Organization for Kids: Trading Toys Out

Oh, toy clutter! Too many toys can make it hard for kids to have room to play (as well as hard for adults to walk through!). Some parents rotate out the toys monthly - it can seem like "new toys" have arrived. I've found that this doesn't work well for my kids - they have the toys they love and they want to play with them over and over again. When the month was up, they'd pick the same toys they'd been playing with.

The system we use now is to have an accessible storage area for "Toys Out of Circulation". Ours is located in a hall closet, at the bottom where it's kid accessible. It's not near the common play area, so the child has to go out of her way to get a toy out, but she can if she remembers something she wants. It's most commonly used when Bean's acting bored or Truck's getting into things and they need something fresh, or if we need some more age-appropriate toys for some kid guests.

Toy storage for toys not currently being used

The only rule is: If you take something out, something else has to go back in. It's a toy trading system. When Bean was younger, this meant the same number of toys, but as she is getting older, we talk about how much space something takes up, so a large toy can be traded for several smaller ones. This system empowers the kids to manage their toys and to understand that they have to share space with other people in the house.