Keep Your Kids Entertained With Toy Rotations

Have your kids ever complained that they were bored and had nothing to play with? I know a mom who came up with a genius idea to help keep her littlest kids entertained while she helped her older kids with school. If you're not a homeschooler and just have little kids at home and need a way to keep them occupied for an hour or two at a time, I'm going to share this mom's genius hack with you today!!

Most kids have a lot of toys. There are blocks AND Lincoln Logs AND Legos AND puzzles AND... you get the idea. I honestly think that kids might get overwhelmed with all the options. Little girls can have even more options. You have dolls and Barbies and My Little Ponies and dress up... How can kids get bored with all these things to play with?

Let me give you an example from grown-up life. Do you ever get excited to pull out your off-season clothes? Why is that? They are the same clothes you put away six or so months ago. There is nothing new in that box. They're the same sweaters and jeans and boots. The difference? You haven't worn them in six months!

Having something go away for a time gives it a feeling of newness. I could make pumpkin cookies all year round but I tend to only make them in the fall. Gingerbread is for winter. Christmas music and movies are for December (in my humble opinion). Even sports have times when you don't have them and guess what? There is a LOT of excitement when they come back :)

So what does this have to do with kids and their toys? It's the idea of toy rotation. Legos, blocks, and Lincoln Logs are all very similar. Rather than have them all out at the same time, keep ONE of them accessible to your kids and put the other two in the basement or a closet. Somewhere out of the way. We're going for "out of sight, out of mind". Do this for all of your similar toys. If your kids have favorite toys or things they all love and play with a lot, leave those out all the time. But the rest of it goes into a rotation*.

How long this rotation cycle lasts is up to you. Changing the toys every day is impractical and won't have the desired effect, but a month might be too long. Try it and see how long it takes before your kids start getting bored with what you have out. If you have older kids, you can explain to them what you're doing and why. Younger kids probably won't even notice. If anything, they'll probably suddenly love playing more because they aren't overwhelmed with options. It won't take long for you to figure out a good time frame for the toys.

You can even rotate specialty toys. Playdough, moon sand, water beads, and things like that are pretty different but are also more messy. Bring out specialty toys when you need more time but also are available to help if/when required. These rare toys will be even more exciting to your kids.

Toy rotations keep toys fresh and exciting for kids. By the time the toy comes back out, your child will probably have forgotten that it was in the house and so it is like they got a brand new toy!! Another benefit of toy rotations is that you can get a feel for what your kids love and what they don't use as much and you can start "thinning the herd". Getting rid of toys throughout the year that aren't played with will eliminate clutter from your house while also making room for the new toys your kids will get for Christmas and their birthdays :)

The final benefit of toy rotation? Less clutter is out in your house at a time!!!! If the rest wasn't enough of a win for you, Mama, this one is!




Tired of reading the same books over and over? Try the rotation idea with books too!! Don't be surprised if a few of the favorite books have to stay, though :)






*A note about dress up clothes: I know dress up clothes can pose a special problem. We had a toy box full when we were kids and there are even more options now. I would suggest making dress up clothes their own rotation. Always have a few items out and rotate through the outfits. Again, if your child is constantly dressing up as Captain America or Belle, leave those as constants, but bring new options out every once in a while.)