In my never ending quest to conquer the chaos and clutter of a largish family of recovering hoarders, I have come round once again to the children’s books. We have (cough) an extensive library of books for young children. And I just don’t have a solution that I like for keeping them both accessible and tidy. The problem is that I want my children to be able to get their own books AND (here’s the kicker) put them away. But only the oldest child in our family has truly mastered the classic move for putting a book into tradition bookshelf-style storage where you have to hold the place open with one hand while you slide the book in with the other. The little ones just can’t do it, and that means that the books are always on the floor. Until I pick them up. Which I did today. And as I neatly arranged the extensive library yet again, I thought to myself, there has to be a better system. So, all you brilliant organizational geniuses, is there a better system??? What do you do with your books for young children so they can get them easily and put them away easily, too?
Children's Book Storage Solutions10 comments to Children’s Book Storage Solutions |
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I use crates or baskets for little kids’ books. Granted, they still pull other books off shelves, but for the most part, their books are in various baskets in strategic locations around the house. Easy pick up, easy access, and baskets are decorative, too!
My excellent wife discovered this solution Raingutter book shelves. She has already recruited me to build some for Naomi….I’d be happy to lend a hand for your little ones!
This may seem silly, but we just have a big shelf at the bottom of our living room bookcase that houses all the children’s books. I keep holiday books on a shelf that cannot be reached by little ones, and I bring them out as the season demands. It helps the children to appreciate them so much more if they are not always available! We also have a small bookseller’s table with our boardbooks in the nursery.
Quite simply, from the time my children could walk, they learned to put books away on the special shelf with the spines facing out. Sometimes, they do end up upside down, but that hardly matters. The important thing is that the books are where they belong and we can find any volume easily. I don’t think that my children are particularly adept (my oldest is only 4), but even my just-2-year-old is perfectly capable of this feat–in fact, he takes great pride in it! A few sessions of carefully overseeing returning books to the shelf has been enough for us to get the knack of it. Sometimes if it’s a large pile, I’ll need to help because you’ve got to get that stack to straighten up, and little biceps are not quite so strong!
One more thing: don’t have too many books. This is coming from the daughter of a librarian, a homeschooler, a professional writer, and a self-professed bookaholic. But I will say it again: don’t have too many books. “Too many” will depend on your home and family, but you should be aware of that limit. My mother always says that a good library stocks only those books that will be avidly read. If you have a number of excellent, engaging works for your children to pore over, reference books for exploring new ideas, and a few holiday books to add to the rotation, and then teach them how to respect those books, you will have done a good deal for helping your children develop an eager and responsible love of literature.
What about picture ledges? http://www.brewerfamilyblog.com/2011/07/autumns-library.html
Would something like this work for your children?
I LOOOOVE the gutter raingutter book shelves idea! That’s fantastic! Currently, we use crates, too, but it’s a disaster.
Rain gutters! What a great idea. You can rotate the supply around as needed.
I too use a book basket, for the board books. Then a specific shelf in a bookshelf for the “nicer” books. It is a good in-expensive solution for the time being…but I am really liking these other ideas much better! I’ll have to start saving!!
My current issue is figuring out how to store board games successfully and neatly. We don’t even have that many yet they drive me crazy!
If they really aren’t ready to put books on the shelf, the stage shouldn’t last too long. What about a basket by your regular shelf for the young ones to put their done books in? Then it is easy for you to re-shelve them.
I think kids can learn to put books on a shelf pretty young, and I never found a better way to keep them organized. My brood were not super neat like Bethany’s (above), but they could be coraled into helping pick up on demand. I still have a couple of shelves of books that are just for small children. One thing I learned right away: don’t bother trying to keep them organized. I also learned to be grateful if my kids would put them away…even once a day or once a week!
Found this and instantly thought of you,
http://blogs.babble.com/the-new-home-ec/2011/09/22/20-cool-ways-to-display-childrens-books/
Hope it inspires some sort of solution