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terrydoo73
04-02-2010, 02:00 PM
I have 22 boxes of toys in the Argos system of cubby holes each labelled according to what is in the box as well as the large stuff (kitchen, dolls house, garage, prams, crib, shop etc). I spend a good proportion of the day filling the boxes up again - the children seem to want 1 thing out of the box but end up emptying the box just to get that one item. I know I could cut off the playroom and not let them have access to the toys only setting out what is necessary ie box of cars and senses box and have done this at various points of the day to try and encourage them to play with these only.

I am starting to wonder if I just have too many toys. I was thinking of reducing say the cars box to just a dozen cars, a few tractors and lorries and say the kitchen stuff to just a tea set of 6 cups, plates, kettle etc. Obviously this would mean I have to stack what is not being used above the existing system which is not ideal but maybe better in the long term.

What do you all do?

mum2two
04-02-2010, 02:11 PM
In the playroom, I have the ikea trofast system. I have 10 boxes filled in this. 4 of the boxes are big ones. One the floor next to it I have a box of puzzles.

On top of it, (as it's staggered like stairs, can add to it) I have a craft box, then a big box of lego, the bigger cars/diggers etc that don't fit in the drawers, the happyland boxes (which fill 2), and then the 2 small boxes of building bricks.

I'm guessing about 16/17 boxes worth. Then in the living room, I have a sideboard, with 2 cupboards & 2 drawers. one cupboard has books in, and the 2 drawers have baby toys & games in. (All my paperwork is in the other locked cupboard) God, that makes my house sound like a right mess!! No, it works for us & the kids.

My kids, (mine & mindees) are all pretty good, and all know they have to tidy up before getting the next thing out. DS teacher actually commented to me the other day how good he is at that, and she wished all the other kids were like it!! :D

xx

TheBTeam
04-02-2010, 02:20 PM
I have a huge amount of toys but a good proportion are stored in an off site garage and i go there regularly every week or so and swap stuff over for other bits, and then from this I set out a few different things each day. I did this because i used to have lots of accessible drawers available to them and all they did was pull the stuff out and not play with it. Now it is more focussed and there is not free access to everything they actually play with stuff.

Is there a way you could put some kind of peg/strap to stop access to some of the boxes, I dont think you need to reduce the amount of stuff in each pot, i always like to have loads of everything, but focus the number of boxes that are available instead.

Pudding Girl
04-02-2010, 02:24 PM
My inspector encouraged me to rethink my storage to freee access, so I did, but it's as above, simply not working, they just get all the things in the drawer out, not the one thing they actually wanted and leave things everywhere.
Am going to have to have ar ethink on it.

I set out key things like always have puzzles on table and rotate them, always have some kind of construction out, always a small world thing out, always a physical large thing out (tent/tunnel etc) always some mark making stuff out but the rest just ends up in a huge pile.

sarah707
04-02-2010, 06:15 PM
I am currently using small labelled baskets.

As they finish with one or two, they put them away before moving on.

It's taken weeks and weeks of gentle encouragement to get them to this stage but I think we're finally getting there! :D

TheBTeam
04-02-2010, 06:48 PM
My inspector encouraged me to rethink my storage to freee access, so I did, but it's as above, simply not working, they just get all the things in the drawer out, not the one thing they actually wanted and leave things everywhere.
Am going to have to have ar ethink on it.

I set out key things like always have puzzles on table and rotate them, always have some kind of construction out, always a small world thing out, always a physical large thing out (tent/tunnel etc) always some mark making stuff out but the rest just ends up in a huge pile.

The problem with inspectors is that they dont live in the real world, in most situations free access to all resources is not the way to get children playing with toys they use it to make a right mess and trash stuff! I do not limit from a range of stuff what they play with, but i do limit the amount of anything accessible, and have a variety of options available in tuff crate size boxes, and have 2-3 of these around plus puzzles and one off toys and drawing/craft stuff etc. I have found from experience that this works best to keep stuff slightly restricted to avoid pandemonium!!!

Gizmo
04-02-2010, 07:48 PM
I have got far too much and hardly any of it gets played with my dd 2 and mindee 3 just want to play with the dolls and buggies and the lo is starting to walk so he wants to do that ALL day. I'm having a major clear out this weekend and cant wait :clapping:

terrydoo73
04-02-2010, 08:15 PM
This afternoon I moved some stuff around so now I have one set of 6 cubby holes on wheels at one end of the playroom. I have 2 other sets of 6 cubby holes one on top of the other. I have taken down the set of 4 cubby holes and am going to put wheels on this one. I thought I might use this one in my hall area - if it is on wheels it might be easier to move it about. Only trouble I have with this is the kids tend to pull all the boxes out and climb through them or on top of them. I think with the other 6 cubby holes on wheels I will put it into my living room when I want to restrict the toys a bit - it does give me a bit of table top space that I could set some small world toys on like the farm set, dolls house or garage. If the children are able to access these holes which are on wheels from both sides they might enjoy playing with the toys! I have also cut down on the toys within each box in the cubby holes - so in the dressing up box I have just a dress, a pair of shoes, a bag, binoculars, magic wand, magnifying glass, torch and a couple of hats (cowboy, firemans) Has anyone any suggestions now as to the labelling of each box - I tried sticking pictures on the ouside of each with the names on them but the kids just pulled them off! It will be interesting to see if it makes a difference to the amount of mess and time taken to tidy up!

I think it is true about inspectors. The last time I had a visit I showed her the playroom and she put it down on my report that I needed to give the children more access to this room. I don't think she realised that with twins aged 21 months, a 2 1/2 year old boy and a 4 year old girl how much this is destructive play rather than constructive play if you see what I mean!!

I have wondered about putting pegs or doors on the cubby holes but don't really know how to do it without the children pulling them right off! Would love to know if anyone has done something like this with their storage just to get ideas!

mushpea
05-02-2010, 07:01 AM
We have a leanto conservatory which can be played in from spring to autumn this has 2 sets of cubby holes, one set of 9 then on top a set of 6 all filled with toys, the children have free access to them srping to autumn then in the winter they can still see the boxs and ask for what they want brought in, non of mine really ask for any of the toys in so i tend to bring in a few different ones each week and i have found that this way they will play with what i bring in.

helenlc
05-02-2010, 08:08 AM
Before I had my conservatory built, I had one big book case in the front room with all my toys on in boxes. I used to get some things down in the morning and the children knew they could choose other boxes down as long as we tidied the first lot up.

It all packed away nicely onto or just infront of the bookcase - it had to as I had no other room!

Now I have the conservatory and I have the Trofast system from Ikea. I also have a crate of books, storage box of Little People and another box of electronic, sounds and lights toys.

The children can get out most things and do - and then not always play with them.:angry: I am going to thin down what is in the boxes - so for example, some of the play food/kitchen bits can go back in the playhouse, I will leave out train track to make a figure of 8 but thats it. Then I am going to buy the lids for the Trofast drawers so I can in effect contain them.

I have to say as much as I love my conservatory/playroom, I also liked the sense of order that came with the having to put things out and then away each day.

terrydoo73
05-02-2010, 09:24 AM
Yes I know what you mean about putting out and away at the end of each day. I went on a High Scope in the Family Setting course once and they were on about setting out certain areas in your home like a construction area, home area, reading and quiet area etc etc. I followed these principles for a while but found my mindees soon got bored too although I did have 2 or 3 different types of construction for instance and moved the home area from a kitchen one week to a hairdressers the next. My concern with having the stacking cubby holes was the children climbing - they would have moved boxes out and then got a foothole in the space and before I knew it were hanging on for dear life half way up!

I have this morning taken pictures of what is inside my small boxes and laminated these and stuck them to the front so I know what is inside.

I also decided this morning to set the 4 cubby hole system in my living area with the farm on top and it seems to be working with my mindee as he has played with it since he came in! I have also set up the little shop with cash till and food in the playroom, the dolls with prams, cot and clothes down the hall and towards the front door some lego. I also have some games like marble run, pop the pirate in another part of the living room. Plenty of choice as well as the arts and crafts and playdough in the kitchen! My daughter when leaving for school really wanted to stay and play today as she loved the look of all I had set out!

Only problem I am left with is - I have nothing in the 4 cubby holes now!! I could of course move stuff into it at the end of the day to take away from the stacking boxes on top of the 12 cubby holes! I am going to try and get hubby to put the wheels on this 4 cubby hole system later today to make it easier to move from room to room.

I really think the pressure is on during the winter time as you cannot get the children outside as much - I know once I hit March/April they will be outside more and the playroom might not be looked at for long periods of the day! I have an excellent outdoor area with as many ride ons as you could name, 2 playhouses, a separate sand and water tray, slide, rockers and loads of ball games to play with! It is definately so much easier when the weather is dry and warm!!

AliceK
05-02-2010, 09:36 AM
I have got far too much and hardly any of it gets played with my dd 2 and mindee 3 just want to play with the dolls and buggies and the lo is starting to walk so he wants to do that ALL day. I'm having a major clear out this weekend and cant wait :clapping:

Same here. DD aged 2 and mindee aged 18mths prefer to play with bigger things like pushchairs, car garage, building blocks etc and all the smaller stuff gets tipped out and left all over the floor. I'm forever tidying it away but if they see me doing this they want it all out again. I have to do it while they're strapped in the highchairs eating:laughing: . I had planned on having a massive sort out this weekend and putting lots of the smaller stuff away. Just got to find something for new older mindee to do. He's 4 and all he wants to do is watch TV. I think this is all he did at his previous CM's. But that's another story.

xxxxxx

Kes
05-02-2010, 09:38 AM
In my living room I have the 6 drawer trofast unit, a pop up basket with dressing up clothes in, a kitchen which is not too big and a few books. In my unit cupboard I have the craft stuff with child locks on. This means the only ones that can get to it know they have to tidy it when finished.
I have a bigger trofast unit upstairs so I swop the trays around every now and then. Mine tend to only get one thing out at a time and its usually the cars, think I may just be lucky with the kids that I have at the moment.