As your baby gets older, their attention span seems to lessen every day. Keeping baby entertained for longer than 3 minutes at a time can be a challenge. That’s why I use baby toy bins to keep my 8 month old entertained!
There are a few things to keep in mind when putting together a toy bin for your baby. First of all, you will need to choose a bin (or bins) to put the toys in. Then, you will need to consider what toys to fill your bins with and rotating them to keep baby from getting bored.
Using toy bins can be helpful because at the end of the day, all the toys go back in the bin and can easily be stored away. As your baby gets older they can also be involved in cleaning up and putting all their toys back in the container.
Here are my tips on putting together toy bins for your baby to keep them entertained.
Choose a Bin
The first step is to choose a container or basket to use as toy bins. As you can see in the photo above we use ones like these. Be sure to choose something that is durable as it will likely get tossed around and chewed on. You also want to chose something that is big enough to quite a few toys, yet small enough that it can easily be stored away when not in use. I like to use bins that are approximately 12″ x 12″. It seems to be a good size for us!
Multiple Bins
My second tip, is to consider using multiple bins! We have two bins right now; one in our family room and one in baby’s room. That way when he moves to a new room he gets to play with new toys and won’t get bored. We also have more than one bin worth of toys, so its helpful to keep them organized and up off the floor.
When we traveled recently, I simply grabbed one storage bin and brought it along with us for the trip. Read more tips about traveling with baby: Tips for Car Rides & Tips for Getting Baby To Sleep on Vacation
Toys
Once you have your toy containers ready, its time to fill them with toys. I try to mix toys that my baby is currently obsessed with and other toys that I think he may like soon. I often find his favorite toy changes weekly and this is a great way to introduce him to new toys. Consider the size of the toy, and mix different types of toys, textures, and sizes.
Some ideas for toys we have in our toy bins are:
- Small stuffed animals
- Activity & multi-sensory toys (This is my son’s favorite!)
- Indestructibles Chewable books (like this)
- Teething toys (Read More Teething Tips)
- Soft Block Toys (like this)
- Miscellaneous items like socks (my son is obsessed with socks), blocks, pacifiers, really anything that keeps your baby entertained!
For more ideas check out my post: Top Toys for a 6-8 Month Old. Most of these are in our toy bins!
Rotate your Toys
Finally, I have learned that it is a good idea to rotate your toys to keep baby from getting bored. We actually have a third bin of toys sitting in the closet that we can exchange with a bin that is already used or just swap out some of the toys. I do this ever week or two to keep baby engaged and entertained!
Here are examples of two bins we currently have set up:
Thanks for stopping by!
