Do you ever feel like your child has too many toys? The unending clutter look your house has after bringing children into this world. That your child will only play with one or two of their toys for a few minutes. Then comes up bored, leaving you frustrated and somewhat annoyed when you are aware of all the toys they have at their disposal to play with. I’m sure you have even heard some parents mention a time or two. “My child has all these toys, but yet, the water bottle or cardboard box is what they are interested in”. I’m here to help you understand the benefit of less toys. This theory will also show you how fewer toys will broaden creativity, imagination and will allow your child to sit and play with toys for a longer period of time.
This theory is not my own personal opinion. While I am a firm believer that less provides more for children. There are many studies and researches done showing the benefits of children having fewer toys as opposed to more.
Most of the studies consist of giving a specific group of children around 15-20 toys. Then, another group of children received roughly 2-4 toys apiece. The results of these studies prove that children who have 2-4 toys sat in the room and played more intentionally and longer than the opposite group of children who bounced around from toy to toy, becoming bored and uninterested quickly.
Having too many options of toys overwhelms your child’s brain. Resulting in your child becoming distracted, and prevents them from using their creativity and imagination. When you give your child one or two toys to play with at the same time. This allows them to become creative and you will watch their imagination explode! These benefits from your little one forced to create and grow their imagination actually allow for much more than the eye can see. Your child will start to develop longer attention spans. They will establish better social skills, learn perseverance, develop a deeper love for art, deeper reading, and writing skills. These are just some of the few benefits proven. Studies actually have shown that children with fewer toys play better with other children and argue less. You will also notice your child taking better care of their toys as well. They will start to develop an appreciation for what belongs to them.
There are also benefits for you too. When you are intentional with what toys you purchase and eliminate all the excess toys. This will result in less clutter, making it easier to keep your house clean without feeling like your child’s toys are all over the place. It’s clearly a win, win!
I can confidently say that every evening before we go to sleep, all the toys are cleaned up and put away. Which takes less than 5 minutes! It’s a very simple task when you do not have a cluttered toy mess everywhere. Also, involving your children to clean up their toys will be very beneficial to the clean up process. I try to implement a rule for my child to only play with 1-2 toys at a time. Once you child is done with that toy, have your child place it back in the designated area and move onto their next toy of choice. I have seen my toddler thrive so much with this process.
The whole time we are playing, I am also instilling into her decision-making, patience, valuing her opinion, work ethic, etc. All from a simple play session. Toys do not have to be a dreaded topic. The thought of your child’s toys should not give you anxiety when you think of them taking over your home. Playing with your child should be easy and enjoyable for your child and you.
Hopefully, this was blog post was helpful in regards to helping you construct ways for your child to enjoy more with less. To create some ways to entertain your child without having hundreds of toys thrown at them so you have time to finish your morning coffee. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this topic. Do not hesitate to reach out. I would love to help you!
Manju says
What type of toys are recommended for each age group since we have to pick just a few?
mamasimplified01 says
I try to go off the Montessori you guide. It can be overwhelming and when you try to get intentional you want to make sure you have the “right” toys. Do you have a specific age group?