Simplifying toys....what are the essentials?

Tea-and-Cake_3

I've said it before but I'll say it again....I hate clearing up toys. I've sold loads, I've given away oodles (all with their agreement) but still my kids seem to have too many. I liked this article but I don't think I'd go that far!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2191243/How-child-happy-6-worth-toys-Youngsters-better-odds-ends-expensive-gadgets.html

What toys do you think are the essentials for girls and boys under 6?

kingfisherblue

Small cars - make ramps from various household items and change the gradient.

Tea set - great for serving drinks to dolls and teddies.

Duplo or Lego, or some other type of construction toy

Colouring stuff. Personally I hate the feel of crayons, and most coloured pencils are insipid colours, so we have always used decent, washable felt tip pens.

Books - lots of them! A good mix of fiction and non-fiction. The Book People are good for sets of books at low prices. You could also buy second hand from libraries or charity shops.

Various household items can be used instead of buying toy versions - a dustpan and brush from the pound shop is as good as a toy one costing more.

Jigsaws.


If you have too many toys and struggle to keep them tidy and sorted, why not put some into plastic crates and rotate?

Spendless

Depends on the child.

With my boy you could have mostly limited him to lego, changing it to k'nex from about 8 onwards and maybe a football.

For my girl, her collection of soft toys and crafty items including plenty of pens and paper for writing.

Once they became around 8, they became into the small playsets or trading card market, which for son was yu-gi-oh cards and crazy bone figures and for my daughter littlest pet shop followed by moshi monsters.

From the later years of Primary onwards they seem to be fascinated by anything that comes with a plug....!

Tea-and-Cake_3

kingfisherblue wrote: »

Small cars - make ramps from various household items and change the gradient.

Various household items can be used instead of buying toy versions - a dustpan and brush from the pound shop is as good as a toy one costing more.

Thanks for those great ideas - I love these 2 especially - I wouldn't have thought of that!

I think I am going to try and get stuff up into the loft today. My dd seems to have so many duplicates, not identical things but ones which serve the same purpose eg...a wooden dollhouse, a peppa house, a playmobil house, a small dollhouse and various collections of little "people" and their accessories and several baby dolls each with their own bottle etc. It seems ridiculous so I think I'll get everything up to the loft except for ONE house and ONE baby etc and start rotating. Her birthday is coming up in June too eek more toys!

Hermia

I think building blocks and craft items/art supplies are essentials.

Tea-and-Cake wrote: »

It seems ridiculous so I think I'll get everything up to the loft except for ONE house and ONE baby etc and start rotating. Her birthday is coming up in June too eek more toys!

My friend's son only has around 20 toys and she rotates his toys so he only has around 5 out at a time. He is a very happy child and doesn't seem at all deprived. When he gets more toys they sit down together and decide which of his old toys to donate. She does mostly mix with people who are into non-materialist/green lifestyles so he is mainly mixing with other children who have similar amounts of toys.

fluffnutter

Just give them a copy of the Daily Mail to rip to shreds.

jackyann

Nothing beats a set of good beechwood blocks. You can get relatives to buy a few when they are at the early "build and knock down a tower" phase, then add to them, until they are building huge castles.

Brighton_belle

OP, the next step will be working out how to stop excessive amounts building up in the future.
One idea is just before birthday and Christmas is to go through her toys and stuff with your DD and helping her choose what she no longer uses or wants and giving it away to charity, helping other children with less etc. This will build good habits for her to carry on through her life.
Start working on the people who buy her all this stuff (including yourself) to see if you can limit some presents by suggesting excursions instead - making memories as a gift rather than more 'stuff'.

kingfisherblue

My sons have quite a lot of stuff, although I have downsized a lot. The younger one is 13, and into remote controlled model helicopters, origami, and woodwork, so he doesn't have too much stuff. He has a bookcase that is overflowing as well as a Kindle Fire.

My older son is 15, but has a learning disability, so his mental age is about 5. He has loads more books, lots of colouring stuff, and several games and toys. For his birthday, I took him to see the Lion King (my younger son had already seen it with his Young Carer's group). Would a daytrip or another suitable experience be an option for your daughter's birthday?

Another idea is to get grandparents or other relatives to give bedding, a nice cushion for her bed, shelves for her walls, rug, matching lampshade, etc. Clothing, paying for a regular group such as Rainbows, swimming lessons, are other ideas.

Book Tokens mean that she can choose her own books.

A trolley for keeping craft stuff together is handy.

If you travel in the car a lot, think about a personal CD player with stories and songs on CD (I don't know if you can get stories or children's songs on MP3 players, I'm not very technical ). You might also want to consider a fold down desk type thingummy that hooks onto the back of the driver/passenger seat and allows your daughter to use the surface as a desk. I don't know what they're called though.

If you have a garden, outdoor toys might be an alternative to more dolls and doll house type toys.

Disney DVDs are popular with most children and can sometimes be bought quite cheaply if they are an older title.

I think I would make a list of ideas, then when Grandma or Auntie says they don't know what to buy for Flossie, you have some suggestions to hand.

Remember to put any completed dot-to-dot books, colouring books, etc into the recycle bin. Unused toys can go to school fairs or charity shops. If you have a set number of rotating bins, some stuff has to be cleared out to make way for new items.

ETA: here's a link for one of those things that hooks onto the seat back in the car to make a children's desk. I'm sure there are cheaper ones, I just didn't know what to call them when I googled

http://www.contentandcalm.com/products/?action=buy_now&cat=24&products_id=45

pleasedelete

Big set of wooden building blocks
Dolls house
Lego/duplo
Playmobil
Baby doll, cot ,pram
Cars and garage
1soft toy
Puppet

elsien

A large cardboard box. Keeps them happy for hours.