10-Minute Organizing Projects To Tackle with Kids

Mini-organizing projects are a fantastic way to get your children involved in the organizing process. Talk to them about how they want to function in their spaces. You may be surprised that they will have answers. Create the systems according to how they want to function, and you’ll be amazed to see that they will maintain their organization!

Here are eight quick projects you can tackle with your children: 

Shoes. Empty out their entire shoe closet and start decluttering. Have them decide what fits and what doesn’t. Decide whether to toss or donate and then place the shoes back in the closet in an organized fashion. Was there an organized system before? If not, ask your child how they want to function going forward with their shoes. Purchase the necessary shoe organizers if you must and create that working system.

Hair Accessories. If your daughter’s bows, barrettes, elastics, and headbands are a disorganized mess, you know it can sometimes be a challenge in the morning when getting ready. Gather all the hair accessories that are scattered all over the home. Bring them to one area and plan to keep them in that area. Declutter, categorize, itemize, and then purchase containers to hold the accessories. Be sure to measure the space and purchase containers to match exactly what you own.

Games. For this project, pull all the games out of the space where they are located. Declutter and make piles of keep and toss. If each child plays with certain games, create a space for each child’s games. It will make it easier for them to go to their section when looking for a game.

Winter Coats. If you moved to the area from a wintry weather climate, it’s time to go through winter coats. This is a quick and easy project. Just focus on their coats. Declutter, toss, donate, and organize.

Dance/Sports Gear. Whether your child is in dance or sports related activities, at some point they will outgrow the clothes that correspond with that activity. Just focus on the activity related clothes and declutter anything that no longer fits. Dedicate a drawer or a space in their closet to activity related gear. 

Under the Bed. Depending on how much your child has under the bed, this could take 10 minutes or three hours. Hopefully, they don’t have much. Look at what’s under there. Are there already organized systems in place for what was under there? Once the space is clear, think about what was under there and how to avoid the clutter from building again.

Books. Tackle this project with one child at a time. Head over to their bookshelf and go through every book with them. Decide what to keep, toss, or donate. You may find that your kids are ready to get rid of many books that they’ve outgrown. Don’t keep them on their shelves because you want them. Take out the ones they don’t want and if you want to keep certain ones for the memories, create a memorabilia bin and store them there. 

Markers/Crayons. Do you have an abundance of markers and crayons all over the house? Your kids can tackle this project alone. Give them scrap paper and all the writing instruments you’ve gathered from all over the house and have them test each one and throw out broken crayons and dry markers. Have them make categories and keep them in one designated spot in the home. 

Because children outgrow things quickly, decluttering plays a huge role in this process. Even if you just focus on decluttering and then plan to go back and organize, that’s ok. You can break this process down and tackle it one step at a time. Get them involved and transfer the organizing skill set to them at an early age.