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10 Bright Stars
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Joined: Nov 16 2006
Location: Virginia
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Posts: 728
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| Posted: May 20 2010 at 12:22pm | IP Logged
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Hi all,
I think I may have posted something similiar in the past, but here goes.
When I was a child, I played alone, in my room, with my Barbie house, stuffed animals, fisher-price towns and people, neatly and quietly for hours and hours and hours. Was I special? Of course not. But I was, for the most part, an only child in the sense that my brother was 4 years younger, and a boy. We were not encouraged to play together.
So, here I am. 9 children 15 and under. Then, there are 5 girls in a row ages 2-9. I have purchased toys, dolls, Polly Pocket sets, boats and cars, stuffed animals, leffos, building blocks, dress up clothes, learning toys, toy dishes and pots/food etc. My Mom has purchased toys only to be annoyed when they lose ALL the parts to this or that. For starters, I do not have the time to keep their toys organized with so many and years of morning sickness under my belt which meant I did what I had to do, not what I would like to do. Also, I tried to get to the bottom of how their play was different than my play experience. While my three boys who came first DID seem to settle down for a "play experience" as far as focusing in on a group of dinosaurs, tractors or something akin to that and actually playing together or playing in a solitary way, the girls have a much more social form of play. The younger girls are in a way the "toys" of the older girls and they play school (which has actually become "real" school for my 9 year old daughter), doctor, orphanage etc. That is great in my opinion, but during school hours when my oldest two girls are working on school work, the younger children, used to being pawns in my older daughters play world, don't seem to know how to "play" in the usual sense of the word. They are also twins which seems to throw a whole new dynamic into it. (They focus on each other instead of toys, again good, but there could be some growth I think with independent, imaginative play.) So, inevitably they end up seeming lost, making a mess or being "put on a kid show" to just bring sanity and peace to the classroom which makes me feel terrible. I have a school day planned for them this summer, and my daughter does daily crafts with them, school, and then takes them on nature walks etc. and she makes up lesson plans on the weekend for them and even sends home "homework" for my husband and I do to with the littles. (She is a regular Charlotte Mason!) but I wanted to make their whole day more enriched while trying to drag my boys through school!  Also, my daughter needs to focus more on her actual school next year since she will be going into the 4th grade, although I think there are many worthwhile traits and lessons she is learning with being their "teacher". So, next year, I need to have a game plan. Also, we cannot afford elaborate toy sets like Playmobile and cool things like that. What can I do on a budget to entertain them and enrich their environment?
So, with that background, can anyone identify with this type of situation? Youngers lost without olders to navigate their play for them, toys that would be good for active/physical type players instead of quiet play, and things don't don't require me to be right there. (I will be in the same room but focused on other school.) Any tips would be very helpful. Quiet play would be great too, but I need things that don't have a million tiny parts etc. that seem to be all the rage with toy makers these days. That would have been fine for a kid like me that had my own room, own space and could take care of my own things, but they don't have that so it has to be a whole different childhood than mine was. So, I am trying to wrap my head around it for them. Thoughts??
__________________
Kim married to Bob (22y)
Mom of 11 blessings:
Bobby 19, David 17, Noah 14,
Mary 12, Gracie 10,
Isabelle and Sophia 8,
Gabrielle 6,
William Anthony 4, Joseph 3 and Luisa Marie - born in M
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JodieLyn
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Joined: Sept 06 2006
Location: Oregon
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Posts: 12234
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| Posted: May 20 2010 at 12:47pm | IP Logged
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I've noticed that many types of toys tend to create chaos.
But that if I have one or two things out.. that the kids will have more focused play.
So I might have two different things available.. dress up.. my girls LOVE dress up (even the 13 yr old still does  ) and something more constructive.. little people or duplos or building blocks.
But then have ALOT of each of those items so that EVERYONE can play the same thing.
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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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Mackfam
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Non Nobis
Joined: April 24 2006
Location: Alabama
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Posts: 14656
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| Posted: May 21 2010 at 7:41pm | IP Logged
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Ditto to Jodie.
How about rounding absolutely everything up with the kids help...everything. Spread out a big sheet on the floor and sort all the millions of little pieces out. Get all the big kids to help sort - pay them! They probably know which pieces go with which toy set better than you anyway (at least...that's how it is in my home!) Put all the little pieces for play sets in big ziploc bags. If you have toy sets that are missing important pieces, throw it out or give it away. Don't look back. Once it's all sorted in piles choose 2 or 3 toy groups to leave out. Give those 2 or 3 toy sets specific bins or baskets to live in so that clean up is easy. That's it. VERY LIMITED CHOICES! In a month or so, if you sense boredom, trade the toy groups out for 2 more that have been living in the top of your closet or under your bed.
Keeping out only a couple of toy sets at once really makes a difference!!! Good luck, Kim! Sheesh! I know how frustrating this is to be constantly tripping over toys and have the kids announce that there is *nothing to play with*.  Sort and limit is my mantra! 
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Becky Parker
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Joined: May 23 2005
Location: Michigan
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Posts: 2582
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| Posted: May 22 2010 at 6:43am | IP Logged
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Mackfam wrote:
Ditto to Jodie.
How about rounding absolutely everything up with the kids help...everything. ...
Keeping out only a couple of toy sets at once really makes a difference!!! D] |
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Yes! Agreeing with Jodie and Jen! For years our basement playroom was like a war zone. We didn't have girls stuff, we had boy's stuff, but it was still stuff. Walking down there was terrible - you had to avoid stepping on Legos or army guys. You had to step OVER block creations that had been sitting there, untouched, for weeks. Then there were the junk toys that just accumulated in the corners. When the kids cleaned up down there, everything went into bins in a big jumbled mess so I could vacuum. Finally, DH and I said enough is enough. All the kids, my husband and I gave up an entire Saturday morning and we did just as Jen said. We sorted every little thing into piles. We threw away trashbags full of broken or just really junky toys. I counted up how many piles of "good toys" we had left then I went in search of bins, boxes, bags, whatever to store it. Now, the kids are allowed to have 3 things out at one time. When they want to play with the Legos, they have to trade in the knights and Castles, or something like that. And, the benefit of this, besides a clean basement, is that they actually play with the toys!
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: games children play
