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OT: purging toys and having company
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So there have been several posts lately about getting rid of extra toys and I have been trying to get on board. The reality is, my kids generally play with legos, baby dolls, and pretend food. And books of course! I talked to my kids (7, 4 and 2) and they are totally on board with getting rid of stuff. But my question is, what about when you have other kids over to play? DH and I are talking about hosting a small group from our church, and that would include kids playing while parents do Bible study. Do I need to keep a certain amount of stuff around for the other kids? Or will kids not like my house and think it’s boring? Would love to hear from some other simplifiers.
We had similarly aged kids and have simplified toys down to (how did you know?!) Legos, dolls, and play food. We also host a community group and this is what I have seen… In the absense of tons of excess stuff, they play *together*! Yay! Also, when the night is over, there is not a huge mess to clean up. We used to host playdates and there were always the “dumpers” who come in and dump out every bin on to the floor. Now, I put almost everything away (even the Legos) so they can invent their own games.
I do usually put a few things in our basement during the community group:
– Beach balls (bought 4 at the Dollar Store)
– Dress up clothes
– Twister (this is a great multi-age game)
– A bin of baby toys for the little ones
– A CD player/radio – they love to dance
They seem to have a blast everytime and are sad when the night is over. They love to run around in the backyard too. Our group has all ages of kids from 4 months to 10. Hope that helps!
I felt bad recently that my kids stock of toys had gotten so low and we were having company, but there wasn’t time or money to run out and buy new things! So guess what happened when we had company (11 kids total). They played tag, basketball and took turns with a couple of our skateboards. It was one of the most peaceful kid-involved get togethers we have had in a while! I think the trick is to keep some toddler toys (maybe in a bin that gets stowed away if you don’t have toddlers). I also like to have a ‘quiet play’ option like the lego table, coloring books or playdough in case everyone gets worn out with the more active games.
I run a home daycare, so I have to keep certain types of toys on hand, but most of them are in the storage room and rarely come out. (But they are there if my agency consultant asks about them,
.)After Lego, dolls, and play kitchen, my top three things to keep would be wooden trains and tracks, blocks, and play figures (Little People, Playmobil, or similar). These are the permanent features in our playroom. Everything else lasts a few days, and then gets shoved to the back of the shelves and ignored until I put it in storage again.
I agree with Servingwithjoy that things like play dough or not-too-messy crafts such as watercolour pencils or paints would also keep a group engaged. That’s what my kids end up doing most when friends are over, other than just running around outside.
My kids are 5, 3, and 10m. We have a play kitchen and food toys, blocks, little people Noah’s ark and a house, Legos, and dress up. The trains were sold at a garage sale because I was sick of put tracks together over and over. For the most part my kids play outside or look at books, (both while wearing dress up clothes)
If we have anyone coming over the Legos are put away. I am not a fan of the day good bye and clean up the mess battle.
Right now for our community group my daughter is the oldest of 15 kids and she is 5.5, so we have been laying the babies down for bed and putting a movie on for the older kids. It is not ideal but unless 2 moms miss out on adult study or we hire a sitter to watch them all Itnis what works right now
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