Spring Cleaning Kids Toys

Spring has sprung, and with that brings our ever ready motivation to want to clear out the winter cobwebs and get our homes fresh and organised! But what about those unending mountain of toys. Any household with kids has no doubt accumulated a number of toys over time – and the idea of sorting them out is just a painful idea in itself.

Have no fear! We spoke with Chris at Scrubb, a Sydney based cleaning company to help you get started.

When looking at spring cleaning toys there are few questions to ask yourself through the process… Have they outgrown this toy? Are there pieces missing? Do the toys and materials I have out for them reflect their current interests?

To make cleaning out the kids toys simpler, break down this task into bite size pieces that are achievable in stages. Because, let’s face it who has more than a block of 15 minutes to themselves with kids running around anyway?

Sort Toys
Gather all the toys into one room (yes, we know kids manage to get toys in every room of the house including the shower!). Then begin sorting the toys into piles, e.g. all Lego, all soft toys, dolls, wooden toys, cars, train sets, superhero figures, electronic devices etc

Categorise Toys
Then work through each pile and categorise each toy into one of three of the following piles:

  • Have they outgrown it? Donate or hand it down to other kids you may know, or hold a garage sale
  • Is it broken? Bin it.
  • Is it accessible when stored? If not, think about how you can pop toys into buckets/baskets and organise that toy category for easy access for the kids.

Rotating the toys
If all your kids’ toys are in one big box, it may be difficult for them to know what lies beneath the pile. So they naturally gravitate to what is easily accessed and often the same toy is played with again and again. Perhaps then, try to sort toys between shelves or baskets.

Things to consider when looking to rotate your kid’s toys are:

  • What toys are they playing with?
  • What games do they play?
  • Is there a new interest developing? – dinosaurs, babies, trains, or superheroes?
  • Is there a particular game or toy that they play over and over?
  • What toys don’t they play with?

Once you have achieved the task of sorting the toys you will keep, use the following tips on how to clean them:

Small plastic toys
In the dishwasher: Plastic toys that don’t have batteries can be easily washed in the dishwasher with dish detergent and hot water. This cleans and sanitises them.

By hand: If you don’t have a dishwasher, you can wash plastic toys in the sink with a clean sponge, soap and warm water. Be sure to scrub off any dried food, grease and grime.

Larger plastic, metal or wooden toys and equipment – Clean the surface with soap and water and let air-dry.

Fabric toys and equipment – Wash in the laundry with laundry soap and hot water

For that complete clean, you can then give the toys a final sanitising clean by mixing one cup of water and one cup of white vinegar into a spray bottle. Spray on the toys and then wipe off. Given this is a non-toxic way of sanitising, the bigger kids could even help with this job.

Kids love their toys and its amazing to see the hours of fun and joy they have playing with them. So by giving the toys a little TLC every now and then – they can be rejuvenated and also help in giving your house that spring clean feel!

Also this spring clean could hopefully be an exercise to help the kids to know where their toys go and how to pack them away – which after all is the holy grail for all parents.

 

Have you signed up to our newsletter? Join ellaslist to get the best family and kid-friendly events, venues, classes and things to do NEAR YOU!

 

 

Reviews