Even if your kids get everything on their list for Christmas or their birthday, after a few days or weeks, they often get bored with what they have gotten and are already asking for more.

How do you keep your kids interested in their toys?

Unless you have a child that is obsessed with a certain type of toy, like Thomas the Tank Engine trains, Lego or Barbie dolls, this can be a big problem, as new and expensive toys sit unused and the kids begin nagging you for new toys.

After the initial excitement of opening a new present and building it or setting it up, why do kids, especially preschool and younger school age kids, lose interest so quickly?

Part of the problem is that it is hard for these toys to live up to the expectations that they produce from their commercials on TV, which are often displayed in life-like settings, instead of on the floor of your kids' playroom, without the mountains, water or other special effects that are added in and make the toy look even more fun.

Sparking Your Child's Imagination

Another problem is that many toys, unless your kids are sitting playing video games, require a child's imagination to keep them fun. So while it may be easy to follow the instructions and build an Imaginex Castle or a Lego Star Wars set, after it is built, if your kids don't use their imagination and actually 'play' with it, they aren't going to have much fun.

And since it can be a little overwhelming for younger kids to look at a box of Lego, Imaginex, or Thomas trains, and know what to do, you might help get them started and spark their imagination a bit.

• So if you have a lot of Lego, you might suggest trying to build a zoo and some animals, or a small city, or some cars that you can race.
  
  
• With Imaginex, you could each build a castle and then set up a battle scene.
  
  
• If you have a Rescue Heroes Command Center, you could bury another action figure under some couch cushions or pillows and set up a rescue.
  
  

In any of these situations, it would be great if you could sit and play with your kids, but if you are trying to get them to learn to play by themselves, you could just get them started and come back every once in a while to keep them going.

You could also set up little tasks or projects for your kids, like seeing if they can build a train that goes all around their train table, or a two story castle, or a big house with all of their Lego blocks.

Rotating Your Kids' Toys

How often do you take out a toy that your kids haven't played with for years and tried to give it to a younger sibling or family friend, and then all of a sudden it is their favorite toy again? This is because after taking a break from playing with a toy for a while, these 'new' toys can be fun again.

Although parents often use this technique to keep the house of playroom neat and clean, putting away some of their toys and then rotating them every few weeks or months can help to make the toys seem new.

So after a few weeks of playing with all of their new toys, you might put half of them away and then when your kids seem to be getting bored with their toys, rotate the ones they have been playing with and the ones you put away.

A neat twist on this method, is to rotate or trade toys with friends or neighbors.

A playdate with a new friend can also get your kids interested in their toys again. It is amazing how quickly kids like their toys again once they see other kids playing with them.

Unwanted Toys

Since they likely aren't going to make their way to the Island of Misfit Toys, what do you do with the toys that your kids really have outgrown and don't want anymore?

If you have younger kids too, you might just save them as hand me downs, since most toys, like Lego and Hotwheels, seem to be popular for years and years.

Another solution is to simply sell them.

While that usually meant a garage sale and a lot of hassle, now you can sell them easily in an online auction, like on ebay.