Toys. Ugh!

[at-home]

How do you handle the toy situation. We really do not buy a lot of toys, but I've tried to just buy nice things that they can enjoy for a while: Blocks, Brio train set, dolls & clothes, match box cars, small animals.....but they do wind up with a few miscellaneous type toys. I've tried keeping the various types of toys in separate tubs (dishpans,usually), just bringing out one or two tubs at a time, but I usually wind up bringing out several (because I'm busy or stressed - they are sweet but very busy girls!) and then it takes forever to re-sort them. Also, I really don't have room in the house or even in the garage to store the different tubs. Yes, I have my twins help me clean up & sort, but their "help" sometimes doesn't go that smoothly. I've gone the "toy chest" route, but that is even worse. I have Montessori and Waldorf books that show everything so neat and orderly, explaining that we are to teach our children to fold scarves and put them away, put toys neatly on the shelf, etc., and I long for that......but I just don't think we can do it! What do *you* do?

[Joyster]

We have quite a bit of bookshelves and a couple of toy racks on different floors which fits four large bin and 6 smaller bins. It's been a lifesaver. http://www.toysrus.ca/product/larger...&imageIndex=0# Hope the link works.

We do have quite a bit of space, but I recently went on a massive purge getting rid of a lot of stuff my kids hadn't played for a long time and put the craft stuff in baskets on a bookshelf. They also have a bazillion puzzles and books. I'm contemplating another bookshelf for the puzzles. I think for me, just having the infastructure (bins, shelves, baskets) is the key for me keeping everything sane. I actually grabbed the idea from how our Montessori was organized and everything was on an accessible shelf in it's own basket. That and making sure what they have is stuff they actually play with. I'm also a bit of a stickler making my kids tell me why they need the animals and the cars and the Lego out at the same time. Sometimes they want to build racetracks and that's fine, but if they're not doing that, something has to go away before something else can come out.

[ann_of_loxley]

We don't have much space - but we have a loft to store a lot of things in.

We have recently adopted the rotation box (or boxes! lol). Half the toys we had out went up in in the loft. After about 3-6 months - we shall bring more out and put the other half away.

I am also hoping that some things DS1 will be too old for and since there is a considerable gap between my two, DS2 will be too young for - so keeping those things in the loft longer. (though this has been another small problem because we have saved everything in hopes that another baby would like it...so we have loads still! lol)

Toys I havn't actualy wanted to get rid of because they are very nice - but have hardly been played with...go to grandmas house! They get played with there! (and stored there then! lol).

Sometimes - I just bag up toys and we take them to the chairty shop.

If you are worried your child will miss them - bag them up and wait to see if they miss them first. If they don't after a month or so - then donate them.

[Cascadian]

- lots and lots of totes, small Ikea crates, baskets; put pic of contents on outside of container
- limit toys with small/multiple pieces
- hide and rotate
- purge often
- limit birthday party presents to things like donations to charities, or books; better yet, no gifts
- one toy in, one toy out rule