Like many moms, I was captivated by the promise of “educational toys” — but history shows that children thrived for centuries with almost none. After weeks of research and testing, I’ve discovered a simple method to make decluttering educational toys effortless and improve your child’s play. In today’s video, I’ll share my 30-minute decluttering strategy and tips to confidently handle any resistance from your kids.
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📕 REFERENCES
American Journal of Play. (n.d.). Play in early childhood: The role of play in any setting. Retrieved from https://www.journalofplay.org/sites/www.journalofplay.org/files/pdf-articles/1-3-article-play-in-early-childhood.pdf
American Psychological Association. (2017). How clutter affects your brain (and what you can do about it). Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2017/clutter
Becoming Minimalist. (2010). Why fewer toys will benefit your kids. Retrieved from https://www.becomingminimalist.com/why-fewer-toys-will-actually-benefit-your-kids
Chudacoff, H. P. (2007). Children at play: An American history. New York University Press.
Dauch, C., Imwalle, M., Ocasio, B., & Metz, A. E. (2018). The influence of the number of toys in the environment on toddlers’ play. Infant Behavior and Development, 50, 78-87.
Doucleff, M. (2021). Hunt, gather, parent: What ancient cultures can teach us about the lost art of raising happy, helpful little humans. Avid Reader Press.
Elkind, D. (2007). The power of play: Learning what comes naturally. Da Capo Lifelong Books.
Frost, J. L. (2010). A history of children’s play and play environments: Toward a contemporary child-saving movement. Routledge.
Hale, B. (2019, April 3). Bristol nursery swaps toys for cardboard boxes as head says they are ‘going back to basics’. Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6883921/Bristol-nursery-swaps-toys-cardboard-boxes-head-says-going-basics.html
Jewell, S. (1999, November 11). The nursery that took all the children’s toys away. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/the-nursery-that-took-all-the-children-s-toys-away-1125048.html
Legoff, D. B., Krauss, G. W., & Levin, E. (2010). LEGO therapy: How to build social competence through LEGO play. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Lipsett, A. (2007, January 20). Are we turning our children into materialists? The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/jan/20/familyandrelationships.family1
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As a teacher and researcher of young children for almost 40 years , I’m thrilled that you created this vital video. Well done Mama! ❤
This was incredibly helpful! My son loves legos and cars. I have constantly wondered if I’m giving him enough in different areas of play but even when we have tried branching out, he loses interest and always goes back to the same categories. My hardest part is the books as a homeschooling family! There is always the library so we just need to keep favorites. So glad to see a video from you again!
I really enjoyed this video– everything from the topic, your work on the research, your approach with the experiment and the way you presented it all. And, the way you explained your previous thought process on educational toys really hit home. Thanks so much for creating and sharing!
This is such a great idea! My son plays so much better when I take him to parts of the house where there are no toys. Your videos are awesome, please keep making them ❤
Wow. I totally agree, my sister and I would have the most sustainable fun with the least.
We had a painters tape roll that we played with in a big empty house that my parents were painting and updating electrical for. I still remember that single play session maybe 20 years later.
Happy you are back. 😊Missed your Videos
❤❤❤loved this!!!
This was timely! I was just lamenting to a friend this morning about how the toy rotation system was not working for us & how I've noticed that they really only play with a few toys consistently and deeply. I really hate having a toy closet that I have to manage. I'm going to try this! Question though – how would you handle incoming toys from bdays/christmas/grandparents while doing this experiment & afterwards?
This is intense. I love it! ✨ I heard Diana Kokku say that she felt her children couldn’t keep their toys tidy even though they were simplified a ton and I could relate. But the solution wasn’t what I wanted to hear either… simplify more! Needless to say I’m inspired by your video & confidence that they don’t need them! 💐
Yes!! Thank you so much! I love that you put so much research into the "why" this needs to happen, not just the how to do it.
I really really appreciate that you do a lot of research and reading before making a video! I have been really enjoying watching all your videos since I recently discovered your channel. They're very calming to watch too ❤
This video was so beautifully done!! After reading Simplicity Parenting, we decluttered 90% of our kids toys (which we felt was previously minimal)… and it was life changing for our family! Thank you for this video, I hope it reaches more families who need it!! ❤️
I’ve missed your videos, was so happy to see that you posted. Great video. Just the inspiration I needed to downsize our toy collection even more.
I am soo excited to simplify our toys using this method. Thanks for your work in bringing us this video! Also, would you please share a link to the video you mentioned at the end? I cant find it. Thanks so much!
This was such a good video! You have inspired me to try to minimize my kids toys even more. Especially in the summer, we are mostly outside anyway.
Am I a mom in my 50s who has 6 grown children? Yes, I am. Did I watch every minute of this video? Yes I did. We didn’t have tons of toys because we did not see the need and grandparents couldn’t afford spoiling six. I was always amazed at watching my children, girls and boys, play with shoes as cars and reinvent other toys into something else. I was fascinated with how they played best together when they played like this. They still speak of these days and their play. My personal fondest memories were fixing “dinner” for my brothers out of acorns and berries using old pots and sticks in the little house in the woods at my grandmother’s house. She had a small box of toys, no tv, books and an acre or so of land. We liked exploring outside best, or as we grew older, making up stories and adventures or chatting in an upstairs bedroom. My brothers even wrote and illustrated stories and we carried these adventures through our play anywhere. I still miss those days so very much!! I hope your children grow to have fond memories of childhood as well.
I just listened to hunt gather parent on audible.
I have one kid who just turned 3.5. We recently moved into a one room log cabin w a loft. I eft most of our things boxed up in the barn but we still have 3 small shelves of toys and and its just too much. I want to reduce and this was helpful encouragement. Thank you!
Amazing video! I've watched some similar ones but this is the best yet. I have decluttered 70% of my 2 year olds toys already and it's been better but still feels overwhelming changing out the toys every week and stress of what to give. I put out 5 toys each week which includes a puzzle and them outside toys are the same. The rest are in 3 ikea trofast medium bins now organized. Alot of them are educational, cars, blocks, and imagination/music. My son was delays and has OT,PT, and speech therapy 2x a week we go and they have a giant room of toys he gets to use which helped me lower my inventory. I put alot of expectations on the toys to help him etc, how do we decide what they don't need vs what they do need but struggle to play with? Like puzzles and shape sorters are used home and therapy but he's not always interested and wants to throw or eat it lol
I really love the thought and intention in this video. I have long agreed with the philosophy and I would love to reduce my kids toys further. I used to be able to keep it quite minimal, but in the last few years we have gone through the onslaught of birthday gifts in the first couple of years of school, several Christmases with overly generous relatives, and as the kids are getting older it is getting much harder to keep a lid on it. I would love more info about the 30 minute method your video is suggesting, as I went in for that – as an overloaded working mother I'd love to know how to truly reduce the overwhelm in a 30 minute (or even a one hour) method! Please give us more on that! I get so overwhelmed every time I even think about tackling this huge task.
Just had this video pop up in my feed, and thank you for this video!! It was encouraging and And affirming as I was already implementing some of what is being suggested, just merely because clutter creates anxiety for me and I see how overwhelming it can be for my kiddos as well..
Toy loss can be traumatic also so I am glad you touched base on that as well. I speak from it from my own personal childhood attachment and even as a momma with my eldest daughter and a favorite stuffy I had inadvertently donated away when she was a child.. (but years years years later and a EBay purchase later, I was redeemed lol😅)
One thing that helped me keep variety without eliminating was certain days designated to specific toys (for instance, Friday is block day as we have a massive tub of duplos, or say Thursday being play-doh day or say Wednesday is Crayola Scribble Scrubbier water animal day. They love new activities and it keeps them happy). We still try not to go overboard on toys but they have so much fun creating with the things I mentioned, it’s good for them imo.
Love this video, and appreciate all the in depth research. When you were researching was there anything to the consistency – as in, if the kids have different rules with their grandparents, does it derail everything? I cant control (but can limit to some extent) what they will give to my kid when they care for her and its stressing me out
I love this. My best memories of play as a kid were ones where I was either making my own toy or game from scratch or just using my imagination with what I had. I really loved making my own toys though. If I wanted something at the store she would say something like "you could make a cooler version of that!" She thought she was just keeping me from thinking I could spend all her money on toys but really she was helping me learn creativity and resourcefulness. Usually this involved craft supplies she always made available to us. Sometimes she let us paint over Legos, which maybe some would think is bad, but we made lots of "new Lego sets" we basically saved my parents hundreds of dollars haha
Oh God I'm just through the first 2 minutes and it's sooooooo TRUE!!! Rotation system also doesn't work for us!!! He knows where we keep the rest of the toys and asking for those more than the one we provide!! And their focus distraction is so real!!!
Thank you so much!
Finally! I’ve been through this path exactly!
Moving the dresser to place the toys behind was smart, because they think the toys will be in the closet!
I guess my question is what would you recommend for Christmas or birthdays?
And what if relatives insist on giving lots of toys and get upset if you donate them etc.?
Decluttering my kids' toys has been on my heart for a while now. Thank you for giving me permission and showing me how! What do you do on Christmas and birthdays?
Very inspirational! I’m pretty sure my kids would be happy with less toys but I think i am not ready to get rid of our things …we don’t own so much but it’s definitely more than enough…when we visit our grandparents in the countryside our little ones play mostly outside but our reality is different! We live in the third floor of a small apartment in a big city, when the kiddos start to freak out it’s sometimes difficult to get outside alone so a hidden box of toys rescues me often 😅
Your video was food for thought, thank you! And happy to discover your channel 💜
Five minutes in and I am so glad your eyes were opened to the developmental scam of these toys! ❤
As a mom for the last fifteen years I fell into all those developmental toy scams even buying the Your Baby Can Read with my first. Because they knew i was an emotional ball of hormones and fearful new parent. 😅