How do you organize all of your children’s books in your home? I have a system that I love and think you might too!
The new year brings decluttering, organizing, and a sense of a fresh outlook. So, what better time to share with you all the ways I organize our children’s books in our home?
As a teacher, I have a love of books, authors, and educational supplies. Some people in my family may say I have a “bit of a problem” when it comes to my love of children’s books (haha). I suppose there are worse things to collect than children’s books.
So, maybe you are a teacher, grandmother, or a mom with a children’s book collection that is growing and you need a way to manage it all. I started this system in my classroom years ago to help my students find, organize, and use the books in our room. Now that I’m in a different position I don’t have room at school for the beautiful classroom library I once had.
Instead, it’s housed at home. Thankfully I can still use it to find the perfect books for my students and my own children.
Please let me know in the comments below how you organize your children’s books in your home. As always, please share this with a friend who is looking to keep their home functional and organized in the New Year.
Below you will read the steps I took to create a functioning children’s library in my home (with 100’s of children’s books).
Step 1: Categorize Your Books
The first thing you need to do is start making piles of different categories of your books. Remember that the first step of organizing usually always makes the space look very messy and well unorganized.
The categories I used to separate out my children’s books are:
- Animal Stories (animal fiction books)
- Animal Story Collections (Clifford, “How do Dinosaur’s Say . . .” series, etc.)
- Learn about Animals (animal nonfiction books)
- Family, People, & Friendships
- Holidays
- Seasons
- Vehicles: cars, trucks, trains, etc.
- Social Studies/History
- Science/Weather
- Disney stories
Since I used this system in my classroom, I put matching stickers in each book that belonged in the same category. For example, all of the books within the category “animal stories” were given a blue owl sticker. My students were then able to categorize the books independently, using the stickers.
Now that my books are at home and I do all of the rearranging of books in my home the stickers aren’t as important. But if you are looking for a way to help keep your children independent and you want your “library” to be assessable to your kids, it might come in handy.
Some teachers decide to break the books up even further by sorting them by reading levels. I prefer to expose the students in my classroom and my own children to a variety of different topics, ideas, reading levels, vocabulary, and pictures to spark different interests.
The system in my home is more for me than my children. I keep the books organized in a way that I can easily find what I’m looking for as their interests or the seasons change.
Step 2: Create a Space for your Books
Now that I have them categorized, I find a bin or a box to put each section into. You can also use a bookshelf with paper or an organizer to separate the categories.
At school, I had the window shelves and another bookshelf to use for the book bins. When I brought this system home, we didn’t have as much room to store the book boxes.
I used a 9-cube shelf that the boxes from my classroom fit in nicely. It was convenient to use the boxes I already had. Since I was adding more books from my children’s selections I had to add in some extra boxes as well.
Step 3: Create Areas for Children to Read
To help raise children that have a love of reading (and learning), I make it a point to keep their books assessable to them. If you are curious how I do this in their bedrooms, check out the link below with more information on how I organize my 3-year-old’s room.
I keep children’s books in both of our living areas, in their bedrooms, and even in the bathtub! The idea is to keep the books on their level. I want them to easily be able to pick a book.
I rotate their books out based on the season, holiday, and their interests. It’s important to me that in the main areas of our home I have books appropriate for both of my children.
When kids are little it’s easy to make books of various levels appropriate for different ages. Usually, my 3-year-old doesn’t have much to do with my 1-year-old’s books. However, my younger son always wants to read and be involved with his older brother’s books!
In their bedrooms, I try to keep them books mostly appropriate for the child whose bedroom it is. However, l keep in mind that sometimes we find ourselves playing and reading in their bedrooms. For these reasons, I keep a few books appropriate for their siblings in their bedrooms.
The key for toddlers and preschoolers is keeping their books on their level (at their eye level). In my 1-year-old’s room, I keep a box of books on the floor. This encourages children to want to read and interact with books and print.
Conclusion
Organizing children’s books in your home helps to ensure you are using them. I hope this helped you find some encouragement or motivation to get your space organized now.
Are you a lover of children’s books? If so, please let me know in the comments below how you organize your books to easily access and use them throughout the year.
Love, Ashley E
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One Response
Thank you, as a grandma of grandchildren from ages 1 month to 10 years old, I believe this system could be helpful when they visit. I like being organized for sure perhaps this system will assist us to find their chosen books.