toys toys toys!

[mushpea]

I have 2 sheds full of toys plus stuff in the playroom which I rotate reguarly plus a cupboard upstairs with odd bits in,,,,I am thinking that I have rather a lot of toys and wondering wether to have a sort out and loose some,, my problem is i will look at somthing and think they dont play with it but then again what if in a months time i take on a child who really likes playing with that toy,, I am hopless at getting rid of stuff and it has been commented that I have lots more that most childminders which makes me think I have far more that I actutaly need!

just wondering how much the rest of you have and how you decide what to part with?

[Dragonfly]

Loads, but i have to say the less toys you get out, the better the children play with whats out and not just spread them around the room.

[Sarahbelle]

Loads, but i have to say the less toys you get out, the better the children play with whats out and not just spread them around the room.

I agree. In fact, the contents of my toy cupboard are sitting in the Dining Room this morning ready for a sort and tidy. I am going to be ruthless! Mind you I say that everytime and I still seem to have just as much stuff if not more:rolleyes:

According to my CMDO the magic number is 10. So 10 cars, 10 puzzles, 10 animals etc (I don't know where they come up with these things.)

[kel1983]

I agree. In fact, the contents of my toy cupboard are sitting in the Dining Room this morning ready for a sort and tidy. I am going to be ruthless! Mind you I say that everytime and I still seem to have just as much stuff if not more:rolleyes:

According to my CMDO the magic number is 10. So 10 cars, 10 puzzles, 10 animals etc (I don't know where they come up with these things.)

10 cars :panic: I have a box of about 70 :) and 10 puzzles :eek: I got way more than that and they are all played with

[miffy]

I have way too many toys but I find it sooooooo hard to get rid of anything and I keep buying more! :blush:

Miffy xx

[jumpinjen]

I think the magic ten thing is made up by your CDMO...... it would really impact on my multicultural dolls collection (small ones) as well as the schleich wild animals and farm animals we have.... as well as when three children want to play with the same thing..... ten is hard to share between three! I don't necessarily think a specific number helps, rather than organisation so that threre is a place for everything and the children can tidy the toys away themselves to keep things tidy and safe and ready for more play! How you do that is up to you according to your space and environment but only get rid of things if you think you have too much to manage.... we spend hours sourcing and buying resources and once gone they are gone!

jen x

[loocyloo]

I have way too many toys but I find it sooooooo hard to get rid of anything and I keep buying more! :blush:

Miffy xx

me too! i like to have a full range ... like puzzles ... i have simple 2/3 shape lift out ones, moving up to 20 odd piece lift out ones or more, with the alphabet on! then i have framed puzzles cut into shapes that go together, then simple 'jigsaw' shaped puzz;es in frames ... then puzzles that fit together starting with 2 pieces, all the way up to 1000! and a wide theme!

and thats just my puzzles ... imagine it repeated with everything else !!! LOL!!! :D

DH looks at my toys in dispair most of the time!

edited to say, and i was going to say .. the number 10 is fine .... 10 red cars, 10 blue cars, 10 horses, 10 cows .... ;)

[snufflepuff]

I was going to start a very similar post to this!
I have an ikea expedit unit in my lounge, another in my son's bedroom, plus 2 trofast units and a bookcase in his room too, then there's another unit and and a few bookcases in the spare room, and the shed is packed full of toys. Then there's all the toys that don't fit in a storage unit- the kitchen, piano, trolley, buggies, doctors trolley, garage, a big fire engine.
I just can't seem to get rid of anything. Almost everything gets played with in rotation- with some favourites staying downstairs all the time. And then the things that the children don't use yet will be used in the future- they are all younger than 2.5 so plenty of time to be interested in things for older children.
I want to get a shed and keep as much as possible in there- so that we can have our spare room back at least!!!

[jumpinjen]

edited to say, and i was going to say .. the number 10 is fine .... 10 red cars, 10 blue cars, 10 horses, 10 cows .... ;)

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

[Sarahbelle]

I think the magic ten thing is made up by your CDMO...... it would really impact on my multicultural dolls collection (small ones) as well as the schleich wild animals and farm animals we have.... as well as when three children want to play with the same thing..... ten is hard to share between three! I don't necessarily think a specific number helps, rather than organisation so that threre is a place for everything and the children can tidy the toys away themselves to keep things tidy and safe and ready for more play! How you do that is up to you according to your space and environment but only get rid of things if you think you have too much to manage.... we spend hours sourcing and buying resources and once gone they are gone!

jen x

I'm about to do a dreaded FCCRs observation again. I spoke to a couple of people who have just had theirs and apparently this is what they have been told and she even rumaged through boxes of toys and counted!!!:eek: Apparently you can have too much stuff (one of the minders was told this - it was apparently detrimental because children struggled to find stuff that they wanted - she has a small playroom apparently.)

[munch149]

I have so much and don't even have my own children. I think that's rubbish that you can have to much and I know your supposed to have I available but my way round that is I have picture cards of all my toys in a scrap book and of they want something they wasn't isn't out, even non fallers can show me in the book. Oh and 10 is ridiculous. Let's build an amazing castle from 10 duplo bricks. I was told tho that with construction it is better to have a few well stocked sets that lots with few peices. Let's see a nursery do the ten object thing. I discovered the other day that I have more toys than my toy library. Don't know what other people's toy librarys are like.

[mushpea]

10 objects?? whats that all about,, sounds silly to me
I think I am going to have a blitz and get rid of stuff they just dont play with,, I am fed up with 2 sheds and a cupboard full of toys , my children have out grown most of them and I am making the decison to go term time only with the schoolies so they wouldnt need so many toys .
a blitz it is then:D

[Sarahbelle]

I have so much and don't even have my own children. I think that's rubbish that you can have to much and I know your supposed to have I available but my way round that is I have picture cards of all my toys in a scrap book and of they want something they wasn't isn't out, even non fallers can show me in the book. Oh and 10 is ridiculous. Let's build an amazing castle from 10 duplo bricks. I was told tho that with construction it is better to have a few well stocked sets that lots with few peices. Let's see a nursery do the ten object thing. I discovered the other day that I have more toys than my toy library. Don't know what other people's toy librarys are like.

Yep, this is where i think it falls down to, so I am going to apply good old common sense. Duplo, Lego and Megabloks I buy as sets and will keep the sets together but more than one set can be used to build.:thumbsup: Sometimes the powers that be that think up all these things forget to apply common sense!;)

[leeloo1]

I find this so hard too, as its lovely to shop - then so hard to find space for it all! Also we were given lots of toys via the EYFS grant - but many of them duplicated what we already had, aren't relevant to my current children (8 year+ toys when I only have under 3s) or weren't what I'd have got - but they all need to be stored.

I sorted lots, so I had all the small world stuff in huge boxes under the stairs - the problem was the box then had other stuff put on top of it, so I could never get anything out so rotation just didn't happen... so... I already had one of these - http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/80063673 and these under the stairs - http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/S09875916

I've just had an IKEA trip - so I now have 3 of the tall trofast units http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/20063666 - mostly with shallow trays in it. So now, for example, all of the small world stuff is split into shallow trays (it mostly fits) - and the big parts are on the open shelving under the stairs (so cars, little boats, animals, doll's house furniture are in the shallow drawers and the pirate ship, garage, doll's house etc are in the hallway). So there's some hope it'll be used.

Its a work in progress tho... I still need to make drawer labels (ARGH!)... and I need some more drawers... oh its all a bit of a pain, but hopefully it'll come together - even if my living room does now look like a nursery!

[singlewiththree]

What I did was an audit of the toys at toddler groups we went too. I then checked the children I had on those days and then could get rid of toys that duplicated with those at toddler group as I didn't need them. It helped me to prioritise.

[mushpea]

I dont want toys in at the weekend ,, they all go in my shed as my children dont play with them anymore and I want an adult house at the weekend,, there are two sets of draws that stay in the conservatory but thats it,

[Lady Haha]

My lot complain if I get rid of anything! I sold our Littlest Petshop collection over a year ago cos it took up so much room and got played with once a month if that - my son STILL goes on about the guinea pig that was in there that was his favourite and 'YOU SOLD IT!'

I think I should go the other way..I have a playroom stacked up each side with cupboards etc full of toys and a playshed full of more. I think I need another shed to keep more in! Then I can keep merrily buying toys without wondering where on earth I'm going to keep them!
I sometimes wonder if all this toy buying stuff we do is actually a 'throwback' to our own childhoods when we didn't have nearly as much as kids do now. We can buy and buy and buy now!!!! L

[PixiePetal]

I don't know about the '10' thing - I have 1 box of each thing. If I end up with more cars than fits in 1 box it is time to move some on.

When I get some trofast it will be time to sort big time:D :thumbsup:

[jumpinjen]

I don't know about the '10' thing - I have 1 box of each thing. If I end up with more cars than fits in 1 box it is time to move some on.When I get some trofast it will be time to sort big time:D :thumbsup:

Well said.... I have Ikea units with square baskets in and each 'set' goes in there, for example, dolls and furniture, baby dolls and clothes/blankets, board puzzles/toddler jigsaws in ziploc bags, a box of number resources, a box of musical instruments (current count around 16 in there!!), an 'around the world' box with artefacts, books etc from yep, around the world!!, I can't even think of all the boxes as half packed away whilst I'm on maternity leave! There's also larger plastic storage trugs of Happyland (more than ten in that) and playmobil (way more than ten) and baby/toddler toys to rotate too. I only have what will fit into a box and if it's bursting it gets sorted and some goes.

I would challenge anyone who picked through my stuff like that to provide me with the research paper that proves that 'ten is the magic number'. I still think someone has picked that one out of the air. It would be too many for some children and too few for others. It also penalises those that live in a mid terrace and have to store all toys in the house and haven't got garage/shed space! It's ridiculous..... quick get me off my soap box!

jen x

[PixiePetal]

If I only had 10 cars, how would 3 mindees each set up a massive traffic jam around the playroom :huh: :laughing:

[sweets]

If I only had 10 cars, how would 3 mindees each set up a massive traffic jam around the playroom :huh: :laughing:

thats all mine do with cars at the moment :laughing: :laughing: lines of them everywhere.

[Babycat]

edited to say, and i was going to say .. the number 10 is fine .... 10 red cars, 10 blue cars, 10 horses, 10 cows .... ;)

and 10 for 1yrs, 10 for 2's, 10 for 3's ....

[Cammie Doodle]

Well Carolyn and I have way too much, we have unit/ boxes full, 2 sheds and 3 wendy houses full :rolleyes:

[lulubelle]

i have tons already and havent even officially started minding yet and brought more toys this morning! we have a trofast unit in playroom and loads of shelves with boxes on. also got a big cupboard upstairs that i plan to use to store stuff that isnt being used!

def need to get another shed tho!

we could not cope with 10 trains! and thats just my 2 boys!

[loocyloo]

and 10 for 1yrs, 10 for 2's, 10 for 3's ....

i was just thinking that looking at my cars ... i've got big chunky wooden cars, smaller wooden cars, big magnetic plastic vehicles, smaller plastic ones, and then only do i move into the 'proper' metal cars ... not to mention, tractors, diggers, space ships .....