Sep 25, 2009
Need to trick your kids with new shiny toys? I do!
What kid doesn’t like a new (to them) toy?
My friend Susan wrote a great post about how to keep things fresh for your kids when they start getting the toy doldrums. It’s kind of like the break-glass-in-case-of-emergency solution. I really like her practical (and frugal) suggestions, and I think you will too!
As I read her post I kept thinking, “Yes! It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. It doesn’t even have to be new (thrift store, baby!).” But there’s something about a novel, engaging toy that might redeem the day if you or your kids are in a slump.
I would recommend using yourself and the outside world as alternatives to toys. Typing from experience, you only have so much time with them. And human interaction is much more rewarding for the child(ren) AND you.
I’m fully aware of some of the aggravations that come with parenting and that is why toys can be “the break-glass-in-case-of-emergency solution,” but you’d be surprised at how much you miss when the child(ren) is/are gone.
:-)
Great idea! We also keep toys (including stuffed animals and babies) in the basement in bins and rotate them every once in a while (honestly, more once than while!). You cannot imagine the joy on the kids’ faces as they pull out toys they haven’t played with in months and reminisce and joyfully play for hours and even days happily with little or no fighting, even (I have three 6 and under). I planned on rotating them weekly, but it’s too much work (and I am lazy, I guess), but the once in a while really works on a bad day!
That comment wasn’t really by my husband, Matt, but was really by me. Forgot to change the ID. :)
neat ideas – yours, Susan’s and Mary’s :) thanks, ladies!
A few months ago a family we know blessed us with a HUGE stash of really nice toys — way more than we will ever store in our house. Right now they are on some shelves in the back of our garage. Our ultimate plan (once I get around to sorting thru them) is to give many of them away — but one thing it has gotten us in the habit of doing is rotating thru our toys. Whenever I sense that a toy/playset starts to get old, I’ll put it back in the garage & pull out a new one…then when my toddler gets sick of THAT one, it goes back in the garage, out comes another one, etc. etc. etc. It’s been fun trying different toys, and it’s been a fun “rainy day” thing to do, too. Hopefully it’s a habit we can continue even with the toys we end up keeping!
OK, totally just realized that Mary posted the very same idea as me. Oops! Great idea, Mary! :)
Hey! Thanks for the post!
:-)
I am still AMAZED at how Ian’s (and my) day turned around after that. I was regretting not thinking of the toy stash at 8am instead of 1pm.
He took the queen & king to bed with him last night and never made a single peep after I closed the door.
PEACE. (It is amazing what mothers will do to get a few moments of peace!)
Hey Molly,
This makes me think about a REALLY cool castle that I’m not ready to get rid of, but would be really happy to loan to Orison for a bit. Let me know when y’all need a new toy! I think toy swapping (especially bigger stuff like the castle or some of our kiddie kitchen appliances) could really be beneficial.
w/ Aber at the DGNC, do you have a toy 411???
love you!
I also like my kid so I want to give him the best toys available, Thanks a lot for this.
I once read a book on how to keep toddlers occupied and it recommended having toys on hand all the time. We went so far as to have special “car only” toys that we bring out when our toddler gets restless. They come in super handy! I’ll have to start thinking about special toys for the winter.
I’m beginning to rotate the toys, but do you have trouble not giving them that fresh thrift store find that only cost $2 and SAVING it for the doldrum day? That’s my problem.
Yesterday my 6 yo and I went to Savers (99cent day) while the younger 3 were napping. (glad to have a housemate to stay here and study during times like those!) Anyway, Savers just lowered the price on their kids books to 69cents a piece and buy 4 get the 5th free. Now granted the library is cheaper than that, but finding books that cheap that we really want to own is thrilling to me. =) AND to my kids. I thought seriously about putting away the 7-just-like-new-Dr.Seuss-books for Christmas, but sadly, I didn’t have the self-control! Knowing how excited my 4yo was going to be about those, I just couldn’t wait to show her when she got up from her nap.
Anyway, thanks for the post. Maybe it’ll be a voice in my head stopping my compulsion to give the toys (or books) too soon.
After birthdays and Christmas, I put away several of their new toys, unopened, to bring out later in the year. They don’t need a ton of toys all at once, anyway (they will probably get bored with them ALL, and where would we keep them, anyway?), and it makes for a fun surprise later in the year. :)
When kids have toys, they are able to learn as well as exercise some of the muscles that would be useful to them later on in life.