Organization Ideas for Kids Closets

Just like when you tackle your own closet, in order to organize your child’s closet you want to start the process by clearing out all of their belongings. The next step is to sort everything into three piles: keep, toss, and donate. This goes for clothing as well as toys, books, etc.

Once you have determined what you are keeping, you can start putting everything away. This does not have to be a difficult process if you take advantage of some of the organizational tools that are readily available.

One super simple trick for keeping your child’s clothing organized is to use different color hangers to sort items by season or purpose. For example, you could use red hangers for school uniforms, blue hangers for play clothes, and so on. 

If you have a baby or toddler, you might want to adopt this trick from the Family Handyman. They suggest using divider tags to sort clothing by size, much like a department store does. This will allow you to purchase bigger sizes when they go on sale and have them ready for when your child reaches that next growth milestone. This is also a great hack for families with more than one child so that you can organize hand-me-downs.

Better Homes & Gardens recommends installing adjustable hanging bars to further organize their clothes. Double hanging bars will allow you to put out-of-season items as well as special pieces on the top where they are out of your child’s reach and use the bottom bar for your kid’s everyday clothing.



At this lower level, everything will be easily accessible at a child's height. If you have a baby or toddler, stagger the rods at almost the same height. Because their clothes are so little you can fit more in one space, and then adjust the bars as your child grows.

Getting kids ready for school or daycare in the morning can be stressful. One sure-fire way to simplify the morning rush is to lay out your child’s clothes the night before. But why not take that one step further? A hanging clothes organizer will let you plan your child’s wardrobe for the entire week; some organizers even come labeled with the days of the week. Getting dressed for school will be a snap when your child’s shirts, pants, underwear, socks, and even pairs of shoes are all neatly arranged for each day.

If your child prefers to pick out his or her own clothes, you might want to follow this tip from HGTV: instead of a dresser, you can place open baskets on shelves or in cubbies to store socks, t-shirts, and other necessities. This way, everything is easy for your child to reach and find the items they want. And, best of all, you don’t need to worry about little fingers getting caught in dresser drawers.



Hooks are another great choice for organizing a child’s closet. Your son or daughter can hang up their own jackets and sweatshirts, as well as backpacks and activity bags.

Unlike adults, children’s closets often store more than just clothes and shoes. In many households, they're where toys are kept, so this can lead to a messy situation. One tried and true way to control clutter is with bins and baskets. Not only are they attractive, but they make it easy for you – and your child – to put everything away.

For smaller items such as Barbie dolls or action figures, you can repurpose an over-the-door shoe organizer for storage. Small toys and stuffed animals will easily fit into the pockets, and because they are clear it will be easy to find the exact toy your child wants to play with – and then put it away later.

Making sure everything gets put away where it belongs is one of the keys to maintaining an organized closet. To ensure that happens, you will want to label your storage solutions be they bins, baskets, or drawers. Don’t worry if your child is not old enough to read yet, you can use labels with pictures instead of words so that your child knows what goes where.

For instance, you could place pictures of shirts, shorts, and socks on dresser drawers to identify what goes in each drawer. Pictures can also be used on toy bins so that your child knows which container holds the building blocks versus which one has the cars and trucks.

BONUS: You can turn getting ready or cleaning up into a teachable moment by putting both the picture and the word on the label. For example, label a dresser drawer with a picture of a shirt and the word “shirt”. This will teach your child to associate the image with the word – and that can help lay the foundation for reading.

Because children are constantly growing, they quickly outgrow both clothes and toys. If you are not organized, your child’s closet can quickly start to resemble a thrift store. The key to organizing kids’ closets is to sort and store everything, make sure there is easy access to reach items and put them away properly, and – possibly most importantly – control the clutter.