Monday, May 3, 2010

Too many toys

As you may know, Kalena's birthday is coming up.  On the 18th to be exact.  And that brings up the issue of toys.  She has plenty to play with, and while I make an effort to keep the toy buying to a minimum, I don't think a birthday is the time to skip on the toys.  Still, it's getting to the point that I think I should be rotating through them, or making some of them "special toys" or SOMETHING.  I've already put away toys that are too "young" for her, although we'll be getting them back out soon for Will to play with, so that may be a lost cause.

So, lovely readers, tell me-- what do you do when there are too many toys?  Do you get rid of some?  (She plays with everything.)  Do you rotate through them, or bring some out only on special occasions?  If you rotate them, how do you do it?  Weekly?  Randomly?  Are they sorted by type or all mixed together?  Tell me everything, I NEED to know!  And if you have kids of multiple ages, how do you deal with younger toys vs older toys?

I hope you all spend as much time thinking about this crap as I do.

6 comments:

  1. When my kiddos make a fuss about cleaning up their toy I take them and put them in my closet. They have to earn them back. It helps me rotate and motivates them to pick up after themselves.

    I probably need to do more since we are getting so many at this point and need to make room for number 3 so I'll be checking back.

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  2. We try to go through every 6 months or so and take stuff away that they're not playing with. If it's hidden in our closet for a couple of weeks and it doesn't get asked for, it's gone. When Jordan was younger, I had a couple of bins that were just "baby toys" but those are now gone too.

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  3. I get rid of stuff that they don't play with and try to keep things like stuffed animals to a minimum. I packed up baby toys when Leah was too old for them and got them out again for Nora and then packed them up again. Right now I have only been rotating the bigger toys, like Nora has one of those ball poppers and a big noisy shape sorter and I just don't need both out at the same time. I did feel overrun with toys when my girls were your girls age, but now they play with a lot of the same things and it isn't quite as much stuff to have around. We have a huge built in toy box and a shelf with baskets to sort toys which has helped a lot.

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  4. Not your girls, your kids, you know what I mean!

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  5. I put away the toys Patrick plays with the least, then rotate them whenever I'm feeling bored. It's actually just as fun for me to get them back out and say "hey, remember THIS?! I LOVE this toy!" It's also good to let him help me rotate, I can immediately see what he's going to want to play with.

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  6. I struggle with this too, esp since just the time #1 is done with something #2 is coming into it, and to pack up and get them back out seems like SO much work!

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