Two weeks ago my husband and I came to the conclusion that it was time for our two boys age 3 and 6 to gain a greater appreciation of their toys. The decision was based on how they treated their toys, and we decided to pack everything up and let them earn their toys back.
Since then they have been able to chose a smaller toy on each day that they were well-behaved and their toys were cleaned up and treated nicely. On some days they chose to put their heads together and chose a box (legos, geomac etc), instead of a single piece of toy each.
So far it has been a positive experience, and the boys quickly picked up on how to earn their toys back. In the beginning we had a few toys go back in a black bag because they were not cleaned up or treated nicely, but since then their attitude has changed.
Today the boys chose to pick a box with legos, and they have been playing all day.
,,
They know that any toy that is not put away nicely in their room after dinner (before quiet time) will be confiscated, and they will have to earn it back again. In the two weeks that they have been without the majority of their toys, they have rediscovered toys they no longer played with, and they do seem to have gained a greater appreciation for the things they do have.
If you have not my earlier posts about this subject you can find them here:
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Comments: 29 ( 1 removed by j - Frugal Mom - r. )
Most kids I know have way too many toys anyway, so having only a few actually makes for less confusion, meaning petter playtime :-)
Haven't started anything like that yet, though. My son has a small handful of toys, yet his favorite thing to play with is a wooden cooking spoon. Go figure.
Maddie always just throws hers all over the place, and makes a mess of them, but she does help me clean them up when I ask her too. We have way more toys than we need though, thanks to family members buying loads of stuff to spoil Maddie since she had been teh only grandchild and niece untill Charles was born.