There's a bin of toys in the corner that nobody has touched in months. Some of it got played with for five minutes and then never again, and all of it cost something.
There's more than one reason to clean out the kids' toys. Clutter is its own kind of noise, and clearing it out turns out to be good for your kid as well as for you.
Researchers at the University of Toledo found that four toys held a child's attention better than sixteen. They played longer, they played more inventively, and fewer toys out at a time is something occupational therapists now recommend to parents.
That's what swapping is for. Fill your prepaid swap bag with the toys they've stopped reaching for, send it back, and for each item we accept you earn a credit.
Credits are what you shop with here. You'll find wooden puzzles and shape sorters, blocks and magnetic tiles, stacking toys, pretend play and sorting games. The brands are ones you already know, like Melissa & Doug, Plan Toys, Hape, Grimm's, Magna-Tiles and Lovevery. The label isn't the point. A well made toy without a name on it can earn its place just as easily. There's only one of everything, so the closet keeps rotating.
Every toy is inspected by hand and measured against The Closet Standard before it gets here. It has to be wipeable or washable, small enough for a shoe box and under three pounds, and we check it against CPSC recall notices before it goes in the closet. Nothing that lights up, beeps or needs an app, no licensed characters and no plush. If we wouldn't give it to our own kids, we don't accept it.
Round trip shipping is covered, and you don't pay anything until your first credit lands in your credit bank.