unassissted or even movie. Please share what the toy is and how old your child is. Everything we have is getting old. I am composing wish lists for their birthdays and Christmas...the dreaded word I know. But my own dd has a Christmas birthday so we buy alot for her. My family and friends love to have ideas and I am dry....help!!! Thanks in advance!!!
My daughter loved the shopping cart I got her at age 4. Somewhat later, I started buying American girl dolls (THAT'S a dreaded word/phrase) and she is 17 -- still displays them. Played with them for quite a while in the tween years.
Puzzles, board games were great too.
My 3 yr old DD loves plastic animals. she plays with them everywhere. A bucket at toysrus for 10 bucks.
Also i think a zoo membership or childrens museum membership is a fantastic idea.
I'd prefer that for my kids than toys.
Age 5 and art supplies. Construction paper, paint, markers, scissors and old catalogs, crayons, stickers, glitter, glue, play doh, pipe cleaners, beads and so on
my son is 5 and he is in love with transformers. he will sit at the coffee table and play with them hours on end. also, of course, his matchbox cars. right now he's playing with a mixture of cars (and helicopters, trucks, airplanes, etc) and transformers. happy as a clam.
My kids are 11 and 13 and the STILL pick up the Magnadoodle and play with this toy! I think we have had it since my oldest was 2 and we have replaced it more then once.
If our kids receive gifts, and have money leftover from grandma, we use it towards karate, gymnastics, etc. —Instead of more stuff.
Sometimes we'll give them a portion, like $20 and let them choose something themselves.
Other than that, my 8yo ds loves legos, transformers, nerf.
almost 5o dd loves Barbie's that have wings or mermaid tails, Disney princess Ariel, and hello kitty megablocks (like legos).
She also loves crafts, so we are on to large paper pads, and giant coloring books, and painting pens.
If you have one, I would suggest going to Learning Express. You can sign up for their email messages, or mail and receive coupons. They have an abundance of interesting toys.
If your daughter is younger than 5, you might try Melissa and Doug magnetic dress up dolls, and their nice quality play food sets, like cupcakes, birthday cake, etc.
Dont' forget to keep in mind your organizing bins/system, if you are changing out the type of toys... ie. big things to small parts.
My grand daughter just turned 4 and has loved her Hide Away Hollow little mouse family and all the stuff that goes with them for over a year. She loves all small animals and critters and little beds for them and just cant get enough of tiny sets of things. I found the Hide Away Hollow stuff at Kohls. She loves stacks and stacks of books too. and lately a bowl of buttons..lol
All mu kids disappear with some really good books,
My 10 yo it's the Gameboy, or Harry Potter, or Legos
My 13 yo's are puzzles or Polly Pockets
My 16 yo's is a computer or Kindle
My 22 yo was i Harry Potteror, Gameby, Nintendo DS
Littlest petshop toys for my little one who will be 4 this month. Any kind of thing like that. Toy animals, dollhouses, little people sets, etc. She will play so nice and quietly with that stuff and my kid is NEVER still and quiet!
blankie he is 3 1/2.
Your daughter is probably younger, since it sounds like you are maybe trying to stay away from electronics...?
My kids love playdoh and always have (still do at 10 and 13) but it is messy to pick up and not very portable if you are busy/on the run. Modeling clay is much more portable (ziplock bags rule!). Depending on the child, fresh new coloring books and brand new crayons are great (my daughter loved them, my son couldn't have cared much less). Bionicles or Legos of some sort still go over well with both my kids (they like the sets that come with people in them, and will play with just the little lego character sometimes).
Generally for older kids: books, DS lites, ipods, and the like are what keep my kids occupied. My 10 yr old daughter has been pestering me for the past couple of months for a kindle (Dad and I each have one, and every time she sees me grab mine on the way out of the house she says, "I want one for Christmas"). Maybe I should give her mine and ask "Santa" for a Kindle Fire for Xmas for myself, lol. :)
ETA: if you already have electronics, you can always add games for them to their wish lists. My kids will sit with a "new" game for a lot longer than an old one, usually. And you can usually find plenty of used ones for less at GameStop (Nintendo variety; don't think they carry Leapster stuff).
My 6 year old loves his doodle board. (the one where you write and then slide the thing and it erases). It saves a lot of paper and we can take it anywhere. He loves to write and draw and one time I forgot it at my moms and he used SO much paper!
He also really likes a gender neutral playhouse that he has. (Okay, dollhouse, but we call it playhouse) I think boys like to play with realistic things too. I mean they spend their time in a house, so why not allow them to model it? He loves to play with it.
my daughter will be 3 in November, she is really in to Lego, both the duplo and the regular small legos. She can play with them for a really long time. Other than that, books, playdough and small farm animals cars/trucks and wooden blocks... I think anything creative is what keeps them entertained for the longest.
My 7 year old son loves kin'ects, spy gear (target), legos and trick flicks (target - tiny skateboards and ramps). My almost 2 year old daughter loves horses, baby dolls and accessories and pretend food/kitchen toys.
My 11 year old has a scooter he rides around the house and outside on. Its just a seat and has a place to stick things underneath and has wheels. Its like one of those work chairs you use to fix something on your car and roll along on. We did have one of those square furniture dollies but he outgrew that.
my 1 1/2 yr old boy loves cars. bigger ones that he can put things in. he'll put in things and take them out over and over. it's so cute! my 4 1/2 yr old girl is very girlie and loves princesses and barbies. she also loves the barbie movies! some of those are pretty cute!
DD is 3. Her favorite things are books, a dinosaur puzzle (the version I got from Michael's last year), and her bears/small stuffed toys.
I'm also a fan of Mabel's Labels for gifts especially if the family has several kids or kids in school. My DD likes "her" labels for "her" cups. It's helped her recognize her name.
Anything that keeps their hands busy...play doh, arts n craft stuff, paint, sand/water, etc....or anything they can use to build or make something, blocks, legos, large empty cardboard boxes.
If you like to play family games or do puzzles then get a few new ones. And books and movies of course! Outside toys are great too, bikes, skates, scooters, etc.
Honestly when they are little it doesn't take much, just add a few new things to what they already have :)
My oldest son will be 4 at the end of Dec. he absolutely LOVES his wooden block set. If it wasn't for his little brother knocking everything over he'd be in there for hours building and building things. His trains will keep him occupied for a little bit but not as long as his blocks. He's not so much into the legos.
I just went out and bought some games, they (almost 4 and 2 yr old) like the fishing game, but what surprised me was they played Hungry Hippo for over 45 minutes TOGETHER without any fighting or bickering.....Oh my I so wish I had found- it sooner, its my lifesaver. I still don't know if it was worth the 20 bucks in terms of quality, but in terms of my sanity it was worth every penny!
Good Luck I find its a hard age--also yes my oldest is very much into the dress up too--still attention span wise the blocks are his focal point. good luck!
My daughter turned 4 in June and is moving onto Barbies and LaLa Loopsy (the little ones), but still loves Littlest Pet Shop and has for about a year and 1/2 and only recently stopped playing with Little People. The other thing that can and has kept her busy for a long time is arts and crafts. Big paper, crayons and stickers can keep both my kids (my son is almost 6) busy for a long time.
Books have always been our number one...and we have enough to keep an entire class of children occupied for a long time. Invest in some really great books.
Doodle books are great...ask for them at Barnes & Noble or some other book store. Craft supplies are great, as well.
Toys that have gotten a lot of us...not the Barbies, but all the furniture and accessories. Littlest Pet Shop ruled my house for two years. GeoTrax train sets were once fun. Right now it's dinosaurs and knights and a castle.
LEGOS! Not the sets that tell you what to build, but the nice variety sets that you can create your own things with...houses, etc.
my 3.5 yr old loves costumes. Just today he dressed as batman, then superman, then batman again, then superman again, then jammies. :) Hats, tool belt, gloves, cape, etc. This kid will dress as a cowboy one day, construction guy the next, then a superhero the next day.
He recently got a Leap Pad game. He's only allowed to use it when he's sitting on the potty trying to poop, so it's kept his attention. I'm pulling out only two stories at a time. Then will pull out the other used ones. (Craigslist!)
This week, I have watched the movie Rio (the bird cartoon that just came out) 6 times. Today was the first day we didn't watch it. And he wanted to! I just said no. The movie is funny IMO and colorful and with great music. The villian (a bird) isn't really that scary. His funniest line "I poop on people and I blame it on seagulls." I totally laughed out loud on that one. :)
Board games? He didn't like Chutes & Ladders. But he likes HiHoCherrio.
Anything with robots, superman, construction. I mean what are your GIRLS into?
I do home daycare and by far the favorite toy for kids aged 18 mos to 13 years is Magnatiles http://www.magnatiles.com
The kids start off with simple things like a mat on the floor or a simple box, but in no time they are building towers for their stuffed animals. I still have friends of my 12 year old come over and play with them for hours.
The other must have is Playmobil. Again, good for ages 3 till at least 13 and again, my daughters' friends play for hours with our collection. We now have so much that we converted part of the basement to Playmobil land.
My 5 yr old son is starting to LOVE Legoes. He'll sit for an hour or two and just build build build. Love it! He also loves it when I give him a basket of paper/markers/crayons/scissors/tape/glue/pipe cleaners/stickers/etc and just let him go to town!
My 2.5 year old daughter could watch Dora 24 hours a day! She also loves Play-doh, stickers, and playing with balloons.
Both of the kids will spend hours on their bikes/scooters on sunny days.
Ages five and three on Monday! Both boys who love art supplies and trains. They also have Imaginext pirate ships and a batcave that they play with in a variety of ways and a Little People gender neutral doll house. They love their action figures and plastic animals, and a tub or sink of water keeps them occupied for ages with those things. They also LOVE marble tracks. The oldest's kindergarten teacher said even the middle school kids will come to her room to play with hers!
My 3 1/2 almost 4 year old loves her play kitchen and little people toys. She will use those in there traditional roles as well as making up new games with them. She also like Mega Blocks, but not as much.
