less is more: toys

{These "less is more" posts are my attempt to write about some of the conscious, but simple choices we are making to lessen our footprint and help get us back to 350. We believe that living with less can be rewarding, satisfying, and maybe even fun! Send along your simplicity steps and I'll share them too. Here's to working together.}


This seems like a really little thing and I'm certain that in the scheme of things it is. But if you are a parent you'll know what I mean when I say that it is so easy to get buried in toys. Mountains of toys.

Toys are the work of children. It's what they do. But I've come to believe that less is truly more with toys. First of all, just less. Much less. I read somewhere once that you should be able to tidy up all the toys in the house within 10 minutes. If it takes more, you've got too many. Seems like a good rule of thumb. We've noticed that toys are played with more when they are put away (either by us or with the help of the kids) at the end of the day. So that when the new day begins things are in their place, easy to access, inviting. If toys get left in a jumbled mess my kids tend to ignore that pile the next day. I think it's just too overwhelming. It also seems easier for them to begin their play if things are easy to find, in logical places. All the beanbags in their dedicated basket, all the kitchen toys in the kitchen play area etc.

We purge toys from time to time and give away ones that just aren't popular at our house. This keeps the quantity manageable. But we also keep a box or two of toys stashed away. Although we really do play with the same toys over and over for the most part, there are days when someone just can't seem to settle into to playing and it feels like there is stagnation. So, we bring out something they haven't seen in awhile (while stashing away something else) and the excitement of something "new" sets in without something truly "new" entering our lives.

We also try to choose toys that have more than one function and invite imagination. Really, it seems like the simpler the toy the more interesting in the long run. A basket of fabric pieces serves as dress-up (skirts, capes, baby slings), doll blankets, picnic blankets, roofs for forts. Wooden blocks become hay bales, puppy food, train tracks and more. Whereas the toy that looks like a vacuum cleaner, sounds like a vacuum cleaner and talks about cleaning...well, there just isn't much more to do with that toy that run it around the rug once or twice and move on.

Choosing toys that are made from mostly natural materials (wood, wool, cotton,) seems to not only extend their life span, but brings more warmth and visual appeal to these playthings that take on so much importance in the lives of our children.

It has felt good to give ourselves (and our generous loved ones) permission to buy less for our kids. It's so easy to get caught up in the latest-greatest toy craze and feel like you can't keep up. It's also so easy to begin to feel like you live in a cluttered toy junkyard. Choosing sturdy, simple toys and not too many of them has allowed us to really play. Over and over and over.

I certainly didn't come to this toy philosophy on my own. If you are interested in reading more about simplifying there are so many great books out there. A couple I'd recommend are: Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne and Beyond the Rainbow Bridge by Barbara Patterson and Pamela Bradley.

Happy playing.