Organizing Kids Toys

It seems like I reorganize the kids toys in the living room play area about once a month.  So, why would today be any different...
I also brought the toy baskets from my son's bookshelf in his room to make sure that all the small toys in the house were organized at once. 
Let the organizing begin.

BASKETS!  I have found over the years that baskets are the best way to try to keep toys contained and some what organized.  I tried great big toy boxes, but lots of little toys get lost at the bottom and some never even get played with because they are lost in the bottom of the cavernous toy box.  Book shelves are great for putting toys up and out of the way and off the floor.   If you add baskets into the organizing mix, then all is well in the world.

To start, we laid out all the baskets and toys and then started designating which baskets held what.  For example:  a basket for dinosaurs, a basket for action figures and army men, a basket for characters from the 'Cars' movie, etc.   By the way, I bought these blue and green baskets at the dollar store about 2 years ago and LOVE them!!!!!  They are a great way to organize, are durable, and have handles on them so the kids can easily grab a whole basket and take it to another location to play.  They work out great and for only $1 who cold ask for anything more. 

I had previously made laminated labels for the baskets to help the kids put the toys in the proper baskets when cleaning up.  The labels started to curl up on the edges so I made some new ones.

To make the labels I just went on clipart and copied and pasted some pictures for the appropriate toys on cardstock and printed them up.  Simple as that.

One of the labels I made a year ago-notice the curling of the edges

Here are the new labels

It doesn't look too much different than before because of my constant upkeep. 

Before

after

But, having all the baskets labeled properly and every toy in its place makes for easy play and cleanup.

What are your tips or ways to organize your kids toys?