daisydorageorge Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 We are having problems with children bringing toys into preschool. This causes problems with sharing, toys getting broken or lost. I feel I need to make a policy for this once and for all but would like to here what others think and whether they have a policy or rules for this. Big sigh - I have been brave enough to post and reply all in one day ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 congratulations ! he he the first of many we ask that if children bring in toys that they agree to share them (and risk them getting broken )or that they go home or in their draw. I have had this rule since a favourite toy was left with me and i had to return it at 10 oclock at night because the child couldn't sleep without it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green hippo Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Hi! I teach in a Nursery Class within a school and we found that we were having similar problems plus we were having show and tell sessions every morning lasting longer and longer as children wanted to talk about their toys. We now ask that children don't bring in their own toys unless it is their show and tell day. The exceptions to this are when a child is upset and has brought a comfort toy (the toy will go into their tray once they are playing happily - the children will put it there themselves) or when a child has a specifc toy linked to something we have been doing e.g. the children were really excited by Chinese dragon, particularly one little boy who had a toy remote control dragon, so we asked him to bring it in to show us. He showed the class and then made a house for it. It was then put on the side safely when he had finished talking to his friends about it. Green Hippo x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 we allowed them but they had to go into 'the big red box' on arrival and collected on leaving.. not to play with during the session, unless it was a comfort thing then they had to agree to take care of it and put it away when they did not want someone else to play with it.. and if they did not fit in the box they had to go home.. this stopped the huge items being brought in.. each year was slightly different as they reacted differently, we once had some children who just could not leave the box alone and wanted to play with all the items in there.. so we did a different tack that year and they could bring them but they had to be in a bag on their peg with their coat (out of the playroom) or taken home by person dropping them off.. this one worked well .. we dropped show and tell at circle time a long time ago so it did not cause any issues and if we asked for items we gave the rules we wanted at the time..as appropriate .. we did find parents were very thankful that we discouraged toys being brought in as it stopped the lost items , broken items, and distress because they had nothing but everyone else did.. (or so they saw it) comforters were brought in and not an issue and no one ever complained about others having something and not them.. but we did stress it was up to the parent to remember to collect the items, we held no responsibility for the items and would not be able to return them out of normal hours.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Ooo some good ideas, We have the same problem, and the more the children bring in the more others start too, some come with like a backpack full of toys as a pack away preschool, the toys are boxed and piled up in a cupboard, so therefore searching for a toy that may have been packed aaway is a right pain in the backside!! Lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 we actively encourage children to bring something from home, it goes into a special box until showing time. They quickly learn to only bring in one thing and if they happen to bring more than one, well they choose which will be shown. I love the process of children learning to share something personal to them and seeing them allow other children to look at it. Sometimes they play with the item (eg if it is a game) at small group time but other than that even the 2 year olds know it stays in the box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondie Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 we ask children who bring in something from home to put it on the side to keep it safe - unless it is a comforter in which case they can keep it with them until they are happy to put it on the side. we too have had to look for lost toys which have either been tidied away or have been left somewhere in the room, and sometimes we do n ot find them straight away because they have been pushed under cupboards by mistake whilst child was playing etc , and it makes it very hard for us as we spend time out of our very short lunch break doing this so we do prefer things are left at home or put on the side x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lashes2508 Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 the children previuosly put them in to named pouches , we have now made a show and tell table with a lovely cloth with lettering that member of staff made, we do show and tell at end and encourage children to bring in items that relate to topic , some do some don't , as a rule we ask children to respect others things and to leave on table for all to look at until show and tell time which is done at end of session. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 I think its good to encourage a link between home and the setting, we have our own 'transporting bags' for this purpose to ease the transition between home and the setting - a drawstring bag that's hung on the child's peg in our corportate colour and logo. Children bring in toys or comforters. We encourage children once they've shown their friends their toy to put it in their drawer or their bag for safekeeping. Comforters stay until the child does not need it anymore, and this is done gradually from having the teddy or cloth sitting next to them, to watching from a nearby vantage point etc. We have had one crisis recently where two children had the same comforter, and the wrong one got taken home - twice! But these incidents are few and far between. Generally the items are small treasures, like a fossil, a car or a power ranger as well as favourite teddies etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 we actively encourage children to bring something from home, it goes into a special box until showing time. They quickly learn to only bring in one thing and if they happen to bring more than one, well they choose which will be shown. I love the process of children learning to share something personal to them and seeing them allow other children to look at it. Sometimes they play with the item (eg if it is a game) at small group time but other than that even the 2 year olds know it stays in the box. Same as that really except that ours go on the 'show and tell' table - they all seem to just accept that's where they will stay! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristina Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 We have a box as the children come in, they can either leave it in the box or it is taken home by whoever brought them in that day. Kris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest terrydoo73 Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 We have it in our policy that children do not bring in their own toys to playgroup citing the fact that it leads to difficulties in terms of sharing, getting broken or child gets totally distracted by their own toy and refuses to play with what is on offer. We have maintained this policy throughout the year we have been in operation, it has led to some difficulties as one little boy got wise to the fact that if he brought in a book he would get our undivided attention for the first 5 minutes but it also had the advantage that he left mummys side which was a problem for him in the early days. We did have a toy broken one day and the little boy learned not to bring it any more toys. We have also had a child bringing in a penny and lost it in the sand - what a difficulty to find that that day! We had 2 children who stayed with us for the month of September and then left mid October. We were told they joined another free paying playgroup 2 miles away and the parent boasted to her friends that her child was allowed to bring his toys into playgroup every day and he really enjoyed this as he got to play with them the whole time he was at playgroup! We picked up on this ourselves and now would promptly bring out a toy that we think a child has been talking about during circle time thereby following through on a childs interest! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Hi, we have a 'treasure basket' where the children can put their special things in while they are at nursery. They do have access to them and do have to share if they take them out of the box. But others cannot take the special things out of the basket. To be honest their happy knowing there their and dont get them much. and its easy to find them at the end of the session. Petunia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daisydorageorge Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 Many thanks for your replies. I will try the 'put it in a special box' route I think and see how I get along for a few weeks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachelllps Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 We positively encourage children to bring in something to do with our theme or to do with their personal interest. It stays in their bag or is put on our show and tell table to share with others. The children decided that they would like each other to share toys and show them to each other so we made this into one of our "golden rules". All the children know and frequently remind us that we need to share and if children have difficulty then we use a timer or put the item on a high shelf until show and tell time or the child decides they would like to share it after all! We find this works really well, the children enjoy sharing their toys, talking about them and bringing something from home. In fact just this week, one child who generally finds it difficult to share and will often take away a toy brought in by another child, brought in an extra special toy, the only thing they asked for for Christmas, and spent the session letting everyone have a go and showing them how to use it when they got stuck. She got a sticker for lovely sharing and helping and looked really pleased with herself, her Mum was pleased too. Rachel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beau Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Like others we had a box which the children placed any toys they bought with them and the toys stayed there until home time. Very occasionally we found a child who kept going back to the box (either for their own toy, or someone elses that had caught their eye) but all staff dealt with this consistently and it was never an issue for long. We did do show and tell on a Friday but dropped this after a time. Unfortunately we found some children never had anything to show because their parents either always forgot or couldn't be bothered. We would ask them if they wanted to pick a favourite toy from the setting to show but this didn't always work out. After a time it became very repetitive as well and I decided that there were probably other things of more value we could spend that time on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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