Toy Issue?

[WImom]

I used to have all my toys in bigger bins but was having issues with some kids wanting to play by themselves and others wanting to play the same thing. So I bought smaller bins and split the popular toys up (my little ponies, little people, cars).

That seemed so solve this problem BUT now kids are taking 6 bins and little people house, etc and lining them up into a circle and playing in the middle of the circle. They aren't playing with all the toys just using them as a blockade....

I've thought about limiting the amount of bins each child can have to stop this because my new rule of if your not playing with the toy don't take it off the shelf isn't working. I do want them to be able to mix stuff up but if three kids are playing making the baracades there are no toys left on the shelf for anyone else. (I have 8 kids here).

Do I limit it to two bins per child? Just leave it as it is and let them keep the baracades? Something else? I've never had kids do this before. It's like one or two did it and they all followed.... I don't want to hinder their imagination so not sure what to do here. Thoughts?

[Lilbutterflie]

Perhaps you could find something else for them to use as baracades besides the toy bins? You could start saving cardboard boxes and tape them up, you might even be able to make a big baracade with empty milk jugs (gallon size- I saw an igloo made of milk jugs once). Those are just some ideas I have off the top of my head. Once they have a different material to work with, they should leave the toy bins alone.

[Heidi]

They are building the barricades to mark their space?

WHy not try the Montessori thing...

Use carpet squares or small, inexpensive throw rugs. Stack in a corner or roll up and put in baskets.

Each child can grab a rug and make that "their space".

They need to learn 3 questions:

1. May I play with you? (answer yes or no...if no....)
2. Then may I watch you? (answer yes or no...if no...)
3. Then can you please let me know when you are done with that.. (of course...yes)

It helps with the territory thing, it' real world applicable (office desk, for instance), and it keeps the mess down because each person is responsible to put things back before the next thing. You could even personalize the mats so that each child has one.


You'd almost need an assistant of some sort to teach everyone this at the same time. In Montessori, they have a mixed age group, and the older ones help "train" the younger ones.

I am not Montessori trained...just remember it from my son's class 20 years ago

[Hunni Bee]

They are building the barricades to mark their space?

WHy not try the Montessori thing...

Use carpet squares or small, inexpensive throw rugs. Stack in a corner or roll up and put in baskets.

Each child can grab a rug and make that "their space".

They need to learn 3 questions:

1. May I play with you? (answer yes or no...if no....)
2. Then may I watch you? (answer yes or no...if no...)
3. Then can you please let me know when you are done with that.. (of course...yes)

It helps with the territory thing, it' real world applicable (office desk, for instance), and it keeps the mess down because each person is responsible to put things back before the next thing. You could even personalize the mats so that each child has one.


You'd almost need an assistant of some sort to teach everyone this at the same time. In Montessori, they have a mixed age group, and the older ones help "train" the younger ones.

I am not Montessori trained...just remember it from my son's class 20 years ago

Awesome. Especially the questions. My group is especially bad with the "you can't.play.with me" stuff.

[WImom]

They are building the barricades to mark their space?

WHy not try the Montessori thing...

Use carpet squares or small, inexpensive throw rugs. Stack in a corner or roll up and put in baskets.

Each child can grab a rug and make that "their space".

They need to learn 3 questions:

1. May I play with you? (answer yes or no...if no....)
2. Then may I watch you? (answer yes or no...if no...)
3. Then can you please let me know when you are done with that.. (of course...yes)

It helps with the territory thing, it' real world applicable (office desk, for instance), and it keeps the mess down because each person is responsible to put things back before the next thing. You could even personalize the mats so that each child has one.


You'd almost need an assistant of some sort to teach everyone this at the same time. In Montessori, they have a mixed age group, and the older ones help "train" the younger ones.

I am not Montessori trained...just remember it from my son's class 20 years ago

LOVE THIS!! Thanks!! we already do 1. and 3. so this shouldn't be too hard and they are all ages 3-5.

[Solandia]

Are they actually building barricades as stuff b/c they are playing with the toys or is the child using it as an excuse to hoard the toys? For the 3yo and up crowd, most of the time they want to keep the toys so that no one else can use them. Hoarding.

Either way, as soon as we have hoarding issues...we clean up and put away and start over. I do not mind if kids play with a ton of toys at a time...but no one is allowed to rush over & grab a bunch of bins to prevent anyone else from playing with a set. If there is a problem with playing together, then I put the kids in different areas. If it is the same toys causing the same issues, those toys get put away for a few weeks or more. Repeat as necessary.

I do have 4 completely different areas where my toys and books are stashed...so there is plenty of space to spread out. My "playroom" is a 18'x25' greatroom. Love it. The 24mo, 29mo, and just turned 3yo all play very nicely together. It is when we add in a 6yo & 10yo when we have bossy voices and hoarding.

[EchoMom]

I also was going to suggest the Montessori rugs. I use them with my group. They worked well with the 2-4 year olds until my babies started crawling and now we've sort of had to abandon them because obviously the babies don't recognize those boundaries. So the 2-4year olds have had to head for higher ground!

[WImom]

I don't think they are hoarding them they just make a circle or square around themselves and play in the middle. They will only play with two of the bins and the rest just sit there.

I've been doing a only three items at a time per person and most of the kids are getting it but one (She's my bossy DCG though and usually thinks rules don't apply to her) So I have to remind her about only taking three.

I'm going to try and set up some kind of rug system this weekend. happyface

[SilverSabre25]

They are building the barricades to mark their space?

WHy not try the Montessori thing...

Use carpet squares or small, inexpensive throw rugs. Stack in a corner or roll up and put in baskets.

Each child can grab a rug and make that "their space".

They need to learn 3 questions:

1. May I play with you? (answer yes or no...if no....)
2. Then may I watch you? (answer yes or no...if no...)
3. Then can you please let me know when you are done with that.. (of course...yes)

It helps with the territory thing, it' real world applicable (office desk, for instance), and it keeps the mess down because each person is responsible to put things back before the next thing. You could even personalize the mats so that each child has one.


You'd almost need an assistant of some sort to teach everyone this at the same time. In Montessori, they have a mixed age group, and the older ones help "train" the younger ones.

I am not Montessori trained...just remember it from my son's class 20 years ago

Love this!

You can use Hula Hoops too, instead of rugs.

[Crystal]

I would continue to observe their play and REALLY find out what their intentions are. Consider that children at this stage of development are creating their OWN boundaries (not the teacher's), they are learning to negotiate and compromise with their peers, to participate in conflict resolution....by engaging in this type of play they are honing those skills. Listen to the children.....their interactions, the language they use, the content of their discussions with one another.....they are developing social skills, critical thinking skills, language skills, etc. and depending on the activity they are engaging in a variety of motor skills.

I would NOT hinder this type of play in any way....except to be there to facilitate their play as needed.

[MyAngels]

Kind of OT, but my group loves to turn the entire play area into a "house" complete with several rooms. They were using anything and everything to "build" their house, so I went to Walmart and got a bunch of small boxes (about shoebox size or slightly smaller) from the card area, stuffed them very full with newpaper from the recycling bin and covered them in colorful contact paper. They make great barriers and have lasted for a long time.

If all your kids are trying to do is make their own space, this might work for them, thereby leaving your toy boxes available for others.

[WImom]

Crystal - They don't play with the items in the bins. If they were using them I'd have no problem with it. For example I will have one child take out the little people barn and ponies and little people. They will play with those but will have 6 other bins just around them they aren't using.

When two or three kids each take 7-10 things off the shelf then there isn't anything left for anyone else and it takes up so much room that there is fighting because so and so is knocking over _____, etc.

Actually limiting it to only taking three they've figured out if they play WITH someone they get six bins.....

[Countrygal]

Perhaps you could find something else for them to use as baracades besides the toy bins? You could start saving cardboard boxes and tape them up, you might even be able to make a big baracade with empty milk jugs (gallon size- I saw an igloo made of milk jugs once). Those are just some ideas I have off the top of my head. Once they have a different material to work with, they should leave the toy bins alone.

Exactly what I was thinking. Make bricks out of cereal boxes.

[Abigail]

Crystal - They don't play with the items in the bins. If they were using them I'd have no problem with it. For example I will have one child take out the little people barn and ponies and little people. They will play with those but will have 6 other bins just around them they aren't using.

When two or three kids each take 7-10 things off the shelf then there isn't anything left for anyone else and it takes up so much room that there is fighting because so and so is knocking over _____, etc.

Actually limiting it to only taking three they've figured out if they play WITH someone they get six bins.....

I have only 4 kids, but I only have 2-3 bins of toys out at a time. The rest are just placed on the shelf. When too many bins are available as it looks nice though the kids just wanted to take out the toys and try to use bins for toys too. Have you tried your options for eliminating bins? It makes taking all those toys off the shelves a little more time consuming.