A Look Inside the Toy Basket

I am kind of obsessive when it comes to toys. Obsessive in the fact that I don't like a lot of them. I have worked with kids of various ages for about 10 years now, and I have seen lots and lots of kids play. What I have learned over the years is that kids tend to like playing with things that aren't necessarily considered toys. So when it comes to Seth and his toys, we tend to stay away from buying a lot of them. We have one basket in our living room that we use to house the toys, other than a magnetic farm set we have in the kitchen. The toys from the basket usually get taken all over the house within minutes of waking up each day, but we try to keep the amount of limited to what can fit in the basket. That way, Seth actually plays with what is in it and piles and piles of unused toys don't clutter up our house. We have a few toys that were given to us, some I have picked up from Mighty Dollar for Seth, but a lot of Seth's toys are items that were just around the house. Here's a look at what's in the toy basket right now...

These are the favorites right now. They include a small dump truck, a rubber duck, stacking cups (super favorite), a touch and feel book, a paper holder (the beige thing) because it has sand in it and he likes to shake it, an old remote control, the nasal aspirator, and an empty Aveeno shampoo bottle.

The rest of the items in the basket include a shape sorting container, a ball, another book, a plush camera, a beanie baby monkey (he loves monkeys right now), a small white basket, and stacking rings.

I know that over time the toys are going to get bigger and they won't always fit in one basket in the living room. But we hope to keep the mindset that less is more and the not-so-ordinary toys can be just as fun when it comes to playing.