Toy Rotation

7 Shares

For the 12 Months of Montessori this month, we are concentrating on the topic of peace. I thought about this topic for awhile and decided what would bring the greatest amount of peace to our home, at this busy time, was to develop a system for rotating my 3 year-old's toys.

Baby Bee joined our family this summer and that has added a whole new dynamic to our family. Granddad has enjoyed sending Little Bee toys every couple weeks to "entertain" him while I am busy with Baby Bee. This kind gesture has been greatly appreciated, especially by Little Bee! However, it has also overwhelmed our playroom with toys. So I had to create a few rules and implement a toy rotation system to maintain a peaceful atmosphere in our home.

Playroom Toy Rotation Shelves

In our playroom, I set up two IKEA shelves for Little Bee's toys. These shelves only house his toys and not his Montessori materials. I keep all the Montessori materials in the basement classroom and only bring materials upstairs when we are working on something special. Otherwise, we visit the basement classroom almost everyday.

On Little Bee's play shelves, he has toys that interest him the most right now. Some of these toys are plastic but are still wonderful learning toys. Granddad found these fantastic machines (airplane and car) that can be completely disassembled and then put back together. The parts screw together with a little mechanical drill. Little Bee is into smaller objects that he can build and play "make-believe" with. He has duplo legos, blocks, train tracks, service station (for cars/trucks), and lots of matchbox vehicles. He creates accident scenes and radios in the police car, fire truck, ambulance, and tow truck. He also has various Melissa and Doug wooden people (community helpers) that he pretends to talk to each other. I love listening and watching him play independently and create stories with his toys.
In the photos above, Little Bee also has a collection of Schleich animals that he plays with in his wooden barn or ark.

Shared Space - Baby Toys

A small basket on the floor is filled with toys for Baby Bee. She loves holding onto various shaped balls, chewing on Sophie the giraffe, and looking at her black & white art cards. She also enjoys her IKEA play stand and grabbing at her wooden ring. At this time, Little Bee doesn't really have to share his shelf space with Baby Bee, but one day that time will come. Then all the toys in this playroom will need to be safe for Baby Bee too.

Clean Up Tips - Clear Plastic Labeled Bins

In these shelf photos, you can see that I have utilized clear plastic storage bins bought from Target. I used to try and line all Little Bees cars up in a row on his shelves. However, that became tedious when it was time for clean-up. Having the labeled plastic bin makes it easy and fast for Little Bee to help with cleaning up. We have been reading a ton of books with Little Bee while I am breastfeeding Baby Bee. His book shelf has exploded with books and needs a good reorganizing. Maybe... one day soon... I'll get to that! His book shelf is usually on the other wall, but instead we are using that space for the Christmas tree. Little Bee helped decorate it this year!

Merry Christmas!

Basement Shelf Toy Rotation System

Little Bee's other toys are rotated into the basement onto our utility/storage shelf. Anytime his playroom begins to get overwhelming, I grab a plastic bin and rotate a handful to the basement. The rule that we follow is that if a toy comes into the playroom, then a toy must rotate out into the basement.

I tried to talk with Little Bee about choosing the toys that he would like to give away to a child who doesn't have as many toys. Developmentally, he wasn't ready to part with any of his toys! I was disappointed but I hope one day he will be more willing. For now, half his toys are stored in the basement and if he doesn't ask for a toy in several months, then I move the toy out of the house. If Little Bee remembers a toy in the basement that he wants to bring up to his playroom, then he must surrender a toy from the playroom to the basement. He cooperates with this rule.

Also, I have noticed that he seems more at peace with his playroom environment when it is orderly and he has less toys to choose to play with. The less toys he has, the calmer he is. I think the overabundance of toys overwhelms him just as much as it overwhelms me!The basement toy storage is housed in clear plastic bins found at Target. On this utility shelf, you will notice that we also store our extra household supplies.