4-Yr Old "Smuggling" Toys to School

What about a temporary tattoo? Novel, it will stay on him, and it won't interfere with the teacher's rules about not bringing toys.

When I am teaching (and I have the same rule), the kids know that if they bring a toy, I keep it until they are picked up and then hand it to the parent. They may or may not have been 'in on' the toys in the backpack. And really-- I don't know about the toys unless the kids take them out. I've had a few parents not support the no-toys rule (which we have for very good reasons) and then I was clear at drop-off that they needed to take those items home. I think the tattoo wouldn't be the same sort of distraction that a toy would be.

My 4 year old smuggles toys as well.

We are going to try something new: Have a special box/shelf/bag by the front door. My son will need to empty his pockets/socks/etc before leaving the house - putting his toy in the box. If he does that, with no argument, there will be a "treat" in the box when he comes home.

The treat will be some little snack - a fruit roll up or a little package of animal crackers or something. He LOVES snacks. Every day, something different and so a surprise.

ETA: Ha ha ha.. When my son brings a toy to daycare, he normally loses it because, for some reason, he invariably throws it over the fence at recess.

Its a phase.
Both my kids went through that too.
Its kind of endearing.
But sure, they may lose a toy.
Life lesson.
It never bothered me.
Lots of kids... are similar.

My son is 5, and he has lots of things in his bed to sleep with too. Same for my daughter.
It is just childhood.

But for my son, he is good about keeping track of his things, if he takes it out of the house.
We always, count the number of toys he is taking out of the house, we put it in a little bag or basket... and he slings it on his shoulders to carry.
Much easier that way.
And because we COUNT the number of toys he is transporting... we never lose any.

I would say the teacher needs to address this issue and you need to let her. She has no authority in her class room right now. There is probably a policy that kids cannot bring their own toys to school. But you have told him he can. You are trying to do her job. Let her handle what he does at school. The consequences weigh more when they happen by the right person at the right time. Which in this case is as soon as the teacher sees him with a toy from home. It needs to go in a time out box that he does not get back for at least the rest of the week, maybe a bit longer than that. SO he will really really miss them at home.

It's her job to do this and be his authority figure at school so let her do it.

my son is 5 and he did the same thing. It use to be just bring a toy on show and tell day, however, then he had meltdowns cause other kids brought toys and he couldn't. We went through the phase of him hiding things, etc, so we talked to the teacher, the kids have free play in the mornings before 9 when the cirriculum starts and after 3:30, so it was determined that kids can bring their toy(s) during free play, but they have to go back to their cubby/backpack. Most of the kids are really good about that. If he goes a day where he "forgets" a toy... we will end up with a rock or huge wood chip, feather, whatever - that he finds that may be "cool" to show his friends. He has become very good at keeping his toys accounted for - however - he's not allowed to bring anything big, so it's usually a couple cars, action figurine type things, sometimes a mask and shield. If for some reason we can't find the toy that night when we leave - it's always found the next day.

My 10 year old son has been doing this for several years now. We have to pat him down every morning before school. He's tried smuggling things in his back back, pockets, lunch bag, etc. Once he even had coins in his mouth. Winters are really tough because winter jackets have so many hiding spots. I wish I had the answer, but all I guess I really have for you is some 'comfort' knowing this is pretty common.

Maybe get one of the mini-sized matchbox cars and put it on a cord that he can wear around his neck? Get a pack of 3-5, put them all on different color cords, let him pick which one he wants each day. Maybe that would get him through the phase :)
I have a 4.5 yr old who loves his "guys"- any 2" high figure like Super Hero Squad, Imaginext guys, army men, etc. He goes through weeks of wanting to bring 1 or more with him everywhere. DH convinced him that they should stay in the car to protect the car from getting stolen while we are in a store, restaurant, etc. :)

I always tell my kids that when you put stuff in pockets, esp. stuff that the store we are going in to sells, then the security guard is going to think you are trying to steal it and you'll get in trouble. He will take the toy/blanket/etc. away and you won't get it back because I can't prove that we bought it.

Can you buy him a "matchbox" brand watch?