We were sitting on the couch, days after Christmas, still surrounded by bits of wrapping paper and toy boxes, when I made the decision to declutter our toy collection. I'd been coming to the realization that more toys did not equate more play and as an aspiring minimalist, I wanted to see what would happen if we had less toys (bonus if we could have less clutter too).
I started that very moment. I wrestled the play kitchen downstairs among other toys that littered our 1,000 sq. ft. space. I left the toys in our basement for a month just in case but our daughter only asked about things less than a handful of times. Honestly, no one has missed them since. In fact, getting rid of more toys made room for more play.
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The Right Kind of Toy
A decade of teaching kindergarten (one year in second) taught me a few things about kids and toys. First, kids really only play with the same couple of toys. Second, they don't need a lot of toys to focus on play. And third, the right kind of toy engages kids for longer, aka an open ended toy.
Think about it, before the industrial revolution and mass consumerism kids didn't have a lot of toys, but they still played. Laura, from Little House on the Prairie had just the one doll Charlotte and the few broken kitchen items Ma bequeathed the girls. Before box stores and Amazon, kids played with the things their families made them, the things around the house, or things outside. A log could be a chair at a table or a seat on a train, a desk at school or work, etc. These things were by nature open ended. Open ended toys are toys that encourage kids to play and create with them instead of consume them. These are typically toys without batteries, buttons, and specific functions, which could be used by the kids to play in a variety of ways. Open ended toys encourage kids to use them in a variety of ways. These are the toys that the studies show encourage more creativity, longer attention spans, and deeper engagement- aka better play with fewer toys.
The Shift: Less Toys, More Play
We already had open ended toys, we just had too many of them. So our question wasn't is this an open ended toy or is this a toy that can be used in multiple ways, but do our kids actually play with this? And if so, how often?
I started with the play kitchen, it's a great open ended toy, but our kids just didn't play with it much. It took up a lot of space, not to mention the large mess it made with all of the accessories. Plus, it could be replaced with having my kids help out in our kitchen alongside my husband and myself. After the play kitchen, I went through every bin and cabinet as we played with things, asking myself the important questions:
- Do our kids actually play with this?
- Do we have a place for it?
- Is this adding to our days, encouraging deep play?
- Can this be cleaned up quickly?
And slowly, gently, our pass-on pile grew and after a month we let go of things.
What We Kept (And Why It Works)
First off, everyone has a different number of just right toys and different just right toys based upon kids' interests and leanings. Having worked in a classroom for awhile, I can confidently speak to the fact that these toys are hits across gender and ages. We kept one bin of "baby" toys that is in our closet if we have another baby, but the toys we kept will be ones that will grow with our kids.
Second, we are using the bin method. All of our collection of toys go in a bin. It makes for a contained space for the toys, less visual clutter, an automatic limit on the amount of toys, and the ability to add to our collections without adding collections and clutter.
We have eight bins, seven larger items, and a collection of school supplies. That's it. Some days it still feels like a lot, but for now it's working.
Our Toy Collection Bins
1. Magnatiles
These are played with every single day. Hands down, everyone loves Magnatiles. Our son started playing with them at 1.5. You can build anything castles, roads, zoos, houses, and unnamed inventions. They were a hit in my kindergarten classroom and I even know upper elementary kids that still love Magnatiles when given the opportunity to play with them. We do use off brand and love them!
2. Plastic Animals
My husband thought I was ridiculous when I got our daughter her first set of plastic animals. He has since recanted. I knew she would love them, I did as a kid. They’re durable, beautiful, and used constantly especially with Magnatiles and in the bath. I'm partial to Schleich because they are more durable, realistic in size and ratio, and offer so many options. We had a birthday and a Christmas were we asked only for Schleich animals and have nearly filled a bin. They make great stocking stuffers and little holiday gifts.
3. Vehicles + Tracks
Our son loves cars! What boy doesn't. We have a mix of thrifted, gifted, and dollar store vehicles. We have small cars and trains, and a bigger dump truck he can scoot around in. We have thrifted a small train track, been gifted a durable puzzle road track, and purchased the infamous Blu Track.
4. Dress-Up
This is our most recent addition in our play collection. We are still adding to our bin. Currently we have a doctor kit, baby dolls, silks, a tea party set, crowns, and a pair of cat ears. It's a bin to help us act out stories together and let the kids personalities shine.
5. Stuffies
The beloved few. Not dozens—just the ones that are truly loved and fit in our basket.
6. Dollhouse + Tiny Things
We have a universal dollhouse that can be a house, a barn, or a hotel. It sits on shelf up high next to a bin of small accessories like Kelly Dolls, tiny Schleich, fences, beds, stairs, etc. Our tiny things bin invites a more quiet, focused play and creativity for our daughter.
7. Blocks
We do have a basket of wooden blocks. Simple. Classic. Not the most grabbed bin, but a great addition to most play.
8. Balls + Musical Instruments
We have a basket of balls and musical instruments (xylophone, maraca, hand drum, egg shaker). Another bin that doesn't get grabbed a ton, but is great to have.
Our Big Pieces
Outside of our bins we have our Nugget which we LOVE. Our Nugget play couch is played with all the time. The go to for when we don’t know what else to do, slide, trampoline, fort, boat, reading nest
We also have a our dollhouse, shopping cart, baby doll stroller, pop-up tunnel, play tent, and a sensory bin which doubles as our crafting table.
Outside of that, we have a Yoto, which we absolutely LOVE, a handful of games and puzzles for school, craft supplies, and a lot of books.
What We Let Go Of
We let go of a lot of good toys. Toys that I spent a lot of time researching and price shopping. Toys that were open ended and loved at some point. They were just not as engaging for our kids and family. Here are some of the things we passed on.
- play kitchen - invite them into the real kitchen
- play cleaning set - invite them to use our real tools
- tiny piano - invite them to use our real piano
- extra puzzles and games - we can borrow from the library
- random pieces and parts of random things
Even writing out this list, I see room for us to pass on even more toys. We have been so blessed. Just because we have good toys, doesn't mean we need to keep them all—in fact having less has served our family more.
What Changed in Our Home
The difference wasn’t just cleaner floors (though… that’s been nice).
It was:
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Longer stretches of play
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More creativity
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Less overwhelm (for all of us)
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Easier cleanup
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More gratitude for what we do have
And maybe my favorite part—watching my kids fully enter into their play again.
If You’re Feeling the Pull to Simplify
You don’t have to overhaul everything overnight.
Start here:
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Pick one bin
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Sit with your kids
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Keep what’s truly loved
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Let go of the rest
And ask yourself:
What if less really is more?
What if fewer toys means fuller days?
What if creating space in our homes makes more space for connection and creativity?
We decluttered to have less.
But we also decluttered to make room—for imagination, for peace, for connection instead of consumption, and for the kind of childhood that isn’t rushed or distracted, but deeply lived in.
And it turns out, that doesn’t take much at all.