When did my house become a ‘mini zoo’? How did all these furry lifeless animals get here? I found myself wondering the other day what to do with too many stuffed animals that were scattered all over the house.
You see, my kids love stuffed toy animals. Every time they see one, especially a cartoon character they love, they want to add it to their collection.
My issue is that they do not want to let go of the older animal toys despite having lost interest in them. Cleaning stuffed toys is also not an easy task.
There are now an excessive number of the little creatures for any one area to house. Because of this, I’ve devised some strategies for stowing the animal toys you intend to preserve.
See also – Safe Non-toxic Disinfectants For Baby Toys
What To Do With Too Many Stuffed Animals
Hang them in a toy hammock
This is my favorite toy storage hack. You can simply make one since it is pretty easy to make or purchase one, such as the Prince Lionheart Toy hammock.
The hammock will help you to hold as well as display the toys in a corner in your kids’ room or any other place you like. You can fix the hammock at a corner above their bed where they can easily reach and grab one if they love cuddling stuffed toys as they sleep.
See also: Huggable stuffed animals for sleeping
Hanging rack behind the door
Did you know that you can use one of those transparent plastic shoe organizers that hang behind the door to store and organize stuffed toys?
Simply purchase the shoe organizer, hang it behind your kid’s bedroom door, and then put the toys in each pocket.
Be creative; like put similar colors close together or let those with long noses hang out. If your kids have named the animals, add a name tag or put a label on each pocket.
Your kids will definitely love this since they can clearly see their flurry toys through the transparent organizer.
Store in a big empty bean bag
If you have a big bean bag shell with a zipper, you can fill it with toys that are less used.
You can do it yourself if you love sewing or get one of these ready-made animal toy storage chairs.
Kids will enjoy using it as a seat or a soft bean bag.
Stuffed Animal Zoo storage
Some call it a zoo, while others call it jail for animal toys. Whatever the name, this zoo is simply a cage built to store toys.
It can be built at the corner of the room or as a standalone.
The good thing about this zoo is that it is simple to make and so you can customize the size based on the number of stuffed toys you want to store.
See the tutorial below for a step-by-step guide on how to make one.
Closet organizer
Stuffed animals can be neatly stashed away in a closet organizer, which is another simple yet brilliant solution. The many sections of closet organizers mean that a sizable collection of stuffed animals may be stored easily.
Because of how simple it is to access each section, you can train your children to put the animals back where they came from once they’ve played with them. As a result, children won’t leave their toys lying around after play.
Reuse an old planter
You can repurpose an old planter as a storage container for stuffed animal toys, and it will hold quite a number of them.
Simply take the planter, clean it, and paint it with your desired color. Once dry, put the toys in and hang them in the kids’ room or fix it on the wall.
Ottoman storage box
This is one of the most common storage ideas used in most homes due to the fact that it is simple and straightforward to use.
In addition, it is not only a storage box but also part of the furniture in the house.
If you are not a DIY kind of person or you do not have time to make one, you can buy one such as this storage ottoman bench in a color that matches the rest of your house décor or nursery.
Put in colorful baskets
You can also try storing the toys in large baskets. These are very easy to move from one room in the house to another so that it is convenient for the children.
In addition, the baskets can hold quite a number of large toy animals.
The only challenge I found with this hack is that my kids have easy access to the toys, so they tend to pour them all out of the baskets during playtime. When playtime is over, they forget to put them back into the baskets, so I end up picking them up myself.
Place on a DIY swing
This is a DIY creation that may require quite some work from you. You can choose to do one using wood and rope or clothesline, or cardboard with ribbon.
The wood swing lasts longer and can hold several stuffed toys compared to the cardboard swing.
However, cardboard is very easy to make. Watch this tutorial for a step-by-step guide on how to make a DIY stuffed animal swing using cardboard.
Install a shelf in the kids’ room
If you do not have a lot of space in the bedroom, installing a shelf or shelves will help to keep the toys off the floor.
This may require quite some effort from you, but it is a great way to make your kids’ bedroom look lively.
You can do one long shelf or shorter ones placed at different places on the wall and paint them different colors.
See also: Best baby walkers alternatives
Conclusion
Stuffed animals can be utilized as decor since they are soft, cuddly, and adorable. We hope that this article has given you some helpful suggestions for dealing with the issue of having too many stuffed animals that you want to keep but don’t know what to do with them all.
DIY projects and store-bought alternatives are equally represented here. Pick plans that you know will fit in the area you have available. Shelving and shoe racks are wonderful examples of storage solutions that don’t require a lot of room, whereas other concepts may be prohibitively large.
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