Nursery removes toys from children!!

Such a good idea,so many things can be made from a box or a large tin little ones can imagine allsorts of things to play.
Mine loved the pots & pans and tins from the store cupboard for many happy hours of play.

I think it's a great idea. My DGD had hundreds of toys, as they do these days,but she loved simple games. We used to make little gardens on a biscuit tin lid. We'd get little fir cones, and little bits of foliage from the garden and use a little mirror to make a lake. Happy days.

This is a brilliant idea, and of more value to the children than the plastic toys all children have at home. I remember my two DD having enormous fun with a large cardboard box with a hole cut out of the front. They pretended that it was a television and enacted all sorts of 'programmes' with it. I recently duplicated this for my granddaughter and she loved it, she scribbled 'the news' on a piece of card and we were treated to a newsreading session. She wanted to take the box home with her, which she did, and it is now in her bedroom. She has never asked to take any of her other toys home with her!

Not read or heard about this interesting story sunseeker thank you.

It sounds a worthy experiment and looks as though the nursery will keep it going.

My three - and they discovered this quite independently of each other - would spend many a happy hour under the kitchen table sorting potatoes into empty egg boxes. I was reminded of Eeyore and his jar.

We used to say we'd give the gift away and just give our GS the box it came in. He was more interested in that. He made a bus out of a box and I cut out passengers from magazines to stick at the windows. We had Marilyn Monroe and John Lennon on our bus.

I haven't heard of this. It sounds like a great idea. It would be good if new parents, not just nurseries heard about this. I think so many new parents think they "need" a small fortune in toys and equipment for little ones and are pressured by advertising. There are so many benefits in allowing kids to simply use their imagination. So good for their development in my view ? and just a lot of fun too

totally agree- great news.

A brilliant idea - I will pass this on to my daughter who works in a nursery and is always looking for new ideas for the children. Not sure how my GS (2) would like it as he has just started playschool (group/nursery) whatever it is called nowadays - and is only willing to let go of Mum if a large toy (plastic) tractor is available to him!!!

My 6 year old GS is obsessed with collecting cardboard boxes. They are turned into boats, cars, forts and almost anything you can think of.

My baby GD's nursery already seems to do this. They have all sorts of ordinary household items for children to play with - I have a great photo of my GD threading curtain rings onto a wooden kitchen roll holder.

They must be doing something right as the nursery recently had an unannounced inspection and were graded as outstanding.

ginny

My brothers used to play in a youth string orchestra (violin, viola, and cello; they were violinists). One year for their Christmas concert they played a piece called "Christmas in the Kitchen". A couple of professional classical musicians accompanied their orchestra and literally "played" pots and pans! What a hoot!

Great ! Kitchen pots and utensils make an orchestra. Blankets, boxes. Pegs, buttons, water , a few crayons , cut up greetings cards make good jigsaw puzzles etc. etc. plus fertile imaginations are much more fun than any mass produced toys.

My Emma Bridgewater biscuit tins look like they've been through a war zone! My GC have beaten them with wooden spoons, so they all dented and scratched, but the final nail in their originally useful life was being used as stepping stones and floor gliders. Not one lid fits securely now. And it's great!

Brilliant!

When DGS (4) comes to stay he makes a beeline for the kitchen and removes anything he wants to play with.
His favourites are my Klippitts and my pastry brushes, closely followed by my silicone spatulas.
They came at half-term and I still can’t find my spaghetti strainer

Montessori nursery's charge a fortune for just this sort of environment for children.
Has anybody read about the outdoors playgroups? The children don't go inside even in the rain!

I remember my sons having days of fun with an enormous cardboard box a TV was delivered in! It was a pirate ship, space rocket, castle, fort etc.

Brilliant - back to basics. I remember the clothes horse tent and my children had many happy times with pots, pans and boxes. Let's hope it catches on and children get used to using their imagination again

The Waldorf Steiner approach?
It’s a good idea

Wonderful idea both for the children who find their imaginations and for the planet, less plastic rubbish to foul the oceans.

I saw this on the news!

I remember the clothes horse and blanket phoenix

DGD used to love 'cooking' and 'baking' with my tins and wooden spoons. We always enjoyed what she produced.

Wonderful idea! Preschool children, especially, don't need many toys as they have extremely active imaginations. Providing opportunities to play with objects such as those described here allows children to imitate adults and therefore learn.

Fantastic! Let's hope it catches on around the country.

Brilliant, and as it should be!

I remember many happy hours with a clothes horse and a blanket!