2 Ways to Organize Kids' Books

Every night at bedtime my boys each pick a few books for us to read together. I of course like when books go back where they belong after, and appreciate just as much that my kids can find the books they’re looking for independently. I have different systems setup in each of their bedrooms that are age appropriate and they work well for us!

Here are the 2 methods I use:

1. By Colour

My younger son is 21/2 and knows his colours, but doesn’t know authors. He remembers what books look like,  so organizing books by colour, allows him to find them easily and to also put them back. He knows exactly where to find the red Elmo book for instance. I also like to arrange books by size within each coloured section because it just makes things look a little tidier, but they definitely don’t always stay like that, and that’s okay!

2. By theme, and then by author

My older son is 5 and recognizes authors and remembers what each book is about. So, in his room, we have 3 sections of books. I organized them like this because we use an IKEA Kallax shelving unit in his room and one section has a bin in it, so we’re left with 3 others. Within each of these section there are multiple authors, but we tend to group all of the books by the same author together within each section. Here’s how I think about each of the broad categories:

A: Robert Munsch + Feelings type books (think The Little Engine that Could)

B: Berenstain Bears + Dr. Seuss (plus a few other one-off books)

C: 5 in 1 books + Interactive books (think 5-minute stories and The Ultimate Construction Site Book)

While these systems work for us now, I know we’ll make changes down the road as my boys grow up, and that’s okay! Systems need to change and adapt with us in order to meet our needs.