Tips for Toy Sharing at Playdates

Sharing toys is never easy for young children whether they have to share with siblings or friends. Playdates are a great place for children to learn and have the opportunity to share toys with friends and a great place for you to teach them how to do it. If you have ever had a playdate with your child’s friend and it ends up in a fighting match, then here are some tips for toy sharing at playdates.

Tip #1: Put favorite toys away

Just about every kid out there has that one favorite toy that if ever asked to share they wouldn’t dream of letting it go. Whatever the toy is do yourself and your child a huge favor and just put it away. Favorite toys always cause problems when you have someone over for a playdate, so it’s best just to put them away before the problem starts. It’s also a good idea to talk with the other parent and tell them to do the same thing or suggest that they not bring their favorite toy with them to play.

Tip #2: Pre-playdate discussions

It’s always a good idea to sit down and talk things over with your child before the playdate happens. Especially when it comes to sharing toys, books, crayons, and everything else in the house; it can be less frustrating and stressful on both of you if you can go over some ground rules before their friend comes over. Talk about what kinds of things you think their guest might like to play with, or what kinds of books or pictures they like to color. Then go ahead and have them take those things out so that when the guest arrives they will immediately have something to do. Talk about what will happen when their guest wants to play with something that they’re already playing with. Discuss some possible solutions to the predicament so that when it inevitably happens they will know what to do and how to react to the situation. Many fights erupt because one or both children don’t know how to react calmly to the situation.

Tip #3: Model appropriate behavior

Teach your child the importance of sharing toys.

Older children may not need as much of your time helping them share their things but with toddlers and young children they will need to see what appropriate behavior looks like. If you hear a fight breaking out, give it a minute to see if they will be able to work things out. If it looks like things aren’t turning around then you will have to go over and show them how to share the toy or they won’t be able to play with it anymore.

Tip #4: Prepare some extra activities

While this is a good idea to do anyway, they can come in extremely handy when children begin to fight over toys. It’s always nice to have a change of pace for a while so that’s why extra activities work great. Things like reading books together, playing with play dough or some type of kinesthetic activity or water painting, and one of the best activities for young children is sand and water. Kids will come up with a million things to do with sand and water, or even just water. It doesn’t matter what you decide to prepare, just as long as you have some extra fall back activities to change things up a little.

Playdates can be a lot of fun if everyone knows the rules and practices sharing toys with others. Hopefully these tips for toy sharing at playdates is helpful to you as you get ready to grow and learn with your child.