What do your sons play with, and what would they do if you got rid of most of their toys?

[mrsdarcy]

My boys? (aged 6 and 5) bedroom is a revolting tip and I have run out of ideas for how to make them take better care of it ? I?ve tried helpful Mummy, very firm but calm Mummy, raging wildebeest Mummy etc etc.

Most of the mess is paper and pens (I let them do drawing in their room when our kitchen was out of action, and the habit has stuck). I have moved all the paper and pens downstairs out of reach so I can prevent them throwing a piece of paper on the floor after 2 seconds.

Apart from that, they read the books, DS1 reads his football magazines and plays with Star Wars figures. DS2 generally plays with funny bits and pieces rather than ?proper? toys. So I am very tempted to get rid of most of the toys, in particular:

Those rather complex Lego models - they are fun to assemble but if they try to play with them, bits fall off and get lost.

Playmobil stuff, ditto. We had a great time building it but when they tried to play with it they got all frustrated as bits fell off and got lost.

Little plastic soldiers

Magic set

Keep: fisher price toys (castle, pirate ship)
Keep a box of pirates, knights, dragons etc

Keep dinosaurs on a high shelf for when either of them is in dinosaur mode (comes and goes!)

Keep a small box of cars.

Keep dressing up things, but clear out the crap.

Any advice/suggestions? The chaos is driving me crazy. How do other people teach their children to take care of their rooms and possessions?

That last bit should have said 'you' not 'out'. sorry

I now have a car-full of toys which I will take to a charity shop tomorrow. The boys' room looks so much better, and they haven't missed a single thing. On the way home from school, DS1 asked if I had thrown away his football magazines, and DS2 if I had thrown away his birthday cards (no to both).

Some of the rejects are things they have outgrown (eg Bob the builder stuff) which I guess I may regret if DD (12 months) or any subsequent babies have builder frenzy - but I can cure that with a £10 trip to Argos if necessary which seems a fair price.

The other rejects are things they never played with much anyway, much of it given as birthday presents by friends (£5 - £10 plastic crap - makes me vow to buy books in future when they go to parties).

I've kept a few boxes of things for DD: farm animals, jungle animals, brio trains/tracks, 1 box of soft toys, and Ballamory houses.

I guess another thread would be: what can you buy for children's birthdays or Christmas that doesn't end up covered in dust and ultimately in landfill? I'd suggest books; CDs; vouchers for zoo, cinema etc; lessons of some sort.

I've never started a chatty thread and feel an obligation to make sure everyone's drinks are topped up and no-one is on their own in a corner

I like that thread idea Mrsdarcy.
DS had some stuff that was totally wrong for him at his birthday recently. Would be interested in what others give/have received that seems to work well.

DS's great gifts (from freinds) this year included:
A football !
A catch ball game with velcro bats
Diving sticks (rubber sticks shaped like seals that help with water confidence)
Books
More books

New thread on presents that don't end up in landfill here

Thinking of the original thread, ds has always had the most amazing capacity to make anything into a toy. This weekend at my parents he mostly played with poppy seedheads (great star destroyers, apparently). When much younger he would take anything vaguely train shaped (sticks, long thin boxes etc) and push it around the floor for hours. Currently his idea of heaven is a football, and willing team mates.

Lol! ds is very fond of getting all the little bits out of games and organising them into complicated battles. He gets very peeved when I insist they all get put away, but I tell him they will get vacuumed up if he doesn't. Still it does provide hours of quiet time and no fighting with dd!

DS2 loves stones too. DS1 has cut out rectangles out of yellow and red paper and gives us all red or yellow cards!

i used to sit there with a brew and a mag until they finished it - big boxes to shove stuff in.

if ou took all my youngest sons stuff away he would be quite happy as long as there was a tree close by to climb

just done a mass clearout and feels great i can see the bedroom floors for the first time in ages. Sold some stuff on ebay, then did a carboot at school last weekend. With the rest about two bootfulls ! I took to local charity shop.
Also i found some small storage boxes with lids for £1 in hyper value which i've names with contents bought 5 for each child and have said new rule is all toys must stay in boxes.
Its working at the moment but only on week one. ps spit what i made between kids which was a good motivator for minimlesing.

I agree in principle with asking relatives not to buy toys but then how do you deal with the inevitable hurt feelings?
DS is the only grandchild and both sets of grandparents, plus his great aunts/uncles (3 sets with no grandkids of their own) and his uncle (my brother) adore buying him things!

In total including us he has 15 people for whom he is the only 'grandchild / toddler' in the 'family'. That equates to ALOT of toys!!!

I'm trying to think of things to suggest they get which don't fill the house with plastic crap. It's very difficult to do so without being ungracious, I know, and some relatives are very bloody-minded about it.

For my DD's first birthday recently I suggested my father get her a picture for her room. He was happy to get it for her and enjoyed choosing it and knowing that it would be on her wall for quite a long time, and I am happy that she doesn't have yet another soft toy!