For those who like things to be kept minimal...

[Justfinewithoutit]

How do you deal with toys as your children get older? Son is nearly 4 and starting to be interested in Lego now which is a minefield of sets and little tiny parts. We're starting small with a few minifigures and tiny sets for his Christmas stocking.

So far his toys have been fairly minimal and he's been happy with what he has but I see this becoming trickier as he gets older. I'm sure some things will naturally be replaced in time like Lego for Duplo and so we won't keep things that he's too young for anymore.

At the moment he has 4 baskets of toys in an Ikea unit: Duplo, magnet tiles, soft toys, brio train tracks and trains. In addition to this he has a small dolls house with a few peg people and bits of furniture, a larger tractor and digger toy, a torch, plenty of books, a doctors set, a small box of kinetic sand and little diggers, and a Yoto player and cards. He has a swing and mud kitchen in the garden as well as a balance bike. We feel that's plenty and he plays well with everything.

Do you find it easily gets out of control with older children, or do you manage to keep things fairly contained?

We had a rotation system with some stuff out and some in the loft.

Lego went in Tupperware to keep it in sets.

4 was probably about peak toys. After that we sold/got rid of some stuff as they grew into others.

I bought some canvas drawstring bags with labels on.
CARS
SOFT TOYS
LEGO
hang a coat hook rail up and hang them all on.

Hang the ones you don't want dc to reach without you 'agreeing 'up high... .
Like bloody sodding Lego...
Think they were about a fiver a bag..

We've always avoided toy rotation. I can't be bothered with the faff so just have everything available at once but not too much of it.

That's interesting you say 4 is peak toy age. I thought it was only going to get worse from here!

Like bloody sodding Lego

We're not there yet but I already feel this sentiment. I feel like Lego only becomes a good toy when they're old enough to build it on their own!

I feel like 4 is peak. My son is 4, and he’s at the age he’s starting to get lego, but still enjoys duplo for example. So we still have both. I imagine by 6 ish years he will prefer lego, so we can move duplo on.
We have duplo in basket with lid, and lego in one of those draw string bags that open as playmat as I already got fed up picking it all up every time.

I would caution getting rid of things too young. Mine still played with duplo up until about 10 cos it was quick and easy to build large things that then entered the more physical game.

Maybe get more consumable toys (like slime making kit - once its finished its finished) and experiences. For me peak toys was around 8. They then happily selected toys to sell and donate

My daughter has been able to build with Lego from her imagination from 3.5 and follow the kit instructions mostly independently from 4 (assuming kits were age appropriate). So you shouldn’t have long to wait!

My son is not able to play with Lego by himself yet but is fascinated with "playing" with it at an older friend's house. I really like Lego but I don't like constantly fixing things that break because he's not actually ready for the sets yet, or the idea of tons of Lego absolutely everywhere Hoping to put it off for a good while yet. Duplo is so much better at this age.

That's great it was still used at 10! We're definitely big on experiences as gifts too.

I don’t constantly fix it. If Ds takes apart sets, I just leave him to it. He makes lots of stuff. We mainly have old lego from dh childhood, and I bought extra bricks, with just a few small sets, so it’s all just free for all creative like duplo.

How old is he? My son gets on better with Duplo still at the moment. Never need to help him. But playing with Lego at other's houses, he's not there yet so the little fiddly vehicles and so on break and he gets frustrated. Duplo, he plays with happily for ages by himself. Bit of a love hate relationship with the Lego.

He’s 4
Like I said, that’s why I think this is peak toy era, as many 4-5-6 years old play with both still. My son likes duplo still for larger construction and lego for fiddling with smaller car inventions.

Just think to the future. Are you planning more children? I have 3 boys. I want to cry thinking what I’ll be buying as presents for the youngest in years to come. Just be careful, less is more. I wish I’d known that.

I largely gave up on minimalism from 2-10. I wanted them to play with real toys not on video games and as a pp says don't be hasty getting rid of the Duplo. My 13 yo still uses it sometimes! It's endlessly creative stuff. Lego I found more difficult to keep track and doesn't lend itself so well to endless adaptations but Duplo is fab.

4 wasn't peak toys for us as they wouldn't let me get rid of anything but now they are both tweens/ teens the floor stays clearer and it's a bit easier.

I think the trick is to stay on top of organising things. I've seen people use zip lock bags for lego to keep the sets separate with instructions. My eldest is almost 8 and getting to the stage where he needs much less as he only plays with a few things. If you're only planning one I think the chaotic toy stage is short.

We may only have one. Undecided at the moment! Even with one I'm definitely in the "less is more" camp. But it can so easily get out of hand. I think it's harder with toys that can grow and grow like brio and Lego.

We have a very small home so don't want to give up on minimalism entirely! I think we'd all end up very stressed if the toys get too out of hand. Definitely won't get rid of the Duplo too soon though. I'm quite fond of it myself!

I think Lego has changed a lot since I was a child. I'd like to get my son a box of mixed Lego whenever we get to that stage. I feel like Lego is all about sets now though which seems more restrictive. His Duplo is still just a big jumble of all sorts of things in one basket and we can build all sorts of fun things

We tried to keep lego seperate into sets but it just felt really uptight and restrictive and they weren't really bothered about making the same set more than once. I kept instructions but in the end the le3go was in a big box together, hours and hours of play. Have a sheet out you can play on and bundle it all into and a clean dustpan to pick it all up off the carpet if needed like a shovel.

This is how I remember Lego as a child. Big box of mixed bricks. I like keeping things minimal, but I'm less interested in organising so I think we'll go with the same right from the start- just as his Duplo is, a big jumble in a basket. A lot of the fun seems to be had in rummaging

Agreed. You are at the peak now. It was only books, crafts and games after about 5.

This is so strange to me. Maybe things have changed now but when I was a child toys became a big deal from 4 onwards, petering off after 10.

Maybe times have just changed, but I find it a bit sad if kids are peaking in their interest in toys at 4.

I don’t think they peak interest at 4, more that at 4 they are on the boarder of not quite outgrown ‘toddler’ toys but also moving onto ‘child’ toys. Hence you end up with double.

My 4 year old is getting way too tall really for his pirkler climbing triangle he’s had since around 1 year. But we will Keep a while longer as he still uses it. But at the same time he’s now doing puzzles with 50 pieces that need floor space. In a year or two the larger ‘toddler’ items will be put away and just the ‘child’ items remain.

Same with books. He’s now learning to read, so we have those type of books, beginning to read small chapter type Enid blyton to him, but he still likes the more baby search and find or pop up books. So it’s double books for a year or two. Eventually the ‘toddler’ style books he will outgrow

I sort of half rotate. Things like magnetic tiles, the play kitchen, basic colouring stuff, their dolls and cuddly toys stay out. Puzzles, board games, and random other toys rotate, and craft kits, paint, etc are stored out of reach. It's not at all strict - if they fancy a certain puzzle or game, we'll get it out, but it's easier than proper toy rotation and keeps the amount of stuff out manageable. Those are all valuable toys, but they quite reasonably don't want to endlessly do the same two puzzles.

B&M Bargains stock good, strong plastic boxes with handles that can be stacked or placed underbeds.
I'm a bit obsessed and always in there buying different sizes every week.. and I don't have young children anymore 😂

What are you storing in them? This is the opposite of what I'm after tbh, I want to own less, not find ways to store more 😅