I finally organized the toys!!

Kari

I know we've talked before about rotating toys, and I've made some attempts, but today I finally got my butt in gear and created a system. First I brought up every toy from the basement currently in storage, and then I brought every toy from every room in the house and dumped them on the living room rug and sofas. For the next hour I let the kids play in the pile. At the end of the hour, I talked to Justin about how there really wasn't any room to play because of the number of toys we have, and how it makes sense to put some in storage so we can have an easier time playing with the toys. I think this was a huge missing piece, because he'd always ask where xyz toy was, and when I said it was in storage, he'd want me to get it out. Over time, 80% of the toys managed to work their way back upstairs. We had to leave the house for a family party, but in the 30 minutes before we left, he helped me sort the toys into the following piles: stuffed animals, things with wheels, musical toys, electronic toys, tool-type toys, baby toys, Legos, matchbox-sized cars, Little People stuff, and a few other random categories.

When we returned, we had dinner (people who've eaten are much easier to negotiate with!) and then I said I was going to sort the toys into four piles, and that we'd keep only one pile upstairs at a time. I grabbed three outdoor-sized garbage bags and divided up the stuff, with the fourth set of everything making their way to the toy shelves. Instead of keeping the coolest, most popular toys upstairs, I divided them evenly amongst the bags. Then I put out the big toys that don't fit into bags (shopping cart, car race tracks, Little People farms & houses, basketball hoop, walkers, balls, sit'n'rides, bikes, etc.) and divided those up into four groups as well. A plastic bin was used for seasonal, summer toys like pails and sprinklers. Tomorrow I'm going to label the big toys with a sticker numbered 1, 2, 3, or 4 as well as the garbage bags so that I make sure the basketballs in bag 3 get brought upstairs at the same time as the basketball hoop.

I'm looking forward to reclaiming my house (somewhat) and having the kids be entertained better with toys that come into the rotation. Now my only question for those of you who do this successfully is, how often do I rotate the toys?

mommylove

We rotate toys every 3ish months in our house. I find it gives Sebastian just the right amount of time to use all the ones we have out on the current rotation and yet limits the time that he gets bored of them or begins asking for other toys. We started doing this about 8 months ago and it has been a life saver, in regard to the state of our playroom and the enjoyment he gets out of said toys. I also feel like kids get overwhelmed and distracted with too many toys in sight, I want him to get good use out of them, its why I take such care in choosing "smart" toys in the first place. It has also been great because we now rarely find the need to buy anything new...and when he got birthday toys or with Christmas coming up, we'll leave some of the new ones out and place some in storage to slowly add into rotation over the coming months. Fun stuff!
Good job getting a system in place for your kiddos...I'm sure you'll be happy with the results!

Shanny

At work I do about every 3 months, though it isn't a hard and fast rule. Also, if the kids want something else brought down we need to take something else of similar size or toy type away in it's place. It helps them to feel a little bit more in control if they get some say in it. At home is a different story because we aren't here that much and I have really limited the number of things case has so that most are out (so much easier to do with just 1 kid - again who isn't here monday through friday). There is a cabinet woth games, puzzles etc but she still has access to them. One thing about having organized toys is that I am more likely to play WITH her. I can't stand the chaos so when it gets like that I find myself making excuses not to sit down with her!

cocolibby

We have much older kids, but we still rotate the toys. We also let them have limited say so in trading them out, but I can see how that wouldn't work with younger kids. Another important component for us is that sometimes they fully and completely lose interest in things and don't especially want them back - those get immediately donated!

kitty

Thats my problem I dont rotate but I think my daughter does on her own. We have so much toys that when the neighbor kids come over they are completely overstimilated with the amount of toys