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I'm Rachel, a multi-passionate millennial mom who loves helping others embrace who they truly are while figuring out this whole "momming" + "adulting" thing. This is such a great and thorough post. To rotate, youll round up the toys from the current toy collection and put them back in the container, then get a new container out with a new toy collection. Those were basically our ONLY toys the first year. But aside from that, the older kids play together well with the same toys. I want to follow this guide but have someone make sure im doing it right. (Thats me! For being such a tiny person, Rory certainly comes with a lot of stuff. Now that Im in AZ, we have no basement and with three dirt bikes in the garage and two cars, and any other little bit of storage we need for decorations, theres no space left. Lastly, as your child gets older, you may want to focus on a mix of toys and activities. Toy cycling has a slew of benefits including (but not limited to): I cannot stress the importance of toy rotation! ). Another caddy holds Rorys diaper essentials. I got the Lovevery play kits before my daughter was even born. Lovevery has some larger items that don't fit in our storage bins. <3. I realized I was not going to be able to store the toys in there pretty quickly. Today, I thought it would be fun to give you a tour of our living room. What about big toys like dollhouses and play kitchens? Whered my princess dress go? When I saw that he didnt play with it for a few days, I then rotated it with something else, but later when he saw us opening the door with key, or when he heard the word key in our conversation, he would run to his shelf and want to take it, but he was puzzled when its no longer found at its original location / home. My kids have turned LEGO people into dolls for their dollhouse and turned Magna-Tiles, wooden blocks, and sock rolls into food for their play kitchen! I want to follow this guide but I want someone to guide me to make sure im doing it right. You can leave the big toys out all the time and rotate the toys that go with them. A few gotchas to be aware of with your curated toy collections: When all toys have found their new homes, consider labeling the containers with whats inside. Plus some fine motor skills that'd grow with her (wooden doll house). This can be a fun activity in organizing/re-organizing too and they'll learn the practical life skill of storing items/cleaning out their space. Happy You, Happy Family does not provide medical advice. Now before any new toy enters our house, we really think long and hard. We also keep Rorys DockaTot and our Baby Bjorn carrier in here. Essentially we asked our family to stick to our minimalist baby registry. This house is a disaster! I yelled to the kids upstairs. Youll want to make sure those mini-collections have a variety of toys to support different aspects of your childs development. It was just too much to have it out all at once. I also keep seasonal books in garage storage with seasonal decor (e.g. Hmmm, I was definitely wrong. sensorial all things that engage a child's senses from colors, shapes, textures, smells, sounds, etc. Kids (especially the younger ones) do best when they can see everything to choose from. This is where the free printable toy inventory list will save you a ton of time. Because when kids have too many toys, they feel overwhelmed. I grew up in PA so things like this just went in the basement! Its completely up to you, so check out the steps below and do what resonates with you. So if your kids are older, you might aim for fewer toy collections with more toys in each one. No worries! So if a Great Toy Purge wasnt the answer, how could we solve the problem of chronic toy clutter? They didnt know where to start. I showed you this caddy when I gave you a tour ofRorys nursery last month. Funny story, my sister asked why there were so many pictures of Rory laying on pee pads in the living room. Pick one of the toy collections to start with, then hide the rest of the containers. Now that she's over 2 years old, we keep about 7-12 toys out at a time, but I don't stress about the number, I just make sure everything is decluttered. So throw on your least sexy pair of lounge wear, get cozy, and let's make life a little less confusing! I think when rotating toys for babies and young toddlers, you can just do it during nap time or while they're sleeping. We didnt need more toy room organization, and I didnt need to grit my teeth and pretend to be June Cleaver or Daniel Tiger. We currently have four of them where I've grouped like items together. Youll likely want 8-10 empty containers or so. Someone had suggested that I should just hide all the toys while my kids were sleeping, leave a few out, and they would be none the wiser. You are awesome for making this article. Start here . Hi! It had to be possible for my kids to learn to pick up their toys after they were done without me nagging them or losing my temper. In here, we keep extra diapers, wipes, pee pads, diaper cream, bibs, burp cloths, toys, books, etc. My kids not-yet-fully-developed brains were just as overwhelmed by the mess as mine was, if not more. Swap toys with another family in your neighborhood or with a friend who has kids around your kids ages. Like I said earlier, our toy rotation system has evolved from birth to toddler years and I'm sure it will evolve again when my daughter is a 3 year old and a 5 year old. I think maybe the fact that someone else has the same issue and feels the same about it helps with the toy-induced tantrums you mentioned (that I totally have). Hi Tania, great question! At Home Philosophy + Education Method, set up a toy storage and organization system, How To Make The First Month With A Newborn Easier. The adults get a spot to relax at the end of the day, while Rory has a nice little play area in between nap times. But try to resist that urge so you can be intentional and deliberate. But since toy rotation is more of an at home concept, I think she'd approve but encourage families to leave materials out for a week or so. We did this in my family growing up, and it was great for us! I know many will consider what I'm about to say in poor taste but it worked for us When I was pregnant, we knew we'd be moving about a month after baby arrived so it was a little easier to set this boundary. If theyre in the room with you, you might ask something like, Do you want to play with this. One of our themes is princess/Disney. What would you suggest putting in the bin for my son for that theme?? And I didnt especially feel like dealing with the cries of protest when I told the kids I was putting 75 percent of their toys away. We just try to limit it to only 2-4 items per area, other than her official playroom. Generally once every week or two. All you need is 10 minutes a day. Like a capsule wardrobe, but for toys! After you have your toy rotation system set up, youll be able to watch more closely and see what they actually do play with when theyre not overwhelmed by too many toys. What about when we get an influx of new toys, like for Christmas and birthdays? Do they play with it on a regular basis? At first, she asked for the bins quite often, so I'd just put them on my bed and open the lids. This is important because if you put the rest of the not in rotation containers somewhere your kids can see them, theyre going to bug you incessantly to get more toys out. Toy rotation is pretty easy to implement. Making it easier to refine a baby registry or gift wish lists to family since you know there's limited space. I think because the items felt overwhelming in the bin, she never really engaged with them. Thank you! Eventually, I would like to create a designated playroom downstairs, but I think that will be a 2021 project, Best Breastfeeding Products & Bs Breastfeeding Journey, Finns Tips to Benefit Your Childs Financial Future. With that said, every kid is different, so go with your gut when it comes to handling the actual toy rotation. Your child comes up to you more often to announce, Im bored, Your child starts playing with a toy but loses interest quickly, Your child asks for television or other screen time more frequently, Your child gets into things they know theyre not supposed to play with. Playtime is a nightmare here! My reaction to toy clutter wasnt unique. Things in our house always seem to be changing, but as of now, this is the setup that works well for our little family of three. Im sorry I keep losing my temper over the toys being everywhere. The good news? If you havent heard of it before, toy rotation means periodically switching out the toys your child has available to play with so that only a few toys are out at any one time. Once your child is older, and knows where the toys are stored, it can be a bit more challenging. While our house is very open, it's quite old and closet space/storage is actually VERY limited. I'm thrilled you're here! Sell a bunch of toys as a lot on Craigslist, or hold a garage sale to find new homes for them. I believe if you want a loving parent-child relationship that will last into the teenage years and beyond, the time for nurturing that kind of relationship isnow. Bonus: As a bonus for joining my weekly newsletter, get a free printable toy rotation kit including a step-by-step guide, toy inventory log, and a toy organization cheat sheet. These services clean and sanitize every toy before sending it your way. Hi Kelly, Lock and latch box with a key and padlock). A friend of mine told me in their family, they swap out different toys every few days. (See step 4 for more on the categories.). You might be thinking: So what? I have a question though. Is a LEGO set one toy? Related: How to Stop Being an Angry Mom NowUsing 5 Hair Ties {Printable}. The house becomes insane after they all visit with toys spread everywhere and something always ends up missing for a few weeks. I do wonder what your thoughts are on books. How do you handle toy rotation if there are multiple play areas? Estimated time: 30 minutes-1 hour, but it will vary greatly depending on how many toys youre starting with. That is probably the reason why we have soooo many books geared towards kids. Okay, before we dive into the details of the space, here are some things that help us. Below, Ive tried to cover all the possible gotchas, so it looks like a lot but you can actually get the whole toy rotation system set up in less than a couple hours maybe even an hour if you hustle. These wont necessarily be the final containers for your toy rotation system, but theyll be good enough until you figure out what you actually need later on. When everything is put away and hidden, they may not realize whats available to play with and then have trouble playing independently. Shoving a dollhouse into an under-the-bed plastic container aint gonna happen. For example, you might put a puzzle out on the kids play table, set up. To do this, it works best if you do it at the end of a toy rotation. Lastly, I'm NOT a morning person. Youll have everything you need to say goodbye to toy clutter. I promise to keep your personal information safe. We like things in their place and having a messy house gives us both anxiety. They end up jumping around from toy to toy without ever getting fully engrossed in playing with one specific thing. You essentially can skip the declutter step since you've been diligent from the beginning. But in general, 10-12 toys in each toy rotation box seems to provide a good amount of variety without creeping into toy overwhelm territory. When my little one is old enough to have a bunch of toys, I am definitely going to try this out!! Youll probably find that you want to go faster during this step because youll just want to be DONE by this point. As you decrease the quantity of your childs toys and clutter, you increase their attention and their capacity for deep play.. This form collects information I will use to send you free printables and other resources. The fact that you broke it all down into steps with specifics makes it sound more doable. I am going to set up a toy rotation this week and plan to rotate everything at the same time. Log in. Finn calls it a kit. No kids in sight, but every single toy sure was. Its a rescue ranch for fairy tale animals like the three little pigs! It keeps her interested in them, and gives me a break from reading the same stories to her! We have a few books on her hutch in her playroom, a few books in my nightstand, a few in the nursery, and I just got a montessori style bookcase that is in her playroom, but not as easily accessible as the hutch. First, I tried approaching my kids with the patience of June Cleaver and asking them to clean up their mess. Side benefit: The kids will start using the toys in new and fresh ways. Of course we were grateful for gifts and whatever people wanted to do for us but we also believe that the best gift our family could give us was UNDERSTANDING AND RESPECTING how we chose to raise our children and giving us as much time back as possible (re: not having to run around town returning stuff). Controlling the flow of gifts made things pretty easy for us. The good news is this is the last time youll have to deal with all the toys in one big mess again. What should I do with old toys my kids dont play with anymore? Im Casey Finn, the voice behind The DIY Playbook. I'm a mom of four, a Certified Parent Educator, and the author of Happy You, Happy Family. Youd never get fully immersed in any of the books, and youd struggle to pull any significant life lessons or new knowledge from the reading. You can also make a note to suggest toys in a certain category when grandparents and extended family ask for Christmas and birthday ideas. Until what age do you think toy rotation is a good strategy? Check it out for yourself: Get Your Copy Now: Free Printable Toy Rotation Kit. Pick up one toy at a time and ask yourself these questions: Repeat this step one toy at a time until you have every single toy in a labeled box. language- with books, phonics or writing activities, etc. I've also always cleaned up and sung the clean up song infront of R (literally since she was like 3 months old). Note: If youre the type of person who likes to plan ahead, skip ahead to step 6 for what youll need for your final toy rotation containers, then come back here to get back on track. But its the experience of being engrossed in one toy that leads to real growth and development for your child. If she's touched it in the last week, it stays. RHs stuff is usually wayyyy outside of our budget, but I ended up finding this for 75% off. And the clincher for me? Your goal will be to end up with several mini-collections of toys. For example, one toy collection might include a jump rope (moving), Wonder Woman action figures and superhero dress-up clothes (pretending), LEGOs (thinking), and paper and crayons (creating). Daily toy rotation may be excessive. I generally know if I need to rotate based on how often she's requesting screen time. We also have this toy piano (it actually comes with a playmat, but we just use the piano) that is Rorys current obsession. Often times if multiple toys can work together like the weigh scale and the cylinder puzzle, I'll put them together on the same shelf. AFAA Group Exercise Certification Study Tips, The Best Blogging Tools To Save Time & Sanity, Our Favorite Toys + Our New Toy Rotation System + Lovevery Giveaway, FFFF #197 Thanksgiving Tableware, Shift, & Famjamas. Other times, it's just about getting those montessori categories I mentioned earlier met. If you have a lot of toys to start with, you might end up adding a couple toys from each category in each toy collection. (Dont forget to grab my free printable toy rotation kit, which includes an inventory sheet thats perfect for this step.). This inventory sheet is perfect for jotting down which toys are in each container so that when it comes time to rotate, you can round everything up quickly. If youve listed the contents of each toy rotation box and marked the toy category, then its easy to see at a glance where you can squeeze in a new toy to round out a toy collection. You dont want to make a ton of exceptions and undermine the whole point of toy rotation, but its fine to make an exception for a handful of your childs most favorite toys. A full-fledged mom tantrum brought on by the sight of toys everywhere. Even if you only rotate toys when they aren't around. Technically most toys labeled as montessori, aren't. Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, & Disclaimers. Language (books to start, as children get older this could be alphabet puzzles or montessori language activities), Practical life (cleaning supplies, dressing boards, etc. With a baby on my hip, Id bend over and pick up a couple toys. Then invite them to help you rotate the toys and just let them choose what to put away and what to put in its place. I wasnt proud of how I lost my cool over my kids toy clutter. Its a great tool for modified tummy time, so we grab that just about every day. Like a toy scavenger hunt! Great post! Visual clutter can also increase your levels of cortisol, a stress hormone. You can unsubscribe at any time. They knew what was coming because at one point, it was happening nearly every day. new Montessori play shelf WITH toy storage. We'll move the toys around the house often too. In my opinion, the earlier the better. Note, Finn and I are both neat freaks (Finn even more than me). I had the toy rotation talk with my 4 year old and hope to start the gathering and sorting process this weekend. It also gives them the opportunity to get bored of an item, which inspires more creativity and encourages more open ended play with what they have access to. So I had to interrupt my progress and go on a scavenger hunt for supplies. It could be that your child needs practice with the jump rope, would appreciate a story prompt for the puppets, is having trouble fitting the puzzle together, or hasnt figured the xylophone out quite yet or some combination of more than one issue. If youve done your initial toy purge and now youre wondering what to do with old toys, youll find a few options below. You can just grab this caddy right out of the console and you have everything you need. This can be a permanent trade of toys or a temporary swap where you send the toys back to their original home after a period of time. Same goes for play food, dress-up clothes, and so on. Starting from the beginning gives you the chance to set up a toy storage and organization system early on. From there, I use mama's intuition to choose what toys to rotate out and in. Now that you have all the toys categorized and your empty containers ready to go, its time to match toys up for maximum fun and learning (and quiet time so you can play Candy Crush uninterrupted while your kids are busy). As another option, you can look for a local toy rental service. The key is to keep things decluttered and options limited. If your categories feel a little unbalanced, consider doing a toy swap with a neighbor or friend. This is great Kelly! So dont stress about hiding the big stuff like that. The DockaTot will probably be heading to the baby graveyard soon because she doesnt nap or hang out in it anymore (but it worked wonders for us during those early days). I don't stress about rotating toys every week or two perfectly. 2022 DIY Playbook | Privacy PolicySite by Roundhouse Designs. Whew! One toy could be a LEGO set, or it could be a set of animal figurines for pretend play, or it could be a couple coloring books with a box of crayons. I know your toys are important to you, so Id like to try taking turns with which toys we have out. I believe if you want a loving parent-child relationship that will last into the teenage years and beyond, the time for nurturing that kind of relationship is now. ), so instead of heading back upstairs, we do lots of diaper changes on the floor in the living room. For example, you can put the miniature dolls for the dollhouse or the play food for the play kitchen in a toy rotation box. We have a low bookshelf like this for storing the current toys in rotation so theyre easy for the kids to see. The sight of your Official Toy Rotation Headquarters right now might make you hyperventilate, so its time to fix that. My first stab at tackling toy rotation involved a big black garbage bag that sat in *our* basement for months. Yes, I recommend rotating books for toddlers and babies! Consider making a seasonal or holiday-specific toy rotation box or two, and then put those boxes in rotation when the time is right. I know it sounds counter-intuitive but it works! One is more puzzle or problem solving activities. We do not have a basement, so initially toy rotation storage was in a guest room, which had just become storage for R's stuff and my work stuff as my office was small. If you want more clarity or a list for how to categorize toys consider the following: The term Montessori is unregulated, and Dr. Montessori only created a specific set of materials known as montessori materials.. Copyright 2021 The Confused Mom The Confused Millennial. Together were creating our dream home in Chicago, one DIY project at a time. Now she'll occasionally ask for toys from my closet but that largely seems related to if I'm folding laundry and she's over helping with it. Our whole house is a yes space, meaning R has play areas or her stuff in basically every room. Note: All information on this site is for educational purposes only. While toy rotation aligns with Dr. Maria Montessori's observations that children benefit from a decluttered space. As the holidays and my daughter's first birthday approached, since family hadn't really spent money on toys, I felt comfortable asking for some large ticket items that aligned with her development (gross motor skills) like a scooter, pikler triangle and a non-toxic play mat for under it. Before Rory, it was pretty empty! Any suggestions? Is this toy broken and un-fixable? As a bonus for joining my weekly-ish newsletter, you can get a free printable toy inventory sheet at the end of this post (or with that link right there). You get new toys for your kids, and your friends kids get new toys too. Heres how to get it: Heres a sneak peek of your toy rotation kit. Instead, if you'd like to have montessori inspired toys, look for wooden objects that control for error, focus on a single skill, encourage open ended play, etc. You may want to go slower in that transitional period. Heres the ultimate step-by-step guide to starting a toy rotation that will make your kids happier + support healthy development. I found this large piece at Restoration Hardware Outlet for a steal. This is an awesome post, thanks for all the wonderful information and ideas. Ask them if theyre still loving that toy or if they think it would be a better fit for another kid who may not have many toys. Sounded totally wrong, but totally worked! Help! It probably takes me about 15 minutes every two or three weeks to rotate our toys. For now, just familiarize yourself with the categories* youll be using: * Thanks to Playful Learning and Green Child magazine for the category inspiration! Some parents just plop the container on the living room floor and let the kids have at it. First, the step-by-step guide: Heres the inventory log that youll put inside your curated toy collection boxes: And heres the cheat sheet on the best way to organize toys into categories: What tips do you have for a successful toy rotation system? Then after the initial setup, its super quick to rotate toys out. So the animal matching card game, flashcards, lacing kits, etc. That way, when you get the train set out, your child wont beg for the train puzzle (or vice versa) and throw a wrench in your toy rotation system. Babies dont even really play with toys until theyre older, right? More for your own sanity than any other reason though haa! I skipped this step the first time, so I found myself with my toy rotation system all ready to gobut with no way to keep it organized. Put it in, Does my child get excited to play with this toy? Then when the novelty of the new toy wears off, you just send it back. The toys are displayed on trays or in singular cubbies to not overwhelm the child with clutter. We also don't have a basement in FL and with the humidity I just don't love putting wood toys in the garage since they can swell/get warped and bugs. Whats fun is that your kids will get creative about what they use to play with those big toys. Once the baby is born and ready to use those items, they'll get rotated into the playroom and living for him. Because that set of toys will be fresh on your kids minds, you can hold up each toy to the kids before you put it back in the box. Squatting while holding a 25-pound butterball turkey isnt a pleasant sensation, so seeing the toy clutter brought on frustration. I love the themes, my kids do too. I knew I needed to make a change. Im Kelly. A few ideas for what to do with old toys: If the toy is an all-time favorite, think about whether it makes sense to leave it out all the time. It can be taxing on the parent and it's actually really beneficial for children to see the same toy over and over. If youre thinking of trying out toy rotation in your home, odds are you have a few questions about how to make it work for you and your kids. I went from never really cleaning up after R to cleaning books 3 times a day. She got pretty disinterested in them this way rather quickly. Thank you. See my privacy policy. Sign up to receive new blog posts and my exclusive monthly newsletter straight to your inbox. Personally, our toy rotation storage has changed over the years. Some folks recommended that I rotate toys while my kids were sleeping so they wouldnt get upset at losing the old toys. So she generally gets the concept of putting something back where you found it and has never really been confused by the idea that a toy once found in her playroom, still has a place in the living room, her room, or in my nightstand. You'll join my newsletter, plus get the free printable as a bonus! And again, per Dr. Montessori's finding, repeated exposure to the same materials is helpful in developing concentration and creativity in kids. cultural studies history, geography, art, science, music, peace/tolerance, botany, zoology, etc. But after reading about the benefits of toy rotation, I decided to give it a go. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); I appreciate how thorough this post is! I keep a few books out for my little girl, and switch them when we do toy rotation. If they wanted to make a rogue purchase, we just asked them to snap a picture and send it to us before buying. How often should you rotate toys in Montessori? Toy rotation has saved us time, money, and sanity!