Too many toys? How do you decide?

[crazyhazy]

I have a small playroom which has good storage but the trouble is my own girls are only 3y and 5y so have a lot of toys of their own aswell (even more since xmas lol). I really need to have a cull of some toys but am struggling with where to begin so I still have a good variety for different ages etc. They have just got a dolls house for xmas which along with a few other special toys they'll keep in their bedroom. The toy kitchen lives in the playroom and is played with by all, but I don't know what to keep of smaller things like happyland (my own two rarely play with it now and expect it to be less with the addition of the dolls house) jigsaws, baby toys etc. At the moment all my mindees are 20m-6y but obviously I should keep some younger toys for future? So, I guess I am asking what toys are your must haves for supporting a wide range of ages?

[blue bear]

Oh I'm sorry I am addicted to toys and cannot bear to throw anything away, I keep everything just in case. Dh chucks stuff out when I'm not in apparently and I never notice!!!!!!

[samb]

Mine are 3(boy) and 6(girl) and I am finding the same as you - I know I need to keep things for younger children but so difficult to work out what and how much.

I have lots of the trofast storage boxes and have...
1 medium sized box of what i class as "baby toys" - rattle/teether/textured toys
a chest which has older baby/toddle toys inc stacking, shape sorters, toys with buttons etc
1 large box for instruments - various ages etc
1 large box - chunky animals such as Amazing Animals
2 large boxes plus loads of large bits of Fisher Price Little People - zoo, farm, stable, castle, house, buses, plane, cars, carriages, parks, Noah's Ark etc (good for most ages - I find the 6 year olds love it as much as babies like chewing it!)
1 large box - trains - wooden set and some chunky plastic
1 large box - cars - bigger than matchbox
1 small box - cars - matchbox size
1 med box - diggers
1 med box - aircrafts ( planes, helicopters, rockets)
1 med box - duplo
1 med box - mega bloks
1 med box - peg board puzzles and dominoes
1 med box - role play props
1 med box - kitchen role play props
1 med box - dolls accessories
1 large box - ICT for younger ones such as baby laptops, leap pad etc
Then 3 pop up net storage things - 1 for balls, ropes, bats etc; 1 for dolls and 1 for fancy dress
PLUS I have the same storage in my kids room for things that are only allowed out with their permission eg Rosie's World from ELC, Peppa Pig toys, Postman Pat toys, Playmobil, tool kit

Then of course theirs the shelf full of puzzles, board games, magnetic boards, fuzzy felt, older ICT such as microphones, voice changers etc, the masses of craft itmes and the big things like tents, tunnels, ride ons, mini trampoline and kitchen...

Oh and I live in a 2 bed flat! Lol.

However, I went through with my dd and we worked out some things we could get rid of before xmas (believe it or not lol) and we took out some of the character type toys. As my 2 outgrow them we will sell/give away as really these are more toys of the moment if you see what I mean? Also we have masses of dolls as my dd loves them but as she gets older I will thin them out too. As my ds gets older and starts letting go of his vehicle toys I will thin out again - maybe 1 box for the cars, diggers etc instead of having them all separate.

Also I do have loft space so if I didnt have a particular age i would box some up - could you do this rather than getting rid completely?

[crazyhazy]

Wow Sam! That's a lot of toys! I have two trofast units inside one of the cupboards, 3 large boxes, 5 med ones and 2 of the small tray ones, I think tmrw I will go through them all properly and see what I end up with! I also have a huge box with dolls stuff in it and things like jigsaws/games on a shelf above the trofast, then another cupboard which has bigger things like dolls prams, beds, wheely bug, sit and spin, dolls crib etc. I have a lagr box with a lid which I may sort the baby things in to and store in the shed but storage is limited inside cos we have no loft!

[LeeMarie]

Could you watch the children to see which toys they play with regularly and which ones get ignored to try an elimitate a few? Alternatively, I've divided similar toys into a separate boxes and keep some in the attic/shed and rotate them round. I hate getting rid of toys and they always seem to be someone elses favourite at a later date.

[breezy]

I keep some in loft and rotate every so often as you can guarantee the ones I throw out will suddenly become favourites

[newandlearning]

I've felt the need to de-toy abit too.. as I feel really cluttered..

I did some of the puzzles with the kids who then said they found them boring.. which I suppose is fair enough.. so I've got rid of the big floor puzzles to charity.. and also some of my mini wooden books.. so racey cars and bikes.. and some baby stuff.

I could sell these things on.. and I think for most other things I've got I would rather sell as I bought loads from new..

I do however feel a lil lighter getting rid of stuff ..

my advice is ask your kids, see which things you think you could get rid of without them realising.. you could just put some stuff in storage and if after a month they make no mention of them then get rid.. hope that helps..

[crazyhazy]

Well I done it! I spent the whole day yesterday sorting through toy boxes and getting rid of broken bits, freebie toys etc and managed to fill most of the car boot with things for the charity shop. I have stored a baby box, a box with the furniture for our outside dolls house and the small table & chairs from the playroom, which has freed up lots of floor space. It's still a work in progress but have got the kitchen and dolls beds set up as a home corner, then the other end of the room has the book case and bean bags for chilling out time, also managed to make space for my 3y olds new workbench in there too. Am feeling rather pleased with myself and to be honest most of what went I doubt will be missed!

[miffy]

Well done! I must have a go at this myself, I just find it difficult to get rid of stuff!

Miffy xx

[lulubelle]

I had a bit of a declutter before Xmas but it doesn't look like it now! LOL in the new year we are going to decorate and move our 2 yr old into a bigger bedroom so then we can put lots of his toys upstairs! It's his birthday on 14th of Jan so house will be even worse then! Lol

[Monkey26]

We have two 4 x 2 and two 2 x 2 expedit units in the playroom which are full, a smaller 6 drawer unit and a dressing up unit.

We also have a shed in the garden which is half full of toys in boxes.

On Tuesday my assistant came over and we washed/steralised EVERYTHING then rotated the playroom and shed toys... it took a long time - lots of water, steralising tablets, babywipes, the washing machine on the go most of the day, a rubbish bag of broken toys and a charity bag as well - but its all sorted now and i feel much better for it

One thing i would like to add is that we used to have two shelfs full of books for various ages. We found the kids would pick the same ones over and over so this time (post going on a literacy course!) we have sandwich bagged and boxed over 3/4's of the collection and have written on the calendar every 6 weeks to rotate them - hopefully this will mean that more books are read and valued as opposed to thrown all over the floor whilst they search for their 'favourite' xx

[mushpea]

I have got quite ruthluss when it comes to sorting stuff out, my kids are too old for the toys now so i dont feel so attatched to them and if they dont get used for a while then I generly get rid of them, i do have a shed which I put toys in and I only bring in a few at a time as they get played with more so after christmas there will be a home corner with babys, prams, kitchen then one other box of big toys like happy street or musical type toys and ususaly I have a set of draws which contain duplo, popoids and potato head.

[mayberry]

Wish you lived closer I would ask you to Help do mine mushpea!!!! not very good at sorting and throwing toys out. I need to be like you.

I have tried this year but need to do more too many makes it look cluttered more ruthless like that word maybe job for today Black bags ready

Dawn xxx

[samb]

Well done to all you de-clutterers!