Little Stories | Early Speech & Language Development

Do you remember Triple T Mum’s post on toy rotation where she shared those amazing toy rotation checklist printables? In that post she applied our toy rotation method, so I asked her if she’d follow up after a few rotations to share with all of us what worked and what didn’t. First, if you missed her post with those fantastic printables, check it out . Then, read her update for three quick toy rotation lessons that offer great insights and ideas. Triple T Mum says…

We’ve been really enjoying our toy rotation over the past few months.

I’ve been working on fine tuning some aspects of the rotations. One area that we are tweaking is sets and accessories.  I’ve found that the number of accessories for sets really depends on which toys are in rotation.  We have A LOT of Little People sets. In our second rotation I pulled out the Little People house, the furniture and five people. But it didn’t see a lot of play. After a week I pulled out the Little People school bus, a couple more people and immediately interest increased in the toys. I also discovered that Chook doesn’t want his train set out of rotation, so I’ll be including it in all rotations until he no longer plays with it!

I also began creating invitations to play. Arranging toys to suggest ways to play can determine to a large extent whether those toys are going to be played with. During our second toy rotation, I set up the sand pit with the animal figures and some found natural materials.

At pack-up time I invite Chook to set up the next day’s play scene. But sometimes life gets in the way and it is quicker and easier for me to just do it. However, including your child in arranging the play scenes is a valuable activity in itself!

The breakdown of toys is as follows:

• Thinking: Turtle Shape Sorter, stacking cylinders and playdough
• Moving: Xylophone, soft balls and water table
• Pretending: Puppets, train set, horses, Little People house & Bus and animals

 So, what should we keep in mind when rotating?

1. Don’t be afraid to tweak a rotation if something isn’t getting action. Add toys or take some away to make it more exciting.
2. Some toys just can’t be rotated. Kids just are too attached to some of their really great toys to rotate those, and that’s okay!
3. It’s smart to create invitations to play. They can give your child new ideas of how to engage with toys and can really expand pretend play.

Tell us, what have you learned from rotating toys?