Toddler Toy Time: Less is More

Recently I packed away all of my son's noisy toys. Not that I think there is anything wrong with having them, or found them annoying, but we were wanting to encourage him to rely more on his own imagination rather than just on the sounds and lights of the toys. Don't worry! We kept all his other toys, they are just being stored away right now, and will slowly come back into play. It was simply that we as his parents wanted to see how our son's playing habits would change based on the type and amount of toys available to him.

First up are his wooden rainbow sets from Tiny Wooden Treasures. He stacks them, knocks them over,

and uses them as slides or teeter-totters for his other toys. Sometimes he will take one for himself and give me another to play telephone! Aedan loves to finish his conversations by abruptly slamming down his "phone". Or he even will use them for peek-a-boo by covering his eyes with an arch and peeking over or under them. It honestly makes me think of the glasses Cyclops wears in X-Men.

On the parent side of things, they are also great if you want something that doubles as décor. As you can see they fit right in with my Willow Tree figurine and many plants. Plus it is fun to challenge myself with ways to set them up for various activities or trying to stack them higher than the last time.

Next up is his Peg People set from Wood + Willow Co. They come in a set of several colours, which is not only fun but a great learning tool! Aedan has definitely liked showing off his colour matching skills using these cute little toys. It's so fun to see his imagination at work as he has the pieces interact with each other, and as he goes "Weee!!" when he slides one down one of his rainbow arches always makes my heart happy.

Lastly, something I find extremely important, is spending time outside. Let me tell you, this boy gets DIRTY! I mean head to toe mud. If there isn't mud to play in, just wait, he will track down the nearest water source and make some! It's fortunate that we have a big back yard with some garden patches for

us to enjoy. One of which we put a Mud Kitchen in for Aedan to use, made out of some old tables and pallets we had in the garage. He gets to make messes there, and interact with nature by finding bugs, watching the birds, and picking dandelions to sniff.

The best part about so much of his playtimes is that he's constantly learning. Toddlers soak up so much information even when we may be thinking they aren't exactly paying attention. For example, Aedan watches his dad and I do chores around the house, and often wants to take over for us. He most enjoys helping with putting away the silverware from the dishwasher, but lately has also been handing us the bowls and plates to put up in the cupboard. Right now the scariest chore he helps with is sweeping. Sweeping scary? Yes, when someone who still is figuring out coordination is handling something that is over 2X their height, swinging it side to side, you fear for your eyes and any low sitting fragile items. In the end though, we love how much he wants to help and hope to keep encouraging him to do so whenever possible.

Changing up our son's toys has definitely been of benefit to us all as a family. Less stimulation has seemed to increase his use of imagination, and has taught us as his parents how to communicate with him better than we previously had. It has also shown us how much of a visual learner he is, which will help with long term teaching goals. Not to mention, having fewer toys also means less time tidying up and more time playing! Having that extra freedom to focus on our one on one time is so important for each of us. In our case, when it came to having toys in the house, less is more.