Our Toy System

Recently, I had a few other mommies over to my house for the first time for a craft group for kids that I lead.
Upon entering my house, one of the first things one lady said was, "Are you kidding me? " And I thought, "Now what did I do?"
She went on, "Tell me your house isn't always this neat and organized?" I smiled and said, "Well most of the time it is, but only because I'm super anal and hate any sort of clutter lying around..."
"But where are all his toys? I mean, are these all that he has?" she asked pointing to my 8-cubby hole Ikea shelve in the family/playroom.
"Oh no, " I replied, "I will show you his toy closet, we just rotate toys on a weekly basis."
I saw the enlightenment on their faces. It's a simple system really and keeps my house clutter free while also teaching my son how to pick up after himself, respect for his toys, gives him a sense of order and excitement for each new week when "new" toys are brought out. I adopted this system from a few Montessori classrooms I have worked in during my pre-school teaching years and I will never look back. I am certain that this is a great system for our family and keeps everyone happy.

The main rule is that the only amount of toys allowed out at one time must fit in an organized way in one of the 6 cubby holes on the shelf. (Books and the musical instruments have top toy priority in our home so they remain on the shelf forever.) :) Four of the cubbies are used for four toys of Aiden's choice and the two top left cubbies are saved for games, puzzles and learning toys such as the wooden patterning beads pictured here. I think it's important for there to be a variety of toys available at all times to children as you would find in any quality pre-school classroom. Toys like his legos, cars, or garbage truck just let him use his imagination. Books for obvious reasons, musical instruments for creative expression, and one motor skill enhancing toy set like the Lakeshore ball and ring set for more interactive play when other kids come over. There is a space for art with construction paper, markers and crayons always available, (and not always supervised which surprisingly enough has never resulted in crayoned walls as I explained the rules of where we color and where we don't extensively.) At the beginning of each week, (usually on Monday nights) I take most of the toys off the shelf and replace them with "new" toys from his toy closet where everything is kept in categorical clear plastic bins on a big shelf system.

Art/ block area

Each basket has a theme


Some who are not used to such a system may think that this can't be enough things to keep a three year old happy all week but I'm here to tell you that it does. If you observe children, do they really play with more than 6 different toys at one time? No way, they usually focus on one at a time and then move onto the next. Plus if mommy is involved then the attention life-span of the toy of the moment is drastically lengthened and the learning toys and games are truly being put to use. Most experts on child-rearing agree that by a certain age kids need order and a schedule in their day. It doesn't have to be the same each day but there should be some sort of rhythm to all the chaos of life. Same goes for their things. There needs to be a home for everything when you ask them to pick up their toys but more importantly not an overwhelming amount of stuff lying around so that cleaning up the play space seems like an insurmountable task to a young child. This will just result in YOU picking up all the mess and robbing the child of learning how to do things for himself. 
When I see play spaces with an overwhelming amount of toys, I see children who are stepping on their books or toys in order to get to another toy and not learning the important lesson of treating one's things with respect and care. I see a very mindless and scattered approach to play in which the child takes out one toy and begins to play with it then quickly gets distracted by another toy nearby and leaves the first toy in the dust without putting it back where it belongs and without ever appreciating it fully. Suddenly the entire room is filled with the mess of a ton of toys pulled off their shelves, scattered around that have not really been played with and the space is chaos. Then the child gets bored with it all and doesn't know what to do. Free space equals more creativity with toys in my mind. So it's very important to provide this to kids so that they have the clarity of their minds to be creative with their things instead of rushing around from one thing to the next. "Tis a gift to be simple..." (Why not throw in an old choir lyric for good measure?) :)

Hopefully with our new addition to our little family we can still somewhat keep up the organization of the toys but I'm sure it will be much harder as we will have a whole new ballgame of more girly toys to add to the collection...and eventually one more big item like a play kitchen. 

As for the ladies of my craft group, they asked me to maybe do a little group presentation on organizing your home to the entire mother's group but since I'd rather have all my teeth pulled without drugs than speak in public, I told them I'd do a blog post instead. :)

Simple Toys Promote Creativity

Now That Christmas is over, our house is full of toys! Many of them light up, sing to you, say the alphabet, and even bounce across the living room :) Some you can stack like the Little People Farm set, and some you can roll and others you can push as a way to learn how to walk. Aiden definitely has a lot of different types of toys to keep his interest for the time being. 
One thing I have noticed is that my little explorer loves to turn all his toys upside down and figure out how they work. He turns his toy fire truck upside down and spins the wheels and fiddles with the axels. Another Vtech Toy, ( It has a steering wheel, stick shift control and makes all sorts of car and driving noises) is one he loves to push across the room, (upside down) making his own car noises. The toy is clearly meant for babies to practice steering the wheel, shifting the stick shift and pushing the buttons that sing and light up. But all my Aiden wants to do is turn the whole thing upside down to it's plain, solid red, sticker-free surface and push it around the room. At first I thought maybe he doesn't get how you are supposed to play with the toy but then it dawned on me that there is no right way to play with any toy and also that he had created his own way to play with it. And make his own noise to go along with it. Hmmmmm maybe the simpler the toy the better because then he has room to be creative and use his imagination to make the toy come alive. One of his toys had to get it's batteries removed it was so loud and obnoxious! The tones were so piercing they made my ears ring as I stood in the kitchen. Aiden and the toy were over in the family room so I could only imagine how loud the sounds were to his little ears. Besides, if you remove the batteries, get down on the floor to play with baby and the toys, the sounds of his sweet laughter will be all you need for entertainment.
 So after close observation and careful experimentation of Aiden's play rituals, I have come to the conclusion that the simpler the toy, the longer it holds his 9 month old interest. Blocks, balls, crinkling paper, socks, bottles of colored water, little people, blanket peek-a-boo and even a jump rope have kept little man occupied much longer that the latest VTech toy. Now I'm not knocking the electronics, just saying that it may be a good idea not to have a house full of them. Maybe 2-3 electronic toys at the most would be sufficient, leaving room for toys that actually teach children to create and not be robots. This is the mantra in the Bishop home :)
I am a big fan of wooden, natural toys but am not a fan of their prices. These are high-quality toys that are classic and allow for the utmost creativity. I have yet though to find a company that sells them for a price that we can afford. Here is an example of a natural toy company. Here's another one I like called Eden Home - check their wooden toy section. Diapers.com also has a wooden toys section and these are the most affordable I've found yet!
Another great, educational toy company is Lakeshore Learning which were used in some of the higher-quality private schools I've worked in.
Here is a thought-provoking article on the subject at hand :) Enjoy!
Old-fashioned retro toys, such as red rubber balls, simple building blocks, clay and crayons, that don't cost so much and are usually hidden in the back shelves are usually much healthier for children than the electronic educational toys that have fancier boxes and cost $89.99, says Temple University developmental psychologist Kathy Hirsh-Pasek.
As Roberta Golinkoff, head of the Infant Language Project at the University of Delaware says, Electronic educational toys boast brain development and that they are going to give your child a head start. But developmental psychologists know that it doesn't really work this way. The toy manufacturers are playing on parents fears that our children will be left behind in this global marketplace.
Golinkoff adds that kids are not like empty vessels to be filled. If they play with toys that allow them to be explorers, they are more likely to learn important lessons about how to master their world.
Suggested advice for parents is to “Look for a toy that is 10 percent toy and 90 percent child — ‘A lot of these toys direct the play activity of our children by talking to them, singing to them, asking them to press buttons and levers,’ Hirsh-Pasek says. ‘But our children like to figure out what is going on by themselves. I look for a toy that doesn't command the child, but lets the child command it.
“Golinkoff adds, ‘The irony is that the real educational toys are not the flashy gadgets and gismos with big promises, but the staples that have built creative thinkers for decades.’”
Golinkoff and Hirsh-Pasek are the authors of “Einstein Never Used Flash Cards: How Our Children Really Learn– And Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less.”
For more advice and guidelines for selecting gifts for children, read the full article. Less really is more. :)

I also support Campaign For a Commercial Free Childhood, check them out!

* Picture- Aiden at 6 and 1/2 months enjoying his wooden blocks :)

Saving Money Creatively

Back in October, I started developing a little drinking problem. No not alcohol people! Juice! Langer's frozen juices because they are so yummy and way cheaper than buying a big, plastic overpriced container of the same thing. I don't know why the sudden constant thirst-blame the breastfeeding I guess. Anywhoo-this is around the same time Aiden started getting a little bored with all his first baby toys. Time to improvise! I took the empty juice containers and filled them with things that were intriguing to baby Aiden but maybe too dangerous for him to play with yet. Pebbles, leaves, plastic spiders (for Halloween), multi-colored macaroni, blue water made with food coloring, and many other random household findings that kept my little one's interest. He loved them! Shook them, batted them around the room, threw them against the wall and let me tell you-when a toy gets thrown against the wall you know it's a winner with him! Easy-shmeezy for the mama on a budget! (Aren't we all, I mean let's face it-I'm sure Katie Holmes isn't reading this.)
*You like how in the pic his shirt reads: "Be Green"? You know I planned it that way! :)