Toys – Less Can Be More
Posted in Your Home on 29. Jan, 2010
Now that Christmas has settled I am going through and organizing the kids’ playroom and bedroom. I have always known that they have a lot of stuff, but I am realizing more and more just how much they have. There are a lot of toys! Bins were overflowing, cubes were stuffed, and shelves were filled up. My goal recently was to go through their toys, and declutter everything I could get away with.
If your kids’ things are out of control, here are some things I have tried that help –
- First, pull out the things they have outgrown. My girls have moved onto Legos and Duplos, so they don’t play with Mega Blocks anymore. I also came across a surprising amount of older infant toys that are more appropriate for a one year old, rather than my two and four year old kids. These were the easiest things to remove from the playroom.
- Beloved stuffed animal, or forgotten toy? There are some stuffed animals that I would never toss because of sentimental value, and because my kids love playing with them. However, there are also a lot of stuffed animals that my children have been ignoring for months (or years!) and are only collecting dust. If you are unsure about your child’s attachment to a stuffed animal but want to thin out your collection, try setting a few aside for a couple of weeks. If your kids don’t notice they are gone by then, they will probably never miss them.
- Rotate toys. If you have a wonderful (but overwhelming) toy collection, try rotating toys. Divide up the toys, and then rotate throughout the year. You can do this every month or every six months – the point is to have a manageable number out at a time (the rest in a closet or garage), but still keep the toys.
- Get rid of the oldest, banged up version of the same toy. For Christmas this year, my kids received several new puzzles. They really enjoy puzzles, and I was happy to see that they had some new ones to play with. However, I also went through their toy room and looked through the ones they already had. I was able to pull out a couple of worn out puzzles, in order to make room for the new ones. Again, I set these aside before giving them away – just to make sure that the kids wouldn’t miss them before they officially left our house.
Now that I’ve gone through and reorganized things, my kids are discovering forgotten toys that were buried under piles or stuck on shelves. Right now, my daughter is playing with a toy she received last year, as if it were brand new. It’s wonderful to see how much easier it is to walk into the playroom and select something to do – rather than feel overwhelmed with too much of everything. It has been refreshing to thin out our play room, and I recommend it to other moms. Whether you choose to keep everything and simply rotate toys, have a yard sale, or donate items, I hope you’ll be enjoy a more peaceful and less cluttered space to play.
-Grace
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