How To Organize Kid’s Books At Home

You might have a goal of decluttering and organizing your pantry or closets in the new year. Have you thought about organizing your children’s books at home? Do you have a bounty of kid books lying all around the house? Or maybe you have it neatly put on a shelf but you can’t find what you’re looking for when you need it. Then this post is for you.  I’m sharing 5 great reasons why you need to organize your kid’s books.

Being a teacher and now a homeschooling mom, I have a huge collection of books. We love books and often many books are added to our collection monthly. I thought I was organized by keeping it all on the shelves. But the problem was that, when I needed a specific book, I couldn’t find it. I’d get so frustrated and eventually borrow that book from the library. So when we moved into our new place, I finally had a chance to see the collection as a whole. And decided it was finally time to organize the books.

When I was teaching, our classroom library in our room was organized for the kids to grab what interested them. And it was also helpful for me to pick books for read alouds quickly. I applied the same method here to use at home and it has been working like a charm.

WHY DO YOU NEED TO ORGANIZE KID’S BOOKS AT HOME?

1) It makes it look neat and visually appealing.

2) Books are no longer scattered everywhere but neatly organized according to category and/or subject.

3) It will draw your children’s attention and will encourage them to read more.

4) Kids will discover more topics of interest. After organizing our home library, I find my boys reading more science and poetry books.

5) Reduce clutter- you can donate books that you no longer need (My boys are no longer babies so I donated a bunch of baby books to a family member).

HOW TO START ORGANIZING YOUR KIDS’ HOME LIBRARY?

1) You don’t need anything fancy to start. Use any plastic containers or unused baskets that you have already. Or grab a few plastic containers from the dollar store. I used shoebox containers that I had left over from my classroom.

2) Print the pretty labels (found below). Laminate or print it on full sheet label paper. Cut the labels out. Add tape or even Velcro and stick the labels to the containers.

3) Gather all the books onto a table or the floor. Line up all the containers near the books.

4) Sort through and put books in the appropriate bins.

5) Larger, heavy books can be placed on the bottom shelf and stacked.

6) Then place the book boxes on a shelf, closet or wherever you have designated as the library spot. You can also have multiple libraries in the home. We have one in the boys’ room as well.

7) Also keeping books at a reachable distance is recommended. So even the younger ones can access books independently.

8) Now step back and admire your hard work 🙂

When you’re finished, have a meeting with your children and go over the library baskets/bins with them. Don’t forget to show your excitement over the neatly organized library. Discuss any library rules you might have with your children as well. I only have one rule in our home and that is; “Put the book back in the right box.”

My boys have been enjoying their home library very much. My 7-year on a daily basis, tells me how much he likes to see all the books organized!Organizing kids books at home is a game changer.

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