Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Works For Me Wednesday -- Good Toy Edition

This is my list of toys that we love to play with, for Works for Me Wednesday over at Rocks In My Dryer -- a helpful mom blog . She is compiling lists of toys kids actually enjoy, so we can all be smart this Christmas.

I have two boys, four and almost two. These are the things they play with almost every day:

Dress up clothes: For my older son's 3rd birthday, I went to Value Village and bought a bunch of hats, jackets and scarves. I added some construction hats and firemen hats and presto: the best toy ever. It is rare to see my children without a strange hat, shoes or coat on.

Imaginext Castle Set: I don't think this is on the market any more, but you can get it on ebay now and then. Even though it is really a litte on the old side for them, we set it up every day.

Playdoh: We make our own and have added rolling pins, cookie cutters and Matchbox construction vehicles to it. We spend about an hour a day in winter playing with this.

Playmobil Junior: We have some of the vehicles and people from the Playmobil 1 1/2 - 3 line and they go everywhere with us. We have the race car, the motorcycle and the boat. I got a little dump truck with matching garage, but the back of the truck comes off too easily, as does the door of the garage, so it doesn't get played with.

Play tools: we have several sets of pretend tools, both wood and plastic. These work best if they come with a tool box or belt so they can be dragged around the house. My sons love these, but I found that the little peg benches to bang on are never used - my sons prefer to bang on wood blocks or the furniture. You do need to set limits on what they can hammer on, however. Also, be careful of hammers with painted ends -- they will mark your walls and furniture.

2 comments:

Jenni said...

my sons are 2 an d8, and one of their favorite things is beanbags--they get into grand battles with them. We have about two dozen little beanbags and man, those get thrown all over the place!

Jilly said...

My 2 yr old is in that throw everything everywhere stage. I was just thinking tonight that I need to make him a ton more beanbags. Good idea.