*This post is mostly for the Grandparents and any of you who just want to send my babies something. 🙂
“I think all toys should be invisible. Not only would they improve children’s imaginations, but they’d also be really affordable. In fact, every toy would be free.”  Jarod Kintz
While this is starting to become my philosophy, I still really like toys. And I like my babies to have them. BUT the type of toys and the amount of toys has to be managed from time to time.
I’ll admit ridding the house of all toys crosses my mind 13 times a day and I have put almost all of them away for the Summer. We now have one box with a few useful toys and that’s it, a couple baby dolls, peg people, a few tractors, some horses and cars. (There’s still mess everywhere. Turns out children don’t need a lot of toys to make messes!) In the past all our toys have been on rotation.
But, birthday season is here and the question comes: “What would so and so want for her/his birthday?” Well, since you asked, here is what all and any of my babies would like….because I said they would.
BOOKS! They want books! They love books and I have a long list of books I want in our library. I keep most of that list on Amazon if you would like to see that.
And there are some toys I’d like the babies to have. My list for Toys is on Pinterest HERE and since my Amazon List is already out of control there are more Books listed HERE.
So if any of you needed ideas, there they are!
Some of these toys are just for dreaming about, but most of them I do want and Phil and I chip away at the list here and there. We don’t like a lot of “Noisey Toys” and I feel the best toys are those with limitless functionality. Toys that can be anything the child imagines.
I want the babies to be resourceful and creative. Mostly my children play with boxes, paper, tape, sticks, tubes and bowls. They love making art, coloring, glueing and working puzzles. They like to dress up too. And they have some toys. Â That’s kind of the page I want to stay on for a while.
And since we are on the subject here are some good articles/posts on toys:
Toys and Play
Why Fewer Toys Will Benefit Your Kids
Follow up on Why I Took My Kids Toys Away {One Year Later}Â – Very tempting.
And wouldn’t these books be really fun to read through:
Toy Stories: Photos of Children from Around the World and Their Favorite Things
Children At Play: An American History
“Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
And if I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my toys will break.
So none of the other kids can use ’em….
Amen.” Shel Silverstein
How about you. I’d love to hear your “Toys Philosophy” and how you manage toys in your home!
My toy philosophy is similar to yours. However, my mom’s love language is gifts…and she notices when we don’t have a toy anymore (even if it was given 4 years ago). The other side of that is we just don’t take of our stuff very well. I have to be sensitive and considerate of her, while also keeping my sanity and remembering I have to consider my family before others..
Magazine subscriptions or lesson tuition are good options for gifts. When they get older, materials for making things would be a good idea (cloth, yarn, wood…)
I love this idea, and I love the idea of books, being an avid reader and lover of books myself. I also like that you rotate books like you rotate toys. Now sometimes there might also be a toy in the “box” from Texas….
Sigh. And sigh again.
I have gotten rid of so many toys, so many. I’ve tried to limit them, organize them, keep only the sturdy and educational ones.
lol. Ever heard that song “the cat came back” ??? I have my own little version that goes like this: ahem…
“But the crap came back, the very next day, the crap came back, I thought it was a goner but the crap came back, it just wouldn’t stay away”
It always finds a way back. I haven’t done any major purging in a while because it seemed fruitless. Someone told me once that keeping a house is much like keeping a garden, you have to keep weeding. That is pretty much what it is with the toys. I keep weeding, the weeds grow back, there is always more that could be done, but it just works.
We have baskets scattered all throughout the house where everything goes when it is time to clean up. I’ve gotten much more relaxed about the toys these days. Instead of dreading the times of rapid influx, I try instead to simply smile and be grateful for the love, pondering these moments and treasuring it all up in my heart.
Happy Birthday season! 🙂