Pours Everything Out...

Children go through a developmental stage of in and out play. They love to put things into containers and to dump them out. I suggest over-dramatizing how to play with what he is dumping out. "LOOK! I can build a car with these blocks. Zoom, zoom. This is fun! Want to try?" Then after you have sat with him for a while and he is definitely done playing with it, have him help clean it up. Praise him for being such a huge helper. You are helping him expand his attention span with toys and teaching him playing skills. (I know it sounds very basic, but I just wanted to remind you that you are doing what you need to do!) and have patience- this stage will end. There is a country song out right now that helps me deal with frustrations of my 2 young girls: Trace Adkins You're gonna miss this. Listen closely, it will make you smile even if you don't like country music. Good luck!

My kids all did that and until they were old enough to understand we have to pick up what we take out, so with my youngest child I started buying the little plastic containers and putting all the toys in them that way when they wanted a toy they had to ask me to open it first and then we would pick it up together before opening a new box. Works great and teaches them to pick up at the same time.

If the mess is too messy, try limiting the number of things he has access to and rotating them. One thing I learned from a friend and am doing now is to have a rubbermaid tub of field corn with little containers in it in the kitchen. This works instead of the sandbox in the winter. The corn isn't as much of a mess as sand would be in the house, and it occupies lots of toddler time!

You don't. He will outgrow it. Some phases you just have to let past. There is always something developemental that they are learning.

I hate to say it, but there's no way I can think of to get him to stop. A lot of behaviors at this age just seem to be best left alone or gently guided.

My daughter is around that age (16 months), and she has a great fascination with putting items into containers and taking them out. Sometimes she will sit for 15 minutes just putting the same items in and out of a container! I think behaviors like this are filling some sort of developmental need, and so I try not to stop her unless she's going to break something or hurt herself- and then I direct her to other toys that she can use to perform the same actions.

Get him some toys so he can pour and dump appropriately. Discovery Toys makes some great cups ("Measure Up Cups") that can be used for pouring and dumping water, sand or anything. They also nest and stack so he can knock down towers. How about putting him on the kitchen floor with some cups and a plastic tub of rice and he can pour and dump as much as he wants? Does he have a shape sorter where he can put items in a bucket and then dump them out? Stack up blocks or pegs and knock them down? I work in a church nursery and I am amazed at how toddlers never seem to tire of making towers and knocking them down again. We also have some "dumpers" too--it's the age! This too shall pass...

Hi S.~Do you have a sandbox? If you don't you should have one. That way he can 'empty' things out to his hearts content OUTSIDE without leaving a mess for Mom and Dad inside.
How does he get to the cereal? Things like FOODSTUFFS that he can 'empty out' should be higher than YOUR shoulders so he has no access to make these expensive messes for you.

It sounds like he should only have one 'emptying' toy at a time, too. He sounds good for the pickup-which is REALLY great, so only give him one 'emptying' toy at a time. Kids are great copycats, so just teach him and brother that they need to clean up current messes before accessing more toys. (I mean really, how many toys do they need on hand at one time?)

Remember-WE set the rules, they don't. Sounds like an enterprising little fellow who likes to watch things fall. I'd be curious to see what line of work his future holds. One of the builders and makers of skyscrapers, perhaps?
Enjoy the fact that the behavior won't last forever, and that he'll find something else to be curious about. They grow up so fast nowadays, so remember to have fun!

That's what he's supposed to do at 18 mos. Just scrape things to the side, watch your bare feet, and talk about what you're putting away, counting the pieces, talk about the colors, etc. He's right on! Enjoy him...he'll soon be on to other areas of development.

About me: Mother of 5 grown kids, grandmother of 9 (soon 10), with a master's degree in early childhood special education.

Don't! This is a developmental stage and he needs to go through it. There is a certain sensory satisfaction kids get from the feel and sound of this action. Put small toy sets out of reach, others in containers with snap lids to minimize messes during this time and take time to sit with him, making a game of putting things back in the container. I trained all my other children to take turns picking up after baby as part of their daily jobs, easing the workload on myself. As your child grows and you train him to take out one game at a time, this messy stage will subside. In the meantime, vigilance, not prohibition, is the key.

Homeschooling SAHM of seven (23yrs - 16mo.) so there are always toys out at our house!

Just help him pick it up. But at this age that is super fun, to pour things out. My daughter, also 18 months, loves to do it as well. You could put some things away for a while until this obsession goes away (it will) but just help him to know that if he dumps it, he should pick it up as well. It's a great age to teach them how to put their own toys away. Kids love order and control, so you help them to establish it now, it will help when they are older. Let him dump things. It's interesting to him how gravity works. Or maybe it's the noise that all the legos make as they fall onto the floor. Whatever it is, it's totally normal for his age. You could also show him how to pour toys into a different container. Give him cups in the bathtub to pour with. It's a fun game to be encouraged, just keep encouraging the picking up too! And don't worry, in a few months he'll stop being so fascinated with it. But then of course, it will be something else. :)

S.,

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is a normal stage of development and you don't want to stop him. He is studying the laws of physics and gravity at an 18 month old level and he needs to learn cause and effect. Be grateful he doesn't do this with food. If he does, the meal ends.

He won't do it forever, though. Just until he firmly understands what will happen every time. Then he will move onto something else.

S.

My kids are older now but I remember going through this as well.It frustrated me too because I was always the one who had to pick the mess up. At that time I had read that this is a normal part of childhood development. My daughter used to tear up napkins into pieces and put them in a cup and she would dump them out. "Discovery Toys" had created a toy that was specifically for the dump and fill play. Toddlers thrive with this type of chaos. Remember this too shall pass as many things do. In the meantime try to make it a fun game putting things back in the containers. As parents we have to let go of some the anal retentiveness (excuse the terminology) that we tend to have about having things in the right place. There is a time and place for that - when the kids are gone!!

Heh heh heh...you don't. Our 21 month old son still does the same thing. We have resorted to putting toys in smaller tubs that are see through with lids that he can't get off. When he wants to play with something he usually brings us the tub.....of course his older sister will open anything for him, but she was never this way. I think it's a boy thing (I've been saying that a lot lately) :)

Your child is discovering cause and effect. I have a home daycare so I know what it is like to step on everything. He is old enough to start learning to clean up. Most kids that age like to imitate and help out. It is the law of the toddler. If it is full, I must empty it. If it is open, I must close it.

You can't. It's what toddlers do. My 27 month old does this with everything. I just let him dump what he wants and the room has to be picked up before naps. Then he dumps everything again and he picks it up before bedtime.

My 18-month-old does the same thing. It's a normal phase of development and their isn't really anything you can do about it. After my daughter dumps something I say in a fun voice, "now let's pick it up!" I sing the clean-up song that I learned from Barney. She'll pick up one or two things and then move on and I have to pick up the rest. It's a constant clean-up after her but I know it's normal and I just have to deal with it.

Try clear containers, even for the cereal. That way he already knows what is inside and won't have to dump out the contents to satisfy his curiosity.

I don't know that you can get him to stop. My guess is that he's doing it because he likes to see the things dump out onto the floor and he likes the sound it makes. He'll stop... eventually. However, since he's a boy, it may take until he moves out in 18 years!

OOOOO, Miss S., I could tell the age of your child just by the activity!! It's just curiousity. My kids would sit with the diaper bag, empty out, then put back in, empty out, put back in. Your son will start putting back in soon. The trick that worked for me: 1. each afternoon, when I made dinner, I gathered a few toys he hadn't played with in a while - good to rotate toys too/ put them in a paper grocery bag and let him discover the suprises. He always loved it.
2. I set a beach towel folded over and laundry pan filled just a bit with water on the table or floor, and gave him measuring cups, spoons, tupperware, a funnel to pour water over and over and over. I did set the rule/reminder to keep it in the tub /practices coordination too/. Then when it gets boring for him add food color and teach colors, mixing colors, yellow and red make orange, let him mix the colors.
If toys are getting out of hand, try and make a fort area with pillows or blankets rolled up on the floor/ keep your toys in the blanket area... he may be too young for that.
Please be patient, this is such a typical thing for them to do at 18 months/ good luck and hang in there!
Susie S. Mom of two wild boys, 6,5 I am 42 yrs.

My 2 1/2 does the same. For your own survival, put some of it in storage. As in ... does he need all the Legos? Or can you hide half of them in the closet for 6 months. I've done this with the blocks and the crayons too. He's just as happy with 10 crayons as he is with 30. And it's much less hazardous for you.

Hi S.,

Put the boxes of cereal up high and help him pour into his bowl.

When getting toys out only get one set of toys out at a time and for example if he gets blocks out get some out for him and tell him to play with these parts of blocks first and set a timer and tell him when the time goes off then we will put these blocks that I have out for you away and we will get another small amout out. Just keep on doing this intill he is done playing with his blocks.

K.,
Preschool teacher

You can't. It's just part of learning. But, you can teach them how to pick up. We started our daughter on picking things up by racing. Of course, she always won, but..it kept her interested..because picking up isn't much fun.

This is a normal behavior--he's studying cause and effect. Congrats, by the way, on him hitting the "Little Scientist" stage early! You just need to be more active in cleaning up with him (you know the song, right?), and reminding him, "No, we clean up BEFORE we go to the next toy."

Hope this helps!

The only thing that will get the boy to stop? Time! Both of my boys did this, most noteably with movies/cds. They all had to come off the rack, repeatedly. Just part of their discovery process.

Good luck.