When children are surrounded by toys, they seem to be less interested in them, going from one to another in a matter of minutes. They only contribute to creating a busy environment and sometimes overwhelm and overstimulate the child. That’s why less is more in this case.
A room with a few carefully selected toys is the perfect environment for a child. It helps him focus on one task at a time, they are more visible and invite the child to play with them, and they stimulate creativity.
What I do is keep the rest of the toys in a closet, labeled and organized on shelves and in boxes, and rotate them every other week, or when my daughter shows no interest in the ones that are out. That way, the toys she plays with are more alligned with her current interests and they are easier to clean up.
Here are some tips on choosing what toys to take out next:
• choose a wide variety of toys (that focus on different skills and interests)
• follow your child and his interests and choose toys based on them (for example, my daughter is interested in sorting shapes and music at the moment, besides practical life activities, so she has puzzles, shape sorters, a song book that she can turn on by herself, and musical instruments)
• choose toys that are developmentally and age appropriate, that your child can use independently. Modify those that are too difficult. For example, I removed the rings that came with a wooden stacker and replaced them with others with wider holes.
• if your child is not interested in a toy, just put it aside for a few weeks and then try again. You might be surprised by how captivating he finds it afterwards.
• you can keep favourite toys on the shelf, even though they’ve been out for a long time.
I personally let my daughter see when I rotate toys, to be able to observe her reactions when she sees them, which helps me choose the right toys.
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