Between Grandparents, Auntie's, Christmas and Birthday parties, when my children were small they had quite a collection of toys. Their rooms and the playroom would be a chaotic mess to the point where I think their little selves would just be totally overwhelmed. They couln't see the forest for the trees so to speak and wouldn't know what to play with for everything laying around.
I came up with the solution to rotate their toys. I had about 3 different bins that got rotated on a monthly basis. The toys that were their absolute favorites, of course, did not go in here. You know the things that they absolutely can't be without in their day, every day. But other things did. I found when I did this, they were not so overwhelmed, the rooms were not quite such a mess (notice I said not quite), and it was like playing with a new toy all over again when it was that particular toy's turn.
The 3 bins meant a change every month for 3 months but you can revamp that to how it suits you and your children. You could even do it in themes if you are so creative and change it out weekly or biweekly.
12 comments:
That's a great suggestion. My kids' playroom is hip deep in toys. I'm going to see if I can enlist some child help today and start sorting things into rotating bins, too!
Terrific idea!! So healthy for children too....this way they can concentrate on batch of toys at a time and then when they get a new batch its like Christmas all over!
I'm gonna share this one with my sis!
That's so good Org Junkie should have thought of it!
Wait... that didn't sound right.
Excellent notion, Susanne! (See? I'll get it right eventually.)
Well, rats! There goes next week's WFMW idea. :) Just kidding... I did have a similar idea on my list, but you beat me to it. Great minds think alike! This is really such a great system, and it keeps their toys feeling "new" to them. I did it with Camden and plan to do the same with Logan when he's older.
I always swore my kids would NOT be overindulged in every toy man ever created. But of course, thanks to that list of relatives you wrote, it happens whether you want it to or not.
I did this exact same thing. I never put their very favorites away but I definitely put about half of them away. Kids are so funny. When you bring out toys they haven't seen in months, you'd think it was their birthday.
I'm sure lots of Mom out here who are just shaking their heads at the mess in their kids' rooms will love this tip.
I've heard of others doing this before but have never done it myself. I may have to give this some thought!...
This is a great tip! I do it too!
I've posted a WFMW tip involving creating blogging categories. Please stop by and take a peek. :)
I use to do that when I had childcare in my home. It is amazing when you go into a child's room and begin to "clean it out" suddenly they want to play with everything. Great tip.
We try to do this too and swap them out a couple of times a year. We try to sort through things each time we get the boxes out. I ask the kids if there are some toys that they can give away at this time too. I hold up each toy and ask, "Stay?""Attic?"or"Give Away?"
Great idea! I am at the point now of just needing to take some time and clean out the junk, then rotate. :)
This is an EXCELLENT suggestion. I'm already cringing about Christmas because my inlaws always go overboard. My child can get COVERED with his pile of toys. I'm going to make sure to employ this clever tactic!
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