After a fairly difficult day/ days (think along the lines of a cup of water poured on the couch, box of cereal dumped on the floor, re-rolling the toilet paper, pulling my son off of the entertainment center 5 times, fishing a sock out of the toilet, marker all over the walls, and a few tantrums) I decided I needed to change something. I was tired of trying to coax my son to play with his toys. I was tired of picking all the toys up off our tiny living room floor several times a day (scattering toys evenly around the whole room was apparently the only interesting thing to do with them, and when the only room available for your kids' toys is the front room, you may or may not live in constant fear of someone coming to the door and seeing the awful state of your home). I was tired of feeling like I had nowhere to put our ever- increasing collection of children's playthings.
I had a couple of under- bed and cheapo stacking storage containers which I proceeded to fill with almost all of the toys. (The under- bed containers fit nicely under the bunk beds, or stack up well on the high shelf in the closet, and the other bins just barely fit in the closet.) I left a few things out for my kids to play with, but everything else was g-o-n-e. Ahhhhhh. What relief, what peace!
Today, the toys that are out have labeled zipper bags so scattering them isn't as easy as it once was. As we get more toys, I get more storage bins. Yes, it sounds sad, but actually it isn't. I either use clear bins or put labels on the outsides of the bins so I don't forget what we have. There are some toys that stay out pretty much all the time (like the bag of matchbox and oversize cars), but we rotate what is out when the kids start to get tired of their toys and start getting into mischief. I try to have just 2 or 3 bigger toys out, and a few smaller toys.
I am not going to say that it is a perfect system, that my house is immaculate, or that my kids always love playing with their toys and not the toilet. But it has definitely helped, and it has probably saved my sanity. One day I would love to have a kid's "playroom" that the toys can be more accessible in, but for now, this is what works for me.
Do you have a great idea about toy storage or helping your child enjoy their toys? Share it in a comment below (please!) and let us all benefit from it!
the less toys they have the better. they tend to enjoy them more, your kinda doing that. good luck!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant! I have a daughter who is gunning for a spot on "Hoarders." These are some helpful ideas!
ReplyDelete~Elena
http://acasarella.blogspot.com/
We kind of do this. DS's birthday falls right after Thanksgiving, so December is a crazy mess of new toys. I tried something new this past holiday season. The weekend after Thanksgiving, I went into K's room with him (he was 3, about to turn 4) and we took a few trash bags. One was for junk - trash...bits of paper, torn book covers, junky McDonald's toys, crap (my term, not his). The other was for toys that weren't played with much anymore and needed to be shared with someone who would play with them. This concept was very difficult for him, but we'd kind of talk about it and then I'd set him on task to stack all of his books back on his bookshelf or put all the legos back in their bin....meanwhile, I sorted for donations discreetly (he NEVER missed them). Afterwards, he had a clean, a lot less toys, and we had a treat. Then when the birthday/holiday barage of toys came, he had plenty of room. He got to have things all over the place for a couple of weeks before I set in and divided it into two groups...the group that stays out for playing but is stored in his cubbies when not in play, and the group that went into boxes in his closet (not to be accessed). Every few weeks, I go in and rotate toys - it's a chance to clean, talk, and find something "new" again.
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