Saturday, May 10, 2008

Playtime

I'm often amazed by the innate creativity and playful nature of children. Today I enjoyed a quiet morning with our two youngest kids. Our (almost) two-year-old daughter spent the better part of an hour playing with a teddy bear, a blanket, the laundry basket and an empty yogurt container. She was happy as a clam, not concerned that her toys were simple and inexpensive.

As I prepare for our upcoming move, I am thinking about purging and streamlining our family's belongings. In particular, I've begun sorting through the kids' toys. It seems toys have a crazy way of multiplying and taking over space. I believe toys need not be expensive or fancy to be fun. Some of the best toys are simple and everyday. Therefore, I plan to get rid of most of the kids "non-creative' toys --- especially the ones that require batteries, are made of cheap plastic, came with a restaurant meal, or are broken or damaged.

Further, in our new house Ben and I plan to rotate through the kids' toy collection. We will keep many toys in storage, bringing out only a small selection at a time. When our house was on the market we put many of the children's toys away anyway. The kids didn't seem to notice toys were missing. I was amazed how much easier clean-up time became with fewer toys. The play room in our new house will be slightly smaller than our current one, so I believe less toys will be a great benefit.

Here is a list of some of my favourite toys for children. These toys will definitely stay within our collection:
  • Wooden blocks
  • Wooden train set with tracks
  • Lego and duplo blocks
  • Tinker toys
  • Play kitchen with pretend food and dishes
  • Soft puppets
  • Dress up clothes
  • Little people
  • Potato heads
  • Stuffed animals (I often edit this collection)
  • Dolls with soft bodies and faces
  • Play dough and tools
  • Art supplies
  • Lacing toys (for older preschoolers)
  • Aqua doodle
  • Puzzles





1 comment:

Sarah said...

I agree! My little guy's favorite toys include an empty oatmeal canister, a blue spatula and an orange ball. All those toys we've bought and been given? Maybe played with once or twice a week, at most. The spatula though (which was in MY stocking this year!:) is almost his constant companion.

Good luck with your purge!

Sarah