Getting the Kid's "Stuff" Organized

The majority of my kid's toys are upstairs. Where I like them. In their rooms. And in their closets. I keep some downstairs, of course.  We have an ottoman bench as a toy box. Filled with toys mostly for my 15-month-old, and other small kids that come over. We also have a train basket-always a huge hit with little boys!

But mostly, what my older kids spend their time doing downstairs is coloring, drawing, playing games, puzzles and crafts. (Not to mention watching tv, movies, playing the computer and Xbox).

So when I was pregnant with my third and not feeling well all the time, I got "their stuff" in the downstair's closet organized, that way I didn't have to get off the couch they could easily help themselves at any time to whatever activity they wished.

It evolved over time. And I have to re-organize it every few months because it gets out of order since THEY are the ones pulling stuff out and putting it away. They know where everything goes.

Here's a pic:

I love labeling things, and I love that my kids are old enough to read labels!!! (Well at least my son).

Each of my two older kid's have a "Homework Box". This has been so helpful! When they come home from school, they pull their homework out and their homework box from the closet. It has pencils, crayons, markers, scissors and glue. Basically everything they will need to finish their homework-all in one box!

Every single puzzle here was bought at the dollar store. It's nice because they are almost all the same sizes. Princess puzzles definitely dominate over the boy puzzles here!

This basket has odds and ends for crafting:

Here's a full picture. Notice how unorganized the top part of the closet is? I imagine that's something like what the before picture for their stuff would look like. Someday I'll organize that stuff too! OH-I almost forgot to mention the "Notebook Basket". That's the basket alllll the way on the bottom. See it?  My kids just throw coloring books, notebooks, pictures-whatever, in it. It keeps it all contained!

Well I hope maybe I was able to give some good ideas in case anyone is stumped out there on how to organize the many crafting items children aquire.  Soon I'll have to blog about how I keep their finished projects organized!