We have been blessed to have adopted A LOT of toys from family and friends. We never turn down toys...that would be ridiculous, but we have had to choose what to keep and what to donate. Because Blip is our first child we started out with nothing, so we have purchased our fair share of age appropriate toys and books as he has grown, but the bulk of what we now own has been gifted. We are blessed. But being blessed has also meant being overwhelmed in the play room...until now.
I found a blog that helped me divide Blip's toys into categories. That blog linked me to an article that the blogger used to help her. So that's where I started. I separated out the toys by type and then made lists for each bin.
I decided some things would be left out to play with all the time. Things like Blip's house, his slide, his Cozy Coupe Truck, all the balls, and the Little People House (but I haven't left the house out on a regular basis yet).
I went to Walmart and bought large storage bins with lids. When I got home...and Blip was fast asleep...I started dividing all of the toys. I also took the time to separate/organize things. There were some things we had doubles of, or there was so many pieces to a toy that even being divided out it was still too much. For example, Richelle gifted us/loaned us all of her Little People collections that she collected over the years for her own boys and for her business. They are such a great learning tools/toys...and they are dang expensive...we are so thankful. However, there was SOOO many items for each collection that it was hard to play with.
I went through and chose the minimum number of items that made each collection complete...for now. For the house, I chose one mom, one dad, one daughter, one son, one baby, one grandma, one grandpa, one car, etc. I did the same for the farm, the zoo, etc. The Little People items that Blip received as gifts I added, and removed the items that were on loan from Richelle...like Noah's ark and the airplane. I ended up with a HUGE amount of excess pieces for each collection, so I boxed those items up and put them aside.
I ended up with three bins...plus the "bin" of toys out for play during the first rotation, so four bins total. I trade out all the toys (except for the few things that are always out) every two weeks...usually on Sundays. The first two weeks I was happy with the amount of toys in the play room. It was less cluttered, easier to play with the toys, and easier to clean up at the end of the day.
Blip seemed happy too. It was like he had never seen those toys before. After two weeks, I traded the first bin of toys for the second bin. The first trade really surprised me. He was sooo excited to play with his old toys....just like the two weeks before. It was like he had never seen that group of toys before (I guess in toddler brain he hadn't). He was more engaged in play, and he seemed so much more interested in his play room in general.
I've been doing the toy rotation faithfully since we got home from our vacation in July. I started it the week before we left, but didn't change out the toys after being gone for a week...seemed to work about the same as rotating toys.
Here's what I started with in each bin:
#1
1. Fisher Price Ride-on Music/Parade thingy
2. Legos (The big Duplo Legos)
3. Stuffed Animals/Hand Puppets (I divided all of these evenly)
4. Two Dinosaurs (A little Spike and a big T-Rex from Jake.)
5. FP Clock
6. Little People Castle
7. FP pull toy - frog
8. Books (I divided all of Blip's age appropriate books evenly).
9. Cars (I divided up all the small cars- matchbox, Tonka, etc cars evenly.)
10. VTech Helicopter
#2
1. VTech sit-to-stand learning walker
2. Bristle Blocks
3. Stuffed animals/hand puppets
4. Little Tikes Drum
5. FP Train
6. Little People Zoo
7. FP Wobbly Snoopy Dog
8. Books
9. Cars
10. FP Shape Sorter
#3
1. FP Bat-mobile
2. (I have no idea what is supposed to be in this spot. Nothing, I guess.)
3. Stuffed animals/hand puppets
4. Keyboard/piano
5. FP Hippo
6. Little People Noah's Ark
7. FP Chatter Phone
8. Books
9. Cars
10. FP Peek-A-Blocks: Shape Sorter
#4
1. Little Tikes Shopping Cart
2. FP Shopping Tote
3. Stuffed animals/hand puppets
4. Xylophone
5. FP Gumball Machine
6. Little People Farm
7. FP Learning Lantern
8. Books
9. Cars
10. Playskool Poppin' Pals
Out all the time:
1. Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Truck
2. Snap-lock beads
3. Mr. Potato Head
4. (3) Beginning Puzzles
5. Little People House
6. Fish bowl with fishing pole.
7. Balls
8. Little Tikes Lawn Mower (the pull string just broke...so it's on it's way out. My first disappointment with Little Tikes.)
Rotate in and out when something new is needed:
1. Ball Pit
2. Gas Pump
3. The Very Hungry Caterpillar Rocker
4. Ikea tunnel and tent.
Upstairs I added a toy box in the "loft" area. It's not a large space, but when we are upstairs Blip needed something to keep him occupied. To be honest...he'd rather occupy himself in our nightstands....throwing everything on the floor and then running around crazy in circles. As several months have passed Blip has shown a lot more interest in toys altogether.
Upstairs we keep:
1. Police Motorcycle
2. FP Airplane
3. FP Learning dog
4. FP Learning Table
5. Books
6. Cars (and Car Carrier)
7. FP Star Stacker
8. Playskool Poppin' Pals
9. VTech Touch & Learn Turtle
I always (almost always) make sure the playroom is picked up, neat, and organized before I go to bed each night. That way each day starts new. As Blip has been getting bigger, I now get him to help me pick up too...sometimes that's just more work for me, but oh well...he's gotta learn, right?
So far I am really pleased with the toy rotation. I/we have purchased a few new things here and there since starting the rotation. I usually add that toy/book to the whatever toy bin is currently out, or I will leave it out until Blip gets bored. For now, this has eased the overwhelming feelings every time I set foot in the playroom. I like these feelings of calm and easy to pick up much better.
1 comment:
What a great idea¡
Post a Comment