How To Purge Toys At Home To Fit With Montessori Practices
The Montessori principle is to allow your child to follow their own path. Your child learns at their own pace, and you follow their lead, rather than you dictate the way that they learn. If you have decided to skip out on traditional schooling and are moving to Montessori instead, you may want to change your child's toys at home and go with the same practices at your own house. You can purge your child's toys, but it will take some time. See below for helpful tips on how to purge your child's toys.
Get Rid Of Battery-Operated Toys
To start, get rid of any battery-operated toys. If your child is under the age of 6, there is no need for battery-operated toys. These toys can be more of a distraction, and do not promote creativity. Get rid of these first. Donate or sell these toys, but get them out of your home.
Take Out Duplicates
If your child has duplicates of toys, such as different types of blocks, stacking toys, a ton of stuffed animals, or cars, keep the toys that your child plays with the most and get rid of the ones that your child doesn't really use. Puzzles and books are nice to have a variety of, especially since both have different levels of difficulty.
Remove Unrealistic Items
Take out items that are just not realistic, such as cartoon- or character-related items. If you have a lot of toy cars or other types of vehicle toys, determine the ones that seem to be the most realistic and keep those. Also remove toys that you may have that mimic items that can be used in real life, such as cleaning, cooking or garage toys (vacuum, broom, play kitchen or tools).
Find Age-Appropriate Toys
If you have a lot of baby toys laying around, but your child is a toddler, get rid of those toys. On the same token, if your child is a toddler and you have older toys, get rid of these as well (or put them in storage for now). Learning toys should not be introduced to your child until after the age of 3. This means get rid of anything that has the alphabet or numbers on it, as well as any other type of academic learning toy.
Montessori principles teaches your child to learn at their own pace. Purge the toys you have at home so your child is not overwhelmed with too many toys and unable to be creative. If you need help with what toys to keep and what to purge, talk to the educator at your child's daycare (preschool or school) for help. Click here to learn more about daycare in your area.
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