how many

**mushpea** · 26-09-2010, 04:02 PM

toys do you have in for the mindees to play with and how often do you rotate them ie weekly
at the moment i rotate the ones i bring in weekly but I also have 3 sets of 4
drawers that have cars, trainset, kidddi knex, puzzles, books, mr potato head, animals, duplo, popoids, in,,,, then i have a box of toys that play music like educatonial ones and then prams and dolls and a cot ,, these toys stay in all the time then i add to them like tthis week i have brought in army men and trucks, pepper pig playhouse and accesories and puppetts,,,,
I mind 8 children age 18monts to 7yrs so try and cater for all ages,,, do you all have this sort of stuff in or how do you 'work' your toys.
asking cause dont know if i have too many or not enough of if its just right

**CHEEKY BEE** · 26-09-2010, 04:24 PM

Hi, sounds like u have a good selection.

Is there a toy library near you?

I go once a week as u can borrow toys for 50p a week and they have a great selection. All early learning, musical, creative, role play, dressing up, construction, etc It's great cos the kids choose and its a good way of rotating without buying.

**mushpea** · 26-09-2010, 06:36 PM

I dont use the toy libary as i have a big shed in the garden full to the brim with toys that i have collected over the years,, I was just wondering if anyone else rotated them, how often and how many they had indoors at anyone time as dont want to over do it or under do it,, I only have 1 full timer the rest come 3 days a week and before and after school so was wondering wether to rotate them fortnightly insted of weekly
I did do a pictuure chart of all the toys i had so the children could look at it and decide what they wanted from the shed but one little darling (age 3) got hold of it and screwed it up,, took me all sunday to take pics and put it together , all ruined in a 30sec fit of rage by the little one

**beckyteddy** · 26-09-2010, 07:07 PM

I was thinking of doing a chart of my toys too Mushpea, I thought I might do a page per toy and have a photo of the toy and a quick reminder of which EYFS categories/areas the toy might encourage. I might laminate each page to increase the durability though after reading your experience!

I store my toys in my garage and bring things in as and when I think the kids need a change or when their next steps suggest they need something else to extend their interests of bring on their learning/development. I don't have a set time frame for changing them around.

**mushpea** · 27-09-2010, 05:55 AM

My picts were laminated but the child bent them so much it just ruined them,
I seem to have had more toys broken, and some of them delibriatly, this last couple of months than i have done since i started minding,, I tel them that if they break them i wont replcace then but they dont care.

**mrs c** · 27-09-2010, 06:29 AM

I had the same problem with laminated pictures of toys and gave up on these. I don't have much garage/shed storage area so only keep the outdoor toys there. All my other toys I have to keep in the living room and keep these in stacking boxes, the sort you can see through. The children decide what they want to play with and I get the boxes out.