Avoid toy clutter by having the furniture help kids pick up their own toys!Now exactly how kids furniture can help avoid toy clutter is a bit hard to explain… so please watch the toy cabinet in this short video. Well, the One at a Time toy cabinet helps keep the last few toys from becoming clutter. You as the parent have to first take steps to not have dozens or hundreds of toys available in the first place. So, does your household also have WAY TOO MANY TOYS? If so, why might that be?
Is it because of what psychologists call overcompensation? ... sort of remembering your own frustration with NOT ENOUGH toys when you were a child?
Is it because you know it is "common" sense that toys keep your kids from "stimulus deprivation"?
Or maybe it just happened without any conscious plan on your part! You weren't really thinking about it and now the toy clutter is just all there. The kids furniture is full of toys and overflowing.
Let's talk about this "stimulus deprivation" idea. I think we already know it really doesn't hold water. Most of our children are anything but deprived. On the other hand, when the child has too many toys they just blend into the background, the toy clutter is almost like dirt or grains of sand.
In fact, piles of plastic are less fun than dirt. With dirt you can at least make balls and castles. If this hits home, don't feel too bad, these photos show that you are not much different than most other families. By the way "stimulus deprivation" refers to an environment with just 4 grey walls and NOTHING to play with. And no people contact either. The main point of these photos, however, is that too many toys really aren't stimulation for your children, they are just toy clutter.
And the clutter leads to behavior problems... When kids can't visualize the toys as valued objects, they don't care about them anymore. It makes no sense to a child when you ask them to do what amounts to shuffling around piles of plastic.
Of the toys you have, are too many are out/available at one time? If so, the toys lose their individual value. The child can't focus and becomes bored with them all. They are still toy clutter rather than fun. You can, of course, just keep fewer toys out and available. It's fairly simple ... get a closet lock and put everything except at most a HALF A DOZEN into the locked closet. (If your child can't find an interesting toy amongst 4 or 5, they won't find an interesting one amongst 20 or 100, either.) Then you can even "recycle" the old toys. A toy the child hasn't seen in weeks or months takes on a new interest. This might be a new twist on green childrens furniture.
Are your toys stored in such a way that some of the toys are "hidden" or underneath others? That is a mistake kids furniture designers should have eliminated ages ago.
If so, the child "knows" there are other toys down there and tends to think that maybe there is a better one underneath. Consequently they won't value the toy they have in hand. Curiosity gets to them and pretty soon there is that mess all over the floor. The toy clutter wins. So once again, the toys are soon discarded and spread out like dust... the kids furniture isn't helping... and the child is bored in the midst of plenty. Even worse when you ask them about cleaning up toys, they eventually find/focus on one specific toy or another that catches their interest. With this "new" toy in hand, they forget to continue to clean up, even if they were originally trying to be cooperative.  THE TOY CABINETS IN THE VIDEO ARE AVAILABLE NOW! You can Purchase a One at a time Toy Cabinet here See more examples of Toy Storage Furniture helping an orderly playroom. And tell us about your thoughts on this new toy storage idea. Contact us with any questions about One at a Time toy storage products for your child.
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