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Let's have a list of Best/Toys games you've ever bought too!


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Without a doubt, the best toy was/is wood unit blocks from Barclay Blocks. They are hard maple, very heavy -- so they stand up even on thick rugs. My older kids still play with them on a daily basis, and for younger kids, heavy blocks help develop muscles later needed for handwriting.

 

http://www.barclaywoods.com/

 

These are expensive to buy, but, if you calculate toy cost on an hours-of-play basis, they are well worth the cost. I am a bit of a cheapskate about toys, but I have never regretted getting these!

 

We also like Lakeshore's block people and Kapla/Keva blocks.

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There are many, b/c kids do need to develop their bodies and brains as they go through the ages and stages:

Lego, blocks

Sandbox, stilts, swingset, chalk, balls and sports equipment

Rideons...hoppity ball, fred flintstone type cars, trike, bike

deck of cards

dress up clothes and props for imaginary play

blocks, vehicles, gi joe, stuffed animals

craft supplies

wooden trains,marbles,paper airplanes

software for writing and illustrating stories

PC games: zoombinis, pit droids, freddie fish, pajama sam

snap circuits

board/card games: chess, checkers,mille borne, mancala, guess who, clue, pandemic, fluxx, amazing labyrinth, apples to apples, tiki-topple, alien hotshots,life,...

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Lego's

Playmobil

Chest with dress-up clothes of all sorts

Barbie dolls

Doctors kit and soft toys to play vet

Breyer horses for my horse-crazy dd (we have Stablemates)

Wii

 

Art and craft supplies (not really toys, but my kids have hours of fun painting, drawing and modelling). They make animals from crazy clay and then make elaborate structures for the animals to live in.

 

ETA: For outside we have a swing set, bikes and in the summer our swimming pool is used daily.

Edited by Hannah
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Ok, just a disclaimer; dh and I did NOT buy all these for the kids; we have indulgent family. Too indulgent, IMO.

 

Wii - They like Mario games, Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Wii Music, Cooking Mama, Animal Crossing, and we just got the Wii Sports Resort with the Wii Motion Plus.

Ds/Dsi - Mario Games, Big Brain Academy. I don't know much about what Dss has on his Dsi, that's dh's area of expertise.

Leapster - Moose and Zee like Diego, Sonic, and Thomas the Tank.

Leapfrog DVD's - Zee liked these, but Moose doesn't watch them much.

Leapfrog ABC talking magnet thingy (what IS that called?!)

Puzzles; Moose loves them

art supplies - All of them. Really, anything that could potentially make a mess, LOL.

Books. Zee would read all day if he could. :D The I Spy and Look Alikes books are great hits for both the boys.

Scooters, skateboards, bikes, helmets!, hula hoop, sidewalk chalk, slingshot (under strict supervision, of course), balls

Apparently old boxes of any kind are a big hit; they 'recycle' them into all sorts of things

Jumpstart First grade (you know, if we could have kept it installed on our computer. It kept making us crash! Anyone want a copy of Jumpstart First Grade?)

Kid's Pix and I Spy for the computer

Legos

those giant oversized building blocks

Matchbox cars, or pretty much anything with four wheels

digital cameras; dss and dss have 'real' ones, Zee has one of those kiddie ones that looks kinda like a viewfinder

a step stool. According to Zee, he 'needs it to reach things'.

Dss loves 'magic tricks' (we prefer to call them 'illusions', LOL)

maps (free) and an atlas from the dollar store. Zee is obsessed with maps.

musical instruments. Dss plays trombone, dsd plays flute and guitar (electric and acoustic).

Oh! Zee and Moose love to play the keyboard. We actually have three in the house right now, for some reason.

A plastic tool box full of toy tools. I think Zee is about ready to graduate to 'real' tools, though.

Scrambled States of America, Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, Mancala, Chess, Hi Ho Cherry-O, Uno, Battleship

 

Wow we have a lot of toys. Anyone think there's any chance I can convice my family to NOT buy any more for the kids this Christmas? Yeah, I don't either.

Edited by bethanyniez
thought of more
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K'nex, K'nex, and then again, K'nex! I can't believe no one has said K'nex! We love these things much more then legos. My kids never played with their legos even though we had plenty. Don't know why. But we sure use the K'nex. My DD8 and her dad built an entire functioning amusement park last winter. They are the perfect thing to do on a cold, rainy weekend. You can build vehicles of all kinds with motors. The ones we have now are at least 13 years old and have been through four kids. I'm saving them for my grandkids. Here are just a few of the things my DD and her dad have made.

 

http://harmonpfarms.blogspot.com/2008/02/winter-fun.html

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Toys:

-Lots of dress up

-Sturdy wood kitchen, food and accessories

-Wood train set (Thomas engines and generic track online)

-Playmobil

-Lincoln Logs

-Wood tinker toys (sometimes Sam's has big sets at Christmas)

-Plastic army men - huge amount and tons of variety

-American Girl collection Bitty Baby and history dolls for daughter

-Sweet Streets small dollhouse sets for younger daughters

-many assorted large metal trucks and emergency vehicles for special needs 11yo son

-hot wheels/matchbox cars - big box with a rug and a couple playsets

 

Building:

-Maple unit blocks

-Zoobs - huge set

-general Lego box (we don't enjoy sets and too expensive for us to collect)

-Erector sets

-Knex - my son's favorite, lots of this and more to come with physics next yr!

-Duplo for younger/and special needs (We have a great Thomas set too!)

-Wedgits - big set with idea cards

 

Games:

*nice wooden box sets from Target-

Stratego

Monopoly

Risk

Scrabble

etc.

*from Rainbow-

Blokus

Made for Trade

and I want a few more from Rainbow this year!

*Leapster and many cartridges for special needs 11yo son

*lots of software/ educational and sports themed for special needs 11yo son

 

 

We keep these in a storage toy closet in boxes. I won't get rid of any of this and we will pass them down someday.

 

Future purchases when we study Chemistry/Physics next year -

Rokenbok

Chemistry/Physics sets

More erector

More Knex

Snap Circuits

Edited by LNC
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Thomas trains and train table

Duplos

Puzzles

Webkinz

Dolls and stuffed animals

Transformers

Zoo Tycoon for PC

Wii games (Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, My Sims, Link's Crossbow Training, etc.)

MP3 Players

Gameboy Advance

Leapster

Basketball and hoop, and soccer balls

Razor Scooters

Board games (Mancala, Jenga, etc) ... we are getting several new ones for Christmas here including Blokus, No Stress Chess, Rush Hour, Monopoly (Disney Pixar edition), and a couple Thomas the Train games.

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My boys are only interested in little action figures, so many of their other toys have been played with infrequently, or re-purposed to work with the action figures.

 

Some good games have been:

 

Uno

Clue Jr.

Monopoly Jr.

 

The Easter Bunny gave them both Star Wars booklets that had punch out trading cards in them, and they play with these cards EVERY SINGLE DAY!

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