Toy Rotation Made Easy

toyrotation

Does anyone else feel like they’re drowning in toys???  I was aiming to be a toy minimalist.  I have utterly failed.

It’s hard to keep the living room tidy when there are so many sets and so many options.  The hard part?  I am having a hard time getting rid of them… Most of the toys are quality, constructive, educational, building sets, and even handmade.  They are “into” the various types at different ages and stages.  The scary part?  My kids aren’t even past the toddler years.  #yikes!  But at least I have toys for both genders covered, and that has contributed to the current overflow… 🙂

What to Do??!

Then my dear husband suggested we rotate toys – put some away (in the basement or storage) and then after a period of time, switch them out.  Why of course… It’s not a new idea, but I haven’t wanted to have that extra step to do once in a while.  But he reminded me that kids are entertained longer with “new” toys, and I’ll take that in exchange for the small effort to re-organize every so often.

So today I got to it!  I figure this is also a good step towards getting rid of some things if we don’t even miss the ones that are temporarily gone.  We’re using our cubicle storage unit {which I love!} to set our limit of 6 categories of toys available at one time.  Plus two more in their bedroom.

Toy Rotation the Simple Way

I made it oh-so-simple by getting a big plastic bin for ALL the toys we’re not keeping out.  Like, not sorted, all-mixed-together, just dumped in!  {Ended up needing two large containers, grrrrr!} 

I plan to rotate toys each month.  Towards the beginning of the month, not necessarily exactly on the 1st day.  {My exacting, perfectionist self needs to be ok with that for this to be successful in the long term.}  Every week would just be too much, and I usually need to do a thorough re-organization of the toy sets back to their proper sets each month anyway.  I’ll probably do about 3/4 of them at a time, and not forget to move some upstairs so there will be fresh toys to keep them interested when playing in their bedroom too.

Organizing Toys in Categories

These are our categories for toys (some put away and the rest on separate shelves):

  • Wooden building blocks – actually a marble run, but we don’t keep marbles with it yet
  • Big tractors
  • Farm and animal sets
  • Playmobile sets
  • Play dishes, food, and all cooking accessories
  • Mr. Potato Head family and a See’n’Say (it’s large and needed a place to fit)
  • Baby dolls and a couple stackable toys for Maple (the box that will interest her, and not so much geared for Ole)
  • Small cars, car track, and mini trains (this one is more for Ole)
  • Wooden train set Brio/IKEA (I took the high bridges away for some time simply because they’re frustrating for his age and easily knocked over)
  • Duplos (toddler Legos)
  • Little People sets
  • Big cars and trucks
  • Wooden puzzles and peg toys
  • Baby toys and teethers
  • Miscellaneous – This box was literally overflowing and I think it was the main thing driving me nuts.  So for now this is one is packed away entirely.  A majority of it may never return…  That lost bath toy, broken sunglasses, play debit cards, half an Easter egg, junk toys, kids’ meal toys, a piece from this set; a piece from that set, you know how it goes!  Soon the kids get so used to throwing everything in it, they start putting ALL toys in it… and THAT IS HOW THE BATTLE FOR TOY ORGANIZATION IS LOST!  The only “misc.” toys still out now are two soft balls that are played with in the trampoline and they are kept in the small cars box.  I’m excited to see if this solves a lot of our problems.

Someday I’d like to get the kids a Lincoln Logs building set, and there might be a dress-up/hats box as well.  You’ll have slightly different kinds of toys depending on the age and interests of your kids, but you get the idea!  I also tried to think about having a variety out, for example:  a building set, big/small toy items, one for younger ages/different gender, a set with people, and a favorite, so it doesn’t end up three boxes of cars or something like that!  At the same time, they may need their big tractors to play along with their farm sets, so it’s a balance.

With ONE category of toy for one box, it makes cleanup way less daunting… for me and the kids!

And our living room doesn’t have to look like a toddler’s playroom:

IMG_1508.JPG
minus the green box on top – the Legos will be IN a cubicle box when they come back through the rotation 🙂

Do you do a toy rotation?  What has worked for you?

I still have three shelves of kids books in the living room… and two more in their bedroom… Maybe books should be next?!  What are your favorite organizational tips for little kids’ books?

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  1. Hannah M

    We are doing toy rotation too! We first started by putting different toys in different rooms, but now after all the Christmas gifts are in we are going to rotate the different rooms and also a closet or two so there aren’t so many in the living room. The biggest toy category I think will be stuffed animals!! Way too many or those to keep out at one time 🙂