Author Topic: toy rotation - how many toys at once?  (Read 3874 times)

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Offline mycatmonet

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toy rotation - how many toys at once?
« on: January 22, 2013, 01:09:32 am »
i think 14mth old DD is bogged down in toys, we were rotating a toy tub daily but she got older, toys got a bit borning but then birthday and christmas in the space of 2 months gave her new toys and all new ones have been out since! Oops
I need to rotate again, but how many at once, dyt?


Offline ZacsMumme

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Re: toy rotation - how many toys at once?
« Reply #1 on: January 22, 2013, 02:51:27 am »
My mum recently had a child development researcher/educator talk to them at her medical centre and this woman recommended no more than 8 out at 1 time, including book/s, puzzle/s and interactive toys, building blocks etc. I'm still to act on it and do my own research but food for thought ;)
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Offline mycatmonet

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Re: toy rotation - how many toys at once?
« Reply #2 on: January 22, 2013, 09:20:29 am »
thanks sara, atm she's got more than double that in her playpen (it's a giant one) so i think i will try the 8 toys theory and rotate regularly!


Offline anna*

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Re: toy rotation - how many toys at once?
« Reply #3 on: January 22, 2013, 09:53:23 am »
This website has some fantastic info/ideas on toy rotation:
http://thelittlestories.com/toy-rotation-the-rest-of-the-story/





Offline scruffymax

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Re: toy rotation - how many toys at once?
« Reply #4 on: January 22, 2013, 11:42:32 am »
Thanks for bringing this up, I was thinking about it myself!



Offline mycatmonet

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Re: toy rotation - how many toys at once?
« Reply #5 on: January 22, 2013, 12:13:19 pm »
thanks anna, will check the link out!


Offline creations

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Re: toy rotation - how many toys at once?
« Reply #6 on: January 22, 2013, 16:37:58 pm »
this woman recommended no more than 8 out at 1 time
Sara is this 8 items TOTAL?  Meaning if you have 8 books out then there shouldn't be anything else?
I am all for keeping toys/books etc limited to encourage more interest in them but I can't get my head around such a small number.  Unless she means 8 different activities so:
1.book box - with say 5 to 10 books and puzzles
2.music box - with say 10 instruments or noise makers
3.building blocks - with say three million blocks, enough to make one good sized robot
4.dressing up box - with 5 outfits or masks
5.arts and craft materials - OK these are not out he has to ask for them
6.cooking/baking materials - these are not out he has to ask to do cooking or wait to be invited
7.characters/cars/trains/diggers/garage/fire station etc for imaginative play
8. literacy or numeracy toys ie magnetic numbers or letters
9. ball - or 3
10. camera or other electronic toy
11. kitchen - with about 20 times of food/cookware/containers
12. randomly filled busy box for rummaging in

oops I still went over 8.
I know it might look like I'm just making a joke of this but honestly I am interested.  I always think we have too much stuff out even though the majority of his toys and books are out of rotation.  I also let DS change up his rotation when he wants too.  If he asks for books or toys that are out of rotation he has to choose something to take away to store and can then pick out another item to bring down.


Offline *Becky*

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Re: toy rotation - how many toys at once?
« Reply #7 on: January 22, 2013, 19:26:32 pm »
I just lost a whole post on this....but mums of more than 1. How do you do it?
We are organised in that everything has a home and it is pretty neat and we all know where stuff goes but too much is out.....




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Offline anna*

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Re: toy rotation - how many toys at once?
« Reply #8 on: January 22, 2013, 19:33:00 pm »
Becky, I have a low shelf which has Audrey's stuff out (currently 1 x Montessori treasure basket, 1 stacking rings, 1 x Little People family, 1 x baby doll and bottle, 1 x scuttlebug ride on) and a higher shelf with Stan's stuff (1 x millennium falcon, 1 x Hexbugs Nano habitat, plus a small box with a few small bits in like a glove puppet, a torch, a playmobil motorbike). Then there are a few 'always out' things that they both use so a small basket of musical instruments, a basket of balls of various shapes an sizes, Lego, Duplo, light sabres  ::) . Key for me is just keeping on top of the quantity of what is out/available. Less is more. Every time I go through the toys to put stuff away, I always second guess myself that I am leaving too little out, but they usually don't even notice, and they play fine, and other stuff 'creeps' out gradually anyway.

Creations, usually with toy rotation the 8 'things' will be 8 'sets'. So for example a play kitchen and food/utensils will be one thing.





Offline ZacsMumme

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Re: toy rotation - how many toys at once?
« Reply #9 on: January 22, 2013, 21:40:32 pm »
8 total :o ;)
It doesn't mean you can't get another toy/book but these are 'out on display' etc
We have a book corner (well did ATM its a mess) and this worked well - I tend to see mult books as 1 but limit the sound ones.
I also like to have 2 puzzles out ad something's whenever UT away like the magna-doodle and wooden blocks as Z loves them so much!

Given t is so small I have a bucket filled with his stuff I pull 1 out at a time
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Offline creations

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Re: toy rotation - how many toys at once?
« Reply #10 on: January 22, 2013, 23:00:27 pm »
I think I have difficulty getting my head around this  :-[

We have quite a few things that are never out of rotation but they do have a 'home' and are not constantly 'out' like on the floor/table/play mat. In a sense these could be considered 'put away' because although they are fully accessible to DS he would have to make at least a minimal effort to get them out.  The music box for example is a basket on a low bookshelf.  It is never totally out of rotation but the instruments would never be just 'out' on the floor unless we are actively playing with them and when we do that all/most of everything else would already be cleared away.  But when stuff is cleared away I still consider it to be 'in rotation' because he has access.  Our out of rotation things are upstairs and he doesn't have access unless he asks or is invited to make a swap.

It does make you stop and think.

mycatmoney we also have Xmas and birthday close together, here it's within 3 weeks so a huge influx of new toys and books all in one go.  I removed a few bits of Xmas stuff the day before his birthday and have removed LOTS of stuff since then. But, as you can see from my list earlier there is still a lot available (plus a few more things I forgot, like the megasketcher and another similar drawing board both of which he got for his birthday and I have left both out!).
I think it also depends on what LO really likes or 'needs' at their stage of development.  I think Tracy suggested something like limiting building blocks to 3 for an under 1 yr old which I never did because DS has always played with more than that.  he could build a tower of 4 or 5 blocks at 10 months old so clearly needed more blocks available to allow for his individual interests and development.

I tend to take out of rotation all but 2 or 3 of the new books, and brought back into rotation a couple of old favourites. I find with my DS he likes the comfort of the books he knows and likes to reread them over and over where as new books he tends to almost avoid.  Up until just recently with a new book he would only want one page read then stop.  Then the same one page read over and over each time he got it out.  After a couple of weeks he'd ask me to read the first page and then turn to page 2 and have me read that.  it took ages to get to the end of a book as he wanted to take in all the info from each page and learn it before moving on.  But during that time he would have more familiar books read over and over and also go through them on his own too.
I just realised that I also left out a full set of Mr Men books (50 books)  :o


Offline anna*

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Re: toy rotation - how many toys at once?
« Reply #11 on: January 22, 2013, 23:12:24 pm »
To me if things are available, they are 'in rotation'. Basically it comes down to choice - how many choices of things to play with (here, now) the kid has. The theory is, less choice = better play. I am sure there will be some kids who are able to focus well and play well even when surrounded by lots of choice. Audrey still plays in a very scattered/random way and is just as likely to be playing with a bowl of citrus as she is with toys, but Stan I put away (literally) 80% of the toys that were out and he didn't even notice, but did play in a more focussed, imaginative and self-contained way with the stuff I left out for him.

Creations at that age Stan was just the same with books, at first he only wanted to look at the cover didn't want me to read them at all! On the subject of rotation, I have about 3 books 'out' ie right in the play area for each kid. They have shelves of books upstairs, but the books in rotation they will actually sit and look at (as opposed to either ignoring them or grabbing piles and piles and still not really looking at them properly). We have made Stan a 'den' in the cupboard under the stairs which is a pretty private place for him, he likes to take a torch and go and lie on the cushions in there and look at his dinosaur books - so in there he has 3-4 dinosaur books, a torch, one of his loveys, and a little radio.





Offline Buttonbobs

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Re: toy rotation - how many toys at once?
« Reply #12 on: January 22, 2013, 23:14:14 pm »
I have just started (4 weeks ago) a toy rotation and found that site refommended by Anna to be really helpful. I went with the general theory set out there but didn't include books or musical instruments. DD loves books and spends at least an hour every day "reading" them on her own and then requests we read books several times a day to her. Having said that we do go to the library every week so that in itself provides a bit of a rotation.

Musical instruments we do as pp said and keep them out, although not on the floor or mat. We tend to have specific musical sessions every day or every other day.

I have noticed that DD plays in a more concentrated way with the toys that are out. A couple of times she has "asked" for toys which were out of rotation and I have got them out for her. I rotated at the weekend and a lot more independent play with the toys happened yesterday.

I'm not rotating every week as suggested as DD now spends three days out of the house at nursery and with my parents each week so she gets variety there too. I'm pleased with it as it makes things easier to keep tidy too!
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Offline anna*

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Re: toy rotation - how many toys at once?
« Reply #13 on: January 22, 2013, 23:15:45 pm »
Oh yeh, 'always out' means always available (ie the kids can get to them without needing my help) NOT always out strewn over the floor!

I don't rotate every week either. I try to do every month but it invariably ends up being longer than that.





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Re: toy rotation - how many toys at once?
« Reply #14 on: January 22, 2013, 23:41:15 pm »
less choice = better play
I definitely agree with this...and yet we still appear to have out much more than suggested.
A couple of months back I reduced the play kitchen equipment by about 75% and immediately had more interest in what was left available.

Book though!  We must have 100 or more books upstairs, they are reproducing up there!
I couldn't possibly have only 3 out at a time, DS would be at the stair gate shouting to get upstairs to get more.  We have about 5 just in the bathroom for when he's on the potty.  He gets 3 put in his cot every night after he is asleep so he can read when he wakes in the morning (20 to 30 min) and then there's the book box in the family room which is our main area for play.
we do go to the library every week so that in itself provides a bit of a rotation.
this is great.  I tried to do this with DS too but we had to keep renewing the same books for 3 months so it was a bit of a failure for us!

I often put out 'invitations to play' before I go to bed for DS to find in the morning or when he gets up from a nap.  So for example physically getting out his animals (oh I forgot we permanently have a box of animals too!) and lining them up right across the living room floor.  Or getting out his magnetic tray with numbers and leaving it on his little table.  Rather than finding a tidy room he finds something out and set up for play.  I think that makes a difference too.