They could take over our world. Of our 900 square feet in this apartment, currently 637 sq. ft. are occupied by dolls, doll clothes and equipment, puzzles, blocks, trucks, balls, lego, books, crayons, preschool workbooks, and other miscellaneous other toys.
I have been very strict with certain family members (you know who you are*) about the quantity and size of toys that enter our home, yet these toys still seem to multiply and fill every available space.
I have discovered that more toys does not necessarily equal less bored children. It is actually the opposite. If there are so many toys that they are just piled in a jumbled mess in the corner, the kids don't know what to play with or how to play with them. They actually play better with less choices and more organization of their toys.
Our little world could be chaos, but I have a system.*
I have separated the toys into 3 rotations, doing my best to separate those naughty toys that have the highest propensity for reproducing together from each other. (Dolls seem to be the most likely to reproduce for some reason).
At the beginning of each month (or whenever I finally get to it), I go through all the toys that are in circulation. I keep the ones that are getting high amounts of playtime, remove those with moderate to little interest, and throw away or fix those toys that are broken (goodbye McDonald's toys). I donate toys that have been outgrown, or store toys that KK has outgrown, but JJ is not quite ready for yet. I also donate any toys that have had a high reproductive rate recently. (Anyone know of some birth control options for dolls?)
It takes me about an hour or two each month to manage the toys this way, but it is so worth it. The next few mornings, the kids run around like it's Christmas, checking out all their "new" toys. It's good for mommy too because, let me tell you, playing with the same toy over and over and over and over could seriously drive me over the edge.
It works really well in our home, but could still use some tweaking. What do you do to manage the toy chaos in your home?
*I can't take credit for my system. The same
I like your toy rotation idea. Since I have two boys I have taken a lot of Luke's toys that he has outgrown and put them in the garage for Thomas when he gets older. I also have baskets that we keep labeled and organized. Even though I do need to go through those baskets as they are over flowing and mixed up again.
ReplyDeleteOh... I hate those McDonald's toys. They get 5 minutes of attention and spend a life time at the bottom of the toy box.
i too do the rotation thing it's great. and helps me find the ones that are broken or missing pieces too.
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