Still haven't figured out the toys...

One thing I have noticed is that it really depends on your group. Before i moved, my group loved the mega blocks and cars and trains, so they were always out. Now, this past weekend I finally put all three of those things away because my new group, although similar ages, don't actually seemt o play with those things and instead the babies just drag them around and make unnecessary messes or try to put the cars and trains in their mouths etc. I think I will put away the train table as well because now there are no trains for it unless someone asks...which nobody does! So, for me, rotation kind of goes by interest...if I notice something is not being played with, I put it away for awhile and maybe next time I take it out someone will play with it..if not, away it goes. Too much stuff just means more mess and doesn't mean more fun ;) It also depends on how much space you have. In my old house, I couldn't have ride-ons or strollers because the space was too small and kids would get run over. I now have a huge space, so we can have these things out with minimal issues. What you buy has to make sense for your space.

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Originally Posted by sunnydays

.... What you buy has to make sense for your space.

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Exactly ~ my playroom is only 16 x 12 down there so not 'huge' by any means ... I cannot have ride on toys or big pieces of furniture in there for sure .... when I choose material or a toy for the playroom I always do so with the intent of being able to envision at least three different ways children might 'use' the item and how each age group might use it.

So for example I do not have any of the 'Little Tyke / Playskool stuff' the big fire stations, large garages, airports, farms and so forth anymore cause while some kids love them basically that is all they are ever used for so if no one is 'into them' at the moment they are taking up valuable real estate ... so if my kids want to play 'fire station / garage / airport / farm' they build one with the blocks and other open ended material accessories around the room using their imagination and all I have to 'store' in my playroom is the blocks which are always out and the blocks have 'ramps and gullies' so they can build their own things to race cars down or they make 'stalls' with blocks and put the farm animals from the toy shelf in them or they build airports and find the airplanes from the bucket of vehicles and so forth and it takes up a TINY FRACTION of the storage space cause well if no one is interested in 'fire stations' they use the blocks as something else and pretend the wooden people silhouettes in the block area are 'someone else' like the girls for example who love to build 'castles' and use them as the king and queen and princess ;)

I agree with everyone that it really depends on your group. I recently got rid of my large train table and just bought a smaller table that has a flat surface instead. The flat surface is more practical because it can be used for cars, train tracks or the farm animals.

I have a basket of music instruments for my music centre.

a play kitchen and play food is a must. I take turns between leaving the shopping cart out and putting it away because a lot of stuff gets wheeled in there and creates large mess all at once.

I have a chalk board/magnetic easel stand with magnetic ABC letters on it.

A puzzle and book centre. There are different puzzles from chunky 3 piece puzzles, to 12 piece puzzles to large floor puzzles that we do as a group

Blocks

A large dollhouse/Barbie house

A lego table which hardly gets used for legos.

Then there are lots of miscellaneous things like Barbies, Little ponies, cars, dinosaur boxes, farm animals and a barn etc. Something like the farm animals can be a hot item for a few months and suddenly they sit collecting dust for the next few. Sigh.

I would recommend some toy dolls and one or two of the little strollers for the kids to use. Those are popular with the boys and girls along with pretend bottles to feed their 'babies'

I don't rotate toys. I do periodically remove toys and clear out toys that aren't being used and try to reconfigure how my playroom can be used better and function better. That could be adding new toys or furniture and removing something else. I am often looking around during the week and wondering what the best layout would be and observing what is getting used and what isn't.

Every day my dckids get out the same toys when they arrive then they get into more of a variety as the day progresses. The first things out are the doll buggy, dolls with pillows and blankets by my girly girl, then the shopping cart full of dishes and the kitchenette and a picnic on the blanket by the dolls.

For the boys, they go straight for the millions of toy cars/trucks/construction vehicles and the parking garage and related toys.

So I guess I would call these my most popular toys. But they love the easel with the chalkboard on one side and roll of paper with markers on the other side, blocks of course, wooden puzzles made by my woodworking brother, different things get set out every day so I do rotate my toys and give the children variety.

for me, depends on age group, relative to space available. I have all learning centers, but often combine them to save space and put away those that i don't need.

i have 2-3 year old group. my space is about 16 feet by 14 , the basement and the living room is about same size, but smaller area wise because of the couch.

I have the learning centers, but i also keep everything stowed when we want to zumba indoors or we do bean bag toss or basketball.

Always ready on the shelf: writing centers - this is use for transition, coming in the mornings, doodles at quite time, and something to do before pick up at 4:30 pm to 5pm.

Blocks: also used in numeracy, literacy centers - sorting colors, counting.

Balls and Basket: I have 2 boys, they like something to throw in the bean bags.

Art center : trim down to what is needed as to wanted (space issue)

library is open all day, (1) 3 -tier bookshelf, 1 short shelf for the toddler ones.

Dance and yoga area is always open for kids who just want to dance, sing or both. i keep it as open and they can dance on whim, as i do that too.


And the kids will help me rotate toys on monday mornings. usually, i have 2 bins for free play. This is housed in a 16 bin toy organizer. what does not fit on he organizer, goes into the bin.
sometimes, i am lazy, so it is done every two weeks. if kids asked, then we do it.

Angie