I got rid of 80% of our toys once I learned kids actually play better with fewer, better ones. Below is the exact process I use in my own home and with declutter coaching clients to declutter and organize toys—and keep them that way.

When our kids were little, the toys accumulated quickly. Between birthdays, milestones, impulse purchases, and the holidays, there was a constant influx of bright plastic everywhere I looked.

I specifically remember a large toy parking garage that took up an obscene amount of space in our family room, was too big to put away, and barely got played with. I felt anxious, distracted, and overwhelmed trying to keep everything tidy. Then one day, I put the toy garage in a closet to see if anyone would notice. No one did. Not my toddler. Not my husband. 

A month went by—so I sold it on Facebook Marketplace, and to this day, no one has asked about it.

That was the moment I started paying closer attention to what was actually being played with—and why the visual clutter of all those unused toys was making it hard for both my kids and me to relax in our own home. It was when I started digging into the research on toys and play, and eventually overhauling how we approach them entirely.

This guide covers everything I’ve learned: which toys are worth keeping, how to declutter them, how to organize what’s left so your kids can play and put things back with ease, and the products I’ve used in our own home that are worth buying.

Why fewer, better toys get more play

Before you start decluttering, it’s important to know why having fewer, better toys can drastically improve how your child plays. 

A 2018 study found that children offered four toys played for twice as long and came up with about 60% more creative ways to interact with them than children given 16 toys, who, I should add, were significantly more likely to jump from one toy to the next.

Turns out that more toys create distraction, and possibly even overwhelm, undermining focused, creative play.

The type of toy also matters, though. Toys generally fall into one of two categories:

• Open-ended toys (or open toys) promote physical, creative, and/or imaginative play. They can be played with in a variety of ways by boys, girls, and kids of different ages. Climbing structures, costumes, balls, Play-Doh, art supplies, classic LEGOs, blocks, and magnet tiles are all examples of open-ended toys. 

• Closed-ended toys (also referred to as closed or fixed toys) typically have only one function and can often be completed or mastered. For babies, this might be a pull toy (single-function) or a shape sorter (mastered). For older kids, it might be a puzzle or a spaceship LEGO kit. Closed-ended toys can be good for building attention and teaching task completion, but they usually have a fixed endpoint or a shorter play experience. Most closed-ended toys can be played with again, but your child will either finish them or get bored and need to move on to something else.

To encourage longer, more independent, and imaginative play, you’ll want the majority of your toys to be open-ended, with a few closed-ended toys rotated in to build attention and task completion skills.

How to declutter your toys

Now that I’ve hopefully boosted your confidence about decluttering toys and given you some ideas of what to look for, here’s how to do it. 

Step 1: Watch and reflect first

Spend a few days paying attention before you pull anything out. Which toys does your child return to? Which ones get touched once (or worse, dumped on the floor) and abandoned? Are there toys that are broken, missing pieces, or have clearly been outgrown?

A few questions to guide your decisions:

• What gets played with for sustained stretches, not just picked up and put down?
• What encourages physical, creative, or imaginative play?
• What can be played with in multiple ways, or by siblings of different ages?
• What activities are your child naturally drawn to?

You probably already know most of the answers, but leaning into them as you declutter will make your decisions a lot easier.

Step 2: Declutter one category at a time

Lots of decluttering advice will tell you to corral every single toy in your house into one room and start there. Unless you’ve got a team of professional organizers beside you (or a week alone in your house and a passion for decluttering), please don’t. 

Working category by category (stuffed animals one day, building toys the next) will get you to the same place with a lot less chaos and overwhelm. If you find a stray Matchbox car while you’re sorting puzzles, decide on it then or toss it in with the rest for when it’s that category’s turn. 

Pick a category (but not any category)

Choose one toy category to start with (best to avoid the sentimental stuff for now) and gather everything in it into one space. 

Here are the main toy categories:

• Baby and toddler toys: play mats, stacking toys, sensory toys, bouncers, rattles, soft books
• Dolls and stuffed animals: baby dolls, Barbies, doll accessories, plush toys
• Building toys: blocks, LEGO, magnet tiles, Duplos, Lincoln Logs, K’nex
• Art supplies and craft kits: drawing supplies, paint, jewelry-making kits, activity books
• Imaginative play: play kitchen, doctor’s kit, costumes, puppets
• Transportation: cars, trucks, trains, garages, racing tracks
• Figurines: action figures, superheroes, Playmobil, small animals
• Games, puzzles, and cards: board games, card games, puzzles, video games
• Active toys: balls, bikes, scooters, rollerskates, jump ropes
• Musical instruments

You may be wondering, “Do I really have to get all of my child’s stuffies in one room? Yes, and here’s why. Fifty stuffed animals spread across the house might not seem like a lot, but one big pile on the floor will feel otherwise.

Set a boundary

Before you start making decisions, I want you to set a boundary, either a specific number you’ll keep or a container size that tells you when you have enough. Twenty cars. Two bins of LEGO. One basket of stuffed animals. Let the limit help you or your child decide what’s really worth keeping.

Start with the obvious cuts. 

Broken toys, duplicates, missing pieces, anything outgrown—these are the easiest things to get rid of and will give you momentum before you face tougher decisions.

If your child truly loves something and plays with it well, it stays, even if it’s a closed-ended toy, or hurts your eyeballs to look at. You can always revisit it once the novelty wears off.

Set a timer

If you tend to get distracted or hung up on decisions, a timer can help keep things moving, because no one should spend ten minutes deliberating over a Happy Meal toy.

Should you include your kids?

If they’re 4 years old or under, you probably don’t need your child’s input (or the negotiation that comes with it). You know what gets played with, what’s ignored, and what gets dumped and left on the floor. 

From age 5 on, I think it’s worth including your kids in the decluttering process. It builds decision-making skills and teaches them to identify what matters most to them. If you have older kids, selling unwanted toys may also be motivating and a good source of extra cash.

Step 3: Get the unwanted toys out—fast

Once a category is done, get them out of your home within a few days, while you still have momentum and before anyone starts having second thoughts.

What to do with unwanted toys

• Donate them to a local shelter, school, hospital, preschool, or church
• Sell them on Facebook Marketplace or at a neighborhood yard sale
• Recycle what can’t be reused

Most plastic toys can’t go in curbside recycling, but TerraCycle has a toy recycling box you can fill and mail back. If a box is either too big or too expensive, going in on one with another family can help. (Having done this, I can tell you that once you factor in both the cost of buying and recycling a toy, you will buy a lot fewer going forward!)

How to organize toys

Now that you’ve decluttered the toys, the next step is to create functional, easily accessible ways to organize them—step 2 of my SOS declutter method. 

These rules for organizing apply here—but here are a few tips specific to toys.

1. Give everything a home. Every toy needs a spot it lives when it’s not being played with—a specific shelf, bin, or drawer it goes back to when it’s time to tidy up.

2. Contain like with like. Matchbox cars in one bin, magnet tiles in another, painting supplies in a third. Grouping similar toys together makes them easy to find and just as easy to put away.

3. Keep toys visible and easily accessible. Open shelving and open-top bins or baskets help kids remember it’s there and make toys easier to get and put away. Keep a shelf or basket with a handful of toys in whatever rooms your family spends the most time in.

4. Leave breathing room. A packed shelf or an overstuffed bin is much harder to use than one with a little space. Give things room to breathe, and cleanup will go faster for everyone.

5. Create a dedicated “in progress” spot. Give unfinished projects a place to live (like a tray or a dedicated shelf) so they don’t clutter your table and countertops.

6. Give stuffed animals a better place than the bed. They look sweet piled up there, but beds aren’t a great storage solution—making (and unmaking) the bed turns into a whole production. Keep a few favorites on the bed if you want, and put the rest in a large basket or a wall-mounted hammock if floor space is tight. The container should limit the size of the collection you keep.

7. Stack board games like books, not pancakes. Keep them upright on a shelf, spine-out. You can see what you have, and you’re not excavating through five boxes to get to the one on the bottom.

8. Hide bulkier toys to reduce visual clutter. Your home doesn’t need to look like the Target toy aisle if you don’t want it to. Baskets are great for hiding smaller toys, but storage cabinets, benches, ottomans, and drawers are perfect for hiding larger toys—like a Calico Critters house, a toy car garage, racetracks, or dress-up clothes.

My favorite toy organization products

Everything here is something I use or have used to organize toys in our own home. Details below!

For toy storage

IKEA Kallax Shelf — We have two of these, and they’re the backbone of our everyday toy organization. They’re low, long, and flat enough that the top surface is usable (perfect for a paper tray or two), and the cubbies are sized perfectly for individual baskets, bins, and books, and can be reconfigured as your kids age. 

IKEA Småstad Bench — This is where the big stuff lives: the Calico Critters house and all its accessories, balls, musical instruments, and dress-up clothes. It’s a bench on top with a deep storage box underneath, so it doubles as a seat or play surface and hides everything that doesn’t fit on a shelf. The drawer pulls out easily (just watch for little fingers and toes). Swap in a different knob if you want it to look a little less like toy storage and a little more like furniture—see the photo of ours above.

For containing smaller items

IKEA Uppdatera Boxes — I have these all over the house and reach for them any time something small needs a home. They come in two sizes and are great for crayons, markers, fidget toys, card games, and other craft supplies. Clean and minimal storage!

Small clear bins with lids — My daughter has two of these for her Calico Critters accessories—though they’d be great for Barbies, too, or any toys with lots of small pieces that need to stay together. Love that it’s easy to see what’s inside without opening it.  

Zippered mesh pouches — I use these for literally everything: decks of cards, art supplies sorted by type (markers, colored pencils, stickers), board games whose boxes have fallen apart, kids’ headphones, and other electronic toys with their charging cords. Target has some of the best ones I’ve found. Amazon has them too, but the quality varies wildly. 

For smaller toys, stuffed animals, and blankets

Soft rope baskets — My go-to for shelves and cubbies. They’re open, soft (so they don’t scratch), come in multiple sizes, and look nice in any room. They’re available in a taller version and a shorter, wider version and are a great price.

Large felt baskets — We use these for shoes and not-quite-dirty laundry, but since they’re soft and structured, they’d also be great for bulkier toys like stuffed animals and dress-up clothes. 

For artwork and school papers

Flat oversized clear storage bin with lid — This is where we keep the kids’ important artwork and school papers. I date things and jot a quick note on the back about what made the piece special. They’re easy to store under the bed and are big enough to fit even larger masterpieces. The kids love going through these every so often—so it doubles as entertainment, too. 

How to keep the toys decluttered

Unfortunately, decluttering toys isn’t a one-and-done thing. Kids grow, interests change, birthdays and holidays happen, which means toys will require routine maintenance from time to time. The good news is that once you’ve done the big declutter, it’s easier to maintain. Here’s how:

• Find the source first. Most toy clutter has a source: impulse buys, family members who love to give, and hand-me-downs from friends. Your first and most important job is to reduce what’s coming in. The fewer toys you have, the fewer toys you’ll have to manage.

• Talk to the gift-givers. A simple text or email before birthdays and holidays can go a long way. Send friends and family members a short message a few weeks in advance, something like: “We’re working on simplifying the toys, and would love XYZ (kids experience gifts, contributions toward a bigger item or education fund) instead this year.” In my experience, gift-givers are relieved to have direction and open to giving more than just toys.

• Embrace experience gifts. A museum membership, a class, tickets to something — these don’t end up in a donation bag six months later. If you’re building a list to share with family, these experience gift ideas for kids are a good place to start.

• Do a pre-holiday and birthday purge. A few weeks before birthdays or the holidays, get rid of unwanted toys to clear space for the new ones coming in. Kids are far more willing to let go of toys when they know new ones are on the horizon.

• One-in, one-out. For every one-off toy that comes in throughout the year, ideally, one goes. Start with ones that are broken, missing pieces, or have been outgrown, since these are easy to part with.

Frequently asked questions

Below are some of the most frequently asked questions I get about decluttering toys from readers and coaching clients.

How many toys should my child have after decluttering?

There’s no right number. Decluttering gets easier each time, and with each round, you’ll find you’re comfortable with a little less than before. Focus on what’s genuinely adding to your kids’ play and let what’s left be enough. Kids are remarkably good at finding ways to stay entertained with less — usually better than we expect.

Should kids help with the toy declutter?

Under 5, probably not. You know what gets played with, and I found the negotiation isn’t worth it.

After 5, yes. It’s worth teaching them to identify what adds something to their life versus what’s just taking up space. Older kids may also be motivated by the idea of selling their unwanted toys for a little extra cash, which can make the whole thing feel less like a chore.

How do I tell grandparents and family to stop buying so many toys?

A direct, warm message with enough lead time is usually all it takes. Give them a reason and alternatives — an experience gift list, a few specific things your child is excited about, or a link to an education fund. If the “we’re simplifying” message doesn’t land, the environmental angle often does: most plastic toys are nearly impossible to recycle and end up in landfills. Most people just need a little direction.

What to do next

If this feels like a lot, start with one category. Barbies, building toys, whatever pile is driving you crazy right now. Declutter that, then move on to the next when you’re ready. 

For more on building out a smaller, better toy collection, here are some of the best simple toys for kids. And if toys are just one part of a bigger decluttering project, you might find these decluttering tips and minimalism with kids posts helpful as well.