I am learning to select and manage materials in my home, for multi ages. I know they must be safe, be interesting, and work for multi-age groups. I can find things in my home for ex. recyclable bottles, food coloring for water, and some sand to make interesting fill and pour bottles for different ages. I can drill holes in cups that I don’t want to keep so they can drip and pour liquid with these. I’ve learned that it is good to buy quality items as they will hold up longer due to the wear and tear of constant use by the children, but it is not necessary to do this for all toys. I need to remember that less is more, to rotate toys in and out, and always even a new toy needs to be cleaned before using. Traditional toys is what children need to play with: blocks, balls, puzzles, books, dolls, etc. We need to keep things “decluttered and picked up”. It is more important for the children to have friends to play with than more toys to play with. The meaningful relationships with social emotional growth is important. I do have handouts that I printed that tell me exactly what is good for each age of development for birth to school age.