Today I want to introduce you to Jana of Kermette’s Korner, who shared with me how she keeps her puzzles organized. Here is what she has to say:
I have four boys and puzzle boxes never last. They also think they have to do more than one at a time, which gets confusing. I put the puzzles together with my kids and then when we were done I wrote the same letter on the back of each piece. Then I cut out the picture from the box and put all of it in a zipper gallon size bag. That way the kids can zip it up too. I have taken a whole shelf of puzzles and condensed it to two large buckets with room to grow. When pieces get left out it is really easy to find where they go, because they are all marked.
I love this idea and have actually used it myself to organize the puzzles at the church so I know it works well. The boxes always seemed to get stepped on and squished anyway. Also what a terrific space saving idea as well. Be sure to head on over to read Jana’s post to see how the puzzle bins fit into her lovely organized toy closet! Those clear bins are the best, I really do love them!
Thanks for sharing Jana!
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We use this idea at our house and it works great!
I do this too … I’ll have to take a photo of my son’s puzzle box … it’s huge !!!
This is actually on my list of stuff to do for the June Organizing Round Up!
When my kids did puzzles this how we stored them also. I recently went to Goodwill with them all…and Goodwill told me they would not accept them unless they were in the original box. I was disappointed because I kept them so nice and neat ….and Goodwill informed me that way of storing them would result in them being consider trash. :(
~Amy
That sounds like a great idea!! I’m going to try it!
Great system!
Yes! I do this also and what a time saver not to mention sanity saver. My son loves to just dump all his puzzles out at once. Having them numbered makes it so much easier when it is clean up time.
OMG have you been lurking in my house? I have such a bad puzzle problem. A couple months ago I finally threw away all their puzzles because not one of them I had all the pieces to them. Then last month I was again blessed with 2 big boxes full of puzzles. Again my kids tracked all these pieces and dumped them out all over my floor. I took a big garbage bag and dumped every single piece in there. Now I have a total mess again! I so need to use your method and get them all together in separate bags. Thanks for sharing this.
I do this too! Except I put numbers instead of letters – but I like the letter idea.
That is brilliant!! The bags I’ve thought of but not the letters on the bag!
My goodness I do this as well, have done for years. Good to know I’m not the only one to store this way.
Great Tip!
What a great idea…I’ll be using it!
Great idea!!
I started doing this recently for DS’s puzzles. His playdoh equipment and assorted other toys are also in little ziplog bags and he knows that he needs to put them back after use. I love having a home for everything.
I have throw so may puzzles out due to lost pieces, yet I still buy mom. I can’t wai tto start doing this. Thanks for the great tip.
We also currently do this – without the letters on the backs. It works great!
I love this! I already have a stack of puzzles that I cut out the picture of and slipped into a ziploc bag with all the pieces.. but I would have never thought of labeling all the pieces on the back! That’s genius. Occasionally I do find an escapee puzzle piece and wonder which puzzle it belongs to (especially since Princess has several Barbie puzzles from movies that all have the same look and color scheme.) We’re going to have to have a puzzle day where we put together all the puzzles so that mom can do all the labeling. :)
I do this too! In fact, I do it with most board games as well. We have one big bin for ziploc baggies of game pieces/instructions, well marked of course — and another bin for the boards.
There is a master list of the games taped to the outside of each bin.
Instead of taking up 4 valuable shelves in the storage closet, they only take up one shelf. Plus, no more ripped boxes, etc.
Freedom!
I too use the baggie method. I hadn’t thought of numbering them… Great Idea thanks for sharing… Whoever made those puzzle boxes obviously didn’t have boys!
We do this as well. It has worked out great!
Here is another idea about the puzzle dilemma ladies. I would take a digital photograph of the puzzle when it’s finished and it will let your children know which bag the puzzle parts go into as well. I use this method with my students who have autism. Remember, even neurtotypical children can benefit from visual strategies and it keeps you from “nagging” them to put them in the correct spot as well. I would also label the container that you put the puzzles into. It doesn’t hurt to take a picture of a group of the puzzles in the ziplock bags either. i also saw that some mothers use “lingerie bags” for storing more sturdy toys than the ziplock bags as well, especially wooden and foam puzzles. I hope this suggestion has been helpful.
We do the same thing at our house. Have been for years. I don’t use alphabet letters though. I number ours. We have more than 26 puzzles so numbers work best. Thanks for sharing.