Toy Rotation Categories didn't fix our toy mess, so we did this instead!
Yes, yes, kids are magical and all that, but they’re also really gross. They make your outfit gross, they make the car gross, and they make your house gross.
I can’t help you when it comes to your snotty top or crumb covered car, but what if I told you there was a quick and easy toy system to minimize kid’s mess at home?!
Today you’re going to learn how you can drastically reduce toy clutter in just TEN minutes, as well as improve the quality of play.
If you’re exhausted and stressed, this simple way to cycle toys is going to be a gamechanger for you.
Disclaimer
As we’re chatting about important stuff like forming the minds of tiny humans, it feels like a good time to let you know that I’m not a child development expert. Far from it! I only really like my kid, lol.
This post is based on my observations about what’s working well for our family, and feedback I’ve received from others who have tried it. I’m just a lazy minimalist that hates tidying, but hates clutter a smidge more - so I find the easiest ways to effectively minimize mess.
My number one recommendation when people are feeling overwhelmed is a capsule wardrobe, but this right here is a close second!
I may receive a commission if you click on a link & buy, my full disclaimer is here
Background
I was a messy kid, and now I’m a messy mum with a messy kid. Yet our home is easily tidy-able. Want to know more about this wonderful witchery?
I remember my Mum pleading with me to go and play with my hundreds of toys in my playroom instead of whining to her about how bored I was.
I’d stand in the doorway and look in at all of my beloved toys. The toy box was flung open and the floor was knee deep with toys. Even though the room contained all of my very favourite things, the sheer amount of them made me feel like the walls were caving in. So off to bother my Mum I’d go.
Fast forward to me being pregnant with Willow. I’d learned by then that my mental health was directly related to my surroundings. My inner control freak was already feeling anxious as more and more baby toys and equipment made its way into the house.
I was conflicted: I didn’t want her to be drowning in toys like I was, but I also didn’t want to be so uptight about what came into the house that I’d dread Christmas and birthdays (and make them miserable for everyone else too).
A surprising twist was that baby Willow was so stinking cute and adorable that I wanted to buy her ALL OF THE THINGS. But having ALL OF THE THINGS still stressed me out.
So extreme toy minimalism was out, and I’m too messy to constantly organize toys, so toy rotation seemed like the perfect compromise.
What is toy rotation?
If this is a new term for you, toy rotation is the process of only keeping a few toys out at a time. All of the other toys are packed away, and the toys are rotated as necessary.
This before and after video really captures the magic of rotating toys. 13-month old Willow is so much more focused on her “new” toys, on the right hand side of the screen:
The thing I really love about toy rotation is all of the positive knock on effects!
The Benefits of Toy Rotation
Toy cycling has so many benefits:
Less clutter - the less toys that are out, the less toys you have a tidy up
More time playing with toys. I would often resentfully stare at Willow’s untouched toys as she yanked on my eyelid, wondering why we even bothered buying them for her. Now I only do this two times a day instead of 17.
More independent play - Willow is less reliant on me to entertain her.
More creative play. Willow comes up with new ways to play with old toys!
Increased focus. Instead of pulling things off of the shelf and launching them over her shoulder, Willow actually focuses on each toy now.
Quick & easy to tidy up - no more avoiding tidying because it’s so overwhelming
Reduce stress - I feel less scatterbrained when there’s less crap scattered about
Little ones are more likely to help tidy. Apparently. I have zero first hand experience on this one, but apparently it’s a thing in other families
Easy to see what toys don’t get played with. It’s so much easier to declutter without feeling guilty, because I know which toys she does and doesn’t play with.
More space to play. More actual, physical space. This really comes in handy when Willow wants to do extra dramatic tantrum floor routines in our 630sqft apartment.
Toy rotation day is super exciting! Every toy rotation day feels like christmas morning to me. I’m so excited to see what she’s going to play with first.
Less gift stress - I used to dread a sea of new toys at Christmas and birthdays. Toy rotation takes the stress away so now I can just enjoy Willow’s excitement of being treated by loved ones. I love that a simple concept like a toy system has turned me into less of a control freak.
You can be strategic - if we’re having a stressful time, we skip bringing out the extra annoying toys. You know the ones.
How I Used to do Toy Rotation
I was convinced that toy rotation was the solution, now I just had to work out how to do it.
Spoiler alert - I hugely simplified my process! Enter your email below for access to the ridiculously simple toy rotation 1 pager cheat sheet:
Toy Rotation Categories
I read that it was really important to have at least one toy from each toy category available. I’m a mega dork so I whipped up a colour coded spreadsheet and started a detailed toy inventory. Every toy was logged and categorized.
Toy rotation category examples include: musical, make pretend, stuffed animals, ride on, push / pull toys, puzzles, balls, stacking, dolls, dress up, etc.
My toy categories started forming toy sub categories because I couldn’t work out which category a toy would fall under.
Rotate toys evenly
I read that I needed to make sure that I rotated through all toys evenly, so captain mega dork added an extra column to the spreadsheet to record the date the toy was last out.
How often to rotate toys
Mega dork me then added yet another tab to the toy cycling spreadsheet to record Willow’s level of interest on day 1, 2, 3, etc. so I could observe the optimum number of days to keep toys out for.
Toy rotation storage
To keep everything categorized I found bins that would fit everything from that category. That was easy enough but every time I cycled toys, one box seemed to be too small and I’d have to swap around category boxes.
Pre group toys
In an attempt to “simplify”, I decided to rearrange toys from different categories in to pre picked groups of toys. So the same toys would stay together all of the time. But I didn’t have the perfect amount of toys in each category to create complete groups, and I didn’t want to buy more.
Or, I’d declutter a toy and then would be all in a tizz with replacing it with a toy in a like toy category.
How many toys to keep out
I read so many different guides, ranging from 4-20 toys. Some varied by age too. I was constantly second guessing myself.
The result
Yeah, cool cool, no.
I will not be doing that.
Rotating toys got really complicated, really quickly. I ended up giving up on rotating toys all together and felt more and more miserable as the toy clutter built up again.
How to rotate toys (the simple way)
If you’re wondering how to do a toy rotation, please don’t be like me and ruin it with unnecessary complications (unless that sort of stuff is your jam, then go for it!).
The best toy rotation is the toy rotation that you’ll actually do. So your toy cycling needs to be simple and sustainable.
Here’s the simple toy rotation method that works AMAZINGLY for us:
Grab some storage boxes
Shove all but 10 toys into the boxes (any 10 toys)
Put the boxes away somewhere
Err. That’s it.
Keep subsequent toy rotations just as simple by following these steps:
Pull out (any) ten “new” toys from the boxes
Put the ten “old” toys into the boxes
Repeat as necessary (I judge it by how much of dick Willow is being, lol)
Tips
Keep It Simple, Sweetie
If you find yourself overthinking toy rotation, remind yourself that this toy system is designed to make your life easier and that it really doesn’t need to be complicated.
Be kind to yourself
During stressful times, do you know what I don’t pull out? The flash cards that Willow loves to dump out. The wobble board that she insists I hold her hand on and make the funny “woah, woahhhh” sounds constantly. And definitely not the board with 25 removable pegs.
I keep things simple with tried and tested toys that keep her entertained without much input from me.
When my cup is full, I’m much happier to cycle toys that require more involvement from us.
Toy Rotation Storage Tips
There’s no toy rotation storage that will work for everyone as it depends on your family, what you already have to hand, and your storage space, but here are some toy rotation storage ideas to help you decide:
Size - toys get heavy pretty quickly, don’t use anything so big that you can’t carry it where it needs to go.
Solid toy rotation storage boxes - we have a tiny space so we originally stored boxes of rotating toys stacked in the corner of Willow’s room. She left them alone until she was nearly 3, but I think she would have tried to get in to them a lot sooner if they had been clear bins. Here’s the type I mean
Clear toy rotation storage boxes - Alternatively, clear bins (like these) might be just what you need if you’re storing the toy rotation storage boxes out of sight, but want to be able to easily see what’s in each one.
Repurpose luggage to store rotated toys - my favourite toy rotation storage solution is to use wheeled suitcases. Ours is a split/book style soft luggage like this. It has lots of compartments which makes it easier to rotate toys, and moving it wherever we need it to be is a breeze. We used what we already had.
Be strategic
We often do a toy rotation on a Friday for a smoother weekend, or right before a busy few days to help keep Willow in good spirits and entertained.
Be a secret squirrel if necessary
Older kids may love being involved in the toy rotation process, but Willow sure doesn’t. She gets upset if she sees toys being packed away, so I make sure to only rotate toys when she’s asleep, out or distracted in the other room.
Will toy rotation work for us?
Every family is different, so I asked 1300+ Mums what they thought about toy rotation, to help you decide if it’s a good fit for you.
Toy rotation statistics
64 families (5%) have tried it but didn’t see enough benefits to keep at it (…I wonder if they made the same mistake as me and overcomplicated things?)
Only 3 Mum’s hadn’t heard of it, which I was very pleasantly surprised by. Toy rotation is such a game changer for us, so I’m so happy that it’s becoming more popular
12% (159 people) said they wanted to give it a try
A big chunk of families (39%) hadn’t tried it but felt it wasn’t a good fit for them:
3.9% didn’t have the storage space – I can relate! We are in a 630sqft apartment, so the reality for us is that our cycled toys are stored in tote boxes or luggage tucked away in a corner. We could drag them down into the storage locker in our building’s basement but that would add so many extra steps and effort to each toy rotation. For me, extra storage stacked in a corner is less stressful that extra toys out in the open – but if you’re short on space, only you can decide if that’s a worthwhile trade off.
2.1% didn’t feel organised enough to do it – the simpler you keep it, the less organized you need to be :)
1.9% don’t have enough toys to make it worthwhile. This is great! It means they’ve found the right amount of toys that work for their family, and are able to stay within that limit
The majority (43%, or 559 families) were already toy cycling, and find it really helpful.
Toy rotation anecdotal data
One Mum mentioned that she didn’t want to add “toy rotator” to her long list of jobs, and oh my goodness, I could really relate to that.
In a world that wants us to be everything, the thought of adding one more thing to our plate feels exhausting and overwhelming.
That’s why my first attempt at a convoluted toy rotation system failed so miserably, and why I keep things ridiculously simple nowadays.
I really agreed with this observation: “I always know we’ve slacked on it when I start to get frustrated more during the day because the house is messy and our toddler is bored.”
You can just feel when it’s time to reset things with a toy rotation.
Some Mamas mentioned that it worked a bit better for their little kids than their older kids. Which makes sense, I can see Willow being less of a toy tornado and niching down on particular interests when she gets older.
Another family found that it was easier to manage with one kiddo rather than two.
One Mum mentioned that she has ADHD and that rotating toys just caused more stress, which is a great reminder that it’s only worth doing if it actually makes your life easier.
There was a great tip: open ended toys help to stretch out how often toy cycles are required.
Another tip was to store rotated toys in under bed bins – so handy!
One Mum highly recommends it for reviving kid’s interest in toys they appear to be bored of. She was really impressed how long “boring” toys were played with when there was less clutter around.
Some families involve their little ones, some don’t – again, just do whatever works best for you.
One Mum rotated toys seasonally which is really cute, and reminded me of Willow’s daycare - all of the toys and décor is themed to the time of year.
A few Mums rotated toys into the basement and then promptly forgot about them for a year or two, doh!
I lol’d at the comments along the lines of rotating annoying toys into garbage bags – ha, buh-bye drum kit!!
There were also lots of comments along the lines of, “toy rotation saved my sanity”.
Which is why I shout about it from the rooftops so much.
Parenting is the hardest job in the world - I’m still reeling from the fact that you still have to parent them when you have a cold – so let’s make it easier for ourselves and cut corners where we can.
So, will toy rotation work for you?
I’m a stats geek, and the key message I’m seeing in this data is that of the people that have tried toy rotation, 88% said it really helps.
So there’s a pretty good chance that it will work for you too.
If for whatever reason it doesn’t, there’s an easy fix – you can just stop :)
FAQs
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We do it whenever Willow is engaging with her toys less / being a dick. It varies between every 3-14 days.
If you’re someone that thrives on routine, try weekly and then adjust from there.
Every home and little one is different.
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If you love that sort of thing, go for it! But if the thought fills you with dread, skip it.
It will be so much easier to declutter in the future as you’ll know exactly what toys they are and aren’t playing with.
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Great question! I count toys with multiple pieces as one single toy. BUT that doesn’t mean that I pull out every single piece.
Willow has a giant bucket of mega blocks but she’s not a mechanical engineer just yet - a handful of blocks in a basket will do her for now.
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It’s up to you :)
I include medium toys that are easy to store in the top of her wardrobe, like her cleaning set, and ride on wheelybug.
Bigger toys like the kitchen, nugget, trampoline and slide stay out. If I had the energy and space to rotate them, I totally would as I bet they’d get more use that way!
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I swap things all at once, because lazy. The biggest effort of this ridiculously simple process is opening up the tote boxes and rooting around inside. Its no biggie but have no intention of doing that more often than I need to.
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I have two big tote boxes of random toys and three small ones. If I’m in a rush, I’ll grab items from one box, if I have more time I’ll take the time to cherry pick toys that haven’t been out for a while.
Willow seems to be just as excited to see a toy whether it’s been days or months since she last saw it.
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I suggest 10 toys because it’s a great starting place, seems to work great for most people and it’s easy to remember.
We have an ikea kallax shelf with eight cubbies. So we generally do one toy per cubbie, one puzzle for her table, and one ride on toy.
Another option is to have one set space (e.g. low shelf), skip counting, and just add enough toys that fit. I would try to avoid overloading, to avoid overwhelm.
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Some people use a toy box, some people use baskets. Personally, I like the Montessori approach which is to use a low open shelf. It inspires independence and each toy is on display which encourages more play.
It also encourages the one toy at a time concept. Kids play with one toy at a time, and then when they are done, they put that toy back on the shelf before they take a new toy.
As I said, we love the ikea kallax shelf with eight cubbies, with one toy on each shelf - it takes the guess work out of it and keeps things uncluttered.
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I would recommend the closest place that you have space. Lugging boxes of toys gets old fast. Make this as easy on yourself as possible.
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YES!!!
Books
One of the best things we rotate is books! They’ve gone from being used as launch missiles, to actual things that get opened and “read” now that we only keep 4 out at a time.
Bath toys
It took me nearly a year to realize that this could be applied to bath toys too. We went from soaking, stressful battles, to fun, contained baths instantly.
Big toy accessories
For kitchens, doll houses, farms, etc., that come with lots of little pieces and accessories, I rotate these too.
So I keep out 1/4 of the play food and accessories at a time. I keep the pieces in a separate box to keep things easy to swap.
Dog toys
Fido will really enjoy “new toys” appearing too!
Outside toys
If your have the storage space to rotate outside toys too, go for it!
“Big kid” collections
We can have all of the benefits of decluttering, without letting go of anything, just by rotating our collections.
Do you have a giant collection of decorative plates? Try separating them into groups and bringing out a new collection for each season.
Is your bookcase bursting with unread books? Try packing some away in small boxes and bringing them out in rotation. Maybe taking a break from seeing them for a while will revive your motivation to read them when they come back out.
Is your record collection taking over the living room? Curate 12 record sets and rotate them monthly. You’ll save space in the living area and be much more excited to play your “new” music.
Does your family have an impressive collection of board games? Rotating them will revive everyone’s interest in forgotten games.
You get the idea: we all benefit from having less clutter, and can revive our interest in our possessions by periodically changing things up.
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There are no toy rotation rules!
People on the internet don’t get to tell you rules about your home. Like anything, steal the bits you like and ignore the bits you don’t.
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This is the only downside of the simplest toy rotation method. It hasn’t happened to us yet but I’m sure it will.
For all of the other benefits, it’s a risk I’m willing to take.
Gradually decluttering the amount of toys over time helps reduce this risk too.
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If you’re child has ten or less toys, awesome! I bet you’re already enjoying the benefits of creative play and less clutter.
High five, and enjoy!
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Here’s what we do.
Doudou, a grubby unicorn, is considered an extension of Willow. We DO NOT include Doudou in toy rotation.
Some of her other favourites are baby, Sven, and Olaf. We include these in toy rotation and love watching her eyes light up when she sees them again.
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I love giving Willow control over things whenever it makes sense, as I can see how it reduces frustration and improves the flow of our day. Things like, “would you like to put your shoes or your coat on next?”
However, I’m going to keep Willow’s involvement in the toy rotation process as minimal as possible, for as long as possible. I suspect that it will be simpler that way, but I’ll be sure to update this with how we get on!
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Whenever people ask what age to start toy rotation, I say ASAP.
Even the tiniest humans enjoy variety, which is why toy rotation for babies is so great.
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I just keep them out. New toys are exciting! I’ll readjust so there are 10 toys out after the next rotation.
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Minimalists come in all shapes and sizes. I’m much less minimalist with toys than with most areas. I love finding toys at thrift stores and on Facebook marketplace that I know Willow will love.
Toy rotation helps me keep a healthy balance for Willow, me and the house :)
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If you have more than one play area you have a couple of options.
1) Store toys in one space and move them to other areas as needed
Our space is small enough that we only keep the toys in her bedroom. Then we take them into the other room as and when.
2) Have more than one space for rotated toys
If you’ve got a bigger home over multiple floors, it might be a good idea to practice toy rotation in each area where toys are stored. Feel free to store the toys separately per space, or all together. Whatever is easiest for you.
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For these next few questions, I’m officially in the land of talking about things I know nothing about, because Willow is our only tiny human, and she’s still pretty little. I can tell you what I think I would do, and then like everything, you can decide what works best for you.
If they play together a lot I’d do 5 toys per child.
If they don’t play together I’d stick to 10 toys per child.
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If it was a one off, I’d ask her to pick a toy to put away, and then swap them out.
If it was a common occurrence for a certain toy I’d consider keeping it out.
If it was a common occurrence for various toys I’d try to redirect, “we’re not playing with baby today, would you like to play with Olaf or Sven?”
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Rotating toys for toddlers and for older kids is slightly different.
If I was starting this process when Willow was older, I would let her know what the plan was and emphasize how exciting things will be when toys get rotated.
I’d also explain the why behind it so they had a full understanding. I’d probably rotate a bit more often at the start to help ease them in. I’d check in with them to get their feedback.
To involve Willow more in the decluttering process, I definitely plan to implement the one in, one out rule.
If she wants to buy a new teddy bear with her pocket money, she needs to pick an existing teddy to say toodle doo to.
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The 20 toy rule involves your child picking 20 toys to keep, and then letting go of the rest. It excludes things like legos, books and art supplies that have multiples. You can store the excess toys for a while just in case, before letting go of the toys permanently.
The 20 toy rule is great and gives you a lot of the same benefits of toy rotation.
I’s love to get there one day, but for now, toy rotation is definitely the best solution for us.
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I recommend keeping ten toys out at a time.
Having 15+ toys total should be plenty to provide some variety.
The more toys you have, the more variety you will have, but the more toys you will have to manage. So a lot of it depends on your family, and how much storage space you have for rotation toys.
Conclusion
We’ve covered the benefits of toy rotation, how to do toy rotation, compared different types of toy rotation storage, looked at loads of toy rotation ideas, geeked out on some toy rotation statistics, and gone over a whole heap of toy rotation FAQs.
I hope that you’re feeling ready to start a simple toy rotation process in your home.
A friendly reminder that rotating toys is not an opportunity to should all over yourself. Only cycle toys if it makes sense for you, and if it makes your life easier. You’re an amazing parent, no matter how many toys are out.
Capsule wardrobes and toy rotations are two things that I never shut up about, because they have such a huge impact on improving your day to day life.
Give it a try, take before and after photos, and observe the difference in play. Tag me on Instagram @Minimize_my_Mess to let me know how you and your kiddos get on!
Further reading:
If you’re an exhausted parent and enjoyed reading this, you’ll love my other articles to make your life easier:
How to save time, money and energy with an easy capsule wardrobe for your kids
Try this clothes storage hack that’s perfect for kids and messy people
60 day minimalism & organization challenge (part 1 & part 2)
