If you could throw out all the toys and start over...

[CrunchyGirl]

Okay, almost all the toys. We'd be keeping/starting with Legos (lots), a set of wooden blocks, some dress up clothes, and tons of books.

 

What would you add? Toys, games, puzzles, etc. What's really worth it? We want to live drastically more simply and really encourage more imaginative play.

 

Kids are 7, 5, and 2.

 

ETA: Oldest child has a huge Snap Circuits set, and an old computer (no internet) that he uses to work on programming. Those two things would also be staying.

[Kuovonne]

high quality dolls or action figures

playsilks

paper, colors, scissors, tape

[RoundAbout]

We moved and radically downsized last year. I kept all of our building sets (TRIO, Rokenbok, Lego, and wooden blocks) and put them in rotation. No regrets there - they all get played with regularly by DS and guests. The other stuff that I kept seldom gets used. My DS would rather play with real things like rocks, cardboard, tape measures, flashlights, magnets, clips, parachute cord, etc.). A few hot wheels and animal figures are nice though and don't take up much space.

 

Oh, and we love board games so we keep a nice selection of those.

[Garga]

I dream of having a huge estate sale and selling everything I have and starting over with only what I actually need.  It just seems so overwhelming to weed things out little by little.  It seems like it would be easier to get rid of it all and begin again.  That won't happen, but I daydream about it quite often.

 

For your question:  Keep what the kids actually use about 4 times or more a week.  For my boys it would be Legos, Bionicles, and Action Figures.  

[73349]

Carpentry and science stuff - tape measure, magnifying glass, etc. Camera. Soccer ball and bike. Carefully weeded art supplies.

[Eagle]

Thomas train set

Rokenbok

Cuboro marble run

Magnatiles

Board games

Lego

 

Ds gets daily use out of everything I listed. I should probably try boxing up his other stuff to see if he notices.

[bethben]

Legos, classic kids board games, and puzzles.

 

Beth

[Momof3]

We've really consolidated our toy collection, too.

 

Legos and play food in the playroom... 

Boys have playmobil in their bedroom, dd has a dollhouse & some figures.

They each have a couple stuffed animals, and dd has a couple dolls.

 

A small bin of matchbox cars & plastic animals...mostly played with by the toddler...may disappear at some point, and probably wouldn't be missed. :) 

 

Oh, and the boys have a set of rifles and koosh guns...

 

Audio books/music cds

Board books, picture books, chapter books galore!

Puzzles

Games: Monopoly Jr, Hi Ho Cherrio, Candyland, a Maisy matching game...

*Lots* of paper, scissors, glue, tape, colored pencils, crayons, markers, etc.

 

Play-doh & paints come out occasionally (when I'm psyched up for a mess).

 

I keep a small bucket of 'travel toys' - random things (binoculars, retractable measuring tape, happy meal-type toys, Melissa & Doug hangman game, tiny board books, etc.) for long car trips. 

 

For Christmas & birthdays, we request that grandparents send $ or contribute to one of the toy collections we've already started (no random toys). Otherwise, their $ goes into their savings accts. We usually give them a nice book and some small addition to a collection (Legos, playmobil, dollhouse, etc.).

[Momof3]

After typing all that out...maybe it *is* time for us to consolidate some more! :) 

[raptor_dad]

Okay, almost all the toys. We'd be keeping/starting with Legos (lots), a set of wooden blocks, some dress up clothes, and tons of books.

 

What would you add? Toys, games, puzzles, etc. What's really worth it? We want to live drastically more simply and really encourage more imaginative play.

 

Kids are 7, 5, and 2.

 

 

The most used toys by DS5 and DS7 are the unit blocks. We have the basic M&D set and added a second set this winter. The boys would love another basic set or the specialty set. They build cities, castles, roads, houses, whatever. I think having some props really helps. Building roads and ramps is more fun if you can drive your matchbox cars on them. Building castles is more fun if you can have your playmobil guys man them or attack them with the catapult you made from craft sticks and rubber bands...

 

I think the balance is to have simple toys that encourage imagination and enough details to spice things up. DS7 has gotten way more use out of his ~$8 sets of plastic revolutionary war and medieval soldiers than anything else this year.

 

Depending on what you mean by simple, I should warn you though... its easier to pick up and put away giant branded toys than some fragile construction your kids spent hour(s) building. We have more clutter than I would prefer but that a cost of creativity.

 

[Ravin]

Our toy kitchen and 1/3 the present assembly of toy cars and trucks. There would be a limit of 3 stuffed animals or child.

[happypamama]

Given that my 5.5 and almost 3yo boys still play a lot with the Duplos, I'd keep them in addition to all of the LEGO pieces. Nothing gets more play in my house than Duplos and LEGO.

 

I'd keep the wooden trains, the wooden blocks, and the wooden play kitchen/food, because my littles play with all of those a lot.

 

I'd keep some balls, some trucks/cars (probably not the eighty gajillion we actually seem to have), and some dolls/a couple of stuffed friends (and a toy sling/blanket/diaper -- but that would depend on the child; DD was *very* into playing mommy with her dolls, but my boys haven't been much, although DS3 does sometimes play with a baby doll).

 

I'd keep the American Girl doll stuff. I'd keep Little People for the littles.

 

I'd keep SnapCircuits, cardboard/tape/paper/paint/glue/etc., fabric/some basic dress-up clothes, a few wooden swords (again, not the large collection of toy weapons we have amassed). I'd keep colored pencils and some drawing books.

 

I'd keep a few puzzles -- a couple of the wooden chunky puzzles for the littles, and a few jigsaw puzzles of varying degrees for the olders. I'd keep some good classic games such as Set, Catch the Match, a memory game, Labyrinth, chess, Battleship, Loot. . .

 

And then there's stuff like the marble run. They like it, and when they get it out, they play with it a lot for several days, and then it doesn't get looked at again for a while. Same with the toy tools; they hadn't played with them for a while, but then DS3 developed a huge interest in them and wears the hardhat and plays with the tools all the time. They also have a bunch of DH's childhood toys -- GI Joes, army men, dinosaur collection, etc., and they get those out from time to time and have a blast with them. So IDK. If I had a good system for rotating, I could put things like the marble run, tools, baby doll stuff, etc. in small containers and rotate them in and out.

 

And *that* is why we have a lot of stuff, lol. Because I feel like 99% of it has a lot of play value, and because some of it is difficult to store (like the train table and play kitchen), and because they go back and forth between stuff. But it's so easy for stuff to pile up quickly, especially if each of the five children gets a plaything from each of several people at Christmas and birthdays.

[JustEm]

I would keep any building toy sets, puzzles, board/card games, some cars, dolls, puppet, and dress up clothes. Oh, the play kitchen and arts supplies.  Everything else we have can go!!  I'm sick of all the cheap plastic toys people get my kids and all the electronics. I've been slowly going through all our stuff but some other event occurs and more toys come in!!! My dd's birthday is next Sunday but we're celebrating with the in laws this Sunday.  Today and tomorrow will be spent making a Goodwill pile to make room!

[AK_Mom4]

Happy Car!! Happy is actually a Little Tykes coupe. Happy went a million miles when our kids were young, both indoors and outdoors. He lives upstairs these days waiting for the next generation.

 

And the other outside toys like Tonka trucks, balls and jump ropes. Hours and hours of playtime.

 

Indoors - Legos and k'nex, kitchen stuff, and dress up with capes and swords and magic wands.

[raptor_dad]

There would be a limit of 3 stuffed animals or child.

I don't know... for DS7 especially, stuffed animals are a huge source of imaginative play. He has a large stash of $1 flea market beanie babies, all of which have their own names and personalities and ~5 are in circulation at any given time. Probably a dozen have rotated through for periods of over a month in the past year... a smaller group of ~3 are in constant circulation as companions. Stuffed animals as a physical proxy for imaginary friends seems entirely healthy to me.

 

PS. Allowing the lengthened childhood and longer period in whatever the Waldorf folks call their dream world is a major benefit of homeschooling for us. I would hate to see this be suppressed or ostracized in a B&M school. Likewise, I see no reason to limit it at home.

 

PPS On the other hand, DS5 has a similar stash and only plays with ~3. For him a stuffed animal diet would be entirely reasonable. It just depends on the kid.

[nerdybird]

We move frequently so we've never been able to hoard.

 

Here is our list of awesome toys.

 

• Lego
• K'nex
• wooden block sets
• Erector sets
• Connectagon sets
• MLP and horse figurines for DD
• AG dolls (2) and books for DD
• Geotrax train set with a ton of extra track for littles
• Books, books, books!
• Moonsand set
• Art supplies
• Sensory bins (mostly homemade items that I trash and start over with when we move)
• Quiet time bins (same as above, usually stocked with Dollar Tree items and internet print outs, so no big loss when tossed)
• Homemade games (made with Dollar Tree and Walmart supplies, usually multipurpose)
• A few good board games (Jenga, Topple, Kerplunk, Don't Break the Ice, Trouble, Uno, Guess Who, Mancala, magnetic chess set)
• Melissa and Doug latches board, dress myself, and their other wooden puzzle-type sets.

So maybe we don't live as simply as some. I have 3 little ones and two older kids who are serious about playing, lol. These are the toys I keep on hand. I buy quality toys that are gently loved at consignment sales and off of ebay and Craigslist. I've also found things through Freecycle or personal connections.

 

We don't move outside toys, so I've always picked those up on the cheap. Last year, I found an old turtle sandbox on the curb and threw it in my van, along with 2 plastic kiddie pools. We used them all summer and left them behind for someone else to find on the curb when we moved. We have found bikes and trikes at yard sales. A rebounder was found when I was helping my SIL and her family move, along with a bean bag toss game, 2 skip-its, and a slip n' slide. Several buckets of lightly used sidewalk chalk were found through Freecycle and yard sales. And a stomp rocket kit that someone's kid had gotten as a gift and never used!

 

Simplicity is what you make it. :D

[Indian summer]

Snakes and ladders

Timberdoodle games

Building kits like Lego

Dolls and clothes (like AG not Barbie)

Any games from the living math web site

Dice

Art supplies

Cardboard, boxes,

Tools

A few stuffed animals

Toobs

[lots of little ducklings]

Keepers: good books, playmobil, Legos, vintage fp little people, play kitchen stuff, AG dolls, favorite costumes, balls, bikes, craft supplies (esp duct tape... What he doesn't have, DS6 likes to "make").

 

Ditchables: anything battery-operated, outgrown costumes, plastic little tykes debris littering our yard (thankfully all acquired from other people's trash), most stuffed animals (except DSs; he's too sentimental so those are largely being stored), most games (we aren't gamesy people, and only really like a few), and most action figures/cars/McDonald's junk (all we really need are the faves).

 

Biggest regret: buying giant cardboard brick blocks-- DS still prefers to steal every pillow in the house for his forts; bricks are like new after 2 years.

 

Biggest wish-list item: a basement large enough for a trampoline, a punching bag, and an indoor swing. (Never going to happen).

 

ETA: throw an elliptical into that imaginary basement. Mommy's toy.

[Julie Smith]

Wooden and play swords and guns. (Basically sticks found in the wood)

Board games

 

I would keep more for varaition. But the above all the popular. 

[prairiewindmomma]

Your children are still very young. Toys will likely gradually add over time. I'd work on some outside things (jump rope, ball, bike), and some small things suited to their personality. For one of my children, we have a box of Toobs that we add to over time based on what we're studying. For another child, it's Playmobil figurines. They are both into playing with small figurines. For a different child, we focused on things that built fine motor skills...wooden puzzles, art supplies, sensory items.... My oldest is into science kits and has a nice microscope and slide making stuff, a nice chemistry set, and so on.

[happypamama]

Oh, yes, the Little Tykes coupe! We found ours when someone had it by the side of the road with a "free" sign on it; we brought it home, wiped it down, and all four of our toddlers have loved it. I think it is indestructible. :)

 

Our toy wagon, sandbox, small climber, and swingset get a lot of use outside as well.

[North Coast School]

A recent move and another one coming and we have really cut down on toys over the last couple years.  My older DC doesn't really play with toys except outdoor gear and craft supplies if you count that.  So we have bikes, roller blades, scooters, pads, helmets, balls, jump ropes, etc.  That takes up a lot of space, but my kids are so active we would all go crazy if we didn't have them.  I have cheap Pergo floors in my house and I even let them play with outdoor toys in the house on rainy days.

 

Then we have crayons, markers, tons of paper, paint, clay, beads, funloom, knitting supplies...

 

Younger DC lives for Legos.  So that's about all we keep, although our collection is HUGE.

 

And we have a lot of board games, because games are a big part of our family time.

 

[fairfarmhand]

whatever your kids play with day after day. If that's a collection of mcdonalds toys then so be it.

 

I'd dump crappy dollar tree toys without ever looking back.

[raptor_dad]

Ditchables:

<...>, most stuffed animals (except DSs; he's too sentimental so those are largely being stored)

My BiL is a tenured professor in his 30s... every year he got a blue bunny at Easter. His mom has given some of them to her grandchildren/his nephews or nieces. Some of them live at Grandma's house. Some of them live at his house. The topic of the blue bunnies involves much eye rolling, but they are still around...

 

Likewise, my DW's *few* stuffed animals that have been passed down are treasured beyond reason.

 

Don't hoard these things but don't underestimate the emotional bonds either.

[mom2scouts]

Legos, play food and kitchen, dolls, toy horses.  The best toy I've ever had is a set of those big, cardboard blocks.  My kids used them so often that I finally replaced them with a second set and they still get used almost daily by my 11 and 7 year olds.

[Momof3littles]

My kids are 10, 7, and 4. We could likely get it down to just outdoor toys (bikes, scooters, sandbox, swingset) and then Lego, magnatiles, playmobil, and science stuff (snap circuits, magnifying glasses, loupes, cabinet of specimens).

[regentrude]

Playmobil. Once we had those, my kids never played with anything else.

[Momof3littles]

Ohh, and board/card games. Clue, blokus, set, monopoly, scrabble, Richard Scarry busy town.

[Wilma]

My first most best toy that I'd save would be the old cushions from our living room set.  Those puppies are out every. single day. in almost any type of play.

 

Then stuffed animals.

 

Then dress up (playsilks, a few costumes, a few hats).

 

Then LEGO, which my kids aren't super into, but I keep hoping...

[Matryoshka]

Playmobil. Once we had those, my kids never played with anything else.

:iagree:  Though I think they only started playing with it at about "school age", not toddler or preschool.  Lots of little pieces.

 

If you want to keep things simple with Playmobil, just get people, animals if they want them, and perhaps vehicles - not any structures.  My kids mostly used an empty bookshelf and their unit blocks to set up all kinds of imaginative play areas for their Playmobil.  The big structures, imho, just take up a ton of room and actually limit imagination.  With just people, I had a 4-unit cubby with wicker baskets, and they all could fit in there, in about 1'x1' of space.  We had a few rescue vehicles, and a car that were stored in the empty bookshelf.  But the Playmobil had the most enduring play value of any toys they ever had.  They were still playing with it though middle school.

[nerdybird]

I've found that kids will make toys out of just about anything.

 

They loved playing with plastic cups that I purchased at a yard sale last year. Stacking, filling them with water, throwing water at each other in the back yard, using the dig in the sand and dirt, using them to catch crickets and grasshoppers, to collect rocks, to make "mudshakes"...

 

Poker chips were another favorite. Paired with two divided containers that my MIL found during a basement purge, they were used as everything from play money to sorting games to make "roads" for the Lego minifigs to cross.

 

Boxes are great for creative play. DH works around large computer equipment and his workplace frequently gets large and unusually shaped packages. Sometimes as a treat, he will bring home a "special box". DD and DS2 LOVE these boxes and will spend hours decorating them to look various things (Canterlot, Ponyville, an airplane, a cave, a "home for forgotten mermaids"...it's fun. Except for when it rains or the box tears up...then it has to go in the trash and that's a sad day for them.

 

Old pillowcases, soap bars, abandoned pots and pans, margarine buckets, wooden utensils, hula hoops, ping pong balls, milk jugs, egg cartons, brooms...my kids have made games or toys out of just about any and everything, lol.

[silver]

My kids play with each other more than with this their toys it seems, so I'd get stuff to facilitate pretend play: dress up clothes and maybe set aside some blankets just for forts.

 

Not surprisingly, legos and duplos are big here. My kids like having enough duplos to build a house (duplo builds quicker than lego) and then they use the lego/duplo figures and other small dolls/figures to play in the house.

 

Art supplies: washable markers, crayons, colored pencils, scissors, paper, tape.

 

Matchbox cars and basic hotwheels track for ramps.

 

A baby doll for each kid that are all similar size so that they can share clothes/accessories.

 

Some outside things: bikes, scooters, balls, etc.

 

 

[raptor_dad]

My kids play with each other more than with this their toys it seems, so I'd get stuff to facilitate pretend play: dress up clothes and maybe set aside some blankets just for forts.

 

Not surprisingly, legos and duplos are big here. My kids like having enough duplos to build a house (duplo builds quicker than lego) and then they use the lego/duplo figures and other small dolls/figures to play in the house.

 

Art supplies: washable markers, crayons, colored pencils, scissors, paper, tape.

 

Matchbox cars and basic hotwheels track for ramps.

 

A baby doll for each kid that are all similar size so that they can share clothes/accessories.

 

Some outside things: bikes, scooters, balls, etc.

I agree... take the money you might spend on toys and use it for art supplies. Scotch tape, duct tape, cardboard... good stuff... Yogurt cups are the perfect height to support ramps for wooden train tracks... the down side is we have been GFCF for >3years and still have yogurt cups around as toy props... My experience is you want to encourage kid created toys you have to be willing to accept a greater level of chaos. If you live in a small house this dooms you to disorder. If you have a larger house maybe you can contain it... I think it is a price well worth paying, but you should be aware of it either way... 

[craftymama]

The most used toys by DS5 and DS7 are the unit blocks. We have the basic M&D set and added a second set this winter. The boys would love another basic set or the specialty set. They build cities, castles, roads, houses, whatever. I think having some props really helps. Building roads and ramps is more fun if you can drive your matchbox cars on them. Building castles is more fun if you can have your playmobil guys man them or attack them with the catapult you made from craft sticks and rubber bands...

 

I think the balance is to have simple toys that encourage imagination and enough details to spice things up. DS7 has gotten way more use out of his ~$8 sets of plastic revolutionary war and medieval soldiers than anything else this year.

 

Depending on what you mean by simple, I should warn you though... its easier to pick up and put away giant branded toys than some fragile construction your kids spent hour(s) building. We have more clutter than I would prefer but that a cost of creativity.

 

 

Where did you get the revolutionary war and medieval soldier sets?

[nerdybird]

My experience is you want to encourage kid created toys you have to be willing to accept a greater level of chaos. If you live in a small house this dooms you to disorder. If you have a larger house maybe you can contain it... I think it is a price well worth paying, but you should be aware of it either way...

 

 

:iagree:

 

This is part of the reason why moved towards more store-bought toys in recent years. When DD and DS2 were younger, I let them roam and play with everyday objects. Shoebox houses, plastic bottle castles, toilet paper roll turrets, yogurt cup "rocks", all that sort of thing. When we moved into our current home, I realized that having 3 small boys roaming around getting into things was a disaster waiting to happen. So we've invested in the Geotrax, Moonsand and a few other things to keep them entertained.

 

The clutter with homemade stuff is nice if you have space for it, but in a situation where you have 3 kids sharing a single bedroom and very limited space in the common areas of your home, it just isn't a viable option.

 

So I send them outside to be creative with chalks and whatever else we have out there for them to mess with. Currently, they like playing with mud, catching bugs, re-building their fort (old tarps balanced over the edge of our deck), and dragging their new Rescue Heroes on their plastic toboggan. DD has made a small "secret hangout for horses", complete with a cardboard sign taped to the fence, lol.

 

Kids are creative. Don't mind the mess. :)

[FO4UR]

I've weeded ours down considerably.  They still have more than enough.

 

 

Legos

 

Doll house set

 

Imaginext set  (We got rid of probably 1/2 of these though.)

 

Animal & Dinosaur figurines.  I only keep the high quality figurines, Schliech, and the like.

 

Baby dolls (Got rid of 1/2 of these too.) & bed & clothes.

 

Snap Circuits & Water construction set

 

Games are kept separate.  We have a closet for those.

 

Crafting supplies - THESE are what generate the mess.  ugh!  When we get the basement finished, I'm going to have a crafting station.

 

 

Baby girl has wooden blocks, a ride/push toy, several bears/dolls, several electronic toys, a little horse ramp w/ horses, balls, and more...We have some things boxed up for her that the big kids are done with.  I want to get her a toy kitchen for her birthday.  She's playing with baby wipes right now, in and out of the box they go.

 

 

[Vida Winter]

When the kids were little, the best toys were good quality wood blocks, toy kitchen with wooden utensils and food, legos, and Only Hearts Girl dolls + accessories + dollhouses. The wooden play food is all packed up - it was an investment (Haba) that grandchildren will enjoy someday.

[Rachel TX]

for ages 2-4: play kitchen, tea set, matchbox cars, puzzles

 

for ages 5+: marble run, lots of LEGO, tent

[TGHEALTHYMOM]

I still have a basket for the baby's toys including an Xylophone and she has a box of board books too.

 

I try to throw away broken toys immediately.  Unfortunately our dc get junk at times and I don;t buy happymeals so no toys unless it is a huge want.  Still most of those are made of cheap plastic now too.

 

Woody was sturdy and his hat came off.  I got him in Florida and he lasted for several years. I wish I had put him up! 

 

Kitchen set, mini trampoline, Marble run, legos, and Duplos are always used.  Little People did not survive our dogs or lawnmower :(

Dress up clothes are great but ours have all been worn out or passed on.  Imagination is not limited.  I have bought mini tents but fort tents are preferred here.

[stm4him]

I just cleaned out my boys' room. I left them access to legos, one small set of Star Wars men, and their dress up clothes. At the top of their closet is another batch of legos, a bin of stuffed animals, and a bin of sets of cars and figurines in gallon baggies. If they want the stuffed animals their room has to be clean and they have to ask me to get them down. If they want different men or a set of cars they have to trade in their Star Wars men, which means they have to ask me to get it down. They have been much happier. They also have a keyboard to play with in their room.

 

I am starting on the girls room now and it is much harder because there are 5 of them.

[julie4]

Before Christmas we purged almost all toys, the only things we kept are-

 

Thomas the train & tracks

Disney Cars

Dress up clothes

Wooden blocks

Toy instruments

Magnetic wooden dress up dolls & paper dolls

American Girls, stroller & accessories

Melissa & Doug wooden food and play kitchen

Puzzles

Legos

Snap circuits

Various building sets, widgets(I think they are called), Lincoln logs, magnet building sets, kinex,

Fold up tents & tunnels

Sand box toys/ Tonka digger, bulldozer & dumper

Water Table

I think that's it!!

[stm4him]

In our family room we have duplos, wooden blocks, and cardboard blocks as well as a few puzzles and games. I have a set of bugs in clear blocks for the kids to examine because the little ones love bugs but that is it not counting math manipulatives and outside toys.

[prairiewindmomma]

Toobs have medieval and revolutionary war sets. :) The sets that get a lot of play around here are the mythical creatures, egyptian gods, wampanoag indians, and the confederate soldiers (chosen specifically for the cannons, according to my 7 yo). My 8 yo has about 12 sets in a large plastic shoebox with a handle. It makes for a wide variety of characters for imaginary play that are stored in a compact space.

[Eagle]

I mentioned this thread to my Mum and her answer was "a deck of cards, a skipping rope, and a set of jacks". Apparently the "good old days" were a lot simpler.

[Erin]

We were pretty selective from the get-go.  We only did open ended toys like imaginative play sets, building stuff like Legos and K'nex, cards, and so on.  No single-purpose toys.

[sbgrace]

My kids have, by far, gotten the most play value out of magnatiles. We have tons, and they have played with them nearly daily for many years.

I have boys, but hotwheel type cars also had a lot of play value. edited to add: so did wooden track and toy trains

 

[Courtney_Ostaff]

A dedicated art desk, with separate storage space for crayons, markers, colored pencils, pastels, paints, scissors, glues, and types of paper.  

Legos/Duplos

Magna-Tiles.

A limited number (20?) of plastic dinosaurs, in proper storage. 

A limited number (20?) of stuffed dinosaurs, in proper storage. 

 

But, that's my kid. :)

 

[MistyMountain]

I am not minimalistic in toys but my kids play with legos, magnetic blocks, blocks the most. My girls like dolls and playmobil sets. My oldest loves her rainbow loom. My son likes his imaginext castle and pirate ship, vehicles and snap circuits. I also like having puzzles for them to do.

 

We also keep active toys like one of the big balls with the handle, a disc swing, a mini trampoline, a climbing wall, a climbing rope and rope ladder. The ride bikes and play in the big homemade sand box a lot in the summer and sleds in the winter.

[raptor_dad]

Where did you get the revolutionary war and medieval soldier sets?

 

We have these...

 

http://www.amazon.com/American-Revolution-Yorktown-Playset-Playsets/dp/B00246I3XO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399085139&sr=8-1&keywords=revolutionary+soldier+plastic

 

http://www.amazon.com/Toysmith-Guardian-Knights-Action-36-Piece/dp/B000YA7FS6/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399085161&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=medievel+soldier+plastic

 

The revolutionary set has gone up in price since DS bought it with his birthday money. The revolutionary set isn't quite as robust as I would like. The medieval soldiers are bombproof. Both sets have been durable and popular. I explained the slightly different scales by talking about nutrition in the middle ages...

[fdrinca]

We rotate toys biweekly/monthly. 

 

There's always some set of age-appropriate puzzles, some building toy (Lincoln Logs, blocks), some dramatic play toy (dollhouse, and because of the way my kids play with them, Legos and Playmobil), and one or two other toys from our collection. 

 

Always out are playsilks, blankets, and Duplos. These get used in a hundred ways any given week. Also out, mostly because we don't have a good place to store them, are dress-up clothes and musical instruments. They're tucked in a corner of our playspace and not really in the way.

 

We have an smaller, generic Expedit-style bookshelf. The kids each have one basket and can put whatever they like in that basket. If it's too full, it gets purged. 

 

Rotating toys hugely helps, IMO. The kids are excited to see new toys, it encourages playing with things they'd not ordinarily gravitate toward, and it helps us keep fewer toys out at any given time, which helps for cleanup.