Monday, August 19, 2013

Simplifying- toys

My kids have more toys than they know what to do with.
Literally they must not know what to do with them because they never play with them. 
Seriously. Well kind of. 
They love playing with rocks outside, trash, and crafting supplies and a few toys. 

While they may not really love playing with toys (more than a few seconds at least) they do enjoy taking them out.
All of them.
And mixing up all of the little pieces from one set to another. 
So when they actually go to play with a toy they can never find the pieces that go with it. 
Which is not very fun. 

So the other day (actually almost 2 weeks ago!) we pulled out all of our toys and started boxing them up. I let each kid pick out one set to keep inside and the rest we put in the garage.
Mackenzie chose her Dora dollhouse (and accessories to go with it), Madelyn chose her baby dolls (bottles, etc.) and baby stroller and Wesley chose an Imaginext ship (with the men, etc. that go with it).  And Hudson got a box of baby toys. 
And I know what your thinking "My kids would go crazy if I packed up all their toys"...that's what I was thinking too. 
But no one complained about it 
at all. 
They were really excited to choose their toy and even helped me pack them up. 

I also let Wesley choose 5 stuffed animals (since they are his fav) and we packed up the rest. 
Now our house looks less like this (above)

and more like this. 

so. much. better. 
And the best part is...

the kids are actually enjoying their toys and playing with them. 
So funny how less really is more. 

*I also let the kids keep their dress up, play tents, puzzles, coloring/crafting supplies and games inside. 

And after 2 weeks a few more toys have made their way in from outside but I haven't heard any complaints about not having a certain toy or wanting more. My plan isn't to keep them all outside forever but to rotate them out every now and then. I tried to put each of the kids toy "sets" in storage tubs (Polly Pockets, dinosaurs, Squinkies, Barbies, cars, etc.) so each kid can switch out their tub for a new one easily. The idea is to have fewer toys inside at a time and so far it is working great!  

How do you manage the toys in your home?

5 comments:

Carole Powell said...

Slightly off topic, but I was wondering what children bible/ story books and bible videos your kids like. I'm wanting to get more for my kids but not sure which ones are the best out there.

Homemaking Challenged said...

I seriously LOVE your idea! My kids have toys everywhere and grandparents who never come over with out something new. We recently went through and picked tons of toys to get rid of, but we were still left with way to many. Maybe a rotation would work better!

Right now we have "toy zones" during clean up times toys get placed in their proper zone. Though I'm not sure it is the most effective way to do it. We have lots of "large" toys (racing track with a loop, princess castle etc) that don't fit on any shelving thing I have found. It's really frustrating, but perhaps getting rid of some will be helpful!

Lisa said...

My sons toys were out of control too. I got 5 bins and filled each with a variety of toys, puzzles, books. He gets one bin a day and thats it. The rest have been put away and will hopefully find their way to the next garage sale. Still need to do my daughters, its a mess.

The Keatts Family said...

My kids are the EXACT SAME WAY!! Toys in my house are for dumping. Sigh. I'm going to need to do something much along these lines!

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