How do you approach purging toys? My 4 yo knows it’s coming and I’ve explained to him that other children aren’t as fortunate and would really like toys to play with so we’re giving some of ours away to make room for new ones. Last year I picked 10 or so of our least played with toys and hold him he could pick 3 to keep. This doesn’t include the toys that disappeared that he still hasn’t noticed. I want to give him some ownership of the process but still actually get rid of things. How do you approach it with little kids? Am I overthinking this?
-
I am usually "one toy in, one toy out". I won't count small things, but anything that takes up some sort of space, something's gotta give. For example, my sister got the girls two new stuffies over the summer. Even though I technically have space, they had to pick 2 to donate.
Their birthdays are both in December, so we do a much bigger toy purge this time of the year. Since I know more or less what they're getting for birthdays/Christmas, we decide together what needs to go to make room for the new stuff.
Currently slightly complicated as we're expecting a 3rd so there are certain things I'm going to save...
-
I explained the same as you. But when we went through the toys I would hold a toy and I would ask him. If we disagreed if it should stay or go I would put it aside. When there were too many keeps I started a this or that questions. Like if you want to keep this toy you have to pick one of these to get rid of.
-
I make the kids go throw and pick what they want to donate. Then I do more lol but they’re 3 and 5 and sort of get it
-
I let my kids sort into three piles—keep, give away, and basement. Toys that go to the basement almost never come back
If they don’t request them for 6 months, then I donate. We sort into categories (games, action figures, building materials, cars) and occasionally I set specific goals (you can keep 10 cars, choose 5 superhero toys to give away, etc). Having a basement category also gives me the option to keep toys I think #3 might eventually play with.
-
I do what you do. Pick some they see leave and then get rid of most on the sly. Seems to work pretty well
-
I started by pulling out toys I notice never get played with, storing them in the basement for a while and then getting rid of them. Now that DS is 5, he knows that I consign clothes and toys he and DS#2 have grown out of. We have a toy rotation but most of the ones they don't choose often just stay in the basement. When it comes to consigning time I go through everything in the basement and DS1 room and ask him what he is done with. He usually suggests selling DS2's favorites but eventually we narrow it down to stuff they don't like. I also suggest "you never play with this and like building toys better" but try to let him have a say so he doesn't feel like I am selling all his favorites. My kids have clear favorites and then other things that they play with for 5 min after rotation because of novelty but really don't hold their attention. Those are the first to go.
-
@brownepiano: whenever i talk to ds1 about this all of the toys he wants to get rid of are his brother’s
-
@LadyDi:
of course
I motivated my 5 year old to pick his stuff he was done with by telling him he could have some of the money from the sale. He discovered the joy of spending birthday money and was desperate to earn more. The net total was less toys so we were both pleased with the outcome.
-
I miss how easy it was to purge toys when DD was little. As she has gotten older, she's now almost 5, she will act attached to everything I try to get rid of. Even if she hasn't played with it for months. Her birthday is two weeks before Christmas so we typically do a big purge the weekend after Thanksgiving. (We also do small ones through out the year, but this is our big one)
What seems to work is that DH and I do a pass without her. Get rid of the cheap plastic junk, things that are broken beyond use, and things we have duplicates of that are unnecessary. We also sometimes get rid of things that we just really dislike. We then make piles of things we want to ask DD about. Then we do a pass with DD, sorting through what we have already pulled out. We tell her a minimum number of things she has to get rid of but don't fight over everything. DH and then typically do another pass without her.
Anything we get rid of goes in a box in the garage. We leave it there for a few months to make sure she doesn't freak out about something that is missing. I think i have only had to rescue three things from that box.
-
DS is 6 and gets giving things to others. When he was 4 I did a big house clean out and donated everything to a group that gets it to families that can use it. When they picked the stuff up they talked to DS and told him how happy other kids would be to get the toys. That has stuck with him.
We just did a small purge and I basically went through each bin with him and asked what he still liked. He filled a diaper box on his own.
I generally put our giveaways in the basement for a couple months just to make sure but I don’t usually have to bring things back.
-
I just went through all our toys this weekend... Anything broken got pitched, which ended up being half a garbage bag full, and another bag full got donated, stuffed animals, some baby toys, really not nearly as much as I should've got rid of but I feel like I'm attached to some of it too, lol.
-
I actually have never included my kids on our toy purges.... I just do it myself. Mostly I sort everything and see what pieces are missing, go together, are broke, etc. Stuff that they just never touch I donate. They really don't seem to notice. We are about to do a big pre-Christmas purge. I should try to ask my 5 year old to choose some things but... he's a challenging kid to begin with so not sure how that would go.
-
We redid our basement last year and moved the toy room downstairs from our living room. The new toy room was about 1/3 of the size so I told the boys that they had to go through their toys and only the ones that fit downstairs could stay. therefore, they really needed to be realistic about what they loved and wanted to keep. We also talked about how we wanted to donate them to kids who don't have as many toys.
-
At 4 & 6, I still do it mostly on my own in private. They usually do see the bag & realize what's happening & we talk about how they don't play with those or they get to keep all their favorites & it ends up being fine. We handle the emotions & recognize we can't keep everything without having to keep more than we need because they want that broken McDonald's toy they didn't even remember they had.
If they don’t request them for 6 months, then I donate. We sort into categories (games, action figures, building materials, cars) and occasionally I set specific goals (you can keep 10 cars, choose 5 superhero toys to give away, etc). 
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
14 comments