toyrotation – A House of Play

1 June 20241 June 2024

June Toy Rotation

It’s toy rotation time again. I do a toy rotation at the beginning of each month for my 3 year old son and 5 year old daughter. After a month, most of the toys we have out are stale and receive very little attention. Anything still being played with stays out for the next month. If you’re interested in more information on how I do toy rotations, check out my other toy rotation posts here.

We will be doing some ocean and beach play over the next few weeks so I brought out all of our related toys. I like matching our toy rotation to the activity themes we will be doing. I think helps inspire the kids to think of new ways to use their toys and I find it easier to already have most of our resources out and within reach. I have linked the toys that I could below.

June Toys

Plan Toys Pirate Ship set – thrifted (felt anchor is from Sewing Seeds Play*)
Tiny Fox Hole wooden summer toys
IKEA Lighthouse Lamp
Gluckskafer Blue Hull Sailing Boat
Maileg Surfer Mice – Simply Green Baby
Mermaid Costume – Great Pretenders
Schleich whales and Terra by Battat Sea Animals – Amazon
Sarah’s Silks Under the Sea Play map – Sewing Seeds Play*
Tara Treasures Mermaid
Felt shell, star and palm trees – Sewing Seeds Play*
Peppa Pig Aquarium set – Amazon
BC Ferries toys – bought on a BC ferry!
Grapat Wood Wonders – Sewing Seeds Play*
Crocodile Creek Day at the Beach Puzzle
Cat Bingo – Dilly Dally
Clementoni Pre-écriture
Oliver Jeffers Go Fish – Dilly Dally
IKEA fishing toy set
Lovevery Montessori Movable Alphabet Game
Mudpuppy Cat Donuts Shaped Memory Match – Amazon
Lovevery Pattern Match Boats and Cards Set

*save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Toys Remaining Out

Grapat Mandala
Farm Toys (Fisher-price barn, Scheich Chicken Coop and animals, Ostheimer fences)

This month is our last month in this house. We’re moving at the beginning of next month. So this will be our last toy rotation that looks like this. I think we are ready for a slightly updated system anyway. Stay tuned to see what we do at our new house.

2 May 20242 May 2024

May Toy & Book Rotation

I try to rotate some of our toys and books around the first of each month. I don’t rotate everything, but find that some rotation helps add some fresh energy to the playroom. The kids are usually excited to see toys that have been put away for a few months – the toys almost seem new to them. Also, limiting the number of toys that are out at one time helps the kids focus their creativity on the toys available.

My method for toy rotation is pretty relaxed. I take away toys that are no longer being played with and replace them with toys from storage. When I rotate in the “new” toys, I try to think about what might be happening in the upcoming month – if there are any holidays, special events or themes we’re going to be exploring.

This month, I’ve rotated in some toys related to the outdoors. The weather is just starting to slightly warm up where we live and we are ready to spend more time outside. I’ve also added a few construction materials, as we will be doing some construction play this month.

There are a number of toys that I don’t rotate because they are played with regularly. Our farm animals, fences, barn and chicken coop stay out on the shelf all the time. My 3 year old son is a huge farm addict and plays with them pretty much everyday. I also leave out our open ended blocks, castle pieces and play kitchen. If you’re interested in learning more about the toys we leave out all the time, there is more information in this post.

Here’s what I put out for toy rotation in May.

Toys

Guidecraft Little Bricks (Scholar’s Choice)
Lovevery Flashlight
Magnifying Glasses (Amazon)
Discover the Busy World of the Beehive book (Amazon)
Felt beehive, bees and bee kaleidoscope (Sewing Seeds Play)
Lovevery Camping Set and Wood Stacking Boulders
The Little Book of Backyard Birds (Amazon)
Folkmanis bird finger puppets (Sewing Seeds Play)
Mader Wood tops – Roly Poly Spinning Top, Rainbow Spinning Top Learning Set (Nest.ca)
Goki Ladybug Bobble (JS Rainbows)
Lovevery Montessori Math Bars, Math Tiles & Number Sense Nature Counters
Lovevery First Sewing Kit
Lovevery Match & Tap Hammer Box
Chicco Remote Control Cars (Billy Bigwheels and Fiat 500 Sport)

*As an Amazon Affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Puzzles and Games

Haba Building Site Game (Granville Island Toy Company)
Petit College Construction Floor Puzzle (Dilly Dally)
Oliver Jeffers Go Fish Cards (Dilly Dally)
Fishing Game (IKEA)
Butterfly Friends puzzle (Book Outlet)
Lovevery Colour Theory Puzzle
Butterfly number puzzle (Dollarama)

Book Rotation

Next, I rotate the books on the display shelves in my kids’ rooms. The books on the display shelves tend to be the ones we read at night, rather than the ones stacked on nearby shelves, so we all enjoy when they are refreshed every month. This month, I put out some books related to the outdoors and a few of our other favourites that we haven’t read in a while.

*As an Amazon Affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Can you guess what my kids’ favourites might be? My 5 year old daughter grabbed Stuck by Oliver Jeffers first and my 3 year old son chose his two Stick and Stone books. If you have any questions about the toys and books above or if you have any questions about toy rotation, please leave a comment.

3 April 202419 April 2024

April Toy Rotation

It’s the beginning of a new month and time for a toy rotation. We’ve had our Easter toys, decorations and activities out for almost a month now, so it’s time for a refresh.

I started with the cubes in our IKEA Kallax shelf that house toys I rotate monthly. However, I plan on doing a larger reorganization of the toys in our playroom this week, so stay tuned.

My approach to toy rotation is to remove all the toys from the cubes that are no longer getting attention. This resulted in taking away everything but the Schleich farm animals, Ostheimer Wood Fences, Fisher-price Barn and Schleich Chicken Coop. If you’ve seen some of my other posts, then you may know that my 3.5 year old son is farm obsessed and plays with these items all the time. I wouldn’t dare take them away from him.

The next thing I did was to pull out toys that are topical for the month or in-line with my kids current interests. So this month I put out some toys with a spring feel to them and things the kids received in their Easter baskets this past weekend. If you are curious about what was in their Easter baskets, see here. I don’t have an endless number of spring toys, and we also had some out last month, and so I added in a few other items that the kids haven’t seen in a while.

I try to keep a rough balance between different types of toys, puzzles and games so that there is something about language, something related to math, building, pretend play, small world play etc. I also try to keep a rough balance of items for my 5.5 year old daughter and 3.5 year old son. Although as they both get older, I am finding they both play with everything.

Keep in mind we also have a number of toys that are not rotated. I’ll include a list at the bottom of toys that remain out all the time.

Here’s what we’ll be playing with this month:

Grapat Mandala
Lego City Barn and Farm Animals (Amazon)
Schleich farm animals
Ostheimer wood fences (Nest)
Fisher-price Barn (ours was passed down from friends, but here is a similar one)
Schleich Chicken Coop (Amazon)
Lego Disney Encanto the Madrigal House (Amazon)
Sarah’s Silks swords, rainbow veil & crown (The Playful Peacock, Mymy and Me)
Lovevery Montessori Sensory Box – from the Analyst Playkit
Clixo (Amazon)
Learning Resources Shape Shell Turtles (Amazon)
Guidecraft Barnyard Activity Boxes
Lovevery Turtle Hatch Game – from the Problem Solver Playkit
Lovevery Lockbox from the Realist Playkit with Velcro critters from the Fuzzy Bug Shrub in the Adventurer Play Kit
Londji A Home for Nature Puzzle (Mymy and Me)
Crocodile Creek Unicorn Dreams Floor Puzzle (Dilly Dally)
Janod A Day at the Farm Puzzle
Goki Life Cycle of a Chicken Puzzle (Sewing Seeds Play – save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Peaceable Kingdom Snug as a Bug in a Rug Game (Amazon)
Lovevery Letter Sounds Animal Puzzle from the Storyteller Play Kit
2 Jeux Mômes Jeu Éducatif Métiers + Chiffres (3 part cards – jobs and numbers)

*As an Amazon Affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.

The white bins on the top level of the Kallax shelf hold items out of rotation and the toys in the bottoms baskets do not get rotated. The bottom baskets include

Magnetic tiles (combination of KidCheer and Picasso),
Picasso ball run,
Plan Toys wooden roads,
Brio/ wooden trains and tracks,
Balls and soft objects the kids can throw inside, and
Vehicles.

We also have wooden building toys, musical instruments, large vehicles and a play kitchen that remain out.

I find rotating toys helps refresh the kids’ interest for their toys and also keeps some of the clutter down. It does take a bit of effort on my part, but I always find it’s worth it when I see my kids’ enthusiasm and engagement with the “new” toys.

12 January 2024

January Playroom Refresh and Toy Rotation

Our playroom is in the space where our dining room should be. We are grateful for the house we live in, but it is not huge and we have to make space decisions based on our needs. Our kids are 3 and 5 and when we moved into the house 2.5 years ago, the epidemic was nearing its end. The idea of having guests over for dinner parties seemed way less important, or probable, than needing a play space for our energetic kids.

The main floor has an open plan layout and the dining room is in-between the kitchen and the living room. So, when toys and mess get out of control, it is impossible to ignore. After a hectic December, a manic Christmas morning and a family trip to Vancouver for two weeks after Christmas – we had some serious cleaning up to do.

Excess doesn’t bother me in December, but all of a sudden becomes stressful in January. The addition of the Christmas toys pushed me past a tipping point and the clutter felt overwhelming. The playroom was the first space in the house I started organizing after returning from our trip. I started by removing the Maileg ski chalet “island” and then rotating the toys in the IKEA Kallax cubes.

IKEA Kallax farm toys — Our January toy rotation

IKEA shelf winter toys — Our January toy rotation

The toys on the left side of the shelf haven’t rotated in a while. The top left basket holds the Grapat masala loose parts and the kids use them in the kitchen and for all types of things. My 3 year old loves farms and farm animals, so his barn, farm items and Schleich figures stay out and get played with daily. If we go away for a few days, my son will talk about how much he misses his red barn. He is obsessed, so it hasn’t been out of rotation in a long time. The lego barn set was a Christmas present and is new to the shelf.

The rest of the cubes hold a mix of Christmas gifts, winter themed toys, puzzles and games that are either new or have been out of rotation for a while. The bottom baskets hold toys that stay out all the time – magnetic tiles, magnetic tile ball run pieces, wooden roads, wooden train tracks, wooden train track special pieces (e.g., bridges, stations, etc.), a variety of soft balls, and vehicles.

Next in my clean-up, I switched the kitchen and building areas so there would be more room for all the building materials and new Ostheimer castle and Drewart Pirate Island pieces along the staircase wall. Sometimes moving the location of toys can make them feel new and interesting to the kids.

We’re ready for a fresh start to our play in 2024. The house won’t be featured in any home decor magazines anytime soon, but it feels more simplified and organized and we’re very happy with it. Now onto the rest of the house. If you look closely below, you can see I still have a wreath up on the door outside. Lots of work left to do.