(Want to see the newly UPDATED version of my toy rotation system?
You can check it out here: Easy Toy Rotation System (Updated!) )
I’m about to be brutally honest here.
I used to spend my life picking up toys.
Well, okay life may be a slight exaggeration.
But I definitely spent an untold number of hours picking them up!
Again and again. Every. Single. Day.
Until I finally decided that there were too many other things I would rather do with that time, and that I was just desperate enough to try out this whole “toy rotation” thing!
I’d read so many blog and social media posts talking about it, and honestly I had my doubts.
But let me just say that using a toy rotation system has completely changed my life!
And if you spend an unspeakable number of hours picking up toys, then it might just change your life too!
The toy rotation system I use for my toddler is simple to use, and best of all it was completely free!
Keep reading to find out how our easy toy rotation system works, with no need to buy fancy containers or do any closet makeovers!
All you’ll need are just a few diaper boxes and a bit of creative thinking!
Supplies needed:
Diaper boxes (or container of your choice)
Blank paper
Pen or Sharpie
Tape
Step 1 – Pick a container to use
I decided to upcycle 6 diaper boxes for our system since they are sturdy, and I had a lot of them on hand already (you can’t beat free!)
I used three large and three smaller diaper boxes that fit together perfectly on my shelf!
But you could use any kind of box or container you want!
You could DIY some custom sized wooden boxes!
And yes you can even buy some fancy store bought ones if you wish haha!
The great thing is that this system works no matter what type of container you use.
Just make sure whatever you pick will fit on the shelf or other area you want it to go.
You’ll also want to make sure that it’s sturdy enough to hold up through some wear and tear!
You also want to make sure it’s a decent size, depending on how many toys your kids have!
Which brings us to step 2…
Step 2 – Sort and declutter
I’m not going to lie, depending on how frequently you declutter your kids toys already, this may just be the hardest part!
I started by sorting all my son’s toys into the six boxes.
Now I want to mention that you don’t have to put absolutely every single toy in your containers.
My son has toys that were too large for our boxes, and so they’re stored in his toy box.
He also has some educational toys that I leave on his bookshelf because we usually use them daily.
Arts and crafts supplies are stored in his closet, and I have separate containers to store building blocks and lincoln logs.
But everything else is in the boxes!
As I sorted toys into the boxes, I tried to make sure that I was getting an even number of toys in each box, and that each box contained at least one or two “favorites”.
If you find that there are too many toys to fit, you can either add more containers to hold them all, or choose some toys to let go of!
I took out toys that were broken or missing pieces, and some toys that were duplicates.
He had three different shape sorting sets, so I narrowed it down to just the one higher quality wood set and got rid of the two plastic ones.
All of the old toys were either thrown away or donated depending on what shape they were in.
I also took out some toys to send to my mom’s house for when my son is over there.
After all this I was able to fit everything in these six boxes!
If you want more tips on how to declutter toys be sure to read my Ultimate Toy Decluttering Guide (Plus FREE Printable Checklist!) for lots of great advice on how to start tackling toy clutter TODAY!
Step 3 – List what’s inside
At this point I took six pieces of paper and labeled them “Boxes 1-6”
Starting with box one, I listed each toy that was in the box on the paper.
Then I moved on to the second piece of paper for box two, and listed each toy inside.
I continued this until I had filled out one piece of paper for each box.
Then I simply took some painter’s tape and taped each piece of paper to it’s matching box.
Someday I definitely plan to update our system by buying or making nice new containers for all the toys.
For now it may not be the prettiest, but it was quick and free! I call that a major win for any busy parent!
Step 4 – How it works
I put all six boxes on the shelf in my son’s room, and (starting with box 1) we get out one box a day.
My son has those toys all day long, and at the end of the day we put them all back in the box (using the list taped to the box to make sure we have everything!) and return it to the shelf.
The next day we get out box 2, and so on!
My son tends to get bored with toys pretty quickly so I’ve found that changing out his toys everyday has worked much better for us than toy rotation systems that only change out toys once a week or less.
As I mentioned he does have some toys that are not included in the boxes, so on certain days we may for instance get out the building blocks instead of a box, or along with a box.
Arts and craft supplies are stored separately since he is still too young to do most of them by himself, so we get those out when we are going to work on something together.
When a birthday or holiday comes up and he receives new toys, I go through the boxes and get rid of some of the old toys to make room for the new. This helps keep us from getting overwhelmed with way too many toys, and as a bonus it also makes me more conscientious of what/how much I buy for him!
How it’s been life changing
Now this system has been life changing in two ways really…
ONE is of course that picking up one box of toys at the end of the day takes wayyyyy less time than picking up every toy my son owns scattered throughout the house every single day (I seriously only spend about 5 minutes picking up toys at the end of the day! I can hardly believe it!)
TWO is that very unexpectedly I have found that my son actually plays with his toys much more now! He stays focused on them for longer periods of time, is more imaginative with them, and plays independently more often!
He also has a play kitchen that he didn’t play with very much anymore, so I put all of the kitchen accessories (pots, pans, silverware, etc.) in a bag and included it in one of the boxes.
Every time that box comes out he is overjoyed to be cooking up pretend meals in his kitchen all over again!
I can’t even tell you how many toys he never even used to look twice at, that he now LOVES and is always excited to play with!
I hope I may have helped inspire you to try out a toy rotation system for yourself!
And remember, don’t be afraid to change it up however you want so that it works for you and your kids! It might just change your life haha!
Let me know in the comments below if you have ever tried a toy rotation system, and how it worked for you!
3 thoughts on “Easy Toddler Toy Rotation System”
I have a question. Do you have multiple floors in your house? How do you incorporate things like a separate basement play space that has a play kitchen, ect.? I have a main level where the majority of our time is spent but a basement that is visited 3-4 times a week. Where woudl I implement this rotation system.
That’s a great question, my home is single story, but there are certain toys that I do keep separate from our main toy rotation system, such as larger items that don’t fit or things like Legos and Lincoln logs which I still put up but store separately from the rest of the system and just get them out when my son gets bored. So you definitely don’t have to include every single toy in the same place with your system.
The main idea with this toy rotation system is just to cut down on clutter and keep kids from getting overwhelmed by too many options at once so that they can engage better with the select toys they do have out. So I think if you’re only in the basement a few times a week I would implement your toy rotation system on the main floor in your kids bedrooms or wherever you keep most of the toys on that floor, and then just leave a select few things in the basement such as play food and utensils for the kitchen, etc, that they can use when they’re down there.
You can always switch which toys are upstairs and which are in the basement play space at some point too, to keep things fresh!
I hope that helped 😊
Let me know if you have any other questions!
You can also check out the newer version of my toy rotation system which includes some free printable labels and toy lists that might help when you start your own toy rotation system! Easy Toy Rotation System (Updated)