Quick tip for kids toys. Kids accumulate a lot of toys and those toys come with many accessories. From tiny microscopic pieces to odd shaped extras making organizing a challenge! If the tiny pieces do not get much attention or the only attention they get is from your vacuum cleaner separate them from the toy bin. Store the pieces in a plastic bag or bin and add a label with the name and description. If the toys are used without the little extra pieces you might be able to get rid of them for good. But if they are a major part of the activity save for a later date.

Organizing baby clothes that no longer fit can be challenging. If you are planning on putting clothes away for future or plan on giving away be sure to keep the seasons and sizes in mind. Note newborn, baby and toddler sizes and include the months worn. For instance 3, 6, 9 months summer, winter or fall. Some consignment shops will only take clothes by season so you will want to be sure and separate. Some brands run big, small, shrink or stretch out. Be sure to write notes about the clothes when packing away so its easy to restock in the future.
Some labels include the weight. This is helpful when trying to figure out when they will be able to wear. If your clothes do not include weight, check the store tag or go online for the company's sizing chart.

The holidays may have left your toy room busting at the seems. A whole new level of games, toys and activities may have just changed the room and the way it gets used. Its time to shift some toys around to make the room work again. Heres a quick organizing tip for making decisions about which toys to keep and which ones to give away.
Dont keep more than one toy that does the same thing. Two toys that have buttons with the alphabet calling the letter and object are the same. Pick the toy you think will work best and give away the other.
If you now have the new or more advanced version of a toy keep the new one out and give away the other. Its sort of like your new cell phone, why do you need the old one if your new one has all the latest and greatest features?
Try to keep in mind, too many toys can be overwhelming for your kids and your toy room shelves.
If you have have twins or siblings close in age you may have to keep 2 of the exact same or similar toys but if you have a 3rd and 4th that are similar give it away. I'm very familiar with this idea because one of my sisters is 17 months older then me and we had two of everything to keep the peace.

Do your kids like playing with the box more than that new toy? My toy organizing tip for the day is to keep that box for the next 30 days or as long as the Toy store return policy runs out. Be sure to also keep the receipt. If your kids don't have any interest in playing with those toys, something breaks or pieces are missing take them back to the store. Unwanted toys that just hang around end up cluttering up your kids rooms and taking up space. Stay organized in the kids room and keep only the toys they like and actually use.

Trying to keep track of all your kids puzzle pieces? Now that is a challenge! Heres a quick tip. As soon as you open up a new puzzle, flip over the pieces and draw shape with a marker or use a stamp to mark the back of all of pieces. You could even write "50" for the total amount of pieces. This will help you when trying to figure out what pieces go to a particular puzzle and the total. You dont want to have to get rid of a puzzles because of so many mystery pieces or worse completing the puzzle but having the final piece missing.

It's the time in my life when the alphabet is important for the second time. The first time I was wearing diapers and was the student. Now I am the teacher and changing the diapers. Also different this time is that the internet is accessible to the public and not just for select universities and the military. The internet has touched almost every facet of american life and the alphabet is no different. It too has had a makeover from the flash cards and static books of old. Today there are a lot of interactive resources for learning and playing with the alphabet online. These have become my favorites to play with...I mean, these are my favorite teaching tools.

Learn Your ABC's by Fisher-Price http://www.fisher-price.com/us/fun/games/abc/




This one is great for learning the order of the alphabet and the alphabet song. No matter what key you push on the keyboard, it goes to the next letter in the alphabet, displays and speaks it. I like this one because I can let the little munchkin press the keys on the keyboard randomly, but the lesson still provides the proper alphabet sequence. It then sings the alphabet song at the end. If your little typer keeps pressing keys it sings the song over and over and over and over again. Which is great for little minds to learn, not as exciting for the adult mind after the 14th time in a row. So if you play this one, jump in and click the restart button after the third time through so you can get more letter time in between sing song sessions.

Alphabet Action from www.LearningPlanet.com

This one requires some mouse dexterity from your little one. It displays the alphabet and when you click on a letter it displays the letter, says the letter and gives you an object that starts with the letter (except X, they opted for fox instead of xylophone).

The ABC Game by ORGDOT http://www.orgdot.com/abc/

WOW! This is more of the advanced game that daddy likes playing and hopes the mini me will enjoy in the near future. It's visually stunning and requires more mouse interaction than the previous two. It was commissioned by a large publishing house in Norway and is different than typical US kids games both in looks and function. It focuses on the shapes of the letters by providing a group of lines and curves on a grid. Each click of the mouse rotates the lines and curves until you make the letter shown on the left Once you make the letter correctly you can advance to the next few in the alphabet. Depending on your childs age, they may just like you doing the clicking and watching how smart their mommy and daddy are.

These are my favorites for now. I never knew learning the alphabet (again) could be so much fun!