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toys, toys, toys!
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I feel like we have too many toys. I’ve gone through them over the last 2 years and we got rid of so many. They keep creeping back into the house. I wonder if my dc think we have too many toys. When they can’t keep everything picked up then that means too much stuff…or am I wrong in thinking that way? We certainly have our favorites and then we have the few that are played with occasionally. How much is enough and how can you tell if you have enough or too much? FYI, we have 4 children 7, 6, 2.3, 5 mos.
I should add that I want to get rid of more as the holiday approaches and because we’re also moving play room to downstairs in the newly finished basement. I don’t want it to become a dumping ground! I also feel like I purchased way too much in our homeschool supplies not really knowing what we’d need our first year.
Thanks for your input.
I have this problem too! It boggles my poor hubby’s mind when he sees how much stuff we have, and how much I get rid of as we go along!
My criteria for keeping a toy:
No batteries (with very few exceptions)
Lasting play value- does it get played with every day or just a few times when it is new?
Does it inspire creativity, cooperation, and good will among my children? -If all they do is fight over it then it isnt worth it!
Does it have educational, emotional, social or physical benefits? -For example, does it help my daughter who has low muscle tone with her finger strength?
Do they use it well? -Sit n Spin is a great toy and I got it used to help with sensory issues, but both my little ones keep standing on it, falling and getting hurt. I put it away for a while to see if they would do better after a few months but they didn’t and I literally got rid of it this morning!
Do I have room? If I can’t find a reasonable place for it, then it has to go! We don’t have a play room so everything has to be in their room. We have a few things on an art table in the living room, on the carport or in our very small yard, but the toys can’t take over the whole house or I would go mad!
If I can’t put everything away easily I know we have too much. If they don’t play with it regularly, then I know it is too much.
I like curlywhirly’s criteria to decide what to keep.
We have the same challenge. We are extraordinarily blessed by generous family and friends, both in terms of gifts and hand-me-downs. I always spend November and December purging so that we can have room for new things. It always seems that the toys multiply along the way as well. I’m always sure that we pass along more than we receive, and yet it still builds up.
I agree with your comment that if they can’t keep it neat, there is too much. I keep some in storage and rotate it in and out so that things stay fresh, and there isn’t so much to manage at once. I run a home daycare, so by my acreditation standards I have to have a certain amount of toys and activities, but they don’t have to all be accessible at once!
I take what they have and divide it into 4ths. 1/4 goes in storage boxes in top of closet. 2/4 goes to grandma #1. 3/4 goes to grandma #2. 4/4 is what they play with for 6 mths ant which time I pull down the 1st fourth and store the 4/4 items……I do choose the worst stuff for grandma # 2’s house since we go there the least…these are the toys they really won’t miss.
I had grandma 2 donate to charity all toys. Took grandma #1’s stuff to #2. Took storage toys to grandma#1 and I have basically stored what was left here so they have a huge space for Christmas stuff.
Crazy I know, but kids willingly cull out stuff because they aren’t having to throw it out, but just move it to another house. LOL
They are generous though and will willingly give away things that they have outgrown. My son took his Woody doll to give to a little boy in church that he found out likes Woody. So I like that they see that things can be recycled and not just thrown out.
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