Anyone rotate toys?

Socialworkgirl

I have been reading a lot of Montessori at Home blogs and I am reading a book on Montessori.  One of the principles is limiting the number or toys to create an orderly environment and encourage them to really play with what they have rather than just move from one thing to the next constantly.

 Does anyone rotate toys so that there's not too much available at one time and LO can focus on what they have?  If so, how often do you rotate? How much do you have out at once? Do you think that it has had a positive impact in any way?

TIA! 

Lulobug22

I do. We still have more out than I would like but we keep other toys in big storage bins in closets. We have a huge hall closet that we stack bins.

Kim&Jim

Kind of but not officially.  They boys have a play room downstairs, we have a game room upstairs, and they have toys in their room.  I also have a closet full of toys for them.  I don't necessarily put the toys away, but usually rotate rooms we play in. 

Cherryblossoms07

I do.  I put half of their toys away at a time.  The larger toys are still available down in the basement since I cannot really store them where they are hidden, so those do get pulled out on occasion after I have stored them. 

I think it works well!  The kids act like it is Christmas morning for the next day or two after toy rotation.  I also rotate their books at the same time so that the same books are not sitting in their room all the time (I get tired of reading the same book month after month).  I think I put it on my cleaning list for every month or two.  The biggest impact I have noticed is that my house is tidier and less cluttered.  I have been rotating toys since DD was really young though so I haven't noticed any impact on the kids.     

Nel11

I do, but not because I am extremely aligned with Montessori methods or anything.

 I rotate every 2 weeks or so, mainly because I do think it helps DD really explore/experiment with her toys rather than just play with 1 for 2 minutes and then move on to the next thing.  It also keeps her from getting bored playing with the same things over and over.  I also like it because it keeps the sheer number of toys down so I don't feel like my living room has been taken over (we don't have a playroom).  I usually keep 4-5 toys out at a time, and then she has a few books that stay out all the time too.  That way it's easier to put those toys away (they go in either a wicker basket or wicker box with lid) when the day is done.  I keep my out of rotation toys either in our built-in's or downstairs in the basement.

momofmanyinthemitten

I did until we moved when DD was 16-ish mos. Now, her kitchen, doll house, book shelf, and stuffed animals are out all the time in the play room. Most other toys are in our huge hall closet. I bring one thing out of the closet at a time. Most days, she doesn't want to play with anything other than what's always out. She is big into imaginative play, so the doll house, kitchen and stuffed animals keep her busy. When we did rotate smaller toys when she was younger, it felt less cluttered and I can't help but believe that it helped her feel better. It was a bit overwhelming with all of her toys out all the time.

Dochas

Absolutely.  We put the toys anywhere they'll fit. lol.  Puzzles and things we'll leave 2 or 3 at a time around so there is always something fresh to take out.  Things like his trains and cars that he plays with ALL the time are always out.  But things like a rocket ship, batcave, bigger things like that go in closets.  When he seems to be getting bored I switch them.  Sometimes they come back out when I open a closet and he sees them. LOL  I rotate books too.  Bigger things like a play tent and ball pit magically appear and disappear during naps.

I have 2 Mom friends who buy absolutely every toy they ever see.  If they go to someone's house for a playdate and see something they don't already own they buy it within a couple of days.  Their houses look like unruly toy stores.  And they frequently complain that their kids don't play with any of their toys and can't focus for more than a few seconds.  Of course they can't!

barnwife

Sort of.

We have a basket of toys in the living room. We also have a toy kitchen and treehouse/dollhouse thing. The kitchen toys are stored in in. The treehouse/dollhouse little animals are kept in a small basket on top of it. 

In our closet we have 2 more toy baskets. One is on the floor. The kids are welcome to go and get/switch toys from that basket and the one in the living room. The other basket has toys that I switch out as I decide they are getting bored with what they have. (I don't have a set schedule.)

There are also toys they have to ask for, which include puzzles, legos, and blocks. (I don't like having all of the pieces to those out at once. So they must be picked up immediately when done. Having to ask for it helps enforce that.)

Finally, yes, I do find they get excited about things when I switch out.

sometimesalwayschaotic

We rotate toys probably about every 3 weeks.  I do it when I notice dd1 is no longer engaged in the toys.  We have 3 different totes full of toys.  I pull one out at a time so there is probably 10-20 toys out at a time.  I have never really counted.  Some of the things do stay out all of the time.  I definitely find that she plays with her toys a lot better when there is less out.  I noticed also that when I had too many of the bigger toys out in our small area that she would be too aggressive.  I think it really overstimulates her.

jensriot

Sort of. I have a big playroom upstairs, but the kids play downstairs in the living area 95% of the time. Once they seem to get tired of a set of toys I'll trade them for something upstairs. Recently they got bored with the train table, so I switched it out for building sets. They can still access all the toys, but I change what we focus on.

bumpuser8448316

DS's birthday and Christmas are so close together that automatically half of what he gets gets put away. On rainy days I'll pull out something new or save some of it for over the summer when it's too hot to spend a lot of time outside.

Every few weeks stuff that I haven't seen him play with in awhile gets put away. With DS, the more toys I keep out, the more he seems overwhelmed and spends a lot of his time wandering around whining and not really playing with anything.

He has a train table with two drawers underneath that I organized with baskets: 1 for cars, 1 for trains, 2 for train tracks, 1 for train accessories, 1 for army men & plastic bugs, 1 for FP little people animals, and 1 for his hot wheels track. He also has a play kitchen which I keep pretty well organized with all his Melissa & Doug wooden food, dishes, etc. and a basket of legos under one of the end tables. This is all in the living room. Then in the cupboards above the desk in the hallway I keep all his art supplies.

That's pretty much all he plays with so anything else he has is basically stockpiled in his closet and under my bed. Every once in awhile we'll get something else out, he'll play with it for a few days and then it sits there for a week or two before I finally just put it away.

AimeeL85

I try to. I recently got 2 big Rubbermaid bins and filled them with some of his toys.  They're stacked in the dining room which is near the playroom and had plenty of room in it.

I'm calling them my "10% bins" although they honestly hold less than 10% of his toys.  I want to put away more, but don't want bins all over the place...and also, more time than I want will probably go by before I rotate them. 

He has way, way too many toys.  My mom owns a childrens' consignment shop - clothes and toys.  She brings him ev-er-ry-thing.

Socialworkgirl

Thanks all! I put away about half of her toys and I will rotate them in a couple weeks.