Part of our getting organised for starting school strategy has involved re-organising Immy’s closet. I have written before about my preference for comfortable, practical play clothes for young children so until now most of Immy’s clothes (tops, shorts, leggings, skirts, jumpers, even many of her dresses) were stored in her chest of drawers. I love that her kindy uniform is also very small-person-playing practical – a collared polo top with shorts in the summertime and a tracksuit in the wintertime – but I would like her to keep her school clothes somewhat separate from her everyday clothes, as well as organised and easy to access to further encourage independence, so I decided a simple closet overhaul was in order.
The closet before: A few hanging items, a whole lot of outgrown clothing and spare linen for Immy’s bed.
The closet after.
The added rail has been hung at the perfect height for Immy to reach, enabling her to hang up her own washing and get her uniform out independently each morning before kindy (I haven’t actually hung her uniform here for these photos). There is still plenty of full height hanging space when needed to the right hand side of the closet. The tub underneath is for her shorts or tracksuit, depending upon the season. There is a second tub (to the bottom right) for her spare bed sheets (blankets have been moved to the top shelf) as I like having her spare linen right there for those unfortunate middle of the night bed changes. The outgrown clothing has been moved out, sorted and stored elsewhere, though there is actually still room on the top shelf if I want to include some plastic storage containers up top too.
We have added a hook for her kindy bag (also not pictured, this is her library bag) and there is space at the bottom for her school shoes (which are actually brown sandals!). I still need to hang a mirror inside the wardrobe door.
The wardrobe has been like this for a week and so far Immy is loving it. She loves taking her clean washing and hanging her dresses and uniforms and going to the closet each day to get out what she is going to wear.
How do you organise your child/ren’s clothing? Does your system encourage appropriate levels of independence?
P.S. Today is the last day to enter the Bright Star Kids school label giveaway to help you get organised and ready to head back to school.
Christie Burnett is an early childhood teacher, presenter, writer and the editor of Childhood 101. More importantly, she is a Mum who believes wholeheartedly in the value of children learning through play, the importance of quality early education, and the togetherness of family.
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