Sometimes it feels like my children have a million toys, but they just don’t play with them. They prefer to play with the Tupperware in the kitchen or my shoes! Toy Rotation is a simple solution to a very common problem. We all know what it feels like to be overwhelmed by choice, and it is the same for kids. When they have too many toys or activities to choose from they literally run away and find something simpler to play with – like the Tupperware drawer.
I recently decided to move all of the kid's toys into our spare bedroom and convert it into a proper playroom. We do not have guests that often and the room seemed on the brink of becoming a storage unit or ‘pakkamer’ as we say in my home language, Afrikaans. Our little ones now have a very convenient playroom right next to the kitchen (aka my office) with a door that I can close when it gets too chaotic.
The challenge, however, is storage. How do I store the toys in a way that looks neat, the children can reach them and they are easy to clean up? It is really tricky to maintain a space that is used so often, by so many individuals. That’s when I started reading a lot about toy rotation. And something just clicked. I have decided to store most of the toys in clear containers, making it easy to figure out what’s inside and simple to pack them away. Leaving the ‘flavour of the week ‘ toys on the open shelves in the playroom is the game plan. And so the experiment of toy rotation kicked off in the Steyn Home.
How many toys or activities should be in the rotation? We have found that between 8 and 10 is the sweet spot when it comes to toy rotation. I try to split it up 70/30 between big girl toys and baby toys and it seems to be working really well. Your system will obviously depend on the age of your children. We have a 4-year gap between our daughter and son. So the baby vs older children toys is a challenge and then the boy vs girl toys adds another category to consider when rotating. The toys are displayed at eye level, allowing the kids to choose what they want to play with. Toy rotation is an amazing system that really creates a space that does not overwhelm them with choice, but rather promotes deeper play.
Many of these principles are built into the curation and design of the Beki Bags. The functional zipper bags create an easy-to-manage system, that can help parents and their kids rotate the activities and toys effortlessly. In the Premium Beki Bag, you will find 4 zipper bags filled with lovely activities to keep kids entertained or even promote independent play in older Bekis. The fact that the Beki Bag is kept separate from your children’s other toys really adds to the novelty of the bag. It feels special and they enjoy the contents because they do not see or play with them every day.
I really recommend giving toy rotation a try, we would love to hear from other parents. What has worked for your family and what cool tricks or systems you have tried.