Friday, April 01, 2011

Playing, scrapbook pages and help on selling toys

A few of Kylie's toys are kept out all the time, things like her pretend food and dishes. And the rest of the toys are kept in six cloth bags and stored on the bookshelf in our office. Our habit has been put one toy bag in the play room and to rotate the toy bags every other day or so.

But for several months now, Kylie could care less about her toy bags. I really don't think she's outgrown the toys but she certainly shows no interest in them. She would much prefer to spend her time coloring or on other crafts.

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These fusion beads are a favorite. She puts the beads on whatever shape she's chosen (in this picture, it's a turtle) while I sort the beads from the bucket to the bin. At Kylie's Montessori school, they emphasize working quietly. So Kylie is content to work on her beads quietly. And the two of us comfortably share silence. It's lovely.


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Another favorite is her sorting game. In her bedroom, Kylie has her Little Pet Shop Pets, her Barbies and some Little Ponies. She carefully looks at each one and sorts it between my pile and hers. As you can tell, my pile is quite small compared to hers. If I make a statement about why I would like one of the items, Kylie will calmly and emphatically explain why it needs to be in her pile instead of mine. It amuses us both yet I can't help rolling my eyes and thinking to myself, "She sounds like an self-righteous attorney."

She still plays with her leggos and tinkertoys but that's about it. She would much rather play in the park, make something in the kitchen with me...
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and daily begs me to take her to the pool. On her two swim lessons this week, she moved her arms and kicked her legs and moved forward in the pool. She swam! I was so happy and proud.
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We have a neighborhood yard sale in May.
I would love your suggestions on how to handle selling some of Kylie's toys. Do you think a 4yr old can help pick the toys she's tired of? Should she be involved with the picking? Or should I just sneak them out to the sale table?

Lastly, I'll leave you with some recent scrapbook pages. Just click on the picture to see the credits. Have a great weekend everyone!

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5 comments:

H2 said...

I think you should let Kylie help pick out toys to sell. In our house, especially near birthdays and Christmas, we bring out garbage bags and ask the girls to choose toys that they're ready to donate to other children. We explain how there are many children who do not have toys to play with. Then we go through each toy in the bins and the girls decide whether or not to donate them. I think it fosters a sense of philanthropy and also helps them see their toys in a new light.

We also make it a point to rotate bins of toys so that every other month or so they feel like they have something "new" to play with. :-)

TK said...

Kylie reminds me of Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde

Teaberry said...

The last scrapbook page is my favorite! How neat.

I think it's probably okay to make a pile of toys for her to select from so she feels involved a little bit, but then maybe go through what you know she's not using any longer. If she has some say it will probably be easier to say good bye to some things... I might give her a bag to sort through, knowing she might keep more than get rid of more (if the hers and yours pile is any indicator) but then just make a bag or two of donations on your own, maybe...?

Cara said...

So that's what they are called--fusion beads. I just bought these last week for my daughter from Ikea.

I finally had success today sorting toys with my daughter for donation. I gathered up all her stuffed friends and we went through the entire pile. She wasn't happy with donating them to other kids--but she happily latched onto the idea of giving them to a baby. So said about 30 could go to a baby. We kept 24 little ones and 12 big ones...they all have names and such. And now to sort the other toys...

I would love to invite you to read my blog because I read yours...I would need to send you an email, if you are interested.

Kerry Lynn said...

would test it out with her and see how she reacts. We've told M&J that we are going to give certain toys to their cousins and they have flipped out!