Toy Rotation: A How-To Guide

Feel like you’re losing the battle against toy clutter?

A toy rotation system might be the answer for you!

What is Toy Rotation?

Rotating toys is exactly how it sounds - rotating your toy collection in and out of use.

Find a large tote or basket to store the “out of rotation” toys, store out of site, and rotate in and out as you please.

So many perks…

The Benefits

a) Fast Tidying: Rotating toys means less toys are in ‘circulation’ at once - which means tidying up is WAY faster and WAY easier (i.e. only 100 toys to put away at the end of the day instead of 1000!)

b) Reducing Boredom: Changing up the toys in your play area means that each week (or whenever you rotate), kids are exposed to “new” toys. Fresh toys can spark their imagination and encourage them to play for longer.

Top Tips

Make Rotation part of your Routine

I usually suggest rotating weekly. Making it part of the weekly routine makes it easy and automatic - less thinking required. But do whatever works for you - if your kids aren’t home full-time then rotating monthly might be plenty.

When I do our swap, I normally also re-set the toys in a new way. Easy way to freshen up the playroom, without adding anything new :)

Store Toy Rotation Bin Out of Reach

If your kids are able to reach the toy rotation bin it will just become yet another toy bin that they are constantly grabbing from. Make sure it’s tucked out of their reach.

Ideally, it should be out of their sight completely so they forget it even exists!

Use Toy Rotation as a system for Decluttering

In addition to holding toys that are out of circulation, I love using this bin to decide what toys to let go of.

If I tuck a toy away in our bin and nobody asks for it for over a month, that usually means it’s probably run it’s course and it’s time to pass it on to another family.

Grow-Into Gifts

I’m a huge supporter of only keeping what you actually use and love right now. BUT I’m also realistic and know that families are often gifted toys or puzzles or books that their kiddos might not be ready for right now.

e.g. when your Uncle Bob gifts your 2 year old a baseball bat (AHHH) or your sweet neighbour gifts your 3 year old a chapter book.

Sometimes these gifts can simply be past along to someone who can use them right away. But in some cases you may want to keep them for when your kiddo is ready and in the meantime, the toy rotation bin a great spot to store them.

Books Too

The kids and I LOVE reading. We mainly utilize our public library for new books, but I do like to keep a stash of our own favourites as well. I use our toy rotation bin to rotate books in and out of the kids’ bedroom book baskets. Nothing better than a fresh stack of books on a Monday morning :)

Declutter First!

Toy rotation only works if you’ve already decluttered toys and have determined which toys are actually being used and loved. Otherwise, you just end up with yet another bin of toys to manage.

Here are my Top 10 Tips for Decluttering, to get you started :)

Toy Rotation is ideal for:

Small Homes: Families who don’t have a lot of space for toys in their main living spaces are the ideal candidates for toy rotation. Having fewer toys out at once means your living room isn’t going to get completely full of toys by 10am on Monday.
Full-Time Parents: Families who are home full-time with kids (full-time parents, maternity leave, homeschooling, etc.) often benefit the most from Toy Rotation since they are in the home more hours than a family who is out of the house 40 hours a week.