Must Have Toys

[LK5kids]

Great idea about setting a tub of toys in the center of the room to showcase it! I can see them anticipating the novelty of what will be in the center of the room each day upon arrival. I may start this in the fall and pull something from storage and put it away each day.

One other thing I have is two (yes, that's two!) happy Meal toys and for some reason they always have one in their hand or are using it some other way......must be the novelty??:confused:

[Blackcat31]

One other thing I have is two (yes, that's two!) happy Meal toys and for some reason they always have one in their hand or are using it some other way......must be the novelty??:confused:

I used to have the world's largest collection of McDonald's toys.

They were by far the MOST played with and coveted toys I had.

Every kid would race inside at drop off and dig through the toy boxes and find and hoard every one they could get their hands on.

They fought over them, they argued over them, they cried if they didn't get the one they wanted, they hid them, they hoarded them, they played for hours on end with them, they LOVED them!!

I threw them all away.

[Lefse&Kids]

I don't offer many options for toys, but that doesn't stop the kids from having endless imagination with them.

The more choices, the more you'll hear, "I'm BORED!"

I have found many a successes with.....

* Halloween costumes
* play silks
* silk squares (great for teaching them to juggle)
* 18" soft dolls (usually no outfits cuz they just take them off and never use them anyway)
* baby doll slings (I have a boy who likes to carry his cars in this...cute)
* wood train tracks that fit hotwheels too (I only allow hotwheel sized cars)
* a blow up bouncy horse (oh my, they LOVE this, I got it for Christmas, it's rocks back and forth or bounces like crazy up and down, can't remember what its called though)

For the younger crowd, I do.. (they play with the above items too)
* wood blocks
* board books
* large cloth balls
* phones
* cars that have the ball in the middle of it

Outside I have an open hard with water guns this year. I keep outside clean and clutter free. We do play a few ball games. I used to have toys out there, but they would just try and destroy the hoola hoops and plastic slides and bikes (I have a mostly boy crowd...what do they NOT want to destroy?) rather than constantly saying no during outside I cleaned out the yard and they are sooo happy chasing each other and bringing their pretend play outside. I love it and it seems they do to. They don't even ask for the other toys.

It also is a great on me too, because if I couldn't get them to clean up at the end of the day, I can easily put these into 1-3 bins and it doesn't look like a huge hogwash of different toys.

The silks, dolls, phones go together, cars/trains and tracks in one, costumes in the other bin.
The young room I sort the same way.

Forgot to add...FLASHLIGHTS!.... I bring them out about once a week and the kiddos love turning off the playroom lights and pretend playing (monsters, zombies, superheros & villians....yea I have boys...). It brings literally hours of playtime....

[GrannyJ]

Right now my dck's favorite play thing is red solo cups. I was going thru my cabinet and found a whole stack so I handed it to one dck and told him to go play with them. He looked at me like I was crazy! So I took the cups and built a tower then I got out the ping pong balls and we tossed them in the cups. Now it has become the favorite toy. I have bought more so now they all can have some and the imaginations go wild.

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

I used to have the world's largest collection of McDonald's toys.

They were by far the MOST played with and coveted toys I had.

Every kid would race inside at drop off and dig through the toy boxes and find and hoard every one they could get their hands on.

They fought over them, they argued over them, they cried if they didn't get the one they wanted, they hid them, they hoarded them, they played for hours on end with them, they LOVED them!!

I threw them all away.

me too!!!!

[Blackcat31]

Right now my dck's favorite play thing is red solo cups. I was going thru my cabinet and found a whole stack so I handed it to one dck and told him to go play with them. He looked at me like I was crazy! So I took the cups and built a tower then I got out the ping pong balls and we tossed them in the cups. Now it has become the favorite toy. I have bought more so now they all can have some and the imaginations go wild.

:: :: ::

A couple of my DC parent's would immediately think I was teaching their kid to play beer pong if I told them we did that... ::

[GrannyJ]

::Yes, I get that all the time. I have really cool parents so we can joke about it.

[Play Care]

I keep outside clean and clutter free. We do play a few ball games. I used to have toys out there, but they would just try and destroy the hoola hoops and plastic slides and bikes (I have a mostly boy crowd...what do they NOT want to destroy?) rather than constantly saying no during outside I cleaned out the yard and they are sooo happy chasing each other and bringing their pretend play outside. I love it and it seems they do to. They don't even ask for the other toys.

I recently cleaned out my outside toy bin. I don't like "little" toys outside at all with my group. I LOVE my big, sturdy play sets (I have a big Rainbow one and a really hardy Little Tike one) that can take a beating. But all the bug catchers, baseballs bats, hoola hoops, toy cars, etc went buh-bye!

[Scout]

I have been finding this more and more. I once had a 6 year old that could not play. He kept asking to see my cell phone and was befuddled when I said I didn't have one. I gave him crayons and paper and he made a cell phone to play with.
Yesterday, my one now that has a hard time playing, had a block in her hand and was pointing it at several stacked blocks (the tv) and the block in her hand was the control for a video game. She was playing a video game. She is my one that watches tv in her bedroom every night etc.

In answer to the question, I don't think there are any "magic toys". I personally stay away from any character toys. Open ended, multipurpose toys. I limit and rotate. If they aren't playing well I know it is time to switch. My best "toy" is outside. They behave and play so much better out in the yard and honestly, there isn't a lot out there! Space to run, things to climb, balls to kick.
I do think in the electronic age, it is harder to engage some children.

I have found this to be true as well. Now if the weather would just cooperate...

[cheerfuldom]

one thing that really got the kids attention recently is our marble run

I also do not do character toys or battery operated toys or TV in the playroom. We play music though and the kids love to dance on their own. My playroom is very minimal, lots of space to play on the floor!

[Laurel]

I have a huge basket of non-working cell phones...the kids love them!

I recently purchased an old rotary style phone. The desk top kind... like this:



The very first day I put it out for the kids to use....almost all of them looked like this :confused: :confused:

One little guy (age 4) said "Um, I think this is broken."

I said "Why, what makes you think that?"

He said "It doesn't do anything"

I said/did: :: :: :: and a little bit of

Haha, that reminds me of a 4 year old I had for a little while. He wasn't with me as a baby. I forget what toy he picked up but he said "This thing doesn't work. Maybe it needs a new battery." I said that it doesn't use batteries. You just have to pretend. He didn't get it. ::

Laurel

[LK5kids]

I used to have the world's largest collection of McDonald's toys.

They were by far the MOST played with and coveted toys I had.

Every kid would race inside at drop off and dig through the toy boxes and find and hoard every one they could get their hands on.

They fought over them, they argued over them, they cried if they didn't get the one they wanted, they hid them, they hoarded them, they played for hours on end with them, they LOVED them!!

I threw them all away.

Oh, they actually liked them even if there were loads of them? ......I may start to collect them and take a walk on the dark side!

[Blackcat31]

Oh, they actually liked them even if there were loads of them? ......I may start to collect them and take a walk on the dark side!

Tread carefully my friend.... it could be dangerous. ::

Yeah, they are crazy popular toys for some reason but I just can't go there.....I despise character toys and McDonalds.