Stepping on Legos.

Admit it – you’ve done it.

Late one night, you’re zooming through the house only to come to an abrupt halt when your foot finds that one stray Lego piece. Rather than silently screaming and wishing to throw away all those Legos, remember the learning process starts when parents hand a toy to children as babies. Now, chaos and clutter are a part of childrens’ processes, including leaving Legos everywhere. Digging through the toy chest (or dumping them all out) to find one specific item is necessary to complete their imagined game.

…conclusion:

Toys are an essential part of learning but can sometimes be hard to keep organized. A few helpful reminders include:

• Acceptance. Know that messiness part of the process and go with the flow.
• Teach clean up. Find fun ways to make the clean-up part of their imaginary play.
• Having all playsets stored together may cause undue stress – for parents and children. If the farmer driving the race car makes more sense, go with it – the organization will go a lot smoother.
• Rotate toys monthly. By keeping a selection of toys out of sight, children will offer “new” discoveries at month’s end.