grouping them into like categories. Think of things like play food, cars/trucks, dress up, etc. For more on doing a giant declutter, check out this post!

One Category At A Time

Once you have grouped all toys into categories, sit down with your kiddos’ and go through each toy in one category. I make a giant pile in the middle of the floor and ask the kids if they want to keep or donate. We discuss if they actually use it, find all the parts that go with it, and make sure it isn’t broken before we decide to keep or donate.

Make Piles

We usually make a few piles. We have our keep pile, which usually goes back into the storage bin. Then we have a donate pile. A missing parts pile. And a discard pile.

The donate pile are items that are in good condition, but the kids don’t want to keep any longer. The missing parts pile is where we store items that are missing parts. If we find an item that is missing a part, we can usually find it in the missing parts pile. Finally we have a discard pile. Those are items that we can’t donate, so we either recycle or trash.

Effective Storage

Now it is time to put the keep toys away. I have found that by keeping one type of toy category in one bin, it helps kids clean up easier. For us, I created this bench using IKEA shelving and creating a cushion. Then we store toys under the bench.

These adorable bins are from Hurricane Munchkin! I love how colorful they are!