How To Use Toy Rotation for More Engaged Kids & Tidier Spaces

Toy and work rotation has been a huge component in helping to keep our spaces and materials fresh and exciting for our boys, so I thought I would share how we make it work for us.

Especially since this can seem like a really daunting concept.

When it really isn't. Or at least it isn't the way we do it. (And the way you can do it, too.)

Five Tips for Starters

1. Have designated spot for materials with limited options

2. Group materials together by type in a basket or bin

3. Follow your child's interests
4. Store unused materials in a way that is convenient for you
5. Encourage your child to help with clean up

Our Set Up

In our house, we have three different shelf areas.

• One shelf is for work-type materials, like a nuts-and-bolts activity, lock-and-key, and sandpaper letter work we currently have out for the boys.

• The next shelf is for puzzles and games.

• The last shelf is for our toys.

Today I will be focussing on toy rotation and not work rotation, which is a whole other can of worms, so I will just be talking about how we rotate the materials on the third shelf I mentioned.

The kid's main play area is one of the main spaces in our house. It used to be our living room, but we converted it to function as the kid's space. For this reason, it is important for this area to easily be kept tidy and organized.

There are seven cubbies in the toy shelf, so that means the boys have seven types of toys available to them at a time. Plus a basket of stuffed animals and the play kitchen.

Each type of toy is kept in a designated basket. The boys know not to mix them up when they are cleaning up.

Right now this shelf holds:

• Animals for our barn
• Miscellaneous animals
• Lego
• Magformers
• A hammer and pounding table
• Vehicles
• Dinosaurs
• (And the basket on top, now moved to a lower shelf, which is musical instruments)

When We Rotate Toys

When I notice the boys are not interacting with a material, either because it has been out for too long or they have moved on to a different developmental phase, I will change what is in these baskets.

For example, we recently had Lincoln logs out as Jerome was showing more interest in building materials, but I put them away after observing them with them for a few weeks as I didn't feel they were quite ready for this material yet.

I do not rotate based on a set schedule, choosing, instead, to observe my children and follow their lead for what they are interested in, and what their needs are at the time.

A good way to tell if something is not meeting a developmental need, or is not interesting to your child at that time, is that it is constantly dumped, kind of rooted through, and then just left.

How We Store Rotated Materials

The materials that are not in use are kept in a big armoire in our master bedroom and two bins on top of it. It is my dream to have a closet someday where I can keep all these things nicely organized and out of the way.

No, this armoire does not function as beautifully as other solutions would, but I feel I need to share as a reminder that these concepts (Montessori, toy rotation, homeschooling) can be done, even in a house with very little space and storage. You just need to get creative.

Materials are stored in:

• Ziploc bags
• clear bins
• original boxes

And then organized into my various drawer and basket solutions all jumbled in this armoire.

How This All Affects Clean Up (I Know That Is a Main Question!)

The playroom can get really messy by the end of the day, mostly because Ignatius is in a dumping phase and will move around the room dumping things at random.

I only make the kids clean up once a day (unless it is a huge disaster that I cannot abide by before then) and this is usually just before they have their snack before bed.

To make it manageable for them, I usually put each of them in charge of cleaning up one thing at a time, and I let them choose what feels manageable for them. So Benedict will put away the train set, and Jerome will clean up the lego, for example, and I will usually be moving around the room tidying and helping them, as well. (Mostly, I focus on tidying up things I know were messed by Ignatius.)

Because my kids know they are expected to clean up, as we have implemented this rule forever, they do not make too big of a fuss about it and are very efficient.



Thank you for reading! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. I would also love to hear any suggestions for posts you would like me to write about. And if you are interested in following along in our daily adventures, follow us on Instagram where I post daily.



God bless,
Olivia Fischer