Three Novel Ways to Display Your Child's Soft Toy Collection

If your child loves their teddy bears and cuddly toys, chances are you've amassed quite a collection. Most kids will be reluctant to store stuffed animals out of sight in cupboards or boxes, so finding creative ways of displaying their toys is essential. You don't want every surface of your home to end up covered in bears!

The tips below will talk you through a few novel display solutions.

Create hanging toy swings

Hanging toy swings are simple to make and a really sweet way of bringing soft toys to life. For a rustic, natural look, tie rope to each side of a thick branch and suspend from the ceiling. Make sure the branch is wide enough for toys to sit comfortably. You could also use planks of wood for a more uniform look and paint them to match your child's bedroom. Attach several pieces of wood to one rope for a long vertical swing that has room for everyone. Keep favourite toys near the bottom for your child to access and play with easily.

Re-purpose old boxes into a display case

If you've got lots of matching toys — for example, one style of bear in lots of different colours — then a display case is a good option. You don't need to spend loads of money to create a really unique case simply by gluing different sized wooden boxes together in whatever configuration you like. Stand boxes up long ways to house any tall animals like giraffes and put other boxes on their sides for smaller animals. Leave the wood plain for a natural look or paint it in a design to match the collection. For example, for a collection of stuffed birds, painting the inside of each box blue with white clouds would look great.

And if you already have shelves at home that aren't being put to good use, simply use those and move the individual shelves to different levels to suit animals of different sizes.

Make a fabric storage ladder

This is a similar concept to the swing idea, but it can fit more toys. Take a long piece of fabric and attach loops of elastic at intervals from top to bottom. Soft toys can be gently stored inside the elastic, where they'll be firmly held in place. This is a great choice if you've lots of toys of different shapes and sizes, as the loops will stretch enough to accommodate them easily. The ladder could be hung on the wall, the side of a wardrobe or at the end of bunk beds.

And if it's time to add some new cuddly friends to the collection, make sure to check out a soft toys distributor.