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knowloveserve
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| Posted: May 27 2015 at 12:49pm | IP Logged
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I've tried many of the techniques that are commonly extolled for occupying toddlers during school time. Busy boxes were a nightmare and after a long, well-organized 'exchange'... the 15 boxes I had compiled lasted just a couple weeks before being destroyed.
The problem is that the boxes needed supervision, else all the pom-poms fly all over the house or the felt fishing game flushed down the toilet, etc. (Maybe my toddlers are more feral than yours... ?)
I've tried doing circle time and it was great until I left the circle.
I've tried early learning activities but it needed more supervision also.
Don't get me wrong, I WANT to be investing time into the littles and they NEED my time. But they also need a safe, interesting place to just be allowed to play...
Two years ago, I had daily bins of toys. And this idea worked beautifully. All the toys in the house were corralled and then rationed into 6 bins for each day of the week. (Sunday was left open for family time). The Monday bin was only allowed to be played with on Monday, then it was promptly put away until the next week. While I've seen variations of the 'toy library', I like this method best because the children don't have to wait for a new season or a few weeks to see favorite toys again. A week is perfect to enjoy and yet preserve novelty. I am putting this back into practice.
Anyway, as we have cut down dramatically on toys in this house, I'm looking for ideas on filling out the other days of the week. I'm willing to invest in quality toys.
Art supplies are always available. So are the wooden unit blocks because they have been in use almost daily for the past 6 years. The big boys' Legos are available in the attic whenever they want to create something up there... and my daughter's baby dolls stay in her room every day. Everything else gets rationed. It's not a perfect solution, and it has its drawbacks but its the best I've found for my family to date.
Here's what I have (and not listed are the different "baby" crib-type, rattle toys I include every day):
Monday: the rubber animals (Scheich, Papo, Safari types)
Tuesday: All vehicles, Hot Wheels or otherwise
Wednesday: Dress up clothes and stuffed animals
Thursday: Mega Blocks
Friday:
Saturday:
I'm looking to freshen up the toy supply and appreciate new ideas. 
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Ellie
The Bleeding Pelican
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JodieLyn
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Puppets.. I found puppets were a great bring out occasionally type of toy. A tension rod in a door with a curtain can make a great puppet stage without a lot of fuss.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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knowloveserve
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JodieLyn wrote:
| Puppets.. I found puppets were a great bring out occasionally type of toy. A tension rod in a door with a curtain can make a great puppet stage without a lot of fuss. |
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I want this to work! With my first 3 boys (my 6 kids seem distinctly divided into 2 separate batches...), I carefully collected some lovely puppets and they NEVER played with them! I don't know why! I tried to show them HOW, in case they were missing the creative gene, but they never got into it.
I hadn't thought to give puppets another chance with the second batch of kids ... but it includes 2 girls so that might help.
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Ellie
The Bleeding Pelican
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: May 27 2015 at 1:11pm | IP Logged
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Look for some ventriloquism videos and such.. My puppets got a huge boost after they saw a show at the fair with a ventriloquist who sold a dvd about how to do it.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: May 27 2015 at 2:02pm | IP Logged
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What a good idea!! You have my own wheels turning!
Wooden or other toy food, toy dishes, and or other "cooking" things. Might be especially good now that you have girls.
Maybe stringing things like the large beads or those cards with laces?
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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SeaStar
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HOw about musical instruments and s simple karaoke machine? Or some type of real or pretend microphone so that little ones can sing and dance (in a different part of the house than the school area, of course).
Also- for years I had a big plastic tub of pinto beans that I would bring out and put on a sheet (for easy clean-up). My kids scooped, poured, buried animals in it, etc for hours. Of course- not suitable for wee ones who might choke.
The Melissa and Doug wooden play castle is also a lot of fun. I see them at thrift stores and consignment shops.
And then this is not really a toy, but it was a life saver for me... the "Fun Bath". Let the little ones play in the tub for an hour or so with all their favorite bath toys, bubbles, etc. Older kids could take turns supervising in 20-30 minute shifts giving you some one on one time with the others.
My dc would play in the tub for 1-2 hours at a time, especially if I had tub crayons, water puppets, or funnels, etc in there with them.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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tm2boys
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| Posted: May 28 2015 at 7:26am | IP Logged
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What about a "train" box separate from the vehicles box? You could add some tubo (plastic animals and figurines) to enhance the play.
A "playmobil" box. Playmobils have always been special here and are often combined with the wooden blocks for house or fort building. They have regular and toddler sized sets and we always keep them in special boxes to separate them from our other toys anyway.
Really like the "cooking" and "puppet" box ideas also.
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3ringcircus
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Wedgits are an investment but a very interesting building set.
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Christine
Mom to my circus of boys: G-1/06, D-1/04, S-4/10
Started HS in Fall'12
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: June 22 2015 at 6:48pm | IP Logged
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We have been cleaning our toys supply, and I have been sorting with an eye to your strategy here, Ellie.
Some boxes I have are:
Tinker Toys
Lincoln Logs
Tools (wooden as well as some battery powered toy power tools that my little ones LOVE)
Lacing Cards
And for rainy days with the older boys but probably not for use with the little ones on their own, I have some architectural blocks.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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CrunchyMom
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Another category that we leave out all the time but might work well for your rationing system is Little Green Army Men. Ours get played with a lot, often outside where they've been digging and creating "terrain."
They also have a lot of Playmobile and K'nex.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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MKelly
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We love Magna-Tiles. Expensive, but worth every penny. We add a bit more each year since there never seem to be enough. Girls and boys equally love them, they're safe around babies, and they are super easy to clean up!
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setonmom
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play-doh
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countrymom
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| Posted: June 30 2015 at 9:06am | IP Logged
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we love the combo of wooden trains and wooden blocks.
We also have a puzzle box that includes stacking dolls, stacking cups, kaleidoscopes and tops.
We also have mega mind puzzles which stay on the shelf and only comes out when they are at the table. This could be part of puzzle day.
We also have a tub of babies and cribs and simple ect that goes with that.
another idea would be a stack of paper and the trays of watercolors and smocks. They can make a mess with that and watercolors are not hard to clean up.
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: Toy Rations
