Rotating Books - The How & Why

​Toy Rotations are all the rage. It’s so smart though right. Pop a few toys away, and after your little babes lose interest, bring a few out and tuck away the others. There is significant research that shows children do better with less. Not only does it decrease clutter, make clean up easier and save you money, it can foster creativity and increase the amount of time your little babe likes to play. 
    So what about your books? It works with some of the same principles! We’ve all been there, you’ve told your little to grab a book off their shelf, and they stand there humming and hawing because they have too many options. Keeping a simple shelf of a few books helps eliminate the stress (and time) it takes them to make a choice. Highlighting a few key favourites at a time, increases the likeness that reading is enjoyable and less like a daunting task. 
    When move books around our house, or choose some new ones from our hidden away pile, all of a sudden the stories have found new excitement. An old favourite reappears, a new story becomes a top interest pick, and excitement has been generated. The best part? You can easily see what books they are enjoying and what books they are avoiding. So get curious, what is it about certain books that steer them away? What is it about the books they love that grabs their attention? This can help you make informed choices when purchasing or borrowing books from the library. Amazing right? 

    So how do you actually rotate it? Here’s a few key tips!

• You can rotate your books weekly, monthly or seasonally for example. We both notice that usually around the month mark is a good time to make a couple key changes if we don’t plan to do a full book swap. 
• Use both forward facing book shelves or baskets in a couple different spots around the house. After some time, move the books from one room to the other. Sometimes all it takes is a new location and the books feel some more love. 
• Keep it simple, as we mentioned, too much choice makes it tough for little ones to confidently make a selection. 
• Do they always need to be a cohesive theme? Not always. Sometimes it can be helpful, but you can also choose based on a favourite author or illustrator, a season (think Halloween or Winter), a social emotional theme that has been coming up at home, when a trip or big change is happening (Hello Potty Training books!). At times I pick based on the colours of the books.

Let us know in the comments any tips or tricks you have for storing or rotating your book collection!