Kids don't need a mountain of new holiday toys to be happy. There's an easy way to keep kids excited about the toys they already have: giving them access to just a few of them and leaving others out.
"I do this practice with toys so they still seem new and exciting and we don't necessarily buy anything new," says Angela Narayan, professor of Clinical Child Psychology at the University of Denver.
This tactic works well with larger toys, like dollhouses and large Lego sets, which keeps kids from adding to the mess around the house. "I let them play with them and then I take them away for a few weeks or a month and just bring out some other toys that they've been neglecting," she explains.
"The strategy works well because of the psychology and developing memory capacity of young children," says Narayan.
"Preschoolers don't have as much long-term memory capacity as we do, so they forget more quickly than adults," she explains. "They don't tire of things as easily and that's just an advantage of the developing brain."
How many gifts should you give small children?
If children see a large amount of toys at once, it can be overstimulating and they are not necessarily able to distinguish each toy. "Even if an adult goes to a toy store, it is difficult to pay attention to everything, imagine the children" she says.
During the holidays, Narayan says he only buys the kids one or two meaningful gifts that can keep their attention engaged for a period of time.
Of course, as children get older, this trick loses its effectiveness and they may no longer be interested in the toys that once excited them.
Source: Today
