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HOME MARCH 2020 6 How to declutter your child's room (StatePoint) — While all the gear, clothes and toys your kids possess are signs of a joyful childhood, keeping it all organized is essential for health, safety and even fun. "Too many toy choices that are unor- ganized can make it difficult to find a toy to play with at all," says Keri Wilmot, pediatric occupational thera- pist and an expert contributor to The- GeniusofPlay.org. "What's more, the chaos can pose various safety haz- ards." Organization is more conducive to playtime, which is why Wilmot and The Genius of Play, an initiative whose mission is to raise awareness about the importance of play and help parents make it a critical part of raising kids, are offering eight tips to clean up the inevitable clutter: ■ Provide bins: Use bins to help kids organize toys, art supplies and games, keeping size in mind — the big- ger the bin, the harder it is to locate specific toys or objects. While clear bins are great for closets by making it easy for kids to identify their contents, color-coded or decorative bins are more visually appealing options for the play- room. ■ Make smart furniture choices: Shelving lets children see what's avail- able to play with, however toys that require adult assistance are best stored in closed bins inside a cabinet or closet that's inaccessible to kids. Closed cabi- nets have the added benefit of reducing the appearance of clutter. Make sure to secure shelves or furniture to the wall for safety so they can't tip over. ■ Rotate toys: Rotating toys' place- ment inside storage areas will remind kids of all the fun toys they have, and is an excellent boredom-prevention tool. ■ Donate: Before holidays, birthdays or other occasions when kids are show- ered with gifts, talk to your child about what toys are no longer used, and give them a second life by passing them on to a neighbor or friend with a younger child or by donating them to a charita- ble organization. Throw away any toys that are broken, hazardous or recalled. ■ Use space wisely: While big toys like kitchens and playhouses offer up fun, they can take up a lot of playroom real estate. Opt for alternatives that can be taken down when not in use, like pop-up tents, tunnels and play- houses. ■ Schedule cleanup: Set a cleanup schedule that gives kids a role in sort- ing and putting items back into their correct places. Make a game of it by turning on tunes and seeing who's the fastest. ■ Get toys off the floor: Stepping on certain toys can be painful. A child- sized table offers a stable surface for building brick structures and other creations, plus it gets small toys off the floor. ■ Use walls: Maximize space and creativity by installing a whiteboard or chalkboard to use as an art surface. Walls are also a good place to store shelving for books. Decluttering play areas pays off, giv- ing kids more opportunities to play and learn safely. AnnaNahabed / iStock via Getty Images Plus OK, clutter is rarely pretty, but it can also be a safety hazard and, in the case of a child's room, it just isn't conducive to play. A little repair know-how goes a long way with drywall While your walls can suffer from everyday living, repairing drywall can be an easy fix if you have a little patience and the proper tools. Repairing it yourself can be much more convenient, plus save you money. ■ Nicks, dings and dents — Cut off any raised debris with a razor blade so it's com- pletely smooth. Using a drywall knife, smooth a pre-mixed spackling compound over the dent or hole and let it dry for about 15 minutes. Lightly sand the area, apply another thin coat and sand again until the spot is totally smooth. Then, apply paint for a completed look. ■ Cracks — Long, skinny cracks aren't as scary as they look, usually the result of the house flexing or settling and forming around windows and doors that were installed too tightly. To fix, get the loose debris out of the crack with a utility knife or flathead screwdriver. Next, apply a drywall compound into the crack to hold it together and prevent it from cracking again. Let it dry and apply a second coat. After the area is dry, it's ready to be sanded and painted. ■ Small to medium holes — If the hole is more than a few inches wide, you'll need a drywall patch. Cut a square of repair dry- wall two inches larger than the hole. With a utility knife, score the front of the drywall, then snap it back and cut the back for a per- fectly smooth-edged piece. Next, outline the piece over the hole in the wall with a pencil and then cut the existing drywall along the lines with a drywall saw. Screw two pieces of thin wood inside the hole at the top and bot- tom. Place the patch over the hole and screw it in, making sure the heads of each screw are below the surface for an even finish. Apply a square of drywall mesh, which is sticky on one side, over the patch. This will help bond the patch to the wall. You're now ready to spackle, using a premixed wet dry- wall applied in three thin coats. Let it dry, sand it down and apply another two coats to make it nice and smooth. ■ Large holes — Repairing large patches due to water damage or another issue is just a bigger, longer process of fixing a smaller hole. Instead of using nailer boards, cut out a square or rectangle from one stud to the next stud, and then screw the large patch into the studs. Use joint tape instead of dry- wall mesh, then just apply two to three coats of compound and lightly sand in between each one.

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