I have two sweet kids, ages 1 and 5. They LOVE toys.
I love my kids.
I love to PLAY with my kids.
I do NOT love tripping over and stepping on their toys.
Also, for those of you who don’t know, my husband is totally blind, and so if I were to ask him, I would bet he doesn’t love tripping over them either.
So for my sanity (and his physical safety!) I decided I had to tackle our toy problem.
After researching and wondering how on earth I was ever going to make any progress, I had just had enough one day, and decided to just do it!
I didn’t have a really sophisticated system, so if you’re looking for that sort of thing…you may just want to head off to another blog!! But if your’e looking for simple solutions…here’s what I did:
- Get a babysitter/mother’s helper or put on a movie to distract the kids!
- Gather big black trash bags and grocery bags. (If you have other containers to use that are prettier, feel free to use them, but I just used what I had on hand and it worked just fine!! )
- Put each toy set with multiple parts (i.e. little people, puzzles, legos, building blocks, etc. ) in a bag and tie it so they don’t get lost.
- Put those bags and any big toys in big black trash bags.
- GET RID of anything broken or they absolutely don’t play with at all anymore.
- CHOOSE ONLY ONE TOY WITH MULTIPLE PARTS ACCESSIBLE TO THE KIDS AT A TIME! (Don’t feel guilty! Just try it and you can always go back to how things were!) I didn’t include books, games, or craft supplies in this rule personally, but do what works for you!
- Neatly put that toy set, along with any other single part toys you wish for them to access, in the space you have available. (A stuffed animal, a dress up hat, a doll, a big truck, etc.)
- Put anything that won’t COMFORTABLY fit in the space you have available for toys OUT OF SIGHT. Maybe in an outbuilding, attic, bottom of your closet, wherever you have room. (Make sure kids can’t get to them without your help or you’ll have a big mess on your hands!)
- Every week or two, rotate out a couple of the toys, and your kids will act like it’s Christmas!! (Trust me, I didn’t think that this would be true for my kiddos either, but it was! Just try it!!)
- Enjoy the extra time with your kids, as well as the extra time to yourself because they’ll play a lot better if they aren’t overwhelmed…or at least mine have been!!
Note: It’s not mean. It’s not punishment. It’s just a way to help your family be able to more easily take care of the space God has given you as a family to live in, and therefore spend time on more things that truly matter!! And the bonus is that your kids will learn to be more creative with what they have, and more grateful!
And if you are all about teaching your kid to be self-sufficient, as I am, this will help them to be able to more easily clean up their own stuff!
JUST TRY IT!! It likely won’t take as long as you think. Your feet will thank you. AND you will thank yourself when you see how much less picking up you have to do, and how much more time you have to play with your kids instead of just helping them clean up their toys!
Let me know how it goes!!