Brown Bag It
A third generation hand-me-down Paddington Bear peeking out of the ESSENT-IAL Large Bag, essent-ial.com
In babies, the curious phase of compulsively putting things into containers is known as "Container Play." It usually presents itself from 6-12 months but can sometimes persist into adulthood, at which point it is no longer called "Container Play" and is no longer considered "cute" but rather an addiction which manifests itself in a obsession with the bin aisle at Muji.
Container Play in full effect
I love containers, and now with my 18 month old similarly afflicted, it's a family affair. For her, everything within reach is put to the container test and falls under one of two categories: either it "fits" (expressed with a smile of supreme satisfaction) or is too "big" (expressed with a look of utmost contempt).
In effort to harness the power of her fascination with order, I am trying to teach her to put her things away into their proper place by having appealing things to put them into.
Of all the containers out there, we prefer reuseable paper ones. They are soft, can be folded away flat, are beautiful but not so precious that they can't be touched, can be easily replaced, and repurposed. They are available in tons of sizes, and can also be rolled down to make them fit anything you can think of. They look great placed anywhere, tucked in cubby squares, lined up in uniform multiples or placed in groupings of various sizes.
We've put together a roundup of the best reuseable paper bags, which among myriad other things, make excellent toy bins. There is the ultra indestructible ones by Siwa designed by Naoto Fukasawa, ones from Italian brand Essent-ial that come in an array of colors (we are partial to the pretty cement grey, and black versions). There are also nice printed ones from Swedish company Tellkiddo, and of course the ubiquitous original, Le Sac en Papier available from Be Poles or from Merci, in Paris.
From Left: TELL KIDDO, Dotted Large Paper Bag $20.25, tellkiddo.com, ESSENT-IAL bag, €28,79, essent-ial.com, SIWA by NAOTA FUKASAWA bag, ￥JPY3,400, japanstore.jp, BE POLES Le Sac en Papier, €4.00, merci-merci.com.