Well....
here's how the playroom looks after Mommy blogs:
That stepstool belongs in the kitchen...I don't even know how it got in there. And our strict playroom rule is "ONE TOY AT A TIME and PUT IT AWAY WHEN YOU ARE DONE PLAYING WITH IT."
This pic was taken from my office chair, so I can see the playroom and even hear what is going on. The problem is, they realize that I'm not paying them the least little bit of attention when I get on this computer (unless one of them starts crying or screaming). Why follow the rules if Mommy isn't watching?
So, anytime you read any of my posts, here or over at Growing Great Kids, just know that I paid the price for every single post...in fact, I'm probably busy cleaning the playroom right now.
8 comments:
Donna, I can't even walk into my playroom. I have chosen to ignore that mess for about a month, and today is D-day. Rats! I feel your pain.
Many of our summer toys will be packed up and I'll switch them out for some others. We are having company this week so it is FORCING me to clean. It's a good thing. I think. :-)
What do you consider a summer toy in your playroom? And what special things do you take out for fall/winter? Just curious.
Ahhh, it is so nice to hear that even you two "organizational gurus" struggle to keep your playrooms clean. That is something I am always working on. I also try to get the kids to put their toys away before taking out another, but their playroom is in the basement and there are many times I am not down there to supervise. In minutes it can be a complete disaster. And if I want all the pieces to go back to the right game/toy/etc., it means I am going to be the one directing/doing the cleaning.
In fact, my husband is gone tonight, so I am heading downstairs to clean/rearrange our playroom. I also need to weed out the toys with small parts so our little pumpkin does not choke. Sometimes I feel like by the time I get on top of this, my kids will be in highschool!
Karly, I can relate! Martha and I were just discussing this today. It's so nice to enjoy a lovely clean house and impart great organizational and cleaning habits to our children, but for some reason, this is an area in which I fall short. I just don't quite have it. If it's a choice between cleaning up or going to bed at a reasonable hour, I'm gonna get my sleep.
I have good intentions about setting my timer during playtime and having the kids choose the center they want to play in and stay in during the 10 minute center time...then clean up their centers when they're done. If we play for 30 minutes, they can hit 2-3 different centers, plus a bit of clean-up time in between. Then some follow-up questions: What was your favorite center today? What did you like about (that center)?
But this is not what usually happens here...oh, well...if I ever do get it together and figure out how to keep it together, I'll share my secrets!
Spring/Summer toys are the Thomas the Train you can ride and his tracks, a set of plastic blocks, hula hoops, misquito net reading area, the sand & water table gets filled with new playsand and water, bubbles, sidewalk chalk and water toys go on vacation in the closet for a bit. The kitchen set and all accessories get moved outside to the screened in porch with the kid sized picnic table. (Although, I am not moving them back in until after Christmas this year.)
Fall/Winter toys are a HUGE set of homemade blocks (about 200 of them). They make the best forts and towers! The tool bench goes into the tool room so that THE Princess can work with daddy. Dress up clothes and the dress up box get moved from a closet to the playroom (they get used a lot more), we set up "school" with a circle time area, this year we are working on counting to 100 and the 71 sight Kindergarten sight words. We are also doing letter sounds and a bit of handwriting.
I also have seasonal baby dolls, since we have a TON of them. Right now the cradle and stroller are out, but I switch around with a wooden doll bed and bedding, changing table, swing and other accessories about every 2 or 3 months.
I have seasonal trucks and tractors, too. The CATs and International dump truck are for summer. The John Deer and Ford tractors, and 2 smaller dump trucks are fall/winter.
All of our Little People stay out year round (now in the living room at the Pottery Barn play table that I got at the celebration sale). We also keep a set of wooden blocks, large leggo-type blocks, barbie-type dolls, and baby toys are in there, as well.
I re-arrange the books, too. I get out seasonal books. But, I also switch books from the upstairs library with the downstairs one. We also keep some books in the playroom in the school/art area.
A Thomas the Train you can ride? Where, oh where, did you get such a treasure? My Ethan would flip his lid.
The Grandparents. The thing is HUGE.
I love seasonal books! I keep our treasury of seasonal books in a plastic tote and we pull out these special books to learn about upcoming seasons and holidays. Right now we are enjoying fall and Thanksgiving books. The halloween books need to be collected and put away.
I also like to rotate our toys, but I don't necessarily do it seasonally. I just switch out some things when I notice they are getting more shelf time than the other toys. Our Brio train set is enjoying its resurrection and we put away the Lincoln logs for a while. The bricks get regular use, as do the baby and pink suitcase full of doll clothes (actually preemie-size clothes I find on clearance).
The barn full of Schleich animals is probably going on hiatus soon and I will be changing out the puzzles this week (we have acquired so many wooden puzzles, we just can't put them all out at once...they'll all end up on the floor at once!).
The mega bloks get a lot of use right now and the craft area is popular. I would like to set up a small pocket organizer of seasonal art/craft supplies and change those out with the seasons (I saw this idea over at the artful parent blog - she got a clear pocket organizer at Ikea that I really want).
It would be fun to find a set of play food with a Thanksgiving theme. Melissa and Doug makes a birthday cake set that I really want (my sister has ordered this for our Little One for Christmas) and we can take this out during family members' birthday weeks. I also have a collection of birthday-theme books that should have a special place on the shelf, but they're mixed in with all our books right now.
I struggle with all the little figures and small items in our playroom too, Karly. They all end up in a basket and hardly get played with because they're just jumbled together. I'm not sure what to do with them!
I wish our playroom were a bit larger so we could fit more housekeeping furniture like a doll bed, ironing board, and a free-standing refrigerator and a stove/cabinet. But I know that just having this dedicated playspace is a blessing.
That's how we "manage" our toys when they're not scattered hither and yon.
Thanks for sharing your ideas, Bryssy.
Karly, I hope you weren't up too late cleaning and organizing your playroom!
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