This is a guest post by Lisa from Mummy’s Undeserved Blessings
Are you one of those mums who are really good at rotating your kid’s toys? I admit I am terrible at rotating toys. I think that is a great idea, but I NEVER get around to it. I think in my five years of parenting, I have done a toy rotation three or four times. With three little girls, I just don’t get the time.
The problem with not rotating the toys is that kids either are overwhelmed with all the toys, or bored with them and never play with them.
Late last year we decided to move our three girls into the one bedroom and create a playroom. It had always been my dream to create a playroom mainly because I felt like the toys were taking over my living areas. The playroom works really well, but many of the toys are packed away in the cupboard so the kids don’t play with them.
One day, feeling frustrated by the many toys that were sitting unused I decided to create an inventory of what we have. I just grabbed a scrap of paper and drew two columns. One with toys for my 2 year old, and another with toys for the older girls. I popped the list onto the fridge in the hope that I would refer to it when the kids seemed bored.
It has worked better than I could have imagined. My eldest loves getting the list out and has me read it to her during the day. She chooses what she would like to play with and I get it out. In theory, she plays with it, then it is packed up and another toy can be chosen. Sadly it doesn’t always work that way.
The toy inventory is great because toys that may have been forgotten and played with again. It is also really another form of rotating the toys and it also allows my girls to make choices about what they would like to play with.
I have made my list a bit fancy and laminated it, but all you need is a scrap of paper and a pen. Head to where you keep your kids toys and start writing.
Instead of writing down every toy, I used categories like Barbies, Little People, Dress ups, Puppets, Blocks etc. You can decide what would work best for the toys you have.
I like to place the list where the kids can see it. If they can’t read yet, you can either read it to them or you could add pictures to the list.
It is a quick and simple way to make sure that your kids get the best use out of all their toys.
How do you organise and/or rotate your toys?
About Lisa from Mummy’s Undeserved Blessings
Lisa lives in Canberra with her hubby and her three little girls. She shares her life as a Mummy and a Minister’s wife on her blog Mummy’s Undeserved Blessings.
