Anyone NOT rotate toys as a solution? [Archive] - Gentle Christian Mothers Community

Heather Micaela

06-14-2007, 01:18 AM

I just cant do it. :no2 I can see how that makes for less mess and the novelty returning, but rotating toys would mean even *more* work for me. :shrug I have no Idea what sort of method I would use or what I would store them in. And I have a feeling I would never bother taking the toys back out of storage due to the hassle.

My kids toys are in bins similar to this (but no wheels):http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=551016&cm_mmc=TLShopping-_-Nextag-_-Office%20Products-_-551016%20Office%20Depot%20Large%20Plastic%20Storag e%20Cart%2C%203%20Drawers%2C%2027%22H%20x%2021%201 %2F2%22W%20x%2015%201%2F2%22D%
2C%20Black

The toys are arranged as so:
STORAGE BIN
Bottom: Little people and accessories
2nd up: Barbies/ponies/princes (aka Christinas stuff)
3rd up: Superheros/dinosuars/wild animals (aka Joshuas stuff)
Top: all vehicles

IN CLOSET
all Little People buildings and larger vehicles
Toy box full of stuffed animals

OTHER SIDE OF ROOM:
Milk Crate#1:Dress up
Malk Crate#2:Kitchen stuff

LIving Room
Under a table - 3 baskets with all the baby toys
On a shelf is acontainer of musical instruments and a container of educational toys

There is also another storage drawer thing as so:
Bottom:Wooden blocks
Middle:Duplos
Top:Mega Blocks

We are perpetually thinining out toys. We have a new in-old out principle that we do the best to follow. Broken toys are tossed, not repaired. So we dont have a huge volume of anything mentioned above. And everything is very will organized and the kids know where things go. Still, thier room is often so covered w/ toys you cant walk through. Even wiht a "no dumping out toys rule" they still end up everywhere.

But rotating makes no sense - all the blocks are in one unit. If I take a specific srawer in their room I take either all the cars, all the Little People, or all the gender specific toys for one kid. The LP and cars are used daily and the the other two would seem unfair. So how do you make rotating work?

Or is there another way to handle the toy clutter? I think we have gotten down almost to the bare minimun. (Just in time for birthdays :rolleyes)

klpmommy

06-14-2007, 04:32 AM

We just started this a couple of weeks ago & it is so far working. (fingers crossed that it continues). ITU about the toys being a unit & we don't fix broken things either. So we were overrun with toys. So now on Saturdays (or Sundays if Sat doesn't work out) I pull out all of one type of toy & the kids get to select which ones they want to play with for the week- there is a set number of things they get to pick- like they can pick 25 dinosaurs, 15 cars, etc. They also get to pick one building thing- this week they picked wedgits & they have never played much with them before now b/c they always had blocks, legos, the marble run, etc to choose from. They also pick out 5 games & puzzles. Etc. I have a list at home. I pull out extra stuff if we have company coming over to play. This has really, really helped. They are doing so much better at clean up time & I am not feeling so overwhelmed by the toys everywhere. And the kids love picking their toys and haven't had a problem with not having everything b/c I remind them that they had a chance to pick & that they can pick --- on Saturday. But like I said, this is still new so I don't know how it will work longterm.

So far I haven't limited stuffed animals, but they weren't the ones that were overwhelming me anyway.

Marsha

06-14-2007, 05:25 AM

well, if I had to be organized about it, it wouldhn't happen. I just notice every couple of months that certain toys are just lying around. Trust me, we have a somewhat small house. The living area has a trampoline, bookcase, school desk and there isn't much room. The older's bedroom is chock-full of crap er toys, I mean. And even the "office" has a lot. So I just pile a bunch up in my laundry room in a bin. Or I "clean" with a garbage bag. I bring out the new toys every couple of months.
It really doesn't take me more than 15 minutes. If it did, I wouldn't do it. My oldest is very attached to stuff so I hesitate getting rid of things, but oy! we can't have ALL THIS STUFF sitting around!

The Tickle Momster

06-14-2007, 08:22 AM

I don't rotate either, but I'd like to. Once my house is decluttered permanently (the upstairs is being painted andcarpeted) I would like to rotate or do something like Kimberly does. Right now the toys are overflowing and I'm sure we'll find spiders when we clean up and sort. :shiver

lavender mom

06-14-2007, 09:00 AM

And I have a feeling I would never bother taking the toys back out of storage due to the hassle.

:yes :O

I just work hard to get rid of toys we've outgrown. That works for me because my youngest is 2.5 though. If I knew I had another baby coming up I wouldn't be able to do it.

Rabbit

06-14-2007, 09:07 AM

I rotates specifically the stuff that bothers me, and doesn't fit in its allotted space. So if there's a container that is spilling over, I pull out about half, stick in a bag, and throw it in the bottom of my closet. When the kids are antsy or bored, and can't seem to find anything to play with, I pull the bags out, sort some for garage sale, some for rotation, and switch stuff around. Now if it fits in its box, and they don't just scatter it, they either leave it alone or play hard with it and put it up, then it stays out. If they don't play with it, or they think "playing" means throwing or mess making with it, then it goes away for awhile.

ReedleBeetle

06-14-2007, 09:30 AM

I don't rotate, but every so often I go through and re sort....putting stuff that goes together back togehter and shuffling the toybox so the stuff on the bottom moves to the top. I have a 2 year old though, so.....I might rotate later.

mom2threegirls

06-14-2007, 09:56 AM

In the past I've tried rotating but then I forget about the stuff and when I pull it back out the kids have either grown out of it and/or have no interest in it anymore :shrug. It just involved more work for me and the benefits just didn't seem worth it. My kids tend to like playing with something for a long time, and when their interest in it is gone it doesn't help to put it away for a couple weeks/months- we were finding the interest would be there again for a few days but then it was gone again :shrug. I just about have us down to the bare essentials and beyond that it's just a matter of cleaning up throughout the day. Toys do end up all over the place but I figure that's how it's supposed to be :shrug :giggle and they clean up very quickly. I am also constantly weeding out things- my kids really appreciate and play with their things MUCH more when their are fewer things :yes. I definitely think toy rotation is a GREAT idea but it just didn't work for us.

AKCristyMJ

06-14-2007, 09:58 AM

Don't rotate and don't use bins.

I got tired of both.

Our apt is way too tiny to try and store unused toys to rotate.

I give my kids choices. "You have 2 stuffed bunnies, choose one. You have 3 Pony's, choose 2" etc and then donate the rest.
Our annual time of doing this is Dec 1st and June 1st.

Our other rule is The Saturday Box, whatever toy is left out gets put there and is gone for 6 days. They know on Saturday they can retrieve it. If that toy remains in the box by Monday.....it is donated and tells me then how unimportant it was.
This has worked very well.

I ditched most of the bins.
I hated them.
It invited clutter and meant what was on the bottom you couldn't reach or see.

We use mostly shelves instead.
Dolls and ponies are sat/stood up displayed nicely on it.

I hate tiny toys.

Certain things like Barbie shoes or pony brushes....we toss.
For Barbie shoes my dd's use washable marker and color on shoes and wash off when done.

My rule is I have just one basket for those itty bitty things like legos or what not.
I give the kids 30min to run in and pick up.
Then I go vaccum.
"What the hose gets the hose keeps" is my motto, altho I don't always let the vaccum hose actually suck it up. It does tho mean the kids pick up the tid bits they want and whats left.......I toss.

Well this all sounds good.......but.....lol.......

getting my kids to put away and organize their clothes is my pet peeve.
haven't solved that yet!

LadybugSam

06-14-2007, 10:22 AM

I rotate sets of toys. Like at one time i will have the legos put away, but the blocks will be out. and/or i'll put all the little people things away and take out his trains, or vice versa.

If we're watching tv one day and he is suddenly interested in farms, i'll take out his little people again, and i'll put up the trains.

He can have farm animals OR dinoaurs out, but not both. If he asks for them we take them out and put the others away, but we don't keep them all where they could easily be gotten into all the time.

every couple months (when he seems disinterested in his toys) we'll switch them out again. I'll throw out the ones that are broken or perminantly put away or give away toys he no longer plays with or has outgrown.

Heather Micaela

06-14-2007, 11:25 AM

Our apt is way too tiny to try and store unused toys to rotate.
:yes

Wow Cristy you pretty much do what I do. Right before (and right after) Birthdays and christmas we thin out the toys. I also do it anytime I see that clutter is overunnung.

I have bins but I throw away all the shoes accesories, etc, too. I *love* the marker for shoes idea :mrgreen

He can have farm animals OR dinoaurs out, but not both. If he asks for them we take them out and put the others away, but we don't keep them all where they could easily be gotten into all the time.
Where do you keep all your stored toys? It seems you would have to have a shed that you go and chose the toy and bring it out. For me this would involve going through the bin and sifting through to find all the dinosaurs, put them in some other box, and put them in the garage. It would take less time to just have him put them all away.

Keep the ideas coming, but I think I am realizing that for me the solution is less toys and more consistent cleaning. I realized that it *seems* my kids have a lot of toys but I realized that when you divide by 3, they have a lot less toys per person than a lot of families I have seen. And yet I keep thinning them out

LadybugSam

06-14-2007, 11:30 AM

GodChick

06-14-2007, 11:35 AM

Reading for ideas, because I could have written Heather Micaela's posts. :shifty

Heather Micaela

06-14-2007, 11:48 AM

we keep the rotated toys on the top shelf in the closet (we have a 1 bed apartment so its in our closet, but when we move to abigger place it will go in his)

Our apartment is 560 sq feet and thres only about a 6x7 space in the livingroom to play (none int he bedroom and no yard), having too many toys out makes the space practically unusable

So you have to get a step stool, pull down a box, pick out the dinosars and set them out, gather the farm animals and put them away, then put the box back up? In that same amount of time I could just make ds clean up.

But I still see the need to limit the toys in a small space.

LadybugSam

06-14-2007, 12:36 PM

yeah thats how it goes, but he doesn't EVER ask for them. They're in the closet almost the entire time :shrug

Heather Micaela

06-14-2007, 12:45 PM

yeah thats how it goes, but he doesn't EVER ask for them. They're in the closet almost the entire time :shrug

OK so just curious - why not just have less of each and then let them all be out?

I guess I see the beauty in rotating for limited space, but at the same time do kids really desire the toys stored away? And do they really get bored w/ the old toys? My kids play w/ thiers daily. If they are truly bored we donate them.

It sounds like I am agruging, and that is honestly not my intent. I am just trying to see how rotating would be practical for me or if someone has some othe clutter-busting ides

LadybugSam

06-14-2007, 01:20 PM

i dont' hear it as arguing, you're trying to work out what rotating toys looks like

It does help to have less toys, but we have very few. its also a lot more fun to have a large set to play with. It would be hard to build a castle with only 1/2 the legos. And its better to have 3 tracters for your construction site (it also helps that he can share with his friends)

Caleb doesn't so much like me putting away his toys, but he LOVES when i take them back out. Its like getting whole new toys. While he never completely loses interest in the ones he has out, when i bring out the new ones he gets so excited and plays with it constantly (honestly he doesn't even notice much when i put the other ones away :scratch)

and i walked away and lost my train of thought...LOL i'll come back later

Rabbit

06-14-2007, 01:48 PM

When Samantha is bored with a toy, she doesn't care what I do with it. When it comes back out, she's ecstatic. It's like a whole new toy. We're too broke to buy her new toys when she gets bored, and at her age, toys lose their appeal fast, AND she gets overwhelmed by too many choices. Better to rotate toys than leave them all out, even if we had all the space to put them up and a maid to do it for me. She plays happier when toys are rotated.

I would never rotate a toy she completely adored, or was thoroughly enjoying and using. I wait for the fun to wear off to rotate it. Our huge block set has never rotated. It stays neatly in its box when they aren't playing with it, and they seem to naturally rotate it themselves. Two ball slide toys have never rotated out. Simon plays with them daily. It's the stuffed animals and dolls that rotate the most. Once she has a set to play with them, like beds and strollers and stuff, less will rotate. Little People rotate but that seems to be because Samantha is still too young to really get a lot out of them.

ShangriLewis

06-14-2007, 01:51 PM

Heather Micaela

06-14-2007, 02:05 PM

How about a basket for each child. They pick the toys that fit in that basket for the month. Then maybe you leave out a box of blocks.

They have to pick up at night or before leaving. Don't pick it up and you get it taken away or a smaller basket.

But that means the rest of the toys have to go in the garage? So I would have to make room in my garage for all the storage bins?

IAnd if they each only had one basket they can never make a little poeple town with a house, firestation, and farm (which is what they do daily). Or it means that if ds wants to build something spontaneously with legos - too bad you have to use wooden blocks that week. See I think that is what the issue is. I get how it makes clean-up easier, but I don't get how it makes play more fulfilling. Most of the toys are semi-open ended and educational so I am having a hard time seeing how having them put away is beneficial in that aspect

It's the stuffed animals and dolls that rotate the most.
now that I could see - but the idea of having them in the garage w/ spiders :shiver

ShangriLewis

06-14-2007, 02:12 PM

I don't know what to say the ;) Lots of toys make lots of mess.

When we get overwhelmed we take ALL the toys away. Children are going to be ok without all the toys. If they cause you stress then it isn't helping anyone. I think you have a toy issue and you can't see them not playing with toys. They can play just as well without toys. And, they can get over the fact that lego's are put away for a week or two because they don't get picked up regularly.

I don't know. I think a lot of moms spend a lot of time picking up stuff they shouldn't. But, then I don't think it's my job as a women to be in charge of cleaning up stuff. I would rather just say oh well...you'll get it back next week. They really can be occupied by other things and less toys. I promise. :shifty

Marsha

06-14-2007, 02:15 PM

I don't put away things like that. I put away certain pull toys. We have about four. I put away dolls, we have about 8, and only the baby is attached to a doll and I don't put that one away. Stacking toys, we have about 4-5 different types and I usually only leave out two.
The Little People and wooden blocks are always out. The kitchen with its myriads of plastic toys, dishes and purloined "real" kitchen items is always out.
Ainslee's stuffed toys are always in her room. She is very attached to them.......VERY . We have a huge sagging hammock for them, plus her bed is covered. It's a dust hazard to be sure.
And electronic things like a ball with slides and a ferris wheel type toy. And the one where you push a ball in an it swirls around playing music and comes out a slot at the bottom. And a chair that talks and has an electronic book, and all kinds of bells and whistles. I only have one of those out at a time. I don't havwe room for all the stuff.
Ainslee has lots of play-doh toys, like some kind of Dora Land, and other stuff like that, and I put away that along with unopened play doh for bored days. I put away puzzles and workbooks to and bring them out to brighten up an otherwise dull day, too!
Does that help? My children don't forage, they don't have to, so put up doesn';t mean packed away in a bin in the garage. I put some stuff on the shelf in Ainslee's closet, some in the laundry room, and workbooks, playdoug, puzzles, just go in the drawer of the microwave cart instead of on top with the "on display" stuff to do. It's just "less obvious" or "less available". To a kid, it might as well be gone.

Katherine

06-14-2007, 02:40 PM

I'm losing posts like crazy this week. I *swear* I posted here. :lol

I don't rotate, per se... It's more like some toys are freely accessible, and other things are available by request (provided certain conditions are met) The things I excercise more control over are the sets of small toys/blocks or games with pieces. I've gotten rid of a LOT , and the things I keep out in the playroom are the ones the kids can put away pretty easily.

1) bigger vehicles go on the shelves
2) baby/toddler toys go in the plastic toybox
3) dress-up clothes and stuffed animals in the trunk
4) Hot Wheels (e.g. small cars) go in the blue bucket (which goes on the car shelves)
5) Mega-Blocks go in the black satchel.

Puzzles and games go on overhead shelves. I get them out for quiet play times or on request. I pretty much know when they're down and that way I can make sure 20 puzzles aren't out at the same time... that the toddler isn't dumping them, etc.

Blocks (other than the big bag of Megas) or sets of smaller toys go in plastic bins on the overhead closet shelves. Again... I get them down for quiet play times or on request, provided there's not several other sets of things out that haven't been put back.

I don't do the picking up part for them. I just reach the high shelves for them. ;)

I resisted putting some of their toys away for the same reason you mentioned, Heather... I didn't want to prevent them from integrating different types of things and playing creatively. The reality, however, was that lots of small toys out made for a state of constant chaos--and they don't play anyway when it's like that. :shrug There were only 3 options for cleaning it up:

1) Spend lots of time and effort supervising the clean up process so that 6 different types of blocks, and 4 "sets" of smaller group-toys, and action figures and Hot Wheels all got put back in the right container. :/ (and that's not even counting the larger stuff) This gets really old really fast, and takes a ridiculously long time--every day. :no2

2) Let the kids throw everything into into containers without organizing. I hated this because they could never find what they wanted and always emptied the containers looking for stuff.

3) Leave it all out. Not an option b/c they stop using the room when it gets chaotic and somebody is always stepping on stuff, falling on stuff, getting hurt... besides it makes me crazy. :giggle :O

I've tried all 3 approaches and don't like any of them. So now we're trying the very-limited-selection for everyday access and keeping the messiest things as available-by-request. :) And I agree with Heather that most of my kids' play is not toy-oriented anyhow. Toy time is just one activity in our day... most of their "play" time is spent in non-toy ways. :giggle

GodChick

06-14-2007, 02:47 PM

Okay, I'm going to start a new thread, because I would LOVE to get ideas for non-toy play. They do this pretty well outside . . . but in the summer, when it's really HOT here, they don't do non-toy play so well indoors. I'm going to start a new thread in . . . uhm . . . what's a good forum for that . . . uhm . . . how about "Nurturing our children (AP and multi-age topics) Eh? Sound okay? Okay, I'm off to start the thread, 'cause I gotta know!!

Heather Micaela

06-14-2007, 03:21 PM

I'm losing posts like crazy this week. I *swear* I posted here. :lol

I don't rotate, per se... It's more like some toys are freely accessible, and other things are available by request (provided certain conditions are met) The things I excercise more control over are the sets of small toys/blocks or games with pieces. I've gotten rid of a LOT , and the things I keep out in the playroom are the ones the kids can put away pretty easily.

Puzzles and games go on overhead shelves. I get them out for quiet play times or on request. I pretty much know when they're down and that way I can make sure 20 puzzles aren't out at the same time... that the toddler isn't dumping them, etc.Blocks (other than the big bag of Megas) or sets of smaller toys go in plastic bins on the overhead closet shelves. Again... I get them down for quiet play times or on request, provided there's not several other sets of things out that haven't been put back.

This is exactly what I do then.

Playdoh, puzzles, Lite Brite, regular legos, and games have to be asked for.

I resisted putting some of their toys away for the same reason you mentioned, Heather... I didn't want to prevent them from integrating different types of things and playing creatively. The reality, however, was that lots of small toys out made for a state of constant chaos--and they don't play anyway when it's like that. :shrug There were only 3 options for cleaning it up:
My kids just shove the chaos to the side and play anyway :shifty I know that is not good btw

1) Spend lots of time and effort supervising the clean up process so that 6 different types of blocks, and 4 "sets" of smaller group-toys, and action figures and Hot Wheels all got put back in the right container. :/ (and that's not even counting the larger stuff) This gets really old really fast, and takes a ridiculously long time--every day. :no2

2) Let the kids throw everything into into containers without organizing. I hated this because they could never find what they wanted and always emptied the containers looking for stuff.
Thier toys are somwhere in between one and two. There is a place for everything. It is just that all superheros go in the same bin and so do the dinosaurs. And all the princesses go in with the ponies. The little poeple have thier own bin - but it includes some of the McDonalds happy meal toys that were worth keeping. All vehicles go in one bin.

3) Leave it all out. Not an option b/c they stop using the room when it gets chaotic and somebody is always stepping on stuff, falling on stuff, getting hurt... besides it makes me crazy. :giggle :O
Obviously not an option :yes

See, it still seems that the key is just thinning out until it is manageble :shrug. I just don't know how long that will take.

I think you have a toy issue and you can't see them not playing with toys. They can play just as well without toys. And, they can get over the fact that lego's are put away for a week or two because they don't get picked up regularly.
That is a perception based on one thread. I have a toy rotation issue. I have no problem to little by litte getting them down to just the bare minimum of toys. My whole issue is that rotation seems way more work than decluttering and requring the toys get cleaned up or they get thrown out. :shrug

My question is how to make rotation convienient and do kids really get bored with their toys? And if they do, why not just let them let go of it rather than store it away and hope they want to play with it later? It is no skin of my back if DS never wants to see Buzz Lightyear again.

BHope

06-14-2007, 03:47 PM

Okay I wrote this whole giant response. :giggle And now I'm going to change it to really talk about two things.

I have a toy rotation issue. I have no problem to little by litte getting them down to just the bare minimum of toys. My whole issue is that rotation seems way more work than decluttering and requring the toys get cleaned up or they get thrown out.

My experience has been that toy rotation is less work than not. We still declutter and we do still require that toys get cleaned up. But it's a 100x's easier for my DD's to pick up a floor full of Little People vs. a floor full of Little People, Weebles, Peek-a-blocks, Mega-blocks, wooden-blocks... When we were doing bins and/or toyboxes what would happen is that pretty soon the bins became just containers for mass collections of toys. So, like Palil, mentioned. In order to find their Little Peoples the girls literally HAD to empty all the bins. Which equaled a serious mess. Definately a MUCH larger clean up effort than what we have when the toys are better organized and rotated.

In the end rotating toys ends up to be less work because there is less sorting to do and less to mess with. We keep our rotated toys in the playroom closet top shelf. I don't need a special stool to reach it. We don't have large bins that need garage space. :shrug To me, that would be too much. If we got to that point, we'd probably do a serious de-clutter and donate. I can easily reach the top shelf of the closet. So it really is not any more work for me to put the weebles up in the closet then it would be for me to put the weebles into a bin in the playroom or a shelf or box.

We do have certain toys that never rotate. The kitchen set, certain dolls and stuffed animals...

My question is how to make rotation convienient and do kids really get bored with their toys? And if they do, why not just let them let go of it rather than store it away and hope they want to play with it later? It is no skin of my back if DS never wants to see Buzz Lightyear again.

We don't rotate toys that we believe the kids are trully tired of. Those toys get donated. Instead we rotate toys that I know the kids enjoy. Sometimes toy rotation happens every couple months. Sometimes it happens a couple times a week. DD1's puzzles are kept together and put aside. If she wants to play with them we usually will grab a container of Little People and put them up while she's into the puzzles. We have lot's of those garmet bags with zippers that sheets and comforters come in. So she can actually see the toys that are stored away and will occassionally ask for me to come get something down for her.

At that point, I'll ask her, "You want to play with the weebles? Okay, well, let's go get the bag of mega-blocks (put away on a bookshelf in the playroom) and put them up so that we have space for the weebles." She often does the rotating for me. She'll go grab the mega blocks, bring them over and hand them to me to be put up. If the mega-blocks happen to be all over the playroom floor I'll ask that she put the megablocks back into their container and we'll rotate them out with the weebles.

RubySlippers

06-14-2007, 03:51 PM

Katherine

06-14-2007, 04:01 PM

My question is how to make rotation convienient

If someone who does a full-scale rotation changes them out say every other month, I wouldn't imagine it being that IN-convenient. :scratch If the room is picked up on a daily basis, you just unload a box full of different toys and fill it up with other toys and you're done. :shrug

If someone does small-scale rotation where certain toys are not always accessible (some might say that what I do is a small-scale rotation) then it's just a matter of putting the toys away on a high shelf versus a low one. :shrug

and do kids really get bored with their toys?

My kids do. If something commonplace is sitting out and they see it every day, they won't play with it. They're tired of looking at it--or they just start looking *through* it. (Ever started cleaning up and suddenly they SEE the toys they've been ignoring for a week and act like they've been searching for it day and night?) :giggle If it's something that's been lost under a bed, or put on on the closet shelf for a few months, it holds more interest for them b/c they're *not* tired (bored) of it.

And if they do, why not just let them let go of it rather than store it away and hope they want to play with it later? It is no skin of my back if DS never wants to see Buzz Lightyear again.

Well.. :scratch My gets get "bored" with toys in general sometimes. I don't chuck all their stuff (let them let go of it ;) ) simply b/c they're weary of it at a given point in time. Taking a break from something is often the best way to help yourself enjoy it again. :) Rotating toys works for some kids b/c it gives them a break, and then they are able enjoy their toys again.

I look for patterns over time... the sort of stuff I get rid of are the things that don't hold their interest *even after* they haven't seen them or played with them for a while... or the things that they consistently play with for just a minute and then abandon... or the things that aren't a good trade off in terms of space. (the play with it a *little* bit and it takes up a HUGE amount of space)... and so on.

Does that help a little?

I'm not sure if you're asking for non-rotating solutions, or trying to better understand why some people use rotation as a management tool... :shifty

and after typing this up I read BabyHopes post and was :yes through the whole thing. :lol So sorry if this was repetitive.

klpmommy

06-14-2007, 04:49 PM

I resisted putting some of their toys away for the same reason you mentioned, Heather... I didn't want to prevent them from integrating different types of things and playing creatively. The reality, however, was that lots of small toys out made for a state of constant chaos--and they don't play anyway when it's like that.

me, too. I could have sworn they played with all the toys every day, so I didn't want to put them up. And I loved the way they integrated so many things together. But I was so tired of things not getting cleaned up, the kids resisting clean up b/c it was too overwhelming. Always stepping on & tripping over toys. So dh & I set up our plan for rotating. B/c the kids get to pick they are doing good with it, they love the decision day- and since they are doing the decision making it isn't taking up any more of MY time- it is during their playtime, kwim? My perception of rotating was me doing a lot of work after they were in bed & I didn't want to give up any of my time. :O We keep out one big set every week and the kids need to agree on it, but if it became an issue I would let them both pick one thing apiece.

What amazes me is that the rotating toys IS WORKING. They are really playing with their toys. They are still making a mess, but it is so much more manageable for them & me. They are still being creative & integrating toys, but they are picking their favorite cars, dinos, etc rather than pulling everything out. Some things have remained out multiple times, others have gone back in the bin for another week. Can I admit to being shocked? I thought they would complain & miss their other toys. They haven't. When they have asked about something I have reminded they didn't pick it this week but Saturday is coming up soon & they can pick it then.

Rabbit

06-14-2007, 05:04 PM

I think I have more out than we need, with just three small boxes of toys. The children aren't really playing with it all.

If your kids are happy, playing productively with what they have, and you all three are working well to keep it neat, then you don't need toy rotation at all.

I rotates because my kids weren't happy, they were not playing productively with what they had, and the entire house was a mess. We have three or four garbage bags of toys in the closet. I rotate when we get bored.

Rotating also helps my husband let go of his emotional attachment to toys Samantha doesn't love. We just aren't good at taking stuff from the floor to the door. It makes it easier on both of us to put it away for a bit, and sell them or donate them later. If we pull them out of storage and get teary eyed, or Samantha gets that "Oh WOW" look on her face when she sees it, then it stays. If we all look at it and go, "Eh" then it's out the door.

Heather Micaela

06-14-2007, 05:22 PM

I'm not sure if you're asking for non-rotating solutions, or trying to better understand why some people use rotation as a management tool...

Both I guess

See, most of you are talking small amounts of toys on one shelf in the closet. By the time I got the kids down to only having that many toys (one shelf in the closet) - why on earth would I even need to rotate them.

And I use the plastic drawers because I tend to hyper organize when I have shoe-box sized containers. I want just the princess little people in one, animals in a onter, superheroes in another, Regular duplos in one, duplo animals in cars in anohter. And therefore the only one cleaning up was me. With all the litte people in one drawer the kids can clean up themselves.

And sure, I could go back to that system and only have the princess little people out, but I do like the creativity of the princess visiting a farm and then the farmer runs the zoo, etc.

So yeah, I'd like to see how rotation could work for me. But at the same time I would like *other* toy management tips.

klpmommy

06-14-2007, 05:35 PM

I don't have one small bin of toys on a shelf, but I also live in a big house so storage isn't an issue for us. I use plastic drawers & we currently keep one set of three out plus some stuff in a cabinet of our tv stand. The other two plastic drawers (three drawers each) & a box are in our mudroom by the garage. Our garage is too scary (dh is a packrat) for me to leave much there.

But I think b/c our situations are so different I probably can't give you any ideas that would work for you. :hug I hope you figure out something that does work for you.

Heather Micaela

06-14-2007, 05:45 PM

ALet me see if I got this correct because it actually *may* be a lightbulb - so you have 3 identical storage units and you switch the indivisual drawers out?

See that (even using the garage) I could maybe do.

I could keep the same pattern and just have a drawer with half the little people, one with half dd's stuf, one with hald ds' stuf, and one with half the vehicles. And they could be varied (lions, sheep, and cat in one bin monkeys, cows, and dog in the other)

hmmm...that might just work

It was the idea of taking things out of bins, putting them into garbage bags then swtiching. I think I would leave the drwers of blocks out becuase they are honestly not a problem and AL is growing into them

klpmommy

06-14-2007, 05:50 PM

I am :lol b/c in giving up I actually helped? :haha

Yes, I have identical storage drawer thingys & I can switch out the drawers. I actually don't quite do this since the kids pick their own toys for the week, but it would work. The kids constantly pull the drawers out & when I had all three units out we would just put them back wherever.

And we always keep out one building set- whether it is wooden blocks, the marble run thing, wedgits, legos, train track (although those aren't going to be out until I get the lead thing situated!). So my kiddos have three drawers "full" of stuff they have selected plus some books, games & puzzles & a building toy. (They also get one "large motor" thing- like the tents & tunnels or sit & spin or my huge exercise ball).