January 27, 2014

Taming The Mess with Toy Rotation {How To}

A year and a half ago, my house was devoid of toys.  I had maybe two or three for when friends Many Waters Taming the Mess with Toy Rotationcame over and they were small (think matchbox cars.)  Eighteen months later, my house is full of toys.  With Christmas in the not so distant past, we have even more.  

For awhile it was a problem.  There were toys in the living room and Munchkin’s room and the kitchen, bathroom and our bedroom.  Munchkin loves to take all her toys out and scatter them all over the house.  She didn’t necessarily play with all of them, she just took them all out.  I would clean up two or three times a day, often with Munchkin’s help.  I got tired of it quickly and knew something had to be done.

I knew I could go through her toys and get rid of some of them.  Except I didn’t really want to do that.  I knew she would still play with most of them if she could just see them and not get distracted by other toys.  So after seeing something on pinterest (where else?!) and talking to other moms, I decided to try toy rotation.

The first thing I did was get a few bins.  I decided that for us, 3 bins of toys with a set of toys out would work for us (so 4 groups of toys.)  My plan was to change out the toys every week.  I know that a weekly rotation doesn’t work for everyone but an every other week or even monthly would work as well.  I’ll be honest, there are times I go two weeks before rotating them.  It works for us and that’s what is important.

Once I had my bins, I gathered all Munchkin’s toys (minus tubby toys) together.  Then I made sure each toy had all it’s pieces.  As I gathered the toys, I realized that she had a lot of baby toys so I took those out and them set aside for a future sibling.  At this point I decided some toys would not go in the toy rotation.  For example, Munchkin gets to play with her blocks, baby doll and kitchen all the time.

After that, I divided the toys into  piles. I put a different Little People play set in each bin.  Then I put a favorite or two in each group.  After that, I divided up the rest of the toys so there would be close to an equal amount in each one.

The bins live in our bedroom because I don’t have any other place to store them at the moment.  Since starting this, I bought bigger bins on sale.  The original bins I had didn’t fit the big toys (like the Little People farmhouse) so it was sitting outside the bin.  Munchkin would see it and want to play with it.  Now all the toys fit in the bins and there is even room to add more.   With the extra room I think I’ll be adding some books into the rotation too.Many Waters Packing up the Toys

When it’s time to rotate the toys, I gather them all up and place them in a laundry basket.  Then I grab the bottom bin, take all the toys out and put them in the toy box.  Then I empty the laundry basket into the bin and place it on top of the pile.  It takes about 5 minutes to do the whole switch out.  I like to do it when Munchkin is napping or down for the night.  If she’s awake than it takes a little longer cause she likes to get into the bins.  She’ll be a great helper when she’s a little older!

I’ve been doing this for about two months and it’s been working great.  Munchkin loves playing with the “new” toys when they get rotated.  She doesn’t seem to be losing interest in her toys as quickly.  We only have 1/4 of the toys to clean up and my house is no longer covered in toys.  It’s been great for us!

How do you tame the toy mess at your house?

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28 comments:

  1. I found you through the Pinterest party, and I am pinning you too.


    I agree. I do this, not as organized as this, but I still do it. I take toys/books downstairs and bring others up. This is also how I weed out toys for garage sales - I see what kids don't really play with anymore!

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  2. Young House Love has posted about it too. I HATE plastic kids toys, so when we have kiddos I will probably be doing this. its genius.

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  3. Oh, this is a good idea! I need to remember it now that she's getting older.

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  4. Sharing with my daughter who has a 2 yr old! Good stuff!!!

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  5. I have been meaning to start doing this, but haven't yet. Thanks for the kick in the pants! We'll probably do every 2 weeks.

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  6. This is a great idea! My kids also love to spread toys everywhere. It's madness but I feel guilty about getting rid of them (how silly is that?)

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  7. Sounds great! I am a toy nazi so I would just get rid of toys, honestly. And with no - gift birthdays we kept toy clutter down. We also had a no toys out of the playroom rule....wow....I guess we were pretty harsh with toys :P.

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  8. You're right...it is a great way to go through the toys! I'll have to remember that:)


    Thanks so much for the visit and the pin:)

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  9. I can't take credit for coming up with the idea. I LOVE it. Life is better now:)

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  10. It makes life easier! I also love that my house is no longer covered in toys:)

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  11. You're welcome! I probably do every week and a half. It works:)

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  12. I feel guilty about getting rid of them too, especially the ones that were gifts!

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  13. Toy nazi..LOL! No gift birthdays are a great idea. We just like to buy Munchkin stuff I guess. Maybe that will lessen once we have more kids?!?!

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  14. I'd love to hear how it works for you if you do it!

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  15. Toy rotation sounds like a genious idea! Wish I had thought about it before, lol

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  16. Great idea. We're downsizing and I strongly consider rotation with toys and homeschool activities.

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  17. Great idea!! Thank you for sharing at This~N~That Thursday at Through the Dutch Door!

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  18. Yeah this is a big problem in our house, too! Mostly I just clean them up when company is coming over (yikes) I really should go through them like you did and take out the "baby" toys so he is playing with the more challenging ones! Also- we have toys people gave him for his birthday (August!) that are still in their boxes in the basement! One day I'll have to rotate toys and add those in there! Thanks for sharing with Time for Mom!

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  19. What fantastic tips. I'm sitting here staring at about ten buckets full of toys that I have no idea what to do with. I love the toy rotation idea. Thanks for sharing on the weekend re-Treat link party. Pinned!

    Britni @ Play. Party. Pin.

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  20. I SO need to get this organized with the toys. Right now, I'm hesitant to bring them into the house, so they are still in the garage after the move. Thanks for the great idea and being a co-host with Countdown in Style!

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  21. This sounds like a good way to solve the problem. I personally will not be advocating for toys from others for my kids because this just sounds crazy lol. I see too many times my son likes to play with household items and he finds things to do with so many other things. I plan to do crafts with him and let him experiment with creating things on his own, etc. I know me and hubby really probably won't be buying toys like that ourselves and I'm thinking telling people to just get clothes for Christmas if they really want to buy something could ward off the obsessive toy purchasers in either side of our families :) If your kids do have a lot of toys, I can see this being a great solution though. Thanks for sharing with us at Countdown in Style and for co-hosting this week!

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  22. This is brilliant! I LOVE it!! Thank you for linking this up with us for MMM link up party! I just shared it on our Adventurtes in Mindful Living FB page.

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  23. I used toy rotation when I had lots of littles while homeschooling my oldest son. It was such a big help and the kids came to expect it, too.

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  24. I love it! It will be nice when Munchkin can remind me cause I'll often go two weeks before switching it up.

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  25. Dropping in from UBP 2014. I think this is such a great idea. I didn't discover it until my kids were old enough to make their own toy rotations. But I found it useful in my elementary classroom when I taught. If you get a chance drop in to my sight: mindlikechild.com. We love visitors.

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  26. Thanks so much for coming by! I can see how this would be helpful in the classroom!

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