Take back your toy room with these six play-enhancing tips. Start by digging out and boxing up any toys that your kids have outgrown. If your child is already reading, it may be time to pass those alphabet and phonics toys on to someone else. Still holding on to those rattles and teethers? Time to let go. Multiples are another obvious offender.
If you have three versions of Memory featuring three different characters, pick a favorite and move on. Finally, toss the junk. Broken toys, puzzles, and games with missing pieces, Happy Meal prizes, party favors—just trash it!
Kids tend to play with the same toys regularly. Sure, they may pick up other toys in passing, but they always come back to their favorites. Ask yourself the hard questions: how many dolls do you really need? How many car toys? Be ruthless. Sick of your kids pulling out every last toy just to leave them lying all over the floor? Why not leave them out in the first place. For instance, you might have a costume station with a hanging rack of dress-up clothes and a mirror, or a domestic play station with a toy kitchen and toy food.
Set up a table with art supplies, building toys, and a reading corner with a comfy chair and some books. Playing with the same toys over and over again can get tiring after a while. Wondering how to keep your kiddos engaged? Try mixing things up a little. A well-organized toy rotation helps to eliminate clutter, while allowing children to play with a wider selection of toys.
Since the available toys change on a regular basis, there is always something new and exciting to play with, ensuring your child will never get bored. Worried your little one will miss their favorite things?
If you want to encourage your kids to read, try trading traditional bookshelves for a few easy-to-access book rails. Book rails hold fewer books and display their covers better, making them more attractive to kids. Make sure your child can see and reach the books, and change the titles often to continually peak their interest.
You can even make weekly trips to the library and have your kiddo choose and set up their own books. The best way to keep toys under control is to not buy so many in the first place! Need a simplified approach? Another way to head off the avalanche of unwanted junk that looms every December is to make a gift list for your family.
Making a gift list also gives you the opportunity to offer creative alternatives. Have a local attraction you love or a favorite family ice cream parlor? I recommend that they instead put away half the toys in the room and see what happens. Almost always, they find that the child slows down, calms down, and focuses more. Having lots of toys in their environment can be very over-stimulating for children. Feeling surrounded by choices can create an internal pressure to play with everything, and stress over choosing which thing to play with next.
Another benefit of focusing less on acquiring more stuff can be more time to focus on gratitude for what you do have, especially if we make gratitude a conscious focus of our family life. At least it looks great from the outside. I suspect that if we ever went in, then he would want all the toys in there, and would sob whenever we passed in the future.
Some day, as your child gets older, they may notice that other kids have more toys than they do. But, it also opens up an opportunity for discussions with your child about your family values, what you choose and why.
It can also tie into financial literacy , and helping educate them about how to make consumer choices that work for them. Our kids can, and do, learn from everything in their environment. We do want to think about a diversity of experiences for our children. This is the best way to stimulate brain development. As we choose toys and activities, it helps to think about choosing toys that help with all the areas of development. I also think about the theory of multiple intelligences to ensure my children and my students have opportunities to develop them all.
Look at the toys you own: Does your child have toys that stimulate gross motor development? Pretend play? Artistic expression? Musical appreciation? Here is a handout on choosing toys to develop multiple intelligences. A friend of mine is in the process of selling her house. She made 5 plastic tubs full of toys to store in the garage. Siblings argue about toys.
On the other hand, siblings with fewer toys are forced to share, collaborate, and work together. Kids learn perseverance. Children who have too many toys give up too quickly. Kids with fewer toys learn perseverance, patience, and determination.
Kids become less selfish. Kids who get everything they want believe they can have everything they want. This attitude will quickly lead to an unhealthy and unbecoming lifestyle. Kids experience more of nature. Children who do not have a basement full of toys are more apt to play outside and develop a deep appreciation for nature.
They are also more likely to be involved in physical exercise which results in healthier and happier bodies.
Kids learn to find satisfaction outside of the toy store. True joy and contentment will never be found in the aisles of a toy store. Kids who have been raised to think the answer to their desires can be bought with money have believed the same lie as their parents.
Instead, children need encouragement to live counter-cultural lives finding joy in things that truly last. Kids live in a cleaner, tidier home. If you have children, you know that toy clutter can quickly take over an entire home.
Fewer toys results in a less-cluttered, cleaner, healthier home. So do your child a favor today and limit their number of toys. His new book, Things That Matter , will be published in April. Follow on Twitter Like on Facebook. Welcome to the King Toys Canada Online store.
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