What toys did your kids not get into?

[mommyoffive]

This came up in a discussion dh and I were having.  We were saying some people thoughts were they could buy huge Lego sets (they were talking about the new Lego Colosseum) and save it for their kids.  Kids that don't even exist yet.  I thought that was kind of nuts because you don't know if your kids would be into Legos and they would be old by the time they would be able to do that set.  I get saving some of your own toys.  Then the conversation spun to what if your kids are not even into Lego, not everyone is.  I wasn't into Lego as a kid.  I am pretty sure I had some, but I have no memories of playing with them.  As I watch my kids the building of things is not something I was or am interested in.  I was into Cabbage patch dolls, baby dolls, Barbie, and doll houses.  

It also got me thinking of what my kids have not gotten into at all, that other kids are into.  Also because I was trying to think of what to get the youngest when we have all the things from the older siblings.  We have never had any Playmobil, so she is getting that.  

What were(are) your kids into?  What did they never get into that was popular? 

 

Things my kids haven't gotten into

video games- we never have had any and the kids never ask for it

Playmobil

Calico Critters

 

Things my kids have been into

Legos- This is the number one thing in our house.  Has been for years.  

Matchbox cars

Thomas the trains - These were huge for years

Barbie (we have a bunch of Barbies and a house, but it was all given to us.  Youngest plays with it sometimes, the next 2 played with it for a few months and done)

American Girl - Again we have lots of them and a huge  house for them.  Oldest was into them for a short time, the next 2 were into them for less than a year.  Youngest doesn't play with them anymore. 

 

 

[almondbutterandjelly]

Dolls.  Dd was never into baby dolls.  

[athena1277]

16 minutes ago, perky said:

Dolls.  Dd was never into baby dolls.  

Yes.  My oldest never cared about dolls.  I even did the recommended new doll when baby brother was born.  She never played with it.
Beanie Babies were her preference.  Most any stuffed animals around that size were very well loved by all my kids.

[Spryte]

Kids here:

Haven’t gotten into anything Disney, other than an occasional movie, maybe. In fact, we never had many “themed” toys at all, other than Woody and Buzz that someone handed down to us.

Are not terribly sporty, though bikes and scooters are fun.  The basketball hoops gets the most use from DD9.  Light up basketballs made that pretty fun.

Thomas was not a big hit, but GeoTrax were.

Video games - the only one that ever got played was Minecraft.

 

The big hits were/are:

Playmobil (massive collection here)

Lego (ditto)

Haba Ball Tracks, domino runs, etc.

One kid loves small stuffies (beanie boos).

Play food when they were small.  And play silks.

Art supplies. Of all types.  

Trampoline and outdoor play time with friends.  

Fort building and fairy gardens.

Games.

Books.

Did I say art supplies?

 

Edited December 17, 2020 by Spryte

[MEmama]

DS never got into:

Lego

Anything loud

Most popular toys, really. DS didn’t like any of the cartoon character, Disney, etc stuff.

Art stuff
 

Matchbox was king for years and years, from 2 or 3 until around 12. Wooden trains were big (not thomas thank goodness, we all hated thomas), Playmobil had limited appeal. Nerf was short lived.

Edited December 17, 2020 by MEmama

[mlktwins]

13 minutes ago, Spryte said:

Thomas was not a big hit, but GeoTrax were.

 

My guys had the magnetic Thomas trains (I still have those), but the GeoTrax were a BIG hit here.  Played for hours and hours with those.  They are one of the toys I'm storing.  Several years ago I made sure all the batteries were out of the remote ones, everything was cleaned up, and I it packed away.  

[Innisfree]

Not a hit:

Legos 

Erector sets 

Art supplies

 

Popular here:

Baby dolls during toddler and preschool years

Thomas trains during the same time

American Girl dolls 

Stuffed animals 

Craft supplies, i.e. friendship bracelets, paracord, now knitting

Animal toys: Schleich type figures, various barns, stables, wagons, crates, vet kits

Edited December 17, 2020 by Innisfree

[Spryte]

8 minutes ago, mlktwins said:

My guys had the magnetic Thomas trains (I still have those), but the GeoTrax were a BIG hit here.  Played for hours and hours with those.  They are one of the toys I'm storing.  Several years ago I made sure all the batteries were out of the remote ones, everything was cleaned up, and I it packed away.  

They were a surprise hit here!  Up until Covid, ours were still getting a lot of use from neighborhood kids. Little siblings of teen’s friends loved GeoTrax. It was pretty funny to open the front door to a four year old younger sibling of a teen, to hear, “can I play in your basement?” I finally arranged some play dates for littles, without our kids, just so they could get it out of their systems!  Definitely the most sought after toy in our basement play room.  🤣

[mommyoffive]

1 hour ago, athena1277 said:

Yes.  My oldest never cared about dolls.  I even did the recommended new doll when baby brother was born.  She never played with it.
Beanie Babies were her preference.  Most any stuffed animals around that size were very well loved by all my kids.

Beanie Babies are huge in my house too.  My youngest 2 or 3 have loved them.  They are all my old ones that we went crazy buying thinking they were going to be worth money and never were.  

[mommyoffive]

35 minutes ago, MEmama said:

DS never got into:

Lego

Anything loud

Most popular toys, really. DS didn’t like any of the cartoon character, Disney, etc stuff.

Art stuff
 

Matchbox was king for years and years, from 2 or 3 until around 12. Wooden trains were big (not thomas thank goodness, we all hated thomas), Playmobil had limited appeal. Nerf was short lived.

Did you guys just hate the show?   I couldn't stand that show, but ds loved it when he was a kid.  I could not see how a kid could stay interested in it. 

[mom2scouts]

My boys played with Nerf, Lego, Matchbox, and GI Joe. Rescue Heroes and GeoTrax were big here too. Oddly enough, although we have a billion Legos (only slightly exaggerated), my kids didn't like PlayMobil and wooden trains weren't that exciting either. DD liked the play kitchen and food, American Girl knock-offs, horses, crafts, and her Fisher-Price dollhouse. She had very little interest in Legos, even when I tried some of the ones marketed to girls.

[Lady Florida.]

My kiddo (now 23) never got into:

Playmobil
Anything Disney
Fisher Price Little People
 

We had a basketball hoop given to us that never got use. He preferred to just go out and run around with the dog, or ride his bike or scooter. We ended up giving it away to a family who would enjoy it.

Lego, Thomas trains, and Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars are the three things that got the most attention from him. He could play with any one of those things all day but he often combined all three and came up with his own little stories about them. He also loved to draw.

[MercyA]

Playmobil, with the exception of the pool set, which involved water. 🙂 

Calico Critters.

American Girl.

Hits were wooden trains, Little People, dinosaur and animal figures, stuffed animals, art supplies, and a play kitchen. Later on, fashion dolls (Monster High, Every After High, Barbies). 

Edited December 17, 2020 by MercyA

[MooCow]

My youngest never really liked LEGOs until he started building his own 3D printer. My oldest loved them. My dd never really played with them either. 

[Scarlett]

What was that really popular set that involved electrical currents or something?  

Ok I googled---I think it was  Snap Circuits.  Anyway, ds never even looked at it I don't think. Which is weird because he loves legos so so much and he is in school to be an engineer, but he is not interested in electrical engineering at all.  Mechanical is what he is  doing.

Edited December 17, 2020 by Scarlett

[MooCow]

That reminds me, my youngest loved snap circuits. He got a huge slew one year and was so busy, it was great!

[Garga]

I have 2 boys.

Did not like erector sets, Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoys, or matchbox cars

Loved Playmobil, Lego, Bionicles, Thomas trains, articulated action figures

As a little girl, I didn’t like dolls, but loved stuffed animals. 

[EmilyGF]

3 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

This came up in a discussion dh and I were having.  We were saying some people thoughts were they could buy huge Lego sets (they were talking about the new Lego Colosseum) and save it for their kids.  Kids that don't even exist yet.  I thought that was kind of nuts because you don't know if your kids would be into Legos and they would be old by the time they would be able to do that set.  I get saving some of your own toys.  Then the conversation spun to what if your kids are not even into Lego, not everyone is.  I wasn't into Lego as a kid.  I am pretty sure I had some, but I have no memories of playing with them.  As I watch my kids the building of things is not something I was or am interested in.  I was into Cabbage patch dolls, baby dolls, Barbie, and doll houses.  

It also got me thinking of what my kids have not gotten into at all, that other kids are into.  Also because I was trying to think of what to get the youngest when we have all the things from the older siblings.  We have never had any Playmobil, so she is getting that.  

What were(are) your kids into?  What did they never get into that was popular? 

 

Things my kids haven't gotten into

video games- we never have had any and the kids never ask for it

Playmobil

Calico Critters

 

Things my kids have been into

Legos- This is the number one thing in our house.  Has been for years.  

Matchbox cars

Thomas the trains - These were huge for years

Barbie (we have a bunch of Barbies and a house, but it was all given to us.  Youngest plays with it sometimes, the next 2 played with it for a few months and done)

American Girl - Again we have lots of them and a huge  house for them.  Oldest was into them for a short time, the next 2 were into them for less than a year.  Youngest doesn't play with them anymore. 

 

 

LOL, my kids are the opposite of yours in this respect!

Calico Critters have been a favorite since day 1. DD12 has had Calico Critters since 4 and still plays with them occasionally. She's got whole worlds made up about them with a friend and sometimes they talk about them like friends. They make things for them out of Fimo and Sculpy, as well as out of cardboard and cloth.

Lego went over like a lead balloon here. The kids find them tedious to build with and get annoyed with them. They come out for about a week every six months, people play with them, and then they get put back into a plastic container in the back of someone's closet.

Top hits:

Duplo (they build worlds out of these and then play with them with other toys)

Calico Critters (I've bought these, but, because the kids like them so much, multiple friends have given us their collections when they grew out of them)

American Girl (all bought used, lots of hand-me-down clothes, including my doll's clothing from my childhood, though not my doll) 

Brio wooden trains (ds15 just did a math fair project that used these!) have been a hit for over a decade. Still tripping over new tracks...

Fails:

Lego and all fiddly building toys, like K'nex - the kids like bigger things to build with

I never bought Playmobil; somehow the play seemed too scripted to me. Not sure why CC was different.

Magnatiles

[Terabith]

My kids (girls, although one came out as a teen as non-binary) never got into legos or any form of building materials, with the somewhat exception of magnatiles.  I was always surprised, because my youngest tests in the 99.9th percentile for visual spatial skills, so I kept expecting her to like building toys.  

[Lady Florida.]

It seems a lot of our kids didn't/don't like Playmobil. Those seemed wildly popular with other kids we knew when ds was little and I was surprised he didn't like them. Apparently he was in good company as many Hive children weren't fans either. 🙂 

[mommyoffive]

My kids never liked Knex stuff either.  They would try it once and the build would just be frustrating and it wouldn't work very well.  Magnatiles we have only had for a few years.  They get only a little bit of play by my youngest. 

[Emba]

Barbies. DD had several, and never cared about them at all. She liked baby dolls and American Girl type dolls.

 

[ScoutTN]

Ds was never super interested in Thomas trains, even though we had the nice wooden set. He always preferred matchbox cars.
 He LOVES lego, playmobil, and nerf guns. 

Dd was never deep into the American Girl dolls. My MIL gave her one when she was 6, a look-alike. Dd did like dolls, but she was tiny as a younger child and the AG dolls are big. Dd liked her small, cuddly dolls better.
She always loved drawing, stuffed animals (which we have always called buddies) and reading. She has been a book lover since age 3! 

Edited December 17, 2020 by ScoutTN

[Sherry in OH]

My children never experienced Playmobil or Calico Critters.  They had some Fisher-Price sets they liked as toddlers and preschoolers but outgrew more rapidly than I would have expected.  

Flops - sports equipment other than sleds and bicycles, movie/tv-themed toys other than Cars and Thomas, action figures

Hits - wooden train set, Matchbox/Hot Wheels/Tonka - vehicles of any type or size, LEGOs, Snap Circuit

One child loved stuffed animals, other rarely played with them. 

As young teen they are mostly into computers and video games.  They still like building LEGO sets for display but no longer spend hours building and interacting with their own creations.  

 

[mommyoffive]

Other things I thought of that my kids were never into  games and puzzles. 

[Emba]

27 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Other things I thought of that my kids were never into  games and puzzles. 

Two of my kids love puzzles and one just doesn’t. 
 

a general category of things that is wasted my two older kits are kits. If it comes in pieces, it will never be used, unless it is Legos. Craft kits, model kits, it doesn’t matter.

[skimomma]

Mine never got into Legos which surprised me as dh and I both loved legos as kids and had a big stash all ready to go.  Luckily, they never get "old" so we donated them all.

My dd got an American Girl doll and she did dress it up and play with it a little but I think she was too old (10ish) when she got it.  That was a bit sad because her great grandmother made her piles and piles of clothes and accessories.  When I packed it all up, there were 6 Rubbermaid totes of it!  Most never got "worn" even once.  But I think it was more of a hobby for great grandmother.  I did keep it all and will hand down to other kids in the family when they get old enough.

No interest in Barbie or other fashion dolls.

The toys that got the most use were play food, art supplies, play dough, outdoor toys (bikes, sleds, skates, skis, balls, tents, water anything, etc....) and stuffed animals.  Oh.  And the pogo stick.  I regretted it almost immediately.  Not sure what I was thinking as they are really dangerous and the repetitive noise drove my neighbor's dog nuts.  Dd loved it.  She loved it so much she wore it out!  She never did get hurt but I was always waiting.

 

[73349]

DS has never liked Legos or any other building toys/kits, except Magnatiles. Nor art supplies.

Trains and cars, OTOH, he would spend hours with.

 

I would not spend a lot of money on a toy for a kid whose preferences are not yet evident, much less one we didn't have yet.

[SounderChick]

I think my kids just haven't been huge toy kids. 

They liked a bit of everything but they much preferred rocks, sticks and dirt.  Imaginative play.  

Arts and crafts supplies.  One is a big board gamer. 

[AmandaVT]

never got into: action figures/dolls, art (in fairness, I'm not a crafty person at all), playmobil

favorites: blocks, lego, puzzles and games, his piano, the melissa and doug play food sets when he was little (he would spend a long time creating different "meals" and bringing them to us to eat), his toolbench around 3 years old. 

[Megbo]

My kids only ever play Lego when they have friends over. They have plenty, enjoy getting new Lego sets as gifts, and often suggest playing when friends are over, but don't play on their own or with just each other. Same goes for board games and video games. 

They have no interest at all in other building toys, model sets, science kits, or craft kits. 

Favourites have been anything sports-related and and anything they can use in their imaginary play - stuffed animals, dolls, dollhouses (we now have three), Barbies, action figures, Playmobil, animal figurines, play kitchen, dress up clothes, paper, markers, cardboard boxes, scissors, tape, etc. 

[Elizabeth86]

I'm going to say superheroes and sports.

My boys have liked all the typical boys things, Thomas, hot wheels, little people, toy food, we went through paw patrol, Octonauts, a bit of star wars, pokemon, video games, minecraft, animal crossing, mario, playmobil, lego, science kits, crafts, play doh, really anything besides super heroes and sports.

My little girls like anything and everything. My 5 year old wants lol dolls an Imy saying no way.