Stuffed animal storage ideas- DIY
April 30, 2014With two girls under 3 years old, we have amassed quite the collection of stuffed animals. We have stuffed animals of almost every Sesame Street character, stuffed animals of a few Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters, stuffed animals of various baby dolls, stuffed animals of random farm animals (like a stuffed pig, stuffed cow, stuffed chicken, etc.) We used large baskets to corral these guys for a long time, but that didn’t really do a great job.
Storing the stuffed animals in baskets wasn’t a perfect solution because it wasn’t possible to identify and take out one particular animal at a time. When the kids wanted one stuffed animal in particular, it resulted in pouring out of the whole basket of animals onto the floor. Not pretty… not pretty at all!
So this post served as my inspiration for this stuffed animal display / stuffed animal storage / stuffed animal organizer. Let’s get right to the tutorial, shall we?
Stuffed animal storage ideas- DIY
Supplies Needed:
- Thin ribbon
- Clothespins
- Hanger to affix it to the wall (I used a simple picture hook hanger; you could also use a nail or screw.)
Tutorials for Stuffed Animal Organizer:
- Determine the length of your ribbon based on the number of stuffed animals you have as well as how long you want the finished stuffed animal organizer to be.
- Cut your ribbon to this length.
- Form a large knot or two at the bottom of the ribbon. Thread two clothespins through the ribbon using the center hoop in the center of the clothespins.
- Skip several inches (I skipped about 5inches) and form another few knots. Top with two or three more clothespins.
- Skip another several inches, form another two knots and top with more clothespins.
- Repeat this process until all your clothespins are threaded.
- Form another loop in the ribbon at the top. Slip this knot over your picture hanger (or nail or screw) in the wall to hang up your stuffed animal organizer.
- Attach your stuffed animals by clipping a part of the stuffed animal with the clothespins.
*TIP: Note that the finished product looks best when the stuffed animals on the lower clothespins are behind the ones of the upper clothespins. This way, all the clothespins are basically hidden! In other words, after you’ve loaded up all the clothespins, starting from the second-from-the-bottom clothespins, pull the animals’ legs in front of the bottom clothespins. Then move onto the third-from-the-bottom clothespins and pull those animals’ legs in front of the second-from-the-bottom clothespins. Repeat for the whole length of the organizer.
I used Dollar Tree clothespins and they worked well enough. However, more heavy-duty clothespins would allow you hang bigger, heavier pieces. So if you have very big or heavy pieces, you may want to use more expensive clothespins.
I love how my playroom is coming along. This stuffed animal organizer is a wonderful addition to this space. It allows all the animals to hang beautifully in the corner of the room, gets them off the floor, and allows my girls to pick any one to take off without making a huge mess!
Thanks so much for linking to my post – that’s so awesome that you found it helpful!
Your version looks great and I hope you get as much use out of it as we do…
: )
MB
Thanks for your comment! We do absolutely love what it adds to the play room- function & prettiness! 🙂
Very nice idea. So simple and yet so helpful. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for visiting & your comment!
My two are now in their teens so we don’t have so many soft toys anymore, but your soft toy hanger would have been the answer to our storage problem when they were little.
I will be sharing this post as I am sure there are plenty of parents who have more soft toys than they know what to do with.
Thanks for stopping by and for your sweet comment! Have a great weekend!