https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 07 May 2026 21:00:27 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/toy-rotation-1#post-1978396 Wed, 10 Dec 2014 10:37:11 +0000 Cole 1978396@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ShootingStar: you can probably just do it mentally, I mostly just went through the play areas and grabbed things and put them in a box then fine tuned as time went on. It would overwhelm me to no end to try and put all the toys in one place and sort them! I just tried to keep in mind the different categories of stuff the kids played with a lot. I would even take mental notes for a few days before I planned to rotate, like X is used everyday so I will leave it out for now but no one uses the kitchen at all so what can I do to make it more interesting again. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/toy-rotation-1#post-1978326 Wed, 10 Dec 2014 10:00:02 +0000 ShootingStar 1978326@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Great help guys! So it sounds like what I need to do is pull out all the toys (ugh) and categorize everything. I still need to nail down what to do with the toys not in rotation. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/toy-rotation-1#post-1977400 Tue, 09 Dec 2014 16:11:52 +0000 Cole 1977400@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I usually put away one whole category at once and then leave out one or two elements from each of the other categories. So all of the blocks might get put away for a few weeks and I will leave out two or three puzzles, two sets of food, some trains or cars, dolls or certain stuffed animals etc. Basically, if it gets played with in the same manner I consider it a category. </p> <p>A few times a year I rearrange things completely, if the doll house was in the play room and the play kitchen was in the living room, swap them because they will be seen at different times of day then. Two large bins that fit in a closet is my preferred method but sometimes I have needed to be creative with storage because it's hard to come by that much space in an easy to access area.</p> <p>It's worth noting that it's not as complicated as it seems once you start because as I pull toys out of the bin to put back in rotation I just swap it with something equivalent. I usually put away about 1/2-2/3 of the toys. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/toy-rotation-1#post-1977330 Tue, 09 Dec 2014 15:32:50 +0000 edelweiss 1977330@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>i started rotating toys last month, so not long (we're on 2-week rotations or "whenever i feel like it" rotations). there are some great blog posts on the internet if you look up toy rotation, with pictures and everything.</p> <p>mrs. stroller also had a post:<br /> <a href="http://www.hellobee.com/2013/02/11/toy-rotation-plan/" rel="nofollow">http://www.hellobee.com/2013/02/11/toy-rotation-plan/</a></p> <p>the basic idea is to gather all your toys (or at least a lot of them) and divide them into categories. also, this is a good time to separate out ones to donate and ones to permanently store (like if you're waiting for a second child to use that rattle). </p> <p>i did this on a very loosey goosey basis with about 4 categories: gross motor, pretend play, fine motor, and miscellaneous (i told you it was loosey goosey--some people come up with 13 categories, which was overwhelming to me).</p> <p>for each rotation box/bag/what have you, take 1 or 2 toys from each category, so that your LO gets exposure to the different categories during each rotation. some people buy bins, some use bags. i have not reached that level of organization yet (we didn't have too many toys to begin with) and put them all in a storage closet downstairs. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/toy-rotation-1#post-1977060 Tue, 09 Dec 2014 13:38:53 +0000 Mrs. Sunshine 1977060@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have very very limited storage at our house. My LO is 15 months &amp; while she plays by herself, she generally doesn't play alone in her bedroom so I just rotate out toys between her bedroom &amp; the living room (we spend most of our day there since it's an open space that also connects with the kitchen). I organize them a little differently each time so that she gets a different perspective on her toys but I have no real system. Every Monday I swap some toys around. It takes me all of 10 minutes &amp; that's it. It keeps the toy clutter in both her room and the living room managed and it helps to make sure all of the toys get at least some use. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/toy-rotation-1#post-1977056 Tue, 09 Dec 2014 13:35:00 +0000 NurseDMB 1977056@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I rotate my 16 month old toys - I do keep out the bigger toys that he plays with all the time, like his mini shopping cart, mega blocks, etc. </p> <p>But for the other toys, I keep out a few from each category - like I'll keep out one ball, one music toy, one shape sorter/fine motor skill type toy, etc.</p> <p>It has worked really well so far - he enjoys his toys much more now, although he still has his favorites.</p> <p>I put the toys in trash bags for now in the basement but I want to get big bins to keep them in eventually. I normally rotate 1-2 times a month, but I know some people do it more frequently. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/toy-rotation-1#post-1976966 Tue, 09 Dec 2014 12:50:57 +0000 Turd Ferguson 1976966@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ooooh, following. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/toy-rotation-1#post-1976956 Tue, 09 Dec 2014 12:43:40 +0000 ShootingStar 1976956@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Talk to me about toy rotation. How do you decide what needs to get rotated? Where do you put the toys that are not in use? How old are your kids?</p> <p>I have a one year old and playroom full of toys large and small. I have a few things I want to keep out all the time, but I feel like a lot of the smaller ones don't get much playtime because they're always there. We also just had his birthday and there are toys I don't even want to add to the mix yet. </p> <p>If you have any pics of how you organize/rotate, that would be great! </p>