Top Tips for Toy Storage

If your house looked like our house after Santa had been, just a month ago now, you’ll understand what we mean when we say that we are very glad we stock an extensive range of toy storage options.

 It’s brilliant to see the excitement on a little one’s face when they open up a new toy or game and fall in love with it. Having your living room, dining room, the bedrooms and so on strewn with much-loved games and toy is less exciting for us grown-ups.

Our top tip for buying storage solutions is to buy quality. In the past, we wasted so much effort and money on cheap, flimsy storage items which never really did the job right, didn’t last two minutes and didn’t fit in with the bedroom or playroom décor whatsoever.

Here are a few examples of storage solutions we stock (and use ourselves).

Wall Storage

Sometimes you just have to realise that the only way is up, and that applies to Yazz fans (a terrible 80’s music reference, sorry!) as well as those looking to maximise their children’s storage without leaving them with nowhere to play. These wall organisers from 3 Sprouts and Win Green offer brilliant storage room which may be placed anywhere you want and at a height that is suitable for your children.

Laundry Hampers

Ok, the chance are that to start with, your children will put their laundry around the washing basket or near the laundry hamper (why do they do this?!) however with a little training they will soon get into the habit of immediately putting old/dirty clothing in the basket before putting new on. With laundry hampers as cute as these, we’re hoping that your children will want to put their clothes straight in there, rather than on the floor, under the bed, on top of the bedside table, back in with the clean clothes……

Cube Storage

We just love these fabric storage cubes from BabyFace and from 3 Sprouts. Both fit brilliantly into Ikea Expedit systems and offer a substantial amount of storage that is hidden away yet easy to access. These cube storage solutions also work well as freestanding/standalone alternatives to storage caddies and more. Whether you use them in the children’s bedrooms, in their playroom/nursery or anywhere in and around the house, we’re sure that you’ll soon appreciate these excellent storage cubes as much as we do.

Storage Caddies

Perfect for smaller items, as well as being portable, storage caddies are much loved by both children and families. These cute and cool caddies offer a great way to store arts and crafts supplies, homework must-haves, Legos and much more besides. The portable nature of these fab-looking storage caddies means that they are also great for using when you want your children to tidy up items downstairs to take them back upstairs and put them away or to bring a small selection of toys downstairs.

Bathroom Storage

Toys aren’t just cluttering up your living area, they breed in the bathroom too, taking up space in and around the bath, on the shelf and more. We love the 3 Sprouts bathroom storage solutions (such as this penguin one) as it puts all the bath toys away in one place, is mould resistant and drains away old water, leaving toys clean and ready for your next bath-time play session.  

Not only do great looking, hardy, well-made storage solutions clear the clutter, they also help you set up a toy storage system that your children may adopt so that in time they too may take responsibility for keeping their own items safe and tidy.

And a little something for those of you who now can't get Yazz out of their head 😄 

3 Sprouts: Fun Organisation

As parents ourselves here we decided that at Dotty Hippo we would only stock items that we would use ourselves, that we could see our children enjoying and that were of a high quality and yet at a reasonable price. The 3 Sprouts range ticks all of these boxes and more, with fabric storage bins, hooded towels for baby and toddler bathtime, bath storage, laundry hampers and more.

Where did 3 Sprouts Come From?

3 Sprouts was actually put together by three friends, all of whom loved modern family-related products and had a keen eye for practical yet fun designs. Their animal designs are unique and really do look fantastic (as well as helping keep everything in order, a task not easily done when you have little ones running around!).

Claims to Fame

Clearly we aren't the only ones tickled by the 3 Sprouts range. Recently our Crocodile Storage Box was featured on the BT Lifestyle blog and another storage box and the very popular 3 Sprouts wall organisers were featured on the MYBABA site as part of their spring clean essentials round-up.

More Affordable Than Ever

We really do rate the 3 Sprouts range and as such we have reduced their prices to the lowest they've been in years, making it more affordable than ever to transform your home with these fantastic and fun organisational wonders. Our storage boxes for example are now £21.95, down from £24.


We are proud to stock 3 Sprouts and love to hear back from customers who have bought any of their items and have fallen in love with them. If you haven't explored the 3 Sprouts range now is certainly the time!

Organising Your Week

Here at DH HQ we understand what trying to juggle work, the home, small children and everything else that goes on in life looks like and it isn't always pretty! Firstly, how on earth are we supposed to remember it all when our sticky notes are removed and rearranged by little hands because "they weren't pretty where they were" and secondly when did our tots and tweens develop better social lives than we have?  

What is very clear is that if us parents want to stay on top of it all we need to get organised. 

Pick a Day for Weekly Organisation 

 Many choose Sunday night to plan for the following week however Friday night works better for us at Dotty Hippo HQ as it gives us a chance to organise / pick up anything needed over the weekend before Monday. Whatever day you choose stick to it and make it a weekly habit.  

This time is for updating calendars and charts, making sure everything is in place for the following week, making to do lists or shopping lists for items that need picking up and of course reminding yourself of upcoming appointments and events. 

A chart like this fabulous Fiesta Crafts one is perfect for keeping evevryone on track and seeing who is doing what, where and when!

Create a Command Station 

If you've spent any time on Pinterest the chances are you've seen fabulous pictures of command centres. A command station is a set place where items for school or nursery lives, where papers, seasonal items and more all reside so that you may grab them when you need them. It means that even if you are in a rush you'll know where new name stickers, the sun cream or gloves, the permission slips for a school trip and everything else is. 

 Pull it all together by using a weekly chart or similar where you can record the activities for the next week as well as anything you need to remember. It is so much easier to have a visual reminder of things and of course if they are right there for everyone to see there's a fighting chance someone will remember even if you forget to do / supply something! 

A command centre needn't be boring when you have fabulous fun wall organisers such as these from 3 Sprouts to choose from!

Don't Overbook Yourself 

 The best way to stay on top of your week is not to have too much going on. Of course all families are busy, especially when little ones get old enough for play dates, activities out of the home and such like however it is important to have time in your week to just relax and be together as a family. 

What are your best tips for organising your week? Do comment and let us know. There's no such thing as too much organisation when you have a busy household with small children in it!