Toys, Toys, Toys

[Msdunny]

I have officially been open for a year! (Cue the applause!! happyface)

I have a new child beginning in January and I am planning on taking her payment for the month, which has not been added to our budget yet, and buy new toys and furniture for the playroom.

What are your 'must haves'. I know at this point what isn't working any longer, so I will be weeding those toys out over our Christmas break. My playroom is in my dining room (no dining table), so the space isn't huge, but works for my little group of 4.

Thanks in advance for the help!

[MamaBearCanada]

Congrats!!!

Cars and trucks
Baby doll & small blanket
Kitchen & play dishes (food too but isn't necessary)
Wood blocks
Balls
Mega blocks
Instruments
Dress up - or at least some accessories
Little People

Craft supplies
Touch & feel books are really popular here but books in general
Tunnel
We have 2 bean bags the kids really like to use. They read in them but also use them as pretend nests, ships, cribs etc.

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

My group loves Duplos. I had a friend give me a bunch (She had animals and pooh!) and that combined with mine gave me a large tub full. They love them.

Pom poms. They play with the large ones! I kid you not. If they have a pom pom they are happy campers!

Puzzles -I know other's think they are a pain but they get played with daily here.

Trying to think of some of the not so obvious things

Little people get a lot of play
cars/ trucks/ tractors

[thetoddlerwhisper]

toy cell phone. i have an old wipe container with fabric squares that they love to pullout and put back in they also get used as baby hats and blankets. large jingle bells on pipe cleaners. dinosaurs

[melilley]

Yes you have to have Duplos!

Vehicles
A kitchen set with food and dishes
Mr. or Mrs. Potato head-my kids love this!
Reading couch
Sensory table-another favorite
Dress up anything
Play houses-like the one's for the little people. I have a batman one that the kids love-my daughter bought it a couple of years ago and donated it to the dc kids...
Baby dolls and accessories-my kids love the stroller

Just a few ideas.

[melilley]

toy cell phone. i have an old wipe container with fabric squares that they love to pullout and put back in they also get used as baby hats and blankets. large jingle bells on pipe cleaners. dinosaurs

Yes toy phones!

[DaycareMom]

Pom poms. They play with the large ones! I kid you not. If they have a pom pom they are happy campers!

What do you do with pom poms?

[harperluu]

The thing my group plays with the most is waffle blocks, duplos and wooden cutting food. Also a few basic bead tracks, I have a few of varying sizes.

As far as the duplos go, invest in a set with different pieces. For instance, we have an airplane set that has some pulleys and trucks, suitcases and passenger seats. I also have an old house set with furniture, and some of the more recent princess sets. These "sets" mixed in with some basic duplo building blocks offer the most creativity.

Also think about getting items that you can mix with other toys to vary play options. For instance, I might mix wooden blocks with cars, plastic animals or dinosaurs.

Finally, I purchased some individual sized white boards and a big container of dry erase markers from lakeshore learning. The older preschoolers love them. They have a writing surface on each side, one is plain and the other looks like kindergarten writing paper.

[daycarediva]

My group doesn't like duplos or mega blocks AT ALL. Crazy bunch.

We love-
wooden blocks
trio blocks
waffle blocks
tube 'blocks' (no idea what they are called, they look like marble run pieces)
real legos (at the table only)

trains! I have 8 bins of train pieces (wooden and geo trax) and they are sometimes ALL being used. Crazy!

Cars and car runs. I got creative and made roads out of blue jean scraps and Velcro. They LOVE LOVE LOVE these.

Kitchen set and food. Food IS optional, I have a very limited amount and my group subs their imagination.

Baby dolls and accessories.

Puzzles. My group loves them and does well with them.


arts and crafts supplies of all sorts-the cupboard for this is NEVER closed.
playdoh
clay (yes the kind you can bake/set)
moon sand
cloud dough (homemade)

[Josiegirl]

Musical instruments and sensory bottles
chalkboard and flannelboard!
baby dolls and bottles, baby blankets.
I have a road rug the kids love to roll out and play with sometimes.
Pretty much everything everyone else has mentioned. I have a couple Elmo toys where Elmo talks and you put in different noses, mouths, etc. and he makes silly noises. The little ones love them(found them both at yard sales!)

Ooh I don't know what ages your kids are but some of my kids love Wedgits! I have a couple sets and wish I could get more but the kids get pretty creative with them.

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

Yes you have to have Duplos!

Vehicles
A kitchen set with food and dishes
Mr. or Mrs. Potato head-my kids love this!
Reading couch
Sensory table-another favorite
Dress up anything
Play houses-like the one's for the little people. I have a batman one that the kids love-my daughter bought it a couple of years ago and donated it to the dc kids...
Baby dolls and accessories-my kids love the stroller

Just a few ideas.

Yes Potato Heads!! I have 6! I pick up at consignment shop, yard sales etc
Phones, in all shapes and sizes!

[daycarediva]

I 2nd (3rd?) potato heads. I have two bins that are used daily!

[Msdunny]

Ooh I don't know what ages your kids are but some of my kids love Wedgits! I have a couple sets and wish I could get more but the kids get pretty creative with them.

My ages do make it a little difficult - I have a 1 yo, 2 yo, and 2 3 yo's.

[Msdunny]

And thanks for the ideas so far! I see the ideas in here, and then get to the store and remember nothing!

[dalman]

Thomas the trains, accessories and tracks along with floor train floor rugs. They will play with these for hours. We have two very large Rubbermaid storage containers full of all things Thomas. I picked a lot of it up at Once Upon a Child and at garage sales.

They love the Melissa and Doug Floor puzzles. I think we have all of them. We love all the Melissa and Doug products, from the wooden (paper) dolls, to the fishing puzzles, to the buildable train set.

Dress up costumes are always a hit. I try to buy these after Halloween for cheap.

They love the collapsible tents and then we use the tunnel tents to connect them together, creating a maze that they can crawl through and hang out in.

We have multiple Leap Frog leapsters with an assortment of preschool learning games. I also use the Leap Frog Tag Readers quite a bit.

Outside, they love chunky sidewalk chalk with the stencils. The love the big outdoor balls that we through while they are swinging and they try to kick the ball at the same time. The water table is always a big hit.

After almost thirty years, I think these are the tried and true toys. But every child is different.