Chronicles of Chaos

June 20, 2007 | Print

Less Toys is More Imagination

A friend of ours is moving far away. She packed up everything a week or so ago and sent the stuff, leaving her kids with what they can pack into suitcases and take on the plane.

She joked when picking up Amelia for playing today, at our house we don’t have much, we play outside with sticks.

The truth is, she says, the kids are fine without their toys, in fact they seem more creative in how and what they play.

I’ve noticed that my kids play with what’s available. Displaying toys in different ways, or rotating them in and out, can lead to new kinds of play, and the excitement of discovering again the familiar.

I remember visiting a house with just a few well chosen wood toys placed enticingly on shelves and tables.

It felt wonderful. Though the mom confessed her 2 year old adored most a Tonka truck birthday present she kept to the side of everything else.

With the Thomas the Train recall this week, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to reduce our toy load. Somehow even though I’m not buying toys, we’re always overflowing.

We do make attempts, and we do edit with some success. Michael’s most recent effort was to weed through Amelia’s pile of stuffed animals, many buried at the bottom haven’t seen light for several seasons.

Every animal he proposed for donation was ungiveawayable. She remembers who gave her the stuffie (as she calls them, learned from a teacher somewhere along the line), when she received it, any celebration involved (birthday, etc. we’re overflowing with easter bunnies), and the general sensation of it’s acquisition.

The toys are links. She doesn’t play with them, but their stories are important to her.

So we’ve moved off the stuffed animals.

I do have a garbage bag of usually unused toys in the waiting zone of the garage. I let them sit for a month, if no one asks for them, they quietly find another home.

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