With his second birthday fast approaching, I had already penciled in a toy purge for this month, so this week's Hot Spot hit the spot, so to speak! I'm not sure that I made a lot of space, but what I did do was come up with a workable storage and toy rotation system.
We keep the bulk of his toys in the living room, since this is where we spend most of our time, so I concentrated on those. He really only has three or four toys in his bedroom. I talked about his toy bins before, when I posted his drawstring bags.
Since then we also acquired a toy box, and of course I set up his play area.
Here are some more photos of the before:
The toy box - vintage construction set, legos, chipos, bucket with shovel and rake, stacking boxes, tambourine and numerous smaller bits and pieces
Bin #1 - mainly stuffed toys but also musical books and music makers.
Bin # 2 - blocks and other wooden toys, plus some random stuff
Finally two bins of toys that I keep in my office area and rotate out occassionally.
In sorting I mainly got rid of lots of stuff that weren't "real toys": things like catalogs and cardboard boxes and other bits that he plays with, which are great, but also make the place look very untidy and cluttered. Since these are easily replaceable (hello, junk mail!), I had no qualms in chucking them in the recycling bin. The other main thing I got rid of were soft toys. He's not really into them, and will only ever pick up two or three: a teddy bear, his Elmo and his funky giraffe. Finally a few things that he has definitely outgrown like rattles and his soft football.
My reorganisation was based on noticing that lately he mainly takes toys from the toy box, and rarely goes to the black bins. What this meant was that by the end of the day the floor would be covered with legos, clipos and construction pieces. which take forever to pick up at night.
So in the toy box I placed his favourite toys (also known as the toys Mummy would prefer him to play with) like legos, wooden blocks, two pull along toys, stacking boxes and music instruments. Also Elmo, Teddy and his doll. In the bins I put the things we use less regularly, as well as other kinds of blocks, that way I can rotate things out when I sense he is getting bored.
Of course the first thing he did on Thurday morning after all this was done, was to go to the black bins! But I managed to distract him back to the toy box and he seems pretty happy with the new set up.
No doubt I will have to re-evaluate after his birthday. We are encouraging books as the ideal gift though! I'm very happy to have worked out a better system, and I can already feel the difference when it's time to clear up at night!
