Clean Out The Toybox

by Miss Virginia

Cleaning out the toy box may seem boring, but it’s something you can do when the weather is just too hot to go outside. My mom has me use large Ziploc bags for organizing the little toys that end up settling down in the bottom of the box.

First we use a Sharpee marker to write on the bags. These bags have a white section that you can write on. We make bags for cars, Legos, Magnetix, Bionicles, and whatever else you need bags for.

Some girls have dolls stuff and baby doll stuff that has small things like bottles, doll clothes and many other little things that you don’t want to lose.

For those small toys we use the gallon size Ziploc bags. If you have larger toys you can get the Ziploc extra large bags for baseballs, footballs and other larger toys.

You will also want a garbage bag for broken toys and other clutter that you decide is time to toss out. After we write on the bags we open the toy box. Little siblings do great with this activity, because they end up finding things they forgot about and they get excited. You can tell them that you are going on a treasure hunt to find what treasures are hidden in the bottom of the box.

This teaches them how to organize and categorize their toys. As they find toys they put them in the bags that go with those toys. Once you get through the whole box you might need to turn it over and dump out any particles that may have found their way in. With a little boy in the house we were certain to find an occasional Cheetoh or Cheerio too. Then have your mom help spray the inside with a safe all purpose cleaner and wipe it out.

Then you can put all those bags right back into the box. My little brother was so happy to find other Legos that he thought were gone and now he is building more exciting and larger vehicles than he could before we went on this ‘treasure hunt’. And I found some baby doll clothes too! I’m going to go play with them now. I hope you have fun on your summer time treasure hunts in the toy box.

Miss Virginia, who is also known as Gina, is the youngest of three homeschooling sisters and loves to cook and clean with her mommy. She loves to read, learn Math, and has a new interest in photography.