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While obtaining my Undergrad degree I studied Early Childhood Education. After finishing school and starting a family, I went back “to my roots” and am developing a “center based” play area for my children. Essentially, by rotating their toys regularly, they don’t get board. I don’t always remember to change the toys, but when things are getting thrown, or broken, I know it is time to rotate the toys.

I have all the kids toys organized by type and then in individual bins. I have also placed certain books into bins so that I can also rotate books. I have only a few bins out at a time and rotate them ever week or so (when they seem like they aren’t playing with their toys as much.) Best case scenario, I would rotate the toys when they are still having fun playing with them so that they can have fresh toys and never be board. However, I usually am alerted that I need to change the toys when the oldest opens the wardrobe to find new toys to play with and the baby is right behind her pointing at the toys she wants to play with.

I have found this to be a great system for both of my children. The oldest is 3 and I have been doing this somewhat regularly since she was about 6 months old. My youngest is now 16 months old and she is greatly energized when the new toys come out as well. I am able to watch both children play and pretend in ways I never knew they were able. I am also able to do more around the house without them wanting my constant attention. When the new toys are put out it is hard for them to contain themselves with all the play they are active in. The day that the toys rotate I have the least amount of disciplinary actions, the children play great together and apart, and I am able to get the most house work done.

There are times when I pick out toys I want them to play with that they aren’t thrilled about. This requires me to play with them to show them how fun they can be. If they still don’t want to play with them I wait a few days and then bring out new toys. This is usually the case with new toys that aren’t obvious in what they are intended for.

I am able to rotate toys somewhat effectively because I have a wardrobe that houses the toys the children are not allowed to play with and a TROFAST storage system from IKEA that the toys they can play with are in. Most toys are organized into TROFAST boxes as well for easy switching of the toys. I mostly use ½ row/ single column boxes (smallest box) and full row/ single column boxes (second smallest box). I have a few full row/ double column boxes that I use for large items or for storing toys that don’t have a home. I also purchased tops for the boxes to make stacking easier when they are put away. I have placed books that I want the children to explore into wicker baskets; however, I would not use them again as they are easily destroyed.

What does it take to have this type of system?
You need to have a place where the toys are that they can play with and an area that is out of site that has toys they can’t play with. The bins that are used to store the toys need to be very sturdy and durable for the kids to play with and put away on their own. I also like to have the toys separated into their own bins based on the individual toy or type of toy so that they are easy to put away and store along with making clean up time easier for the children. At one point I even labeled the bins with the name and a picture of what was in the bins; however, the youngest tore all the labels off and ate them. If you don’t have 2 distinct areas like I do, you can use special bins for the toys they can play with, place the toys they are using on top of toy box of play area, or use some kind of covering/ sheet over the toys that are not to be played with.

I place toys out that are of differing types. For example I usually have 1or 2 bins that are for pretend stuff (action figures/ dolls, cars, pretend food, cooking, etc.), 1 bin that is for building stuff (lego, blocks, etc.), 1 or 2 bins that are for books, and 1 or 2 more bins that are not easily categorized like puzzles or games. As the kids get older I plan on having a bin out that is specifically for math/ science/ toy related, but with very young ones, they only put all the pieces together and scramble them or the pieces are too small and she eats them.

I try to keep my wardrobe organized by type to take up less time when I switch out the toys. I find it best if I have all the games and math stuff at the top where the children can’t get into them to mix them all together. The rest of the bins are in different spots in the wardrobe, and they do not have many small parts that are easily separated.

Life is easier if I change things up a bit for my children by only having a small selection of toys out at a time. I may need to make a few tweaks in my system as they get older, but having mini-centers for my children, the whole family atmosphere is more pleasant.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 3:16 pm and is filed under Children's Activities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.