Warm Weather/Less Toys

[mamamanda]

Now that the weather is turning warm here happyface my program will move to being primarily outdoors. We even eat & do our crafts outside most days. We have about an hour of indoor play time every morning & 45 min or so in the afternoon.

My question is... how many toys do I need to have available indoors during this time of year? I know clean up time is an area I struggle with. I need to have them clean as they go, but with them all being so young there's a lot of dump & move on happening. It feels like we spend way too much time cleaning up at the end for only having an hour of play.

I want to seriously cut down toys for the summer. Like maybe a dollhouse, couple cars, few action figures, blocks, dress up clothes, & puzzles. But is that too limiting?

[daycarediva]

I was just thinking the same thing with my assistant. My kids can do ok cleaning up, so their space is fine to remain the same. My littles however? ohhhh nope. Dump and go. I am thinking one shelf, one bin of toys for each child.

[redmaple]

I'm planning to cut what I have available indoors in 1/2 this upcoming weekend, for the same reason. Less time cleaning up inside, and more time outside. I'll move playdough and chalk outside. Some outdoor block items. Dramatic play area outside etc.

[mamamanda]

I was just thinking the same thing with my assistant. My kids can do ok cleaning up, so their space is fine to remain the same. My littles however? ohhhh nope. Dump and go. I am thinking one shelf, one bin of toys for each child.

One bin for each child...good rule of thumb!

[mamamanda]

I'm planning to cut what I have available indoors in 1/2 this upcoming weekend, for the same reason. Less time cleaning up inside, and more time outside. I'll move playdough and chalk outside. Some outdoor block items. Dramatic play area outside etc.

That's how we do it here too. We love outside time!

[mamamanda]

We have a little times plastic boat with cover that I believe was originally a wading pool. We've decided to fill it with corn, "fossils" dinosaurs, & digging toys this year. Also, we are adding a small gravel pit with tractors & cars. Playdough, chalk, & bubbles come outside along with arts & crafts.

[Pestle]

I'm sunburned! I sent out the email Friday that we need sunscreen and bug spray and sun hats. Two sun hats have come in. No sunscreen or bug spray so far.

I already have pretty limited quantities of toys in the playroom, but you're inspiring me to swap out the toys with a zillion pieces for simpler toys.

[alyssahenderson]

It's okay to cut down toys for summer. Kids also love to spend time playing outside.

[Josiegirl]

I always say I need to downsize my toys, especially the ones with multiple pieces. Those pieces become scattered all through out the house. And it's getting so that nobody wants to clean up anymore.

[Blackcat31]

I just sold my entire collection of outdoor toys

Little Tike cottages, cozy coupes, trucks, minivans, slides and scooters. ALL of them.

We've been re-doing our playground since last summer and the one thing I've noticed is less is more.

My yard used to look like an advertisement for Little Tikes but all the kids seemed to do is run back and forth from toy to toy touching it just because someone else looked like they might have wanted to do the same.

No one actually played with anything.

So far the change has been really positive.
They play with one activity much longer and seem to be more involved in what they are playing so they in turn seem to get along better too.

I like the one container per child idea...