Putting away toys

DS is 3 1/2 and will take out all his toys in a split second but it takes a battle to put them away. I started to put toys away, but no matter how many toys I put away or hide he will still take out all his toys and refuse to put them away. I dont want to remove all his toys but this is becoming a mission. Any tips or advice?

Re: Putting away toys

DS is the same way. We now take out a few toys at a time. We do puzzles then puzzles is all we play with or blocks, etc
If he wants to play cars then puzzles have to get put away. We have a toy "time out" area, which is really the baby's PnP. Lol
If he doesn't put it away then it goes in there till he learns to put them away. Is it always this easy? No
Especially when we have a playdate. Then all toys all over, but the parents are usually really good with helping put it away. Either that or I do it at night.
Now my 18 month old is too young to understand so he can cause a mess. Lol

Re: Putting away toys

At that age they are MORE than capable of cleaning up after themselves. I got to a point with my DD where I was sick of her never putting anything away. (I can't stand a messy, cluttered house so it was especially irritating) I don't mind HELPING her but I refused to do it ALL for her. So DH and I told her, she either cleans up herself or helps us clean up and if she refuses, she loses that toy. Done. Only took a few times of losing her toy for hours/days before she got the message.

She's 4 and still hates cleaning, I think every kid does, but she knows we're not messing around. All I have to say is, "If I clean it, you lose it" and she is off and cleaning. You just have to stay on top of them, I think their natural tendency is to just be lazy and if they know you'll ALWAYS clean up for them, they will never learn to do it themselves. Make a consequence for not cleaning up and stick with it.

Good luck!