Goodbye, toys

We have several routines in this house and one of them is our method for keeping toys "fresh". Every 3-ish months I do what I call a "toy rotation" and every 6 months I do a toy overhaul/donation (right before Christmas and right before Nat's birthday). This keeps our house from getting over-cluttered, and also keeps the kids interested in what they're playing with.

We have three places we keep toys: the play area downstairs, the toy box in Adrianna's room, and a plastic tub in the garage. We keep all the new and exciting toys in the main play area. Upstairs is where I put toys that the kids still like but tend to pull out over and over, and don't stay engaged in. Outside is where I keep toys that Adrianna is done with but might not be appropriate for Natalie's age just yet. Phasing the toys in and out really seems to extend the life cycle of them and keeps the kids always exploring.

Sometimes all it takes is a simple change such as taking the lid off the train table and they suddenly think they got a new toy.

Other times, we realize we have WAY too much stuff and a lot of it needs to be donated:

As the girls get older I will involve them in this process more and more. Right now we have a bag of baby toys on the stairs and every time Adrianna asks about it I tell her that those are going to her cousin Keira. She probably doesn't understand, but one day she will.