Do your kids have TONS of toys to play with but still come to you saying “I’m bored“??
Not long ago I told you why I actually LOVE Play-Doh. Since I only get it out every 4-6 weeks, it keeps my kids busy for hours. Seriously, HOURS. And you may also know that I have seasonal toys.
Well, I do this with other toys as well. Sometimes I feel like having everything out at once is a bit overwhelming. So I keep most things in bins or small containers and stash them out of site for awhile. Then pull them back out with a SURPRISE! And the old stuff seems new again and is loved for hours.
A couple of other toy tips…
Even though my kids unwrap all of their gifts for their birthdays, Christmas, etc. I don’t actually get everything out at once. For example, Charlotte’s birthday was about six weeks ago. And just TODAY I finally opened her last gift – a set of Barbie outfits. And so they were played with for about 30 minutes. Now I believe if they had come out of the box on her birthday…they’d still be at the bottom of the Barbie clothes bin unplayed with. Instead, she was thrilled to see them today and have something “new” to try on and off and on and off that Barbie.
And the photo above? Well, I was lucky to get some a boatload of Littlest Pet Shop (LPS) toys from a friend. But I got them back in late November. Right before the holidays. When we were about to be bombarded with new Christmas toys. So I hid the box of LPS toys way back in the basement and just waited. Waited for Christmas to come and go. Waited for Charlotte’s birthday to come and go. Waited for a drab, yucky, snowy winter spring day.
And then…SURPRISE…out came the box. The girls were beyond thrilled. And played for hours today. However, little do they know that the LPS toys will not stay out forever. I’ll tuck them away once the sun is out consistently and save them for another SURPRISE visit some cold, wet, yucky day late summer or early fall.
Downside? Maybe my kids will be the ones always expecting something new to entertain them? Who knows. For now I know that by rotating toys I am able to have the kids entertain themselves much longer. And they seem to appreciate what they are playing with even more.
How do you handle “I’m bored” at your house?
Do you rotate toys?
I need to be better about this. Hmm… maybe THIS is how I should spend this snowy morning with Julia! Also, we inherited some LPS toys recently too. Man, what a deal! Those things are expensive! I swear Target sells individual little animals for $3-4! And I think we got about 25 plus a number of structures like you. Love hand-me-overs!