Does my toddler have to many toys???

[Mydreamcametrue]

Just wondering if your toddler's have a lot of toys?  My son is 21 months old and we have so many toys.  It seems like he HATES being inside most of the time.  Whenever we go to someone else's house, like my sister's, he has a blast with no toys at all. 

He mainly plays with:
- My broom
- The vacuum cleaner

Up until recently he never ever once played with any of his other toys and would whine most of the day.  Lately though he has been playing more, but still walks around like he does not know what to do next.

I have a hard time parting with the toys, because I keep thinking "What if" he decides to play with them.  I have also tried rotating his toys, but a lot of the stuff are large items that cannot rotate.

Here is how our house is set up:

I converted the dining room into his playroom.  I there he has the following:
- A bookshelf with books and a variety of toys on it.
- A bin organizer that has cars, blocks, etc. in it.
- A big kitchen set
- The bounce and spin zebra
- Little Tikes Mountain raceway for his match box cars (which is a big item)
- A small wagon
- 1 ride on car
- The little tikes cozy coupe car (I told myself this would be outside, but he loves getting in and out of it)
- Also the dogs big crate is in there.
It is very organized, but a lot of stuff

THEN.. You have the living room that has a lot of stuff in there too:
- Elmo Tool Bench
- His table and chair set
- Child size fold out couch
- Laugh and Learn House and wall
- And my vacuum that has to stay out all the time because he plays with it all day.


Do you think he would just be over stimulated and confused with what to play with next???

Any advice or is it normal for kids to have lots of toys?


Thanks, Wendy

[lilmonkey]

We recently put away about 2/3 of dd's toys and so far she is fine with it.  I was getting tired of cleaning up at the end of the day.  We only kept the ones that she seems to like to play with the most and the ones that involve imaginary play.  There are times when she would ask for a particular toy, but I waited till she ask for it several times b/f I bring it up from storage.  I think that you can try to put away the ones he doesn't seem to play with often and keep the ones he likes.  They go through stages of picking favorites so it doesn't hurt to rotate the toys so that everything will seem new again.  Children seems to like the most ordinary of stuff (empty cardboard box - which is one of dd's favorite toy) to play with. 

[nwmm]

I know I am not helping you/answering your question, but I think most kids have too many toys.  I know I am guilty.

I just spent the evening weeding through toys - - Putting some away....  Moving some to other rooms that we are not in as much.... 

*I* am bored with our toys and I know we already have too many!!!

[binxyboo]

I know that if I have too many toys out, that Riley does not play well at all, he just wanders aimlessly from toy to toy, not really focusing or engaging well at all. Here is what we have:

~Book shelf in kitchen with selection of books on top shelf, and 4 toys total on the other two shelves. These get rotated with toys from the closet every few weeks.

~In the living room, he has two little baskets of toys with cars, bears, set of stacking blockes etc.

~In my office, he has books, legos, magnadoodle.

We have a shelf in the closet with craft supplies, such as paper, pens, playdoh etc. We tend to do one of these activites when he wakes from nap every day. He does not have free access to these supplies as he would ruin the house with them if left to his own devices. Although he is getting much better at playing independently with play doh.

So, in your house, I think Riley would get too overstimulated and not play well at all, as there are soooooo many choices.

[rinajack]

I recently moved a heap of toys to an out of the way place also.  She hasn't even noticed.  She actually plays very well independantly normally...with these fewer toys.

[aisling]

I have a toy rule that I adapted from my clothing and make up rule:

If you bring/buy something new into the house, then you have to give something away.

I usually end up clearing away more than one thing which is nice.  It goes to friends, charity or into the garbage. 

I am really strict about this rule and often find I end up giving more than one thing away or throw out loads more.

I also rotate toys.  So every month, I put away (even favourites) some toys downstairs, then it seems as toys are new all over gain when they resurface.  I still have a xmas pressie toy, that I have not brought out yet in a rotation!  I think I will bring it out in June.

HTH,

Aisling x

[binxyboo]

Stacy, you mentioned the peek-a blocks. Does Kaleb like those? They are the one type of block Riley will not play with. And we have soooo many sets of them given as a gift. What does the bus do, just load the blocks on?

[binxyboo]

Thanks for the quick response, Stacy.

That bus looks like fun. Riley loves anything with wheels He is big on hauling things around the house too.

[Mydreamcametrue]

Thanks for the advice everyone.  Zach seems to be playing with all his toys more and more everyday.  I am going to clear out some of the stuff and start rotating.

Zach never really played with the peek-a-boo blocks either.  I think I like them more than him.