If you don't own a chest of toys or a toy box then you should invest in one of these. It allows for neat storage for when the toys are not needed.

A normal toy chest can be just a simple wooden item that has a bottom, four square sides, with a hinged door. This could be nicely decorated or just very plain indeed. If you are just looking for something that will be kept out the way then something simple will do the trick nicely.

I have a coffee table which has a tabletop which flips up turning into benches with a nicely hidden box for toys underneath. The coffee table held my child's Lego for ages and has now moved onto action men etc. I also encourage the children to tidy away their toys after they have used them, and when they are so easily accessible their really is not excuse.

When you are trying to teach a young child to leave a room tidily the toy chest will certainly point them in the correct direction. What I done was turned putting the toys away into a game. The soft toys were used for a game of basketball, and the hardest toys started getting used for games of races - which gets the toys in first wins!

This works great, and If only I could think of such a fun way to do the laundry. Of course the same ideas could be put to use within a bedroom environment easily. In fact with toy boxes, their really needs to be no mess at any time at all. Just let the children know that they can play with their toys as long as they put them away at appropriate times - this way things should work out great.

Another idea that I have used is to encourage the little ones to tidy inside their actual toy box once in a while. This makes it easier to put stuff away, and through being less of a hassle, the kids get it done very quickly indeed.