It's that time of year when we roll up our sleeves and give our playroom a good sprucing! We're all about rotating toys, tidying up the play area, and creating a space that inspired kids to play, lear, and grow.  We've got three simple steps to make our space sparkle, including sharing and donating the toys they've outgrown with love.

1. Set a goal:  try to get the kids to agree on a number of toys that they want to part with.  They will want to keep everything, so setting a goal is highly recommended!  Usually kids do better when you give them a goal to strive for.

2. Categorize & sort: we use 4 categories - donate, pass down, keepsake, and trash.  We've made these helpful signs to help the kids labels bags and piles of the things they want to categorize.  You can download them HERE:

Donate - we want to make sure that any toy we donate is in good condition so that other kids can enjoy them as much as my kids did. So nothing that is broken or missing parts and not marked up. 

Pass Down - these are toys that are in good condition and that the kids may have someone specific in mind - maybe a neighbor, a cousin, friend, just someone that they know would enjoy it.

Keepsake - these can often be the hardest and most of the time have to do with stuffed animals.  You want to give the kids a chance to keep something they treasure.  We ask - does this toy remind me of a happy memory or has it brought me comfort when I needed it?  If it's a YES, then we keep it 💕.

Trash - anything that is broken and heavily used that cannot be repaired.  

3. Action: when it comes time to donate or pass toys down to family and friends, let the kids be part of the delivery so that they can see first hand the reaction of the kids getting the new toys or the impact their donation will have on others.

Tidying up our play areas not only keeps things organized, but it also helps to promote focus, creativity, and independent play for our kiddos. We're also teaching our little ones an important lesson of gratitude for what they have and kindness to share toys that can bring joy to others.  So let's keep the fun going and make our play spaces a place where creativity and kindness can shine!