What to do with too many toddler toys?

 
Are you sick of constantly cleaning up after your child, only for them to pull it all out again within a second? Are you tired of watching your child fleet from toy to toy without ever really play? It’s like they examine it, throw it on the floor, and move on... all with no real purpose?

Our messy play space when Ninja was 6 months old.

Then the reality is you have too much. Too many toys, too many materials, too many small pieces and just too much.

You are not alone in this as ever perfectly presented playroom online can be a bomb site in a matter of seconds as the child tornado blows through ... just because it looks pretty in the pictures doesn’t mean it’s not too much 

And I’ve been there too... in the first months of my parenting journey I brought and was given - All. The. Things. And I had them all out at once, so of course, chaos ensued. I tried toy rotation and thought I was on to a winner ... nope and that’s a big fat no. I still had too much, all out, all at once, and constantly wondering why independent play never occurred at our house or why it always looked like the aftermath of a whirlwind had been through it 

One day about 8 months into this chaos, I broke ... everything went away and I’m not exaggerating ... I kept 3 boxes out to play with ... three. No blocks, no play mat, no tethers, no nothing. And guess what happened, for the first time we had independent play! We saw focus and I didn’t spend my day cleaning.

Then I got overconfident and started adding back into the space ... too much again This became a scientific experiment, I would add toys and observe what happened and then take more away and watch again. for us there was a sweet spot. Anything more than 5 items ... Total ... led to a baby tornado. The only thing worse than a baby tornado is a toddler tornado or multiple tornados!

Our audited play shelves - 5 toys max!

I needed to break up with stuff, as stop attributing the collection of toys I had created with my worth as a parent. A coloured rainbow didn’t ensure my child was safe, secure, and learning. Nor did an organic ethically sourced fair trade teether define the connection I had with my child. Sure these things are nice, but not essential. Children learn best from within a loving and secure relationship .. there is nothing that says that children can only learn with the best things.

If anything, too much actually destroys learning and this isn’t just my findings from my pseudo-scientific experiment but rather based on science. When given too much choice the brain goes into an overload and can not choose. This even leads to what experts call, choice fatigue where we just can possibly choose one more thing. Any Mama’s lose the ability to decide what’s for dinner by the end of the day as they have just had too much choice? Or have you stood in front of your wardrobe filled to the brim with clothes and declared that you have NOTHING to wear? That is the same overload our children feel when staring at their toys.

Now ask them and they won’t break up with them, same as I won’t break up with my pre-baby jeans that I pretend I might fit into again. But it doesn’t mean the breakup doesn’t need to happen.

How you go about this is completely up to you. You don’t need to be as dramatic as me and pack everything up. You can slowly put toys away (you don’t even have to throw them, instead consider a toy rotation). You can do this with your child or you can do this during nap time (consider your child’s age here). But the first step to really sorting anything is knowing what you are dealing with. How much do you have? What types of toys do you have? What purpose does each toy serve?

Play Space at 18 months

Sometimes when you sort, you make a mess and it gets worse before it gets better, that’s okay. Consider pulling out all the toys, spreading them out, and using my toy audit to actually document what you own and how much of each type of toy you own. This isn’t to say you only ‘need’ one plastic animal or that you can not have 4 baby dolls (we have 6!). It is being conscious about it; did you know you had 6 dolls? Are they all played with regularly? Do you need all six out at once in each toy rotation? If you child loves dolls then go for it, if they are gathering dust, put them away for a while.

Then in resetting your play space, I have a few tips here on my blog on setting up a prepared environment. But also, consider how many toys does your child actually need before play becomes tornado-like? If you put away a heap, leaving only 20 toys out at they are still jumping around from item to item, try 15, try 10, try 2. It is all trial and error and the sweet spot for each child and family will be different. If you have multiple children this could be more to account for each child’s interests and needs.

Also, consider toys with multiple items, that’s you - block set! Do you need two block sets out with over 200 blocks, to trip on and pack up? Could the same play occur with only one out or are they both so loved that the pack up isn’t that bad? For me, I balance my 100 piece block set but only 40 magnetic tiles and two puzzles. Or 100 magnetic tiles, 20 block pieces, and 3 puzzles. There isn’t a right or wrong here. Consider more, how much can your child really play with at once, in a meaningful manner? For an older child, you might have more out, whereas a younger child might need a lot less.

I will be releasing a range of blog posts on different types of toys and their purpose in play, topics will include;

-          Open vs closed toys

-          Wooden vs plastic

-          Sensory toys

Want to get a head start and spring clean your toddler’s toys?

I have put together a quick and easy Toddler Toy Audit that steps you through, the purpose of your play space, examining what you have, observing what your child plays with, and then cutting it back. This is the step-by-step guide to the process we do at home every few months.

The last thing, your worth is not measured in the toys you provide, your child will still love you, learn and have fun with less and you don’t need everything you see online. Remember some of the accounts sharing these items are sharing as part of a business deal, that some of these toys are nice to have but not necessary.

What would be your top 5 toys in your play space currently? What are your child’s favourites?