If you could do it over again....what toys would you have bought/not bought?

[Tap]

There have been a lot of threads lately of purging kids spaces.

 

My 3yo is very picky about toys and it makes it easy to purge her things. She likes very few things and those are usually wooden, heavy toys.

 

It makes me think back to dd11 and ds15 and the toys that have came through our home.

 

Some things I don't regret...

 

Brio wooden trains (bought back when Brio and TTTE were the only brands)

Lego's

Two identical dolls for dd11 that fit preemie baby clothes (Chou Chou dolls). I could buy the preemie outfits cheap at 2nd hand stores instead of doll clothes. These out fits are still in great shape after many years and were available equally in boy/girl. The two dolls could share everything, so there weren't multiples of everything.

Doll stroller that folds up.

Books :D

Appropriate and thoughtfully chosen video games

Hot Wheels.

A huge bucket of beads, with all sizes shapes, letters etc. No limits for creativity or friends taking their projects home.

A huge bucket of construction paper and nec supplies to go with it (scissors, glue etc)

Doll house (dd11s was plastic, dd3's is wood-I wish we would have started with wood but dd11 liked the details on the plastic)

Bikes/balls/scooters/plasma cars/traffic cones/flags (flag football type games).

 

 

I am sure there are more but these were the ones that really got used when they were younger.

[fairfarmhand]

I would NEVER have bought the corn popper.

 

Our church nursery has like 4 of them. All donated in mint condition obviously by parents that found the things driving them INSANE!

[SailorMom]

LOL - I hated the corn-popper thing! Also - See-n-Say's,,, they drive me bonkers.

 

The toy that I think is the longest lasting that I don't think any parent should do without would be Stacking Cups. Plain jane plastic stacking cups. They are GOLDEN!

 

We never were able to afford Brio, I do wish we had invested in those.

[fivetails]

The most awesome toys that have ever found their way into our house are Bop-Its! :D

 

Our ds11 has a lot of challenges, one of which is being completely blind. There are not very many electronic toys out there that he can use - but these, the Bop-It games, are playable just as well by a blind individual as they are by a sighted individual. (You don't really need to SEE them.. just know where all the knobs are)

 

He has the Original, the Extreme, and the new 'Shout it' version. (That article isn't updated with a pic - the Shout It looks like this ) He used to have the Extreme 2, but wore it out - actually, he wore it out beyond just "worn out", because the first time one of my cousins took it apart and did some 'repairs' inside so it would live a little longer, then he wore it out again.. for good.

 

These games.. it's hard to explain how special they are to him, and it's impossible to explain how amazing it is to watch him play them. This is a kid with developmental delays, autism, and bunch of other issues added to his lack of sight - and he can kick anyone's tail at these games. :w00t:

 

He just *loves* them ~ and he can do some pretty wild stuff with them.. ask him to get a specific score and he will. (This means that he's paying attention to the shouted instructions, pulling/twisting/etc the right knobs, and counting each individual movement in his head at the same time, knowing exactly when to set it down and listen to it announce a score of 83 or whatever you asked him to get. This is VERY HARD - if you have one, try it. See how well you can concentrate on counting while you're trying not to mess up!). He's invented his own games where he plays two of them at once , or spins a disc on the floor in between steps - and laughs his head off at me when I try, and fail, to do the same.

 

The Extreme actually helped him to understand place value - it makes different noises when it gives you your score (as opposed to the Extreme 2 and the Shout It that actually SAY your score) -- so a score of 128 would be 1 'doo', 2 'cracks', and 8 'drums'.....it's funny, when we work with other numbers, he'll often reference the place values by those same sounds. We were in the store one day and he asked me how much the treats were - I told him they were 24 dollars. He smiles, and tells me they were 2 cracks and 4 drums.

 

I wish we could find an Extreme 2 again - he misses that one. They're hard to find though ~ you can't buy them new, just yard sales and whatever, if you come across them.

 

I've never seen the Bop It Blast or the Bop It Download that are referenced in the wikipedia article.... not in stores, and not second hand..

 

Anyway... yep, Bop Its are totally a fave here. :D

 

 

ETA: Hmm, seems the intent of the thread was more a list of 'keepers' and 'disasters' ~ sorry, I kinda went off on a ramble there. He was right here playing one of his Bop-Its when I opened the thread, so away I went.:p

Edited June 3, 2010 by fivetails
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[Liz CA]

I would buy toys that teach something, like the "Traffic Jam" game. There are jungle versions (and probably many more) of this concept. It teaches thinking and spatial relationship.

I would get a nice Brio train set again because ds spent many happy hours playing with it.

The Playmobil toys were also educational and fun and of course Legos.

 

Nothing else has lasted or had a lasting impact.

 

[specialmama]

I've not regretted getting:

Delta Sand (WAAAAY better than than space crap)

Bubber

Playmobile

K'Nex (even though they get ignored for months)

Wedgits

hand puppets

dress-up costumes

wooden train set

wood blocks, especially these ones from Uncle Goose

a plethora of playdough moulds, stamps, push-thingies and roller-thingies

 

 

I have deeply regretted:

child's sewing machine

child's knitting machine

child's pottery wheel

All of the above are flimsy and ultra cheap replicas. If I were to do it over I'd wait to invest in the real thing, not a cheap kiddy model that just turns my kid off of the hobby.

[Tohru]

Keepers in our house - both my 2yo dd and my 13yo ds play with these:

 

A tea set

Some wood, felt or fabric food

A small set of stainless steel cooking pots (dishwasher safe)

Nesting blocks - similar to stacking cups, but they are square.

Playmobils

Musical instruments (we have an ocarina, ukulele, keyboard and drum)

[Mejane]

Pretty much everything except games, dress-up things and art supplies. The rest - meh.

[aggieamy]

Pretty much everything except games, dress-up things and art supplies. The rest - meh.

 

This mostly. My girls do love Playmobils and horse figurines too though. We are just getting interested in Legos now so we'll see how that goes.

 

I think I could throw out all the barbies and Polly Pockets and nobody would notice. Now there's an idea. I might pack them and hide them and see if they ask for them. If they don't notice that the toys are gone in five or six months then off they go to Goodwill. That's not mean is it?

[StartingOver]

I have not read all the posts, but I do have a second chance, see my signature. This time around I am sticking to fatbrain classical toys and Melissa and Doug styles. Wooden, long lasting, encouraging creative - imaginative play.

 

I am so tired of bells and whistles. I will have no lights, music, spinning, battery operated toys in my house. Stompers, easels, blocks, lacing shapes, old race tracks, kaliscopes, stompers, stomp rockets, abacus', slinkies, & etc., things I played with when young. ( we were poor LOL ) Games, Games, and more Games ! We love games.

 

ETA: That we do get some of these things as gifts and they are played with for a short time. Then they make their way to Goodwill.

Edited June 2, 2010 by alatexan68

[Hockey Mom]

Regrets:

Any toy that makes noise. That includes books.

Moon Sand

Battery operated cars that kids ride on. The wheels are awful.

Stuffed animals - with exception of one (see below)

 

Keepers:

Legos

Wii

Playmobil figures

Mr. Bunny - DS7's favorite stuffed animal

Dress up clothes

Arts and crafts

[Jyniffrec]

Playmobil is huge here. I also love Citiblocks, Duplos, Legos, Loving Family (we have the wooden house/dolls too but they haven't gone over too well), dress up, a hemp rope for the tree outside, a tree swing, books, lots and lots of puzzles, Haba architectural blocks.

 

Barbies and character toys float in and out of our house at a steady rate. They are usually given to us by well meaning people. I let the kids play with them till they tire of them and then they disappear like magic. :D

[Heidi7Sue]

Anything with wheels is popular here, and marble runs of all kinds.

 

Princess stuff and stuffed animals are good; baby dolls get ignored.

 

DD6 loves to make stuff, so crafty stuff is good.

 

Building toys get used somewhat, but Legos have not been popular so far (my response to that is ?!?!?!?!?)

[spradlin02]

The doll house, what a waste of money. It's why I don't buy toys. But I also don't consider legos, building blocks, and anything creative to be toys. The building blocks don't get used very often, but I'll find something to do with them for school.

[Wendi]

In our house, the best toy investments have been...

 

wooden blocks

Thomas the Tank Engine train set

Legos

Little People stuff

Playmobil

various dress-up/roleplaying items

 

My ds would add Nerf guns to the list, but they drive me bonkers.:glare:

 

Wendi

[mycalling]

The best investment we've make by far is our 15' trampoline with enclosure. We've said that so many times in the 5yrs we've owned it. We just bought a $60 replacement net, but that's not bad after 5yrs and having never taken it down for winter. They play on it with balls, with sprinklers, with adults or 1yos, or use it as a big hammock for reading. :hurray: The key is putting it somewhere shady. It didn't get a quarter the love in the sun.

[elegantlion]

Our keepers:

 

Lego

Thomas the tank engine

Big Tonka trucks

hot wheels

his light saber collection

matchbox airplanes

marble machine

art supplies

 

shipping off this summer:

tons of battery operated cars that quick working

toys with 1000 pieces

 

things that were great for us when he was younger:

kitchen (yes my son had a kitchen)

ride on forklift (got it the same Christmas he got the kitchen)

some giant Tonka playcenter that looked like a mountain mine, we had so much fun with that

[Heather in Neverland]

Pretty much everything except games, dress-up things and art supplies. The rest - meh.

 

Yup. We got rid of just about everything when we moved here. My 12yo is down to an xbox, books and he loves to build and paint models. My 6yo only uses art supplies, legos, wooden blocks, and dress-up clothes. Pretty much everything else is a waste of money.

[abbeyej]

Playsilks and Playmobil have gotten the longest, most creative use of any toys we've had.

[Julie in AZ]

My daughter loved Madeline and has the complete doll set. That's definitely a keeper. We made a dollhouse into a fairy treehouse. That set is a keeper too.

 

My ds loves his Legos.

 

Just about everything else can go!

[JudoMom]

What I'd buy again:

 

Legos, Knex, Imaginext, GeoTrax, Little People, plastic soldiers & animals, play kitchen, and matchbox cars.

 

What I'd skip....I can't remember--I donate the junk that doesn't get played with.

[Mom0012]

Our best toys have been:

 

dress up clothes

legos

play kitchen

large cardboard blocks

 

If I had to do it again with little ones, I would try not to have as many toys. We would up with so much and the kids really played with so little of it.

 

Lisa

[jillian]

Don't regret so far with my 2 1/2 yr old:

-Easel and all the art supplies (chalk, markers, paint, etc)

-Play kitchen with handmade crocheted food

-Letter/number blocks

-Letter and puzzle blocks

-big vinyl ball from target (dd uses it like a stability ball to copy us, plays catch/bouncing/rolling)

-books--all sorts

-waldorf style doll from pottery barn

-stuff animals galore

-exersaucer and music table

-hotwheels and similar products

Stuff I have regretted:

-popcorn popper this thing is so loud and obnoxious but she loves it...now that she can run it's an outside only toy

- click clack alligator push toy same issues as above

- basically all of our super loud nonadjustable volume toys

Edited June 3, 2010 by jillian

[BikeBookBread]

Keepers:

Bilibo

Bilibo Pixel

Wheelie Bug scooter

Baby Stella doll and a few accessories

Puzzles

Books

Art supplies

Bike

Old-fashioned wooden wagon

Razor scooter

Quadrilla marble run!!!!!!!

Blokus

Quirkle

Wooden blocks

Wooden peg/shape sorter - 16 pieces and 100s of hours of use by both of the girls when they were babies

A Fisher Price Mama and Baby Bird toy with shapes, counting and colors - I can still remember the sweet song...it's one of the only battery-operated toys we had and both girls loved it.

 

Regrets:

Playmobil figurines and house (neither of my girls ever played with Little People either)

Little People A-Z Zoo - sold on eBay

My First LeapPad - total waste of money. Neither of the girls played with it.

Edited June 3, 2010 by BikeBookBread

[MeganW]

Best ever - ball pit when they were younger, and now a bounce house. Easy ways to burn off a lot of energy when we are stuck inside!

[sbgrace]

Certain things have had years of what I consider high quality play value here:

 

1. Hotwheel type cars and trucks

3. Magnatiles

4. Wooden blocks of all sorts

4. Lego

5. Train set (wooden track w/variety of trains)

6. Little counter bears and beads. They are people and cargo and money, etc.--so many things.

7. My kids have gotten a ton of play value out of rocking horses--they are horses, trains, cars, rockets (turned upside down), and on.

8. They don't play with it as much anymore but their play kitchen and dishes/food/etc. got tons of good use for years.

 

Regrets here: playmobile, Plan toys dollhouse and parking garage, imaginext (we've got the pirate ship and the castle and both have hardly been touched), those plastic realistic looking animals--I got really nice ones and no one played much with them at all.

 

My nephew loves playmobile. My friend's child loves those plastic realistic animals and dollhouse. I heard great things about Imaginext. Kids vary so much!

Edited June 3, 2010 by sbgrace

[Daisy]

Favorites (no regrets)

 

Wooden train set

Duplo and regular legos

Lincoln Logs

Tinker Toys

Imaginext toys

Playmobil toys

American Girl doll

 

My only regret that I can really think of was the $300 Lil Tyke's playhouse for outside. It always had spiders and the kids preferred making their own forts.

 

We've never bought electronic toys (screens, noise makers, etc.) of any kind and have never regretted that.

[Debora R]

I don't regret

Playmobil

Lego (though I would have invested in better storage for it)

Little People

traditional wooden blocks

Parent Rubber blocks

Wooden train sets (thomas & friends, circo)

Hess vehicles (an annual christmas gift from Grandmother)

sturdy little cars for indoor/outdoor play of various manufacture

Corolle baby dolls (we have 2 newborn dolls)

a few select stuffed animals

Any and all Books

.....Oh, and I forgot the Big bucket of little Army Guys. They Still play with those things!

 

oh yes, and one of those toddler plastic outdoor playsets (made by Playschool, I think) with a couple of slides....My older two used it, we passed it on to a cousin, who just passed it back for the younger two....it has been awesome!

 

I didn't care for most of the other stuff. Although we lots of it from birthdays, Christmases, etc.

Edited June 3, 2010 by Debora R

[Julie in AZ]

The best investment we've make by far is our 15' trampoline with enclosure.

 

Oh, I forgot about this one. We love our trampoline!

[amyinva]

Wooden peg/shape sorter - 16 pieces and 100s of hours of use by both of the girls when they were babies.

 

could you find a link for this? I'm not sure what you mean, but sounds like it might be good for a 1yo's birthday that I have coming up!

Edited June 3, 2010 by Amy in VA

[cjbeach]

Regrets:

Any toy that makes noise. That includes books.

Moon Sand

Battery operated cars that kids ride on. The wheels are awful.

Stuffed animals -

Keepers:

Legos

Wii

Playmobil figures

Dress up clothes

Arts and crafts

This ..totally. Major emphasis on the dreaded Moon Sand. :glare:

[gratefulmother]

My kids have loved, loved, loved:

 

kitchen set with food and dishes

dress up clothes (princess, star wars and a colonial dress, esp.)

Legos

Tinkertoys

Lincoln logs

nice set of wooden blocks (I swear my son played with these everyday for at least 4 yrs straight in different ways.)

plastic people and Schleich animals

dolls, dollclothes, stroller, diaper bag, etc.

expensive markers (they haven't been lost or run out)

audio books

some playmobiles (not the castles)

light sabers

American girl Bitty Baby

 

I wish I had never bought:

 

foam craft sheets

play musical instruments

puzzles

glitter glue

any of those magnetic toys

the game Trouble

the game Sorry

the game Hi Ho Cherrio

craft books

those things where you make the picture with plastic pieces and then iron it together

Groovy Girl doll stuff

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I have not regretted any board games, Thomas trains, mega blocks and Legos.

 

I have regretted Magnetix, Moon Sand, and Bendaroos.

[Nakia]

No regrets:

art supplies

dress up clothes

horse barn with animals

Bitty Babies and American Girl Dolls along with strollers, crib, etc

wooden blocks

wedgits

Board Games

swing set

trampoline

bikes

books

 

Never again:

anything that makes music and lights up :tongue_smilie:

anything Barbie or Polly Pockets

doll house

play kitchen

Leap Pad

[silliness7]

 

 

I have deeply regretted:

child's sewing machine

child's knitting machine

child's pottery wheel

All of the above are flimsy and ultra cheap replicas. If I were to do it over I'd wait to invest in the real thing, not a cheap kiddy model that just turns my kid off of the hobby.

 

:iagree::iagree:

 

AARRGGHHH!!!!

[lighthouseacademy]

I find it interesting that for the most part, every single answer given follows my personal rules for toy selection...

Ever since my son was born, I made several rules to select toys.

#1 (and most important) with RARE RARE RARE exception NO BATTERIES!!!! (The only batteries I allowed were the motor that went with the Lego crane- in other words, the batteries aren't the toy, they just add to it in a functional and educational way)

#2 It must encourage imagination or have multiple uses

#3 preferably not made of plastic but things like Legos are obviously plastic

 

So, for the most part I haven't regretted much. I do kind of regret the Train TABLE because it is so big and takes up so much space. Although, the drawers were nice for storage and keeping the train off the floor when I had a crawling baby. The table top has been turned over and put on the floor now for a puzzle board.

 

Favorites:

Legos

Playsilks

Dress ups

Corolle Dolls and clothes

Books

Games (Quirkle, Chess, Blockus, Tip Over, Rush Hour, and games from A House Full of Toys are some of our favorites)

Doll house (wooden)

Wood blocks

 

Could do without-

My daughter LOVES LOVES LOVES her Polly pockets and I HATE them but they stay because Santa brought them since they were the desire of her heart.

[HeidiKC]

Yeah, Moon Sand stinks - I thought it was just me!

 

If I could do it over I would buy mostly really nice, beautiful and long-lasting wood toys and none of those plastic (Fisher-Price, etc.) toys with all the bells, lights and whistles. ESPECIALLY for the infants. The bells are ok, no lights!

 

We loved:

Thomas Trains and tracks (and Brio) and train table

Kangaroo Climber by Step II

Duplos & Legos

K'nex and Kids K'nex

Dinosaurs

Little horses and knights that go with them (not sure of brand, similar to Schleiss)

Red cardboard "bricks" that stack up like a wall, house, etc.

Matchbox cars (I hated, boys loved)

Stomp Rocket

Play-doh

"Nuts and Bolts" - plastic in different colors, shapes but you could use real ones

Razor Scooter

Melissa & Doug Puzzles and things

ThinkFun games (especially Chocolate Fix - logic game)

Identiflyer and the cards that go with it (identify bird and frog sounds)

Viewmaster Projector - kids LOVED this and it's a great 4-year-old gift. Even the older siblings will be impressed and interested. And a fun playdate thing to do with friends (turn off lights and show a "movie). Has sounds, too.

Jim Weiss CDs (I realize I'm going a bit outside the toy thing!)

 

Thumbs Down:

My First LeapPad (we liked the original one)

Erector Set (I was so disappointed about this, but it is just TEDIOUS to get the pieces together)

Imaginext - we like all the figures and accessories, but the buildings are a PAIN - they don't go together easily at all and are just junk lying aruond

[yellowperch]

LOVE:

 

lego

Kapla

Traditional building blocks

Brio buildig sets

play silks

some of the dress up

most sports gear

1 but not all of the (inheirited) American Girl dolls

1 but not all of the baby dolls

a small collection of beannie babies

doctor kit

playdo

clay

 

HAVE PASSED ON, or should:

dollhouse

K'nex

Light Brite

Race track

Magic set

Leap pad

some of the dress up

 

I have doubtsabout tossing out some of the stuff, but I remind myself that what they really play with is each other.

[Jan in SC]

Things we love now: (7, 8, 10)

 

wooden blocks (huge set from community playthings)

legos

plastic soldiers

marble runs (wooden)

nerf guns

star wars characters & ships

model trains

Board games

puzzles

Large backyard playset w/ swings and slides

scooters

bikes

Trek mods!!

Drum set

Guitars

 

 

Things we loved when they were small:

 

Brio trains & tracks

wooden store set w/food

puzzles

Leapster (we loved them for car trips)

Superhero capes

 

 

We have video games and plastic superhero junk, but these are the favorites. We've been suckered by moon sand and Diego, but I like to pretend the quality has had more influence than the plastic! (I just ignore the Hot Wheels and pretend it will disappear.)

[Peela]

We handled the toy thing differently to most. I wanted to do the Waldorf thing- only toys made of natural fibres/wood, and without faces and too much detail, leaving a lot to the imagination. Maybe, if I could, I would go that way.

 

But it didnt work out like that because we go 2nd hand shopping every weekend. It's our family adventure. The kids have come since they were in utero. So...they often got cheap toys because they were attracted to them and for $1, it was worth it. So even though dd wasnt into Babrie much, she got 2nd hand Barbie dolls. And when she got tired of them, I got rid of them. DH had a fantastic collection of plastic monsters- many of which would have been expensive new. But they cost us very little. So he had dozens of them. Same with plastic guns.

 

My kids did not like Lego. I've oftened wondered why, and I bought plenty in hope, but I dont know. They just didnt. However they got years' worth of joy out of simple wooden blocks.

 

So...they got whatever attracted them, and I think I would do it the same again. And every kid is different, so there are not any toys I would say "definitely". Another kid might love Lego! (I understand most do!). IN which case I woudl buy even more.

 

I would probably still buy a few of those beautiful Waldorf toys, though.

[OnTheBrink]

I'm so picky when it comes to toys, I don't think there is much I regretted. Oh wait, the stupid singing hobby horse. EX bought it for dd during a shopping trip to a megastore. I got groceries; he took dd to the toy section and came back with that monstrosity. She still has it and he hates it now! LOL

 

Beyond that, my only "regret" is the notion that if one is good, 3 dozen is better! We just have way too many things. Too many stuffed animals, too many Barbies, too many little ponies. But there were few toys I regretted; some were annoying (craft kits with sequins! ACK!) but they gave her such joy and kept her busy that I can't say I regret them.