Charlie hadn’t been doing a good job of cleaning up his toys lately, so I put almost all the kids’ toys into a big trash bag. It’s been about two weeks, and surprisingly they do not miss them one bit! I’ve also found that the kids really play in a much more focused manner with their smaller amount of toys, than they did when they had more toys. With less toys the kids are becoming more creative, playing with each other more, doing a better job of cleaning up, taking better care of their toys and learning to share more. Plus I have less clutter to deal with, so I’m really wondering why I didn’t do this sooner!

I did let them keep some of their educational, open-ended toys (otherwise I’d just be punishing myself). But I ended up selling half the toys in the bag — ones they’d outgrown, took up too much space, didn’t get enough play, were gifts (electronic devices) and had too many small parts to keep track of. Some of the toys still remain in that garbage bag (and I’ll probably end up selling/donating most of it), but this is what we’ve kept out:

1) Building Toys: Magnatiles, Wood Blocks, Legos – I have three different building toys on here because both my kids never tire of building… ever. Blocks teach them about everything from geometry to problem solving. They play with all three of these sets in different ways. Magnatiles allow you to build vertically, and they like to create houses and rocketships with them. Charlie has been playing with these Melissa and Doug wooden blocks since he was 2, usually constructing castles. They are simple wooden blocks but Charlie adores them. And the kids use Legos to make random little creations like a phone that they’ll carry around. Olive has been playing with Legos since before she was even 1!

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2) Play kitchen & play food – We bought a play kitchen when Charlie was 9 months old, and 4 years later it still pretty much gets daily play. It is Olive’s single favorite toy. And more than using the actual play kitchen itself now, the kids love to have picnics instead. For play food we have the M&D food groups, cutting food, magnetic condiments, pizza party, cooking set, eggs, apron, and a chef’s hat, and they really play with every single item.

3) Play doh – Olive loves sensory experiences – she can play in the sand for hours – and play doh gives her a similar experience indoors. Having play doh tools really takes it to the next level, and it’s fun for kids of all ages.

4) Baby doll – Both Charlie and Olive each have a baby doll that they love to play pretend with.

5) Shovel – I bought Charlie and Olive an Ikea shovel and it is one of our most played with toys (I believe it’s only available for purchase in the store). When they’re in the water they use it as a paddle. And they love, love, love to dig. We take it to the sandbox at our local playground, to the beach, and to the park. I definitely got my money’s worth from this $1 shovel!

6) Art supplies – We do art projects almost every single day. The older Charlie gets, the more he loves just simple drawing and the less he needs toys.

7) Bike – I think bikes are great to learn balance and encourage exercise. We need to teach Charlie to ride a two-wheeler soon so he can pass down his balance bike to Olive!

8) Dress Up Clothes – I bagged up all of Charlie’s superhero costumes, but he and Olive have just been making capes out of scarves and blankets, and masks out of tape instead. Dressing up really encourage imaginative play, and the kids have found ways to do it without their superhero and princess costumes!

9) Animal figurines – We have dinosaur figurines that are excellent for versatile imaginative play (I loved them so much myself as a child), and I prefer them to stuffed animals which don’t seem to get much play around here.

10) Toy cars/trains – Most young kids seem to have a train obsession, and while my kids still like building tracks and playing with trains, they really gravitate toward the other toys on this list first.

.  .  .  .  .

Of course I can’t forget their all-time favorite toys that aren’t even toys:

  • cardboard boxes
  • blankets to make forts
  • masking tape
  • sticks, rocks, acorns, leaves, and flowers
  • water, snow and dirt!

If you had to pare down your LO’s toy collection to 10 things, what would you keep?