Toy Rotation Tips

Recently, I was going BANANAS about the post-holiday mess in my house. Every room just had a pile of “I don’t know what to do with this so I am just going to plop it here for now.” Toys and books were EVERYWHERE. So, I spent the day after Christmas cleaning up like a mad woman, and I vowed that 2023 was going to be the YEAR that I keep the house clean (HA- let’s see how long that lasts….)

If you feel like your little one has “too much stuff,” you’re probably right. We know that research supports the notion that LESS is MORE. Many research studies have found that when kids are given LESS toy options, they play with MORE items and for LONGER. No, that doesn’t mean you have to go throw out all your little one’s toys and books, and you shouldn’t feel bad if your child is blessed with lots of toys and books. BUT, it’s good motivation to organize them and help limit the amount of choices at one time. Here are FIVE tips for rotating toys and books at home and how to keep the clutter to a minimum!

TIP ONE

Get all kinds of baskets and use your furniture to organize the mess. Why do I love baskets? You can organize by category! Put cars in one, instrument play in another, etc. Then when your child picks a basket, they have all of their favorites in that category in one place. Plus, it’s super easy clean up! Put everything “in” and put it “back” and BAM. Organized, and really pretty! You have no idea that toys are hanging out in here!

TIP TWO

Invest in a cool bookshelf. This rotating one holds 160 board books and fits nicely in a corner! It is really heavy, so I am not concerned about it toppling over, but I have it in an area where my little one is supervised. You can rotate books from top to bottom every week, to help keep options limited and new books coming in!

TIP THREE

Create a book wall! It’s a great use of space, especially in small rooms! And you can easily rotate books, keeping the bottom shelves less cluttered (here they are packed for the picture, but typically I put about 5-8 books on the bottom two shelves and rotate weekly). It also prompts your little one to ASK for books out of reach, so it’s a great communication temptation! You can take this idea and make a small version on a wall too, doesn’t need to be the entire wall!

TIP FOUR

Invest in a storage system! This one from IKEA was very practical and inexpensive (I have a whole blog on it here). Again, use of baskets allows your little one to pull out ONE basket at a time and play with the toys inside. You can organize by category and it makes clean up a BREEZE! Rotate the bins and toys frequently, and keeping preferred items slightly out of reach makes for a great communication exchange and motivates littles to ask!

TIP FIVE

Get in the habit of having your little one help you clean up EARLY ON! Once they can sit up (around 6 months), you can start practicing routine directions like “put in". When they move from one toy to another, you can model putting their old toy “in” the basket and clean up a little as they go. Then as they get older you can have them clean up before they transition to the kitchen for a meal, go up for bath, or leave the house. A less cluttered play area will help keep you happy AND help keep your little one more focused!

Don’t beat yourself up if your house looks like a tornado hit it. That means your little one had a day full of FUN and LEARNING! If you notice your child is overwhelmed, overstimulated, or just a little unfocused, keep these tips in mind! And remember that playing WITH your child is the most important thing!