Toy Purging

[kleigh926]

So for pretty much as long as my kids have been old enough to play with toys, I have tried to do a toy rotation by bringing out different toys from their bedrooms into the living room a couple times a week. Lately I've been noticing that the toys I bring out really never get played with anyway. There are a few things that will keep them occupied pretty consistently; otherwise, most toys get played with very rarely. DD especially seems to have an extremely short attention span with toys and literally would rather sit and do nothing most of the time than play with a toy. The only thing she really gets into anymore is playing school with her baby dolls or coloring.


Yesterday I decided to clean all the toys out of the living room and just keep everything in their bedrooms. Instead of bringing different toys out, I rearranged the locations of the toys in their rooms to try and spice things up a little bit and I'll let them bring out what they want. However, I am considering doing a big toy purge after Christmas depending on what they get. The reason I haven't gotten rid of a bunch of stuff already is because a lot of is still very nice, age-appropriate, and/or given to us by family members, and I kinda feel guilty getting rid of things that were gifts. But so much of it rarely gets played with and is just taking up space. Maybe some of it has run its course and is time to be donated.


Have any of you gotten rid of a lot of toys at one time? Do your kids even seem to care about toys most of the time? I swear DD would never even play with 90% of the toys we have except to suddenly become interested in something when DS has it and take it from him 

[brachysira]

People online are always like, "this is for sale, new, kid got for his birthday last month and isn't into it." I'm probably a hoarder, but I always guess that if that's the case, your kid isn't ready and I put it away for 6 months and try again. Rotating is super-successful here. I can just rearrange and the kids are into it. Or bring out a toy that we only play with when I want water out, so they see it only once in a while, and it is a huge success. Or lose a toy to the "needs new battery" pile and bring it out a few months later and it is like new. Get out a baby-piano or something that's been in storage to give away, and they play with it for a week.

DS plays with all the toys. Can play for a long time by himself and plays with just about everything we have--play kitchen, garage for cars, trains, little people. DD would probably be happy to just look at books and talk, but she also will play with toys, especially during "nap time." She's into pretend play figures, dress-up clothes, and duplos with people/animals. She also has a lot of hard puzzles and board games we do together. She likes drawing on a white board and playing with little manipulatives like beads. We have a bounce house that they both love to play in. On the flip side, at the park today they played a game that involved having to take off one's hat when you go into the house, and running around a lot, and this entertained them for an hour. I like having toys because it's nice to host playdates and have enough things for a large number of tots. I sometime set up things to do and incorporate multiple things, like different things in the bath or outside or in a sensory bin. But not having things is nice too and if that's your thing, many people will agree it's better.

[pinkie]

I would buy one or two of those huge plastic bins at Home Depot and put the toys you would give away in those and store the bins in the basement or shed or attic or closet and wait 6 months. If the kids freak out then consider pulling some or all out. If they don't mind then donate or sell.

[dc2london]

I do a fairly significant toy purge every year just before Christmas

[wineandcake]

In my house it isn't the kids who care if I get rid of toys. H for some reason thinks we can't get rid of any toys that his family gave the boys. Maybe if his family ever came to visit and see if the toys were here I might feel different, but they haven't been here in well over 2 years so I'm slowly getting rid of the toys. Maybe I'll try the bin idea and just stash most of the toys for a few months and see if anyone notices. We have way too many toys here and not enough space for them. The boys play with them, but always go for the same ones so no sense keeping so many.

[expatmama]

I tend to do a purge every 6 months or so. The kids haven't noticed, but they have found the toys once or twice and got upset. Last time I let DS1 pick out some nicer toys to give to some of his smaller cousins as part of it. But usually I throw away a lot of toys that are really worn or missing pieces. Then I offer up the other nice stuff to other people or to a toy exchange.

[crimsonandclover]

No matter how secretly I try to do the purges, DDs 1+2 always seem to catch me and then take half the stuff back out. I need to do another purge before Christmas. DH will be off some in December and I'll try to do it then when the DDs are in preschool.