Episode 11 - TAMING THE TOYS
Home organzation specialist, Kara Curtis of First Daze and Nightzzz, is our guest this week to discuss how toy rotation can help keep your home organized.
Episode 11
Topic discussed include
What is toy rotation?
Benefits
Where to Start?
You can contact Kara for help with your projects at info@karacurtis.com
- Overview of toy rotation
- Benefits of toy rotation
- Where to begin
- Organization strategies
- Alternative gifts to toy
What is toy rotation?
- Dividing toys out into groups and bringing out one group of toys out at a time
- Similar to rotating summer and winter clothes
- Allows for full engagement with all the toys are out
Benefits
- brings clutter relief
- makes cleanup easier
- Has calming effect
- Can be hard to feel like you are taking something away from your kids, but feels so much better for everyone once it is done
- Can help figure out which ones need to be fixed, missing parts
- Can figure out which ones can be donated
- Pause in the chaos of every day life
- Environment impacts children's learning
- Home chaos can impact language development
- More focused and engaged relationships with toys
- Feel greater sense of mastery
Where to Start?
- Find a time when kids are out of house or napping
- Get everything into one place
- Take stock of toys that you have
- Group toys - ex. thinking toys like blocks, puzzles, moving toys, pretending toys
- Make 4-6 piles of groups that will go together with approximately 10 toys
- Put toys from each of three categories - thinking, moving and pretending toys
- Leave out 1 pile and put the others away for storage
- Label each of the piles
- Have a random pile for things that don't belong in any of the piles
- Think about how you want to arrange them ex. all together in a playroom, a few things in each room
- Older preschoolers can be involved in the process
- Prep your kids for the process. ex. We are going to be making a change
- Always better to prepare preschool age children
- Have a big reveal when new toys come out
- Labeling can help, but does not need to be beautiful
- Could put picture with where items go
- Can help them develop reading skills
- Special comfort toys could always stay out
- Books can always be left, as well as art supplies
- Legos are a constant for some families
- Every 2 weeks is average frequency, but could be longer if at home a lot
You can contact Kara for help with your projects at info@karacurtis.com