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marydellAs I mentioned in comments to my last Charlie post, he and his OT & PT are in cahoots to make me buy him cool toys. Furthermore, in addition to one son, I have 4 nieces, 6 nephews, and 3 great-nephews, not counting the honorary ones, of which I have a couple. So I buy a lot of toys. Here are some of our favorites.
Fisher-Price School Bus Ball Pit. You need to add a lot of balls to make it actually fun--it only comes with 25. If the picture is showing the balls that come with it, it's because they have glued them up there, not because it is actually that full of balls. We got 250 more and happiness ensued. Important: A lot of reviews say this springs leaks easily, which hasn't been our experience, but Charlie plays unusually gently with most things (a sort-of convenient side effect of hand absence), and is just one kid. So it may not be a good investment for rambunctious sibling groups.
Remo Kids Percussion Drums. We have the Tubano, which I actually got for me some years back, because it's a nice size for an adult, but it's now Charlie's and he is fond of banging on it. When he's a little older we'll figure out which sort of drum will be the best fit for his abilities and add that to the collection. Anyway these are musician-quality drums in kid sizes with nice kid-friendly colors. Most of them aren't really "toys" but some, like the lollipop drum, are small and affordable.
Mudpuppy Dress-Up Magnetic Dolls. My favorite is the World Traveller because she's ethnically vague enough to be relatable for a lot of girls. These figures are a hit with my various little nieces. The figures come in a tin that they stick to, so they are a perfect car toy.
Mudpuppy also makes a line of great vinyl sticker sets--these are like the Colorforms we had when I was a kid. Reusable vinyl stickers with a backboard to stick them on. Another good car toy, and they come in two sizes for different sizes of kids. They're for ages 3 and up so Charlie doesn't have any yet, but I've got one put away for him.
Imaginarium Foam Floor Tiles. We put these in the basement playroom so Charlie can fall down safely. They also give my tired legs a break--much nicer than walking on concrete! Per square foot, these are cheaper than the big foam floor mats from Lowe's (we put some of those in the playroom as well) and a lot cheaper than some schmancy designer-ish sets they have at Babies R Us. (Seriously, I saw a set with a boring dot design for like 70 bucks. Wha? Whereas this alphabet set is $25 and includes numbers). The letter parts of this can be popped out and chewed on, and some of them are small, so it's listed for kids 3 and up. For Charlie, I put a strip of clear packing tape across the center back of the really tempting tiles (like the 8, with it's little round parts inside the 8) so he can't pull the parts up. So far he hasn't noticed that they are separate pieces, anyway. I don't leave him alone on this, either, but that's mainly because I'm afraid he'll get into mischief with the bookcases in the room, not because of the floor tiles.
Ikea Mammut table & chairs: These are a nice height for a 3-foot-tall toddler, and easy to clean. Most play tables are shorter than this; ditto chairs.
Schleich figures: On the expensive side (compared to the bucket-o-animals type), but very nicely designed and durable, with a lot of interesting choices. Including a group of Sioux figures that look like they might not be full of fail, although the Schleich site doesn't show the Mother, girl, and boy who are available on Amazon--they just show the men and some accessories. Um, and a settler's wagon, oddly...gotta have a harbinger of doom in there, I guess. Anyway, when they sell them grouped with other figures it's Bison and wolves, rather than cowboys. Sadly, this looks kinda progressive. We don't have any Sioux but we've gotten the Knights, Fairies, and animals for various of the kids in the family and they have pronounced them good.
Playmobil Toys in all their incarnations. Charlie has a couple of trucks from their toddler line ("Playmobil 123"), and most of my nieces and nephews like the regular lines quite a lot. Not good if you don't approve of or like plastic; I am a child of the space age and plastic makes me happy. (Note: hard plastics typically do not outgas BPA, even if they have BPA in them. This is why melamine plates & cups are ok as long as you don't overheat them, while soft #7 plastics are not).
I'm also a big fan of Lego bricks, but presumably everyone is already familiar with Legos. (Mike is currently not a fan, because he knelt down on one by accident and injured his knee, ow).
Fancy Nancy is a book series that has exploded into gobs of merchandise. The books are about Nancy, who likes everything to be fancy, so uses a lot of fancy words and dresses in fancy clothes. Despite the merchandise explosion they're quite enjoyable, and they encourage vocabulary building, dress-up play, and general fabulousness. Target has a nice 18" FN doll who can probably wear clothes for American Girl dolls and others in that size range, but who costs a lot less than AG, is cute, and who has (separately purchaseable) outfits that are crazy and over-the-top, since that's what Fancy Nancy likes. There are other licensed FN dolls including a few different Madame Alexanders, and one by Robert Tonner, if you're feeling particularly spendy.
What are some of your favorite toys?
Fisher-Price School Bus Ball Pit. You need to add a lot of balls to make it actually fun--it only comes with 25. If the picture is showing the balls that come with it, it's because they have glued them up there, not because it is actually that full of balls. We got 250 more and happiness ensued. Important: A lot of reviews say this springs leaks easily, which hasn't been our experience, but Charlie plays unusually gently with most things (a sort-of convenient side effect of hand absence), and is just one kid. So it may not be a good investment for rambunctious sibling groups.
Remo Kids Percussion Drums. We have the Tubano, which I actually got for me some years back, because it's a nice size for an adult, but it's now Charlie's and he is fond of banging on it. When he's a little older we'll figure out which sort of drum will be the best fit for his abilities and add that to the collection. Anyway these are musician-quality drums in kid sizes with nice kid-friendly colors. Most of them aren't really "toys" but some, like the lollipop drum, are small and affordable.
Mudpuppy Dress-Up Magnetic Dolls. My favorite is the World Traveller because she's ethnically vague enough to be relatable for a lot of girls. These figures are a hit with my various little nieces. The figures come in a tin that they stick to, so they are a perfect car toy.
Mudpuppy also makes a line of great vinyl sticker sets--these are like the Colorforms we had when I was a kid. Reusable vinyl stickers with a backboard to stick them on. Another good car toy, and they come in two sizes for different sizes of kids. They're for ages 3 and up so Charlie doesn't have any yet, but I've got one put away for him.
Imaginarium Foam Floor Tiles. We put these in the basement playroom so Charlie can fall down safely. They also give my tired legs a break--much nicer than walking on concrete! Per square foot, these are cheaper than the big foam floor mats from Lowe's (we put some of those in the playroom as well) and a lot cheaper than some schmancy designer-ish sets they have at Babies R Us. (Seriously, I saw a set with a boring dot design for like 70 bucks. Wha? Whereas this alphabet set is $25 and includes numbers). The letter parts of this can be popped out and chewed on, and some of them are small, so it's listed for kids 3 and up. For Charlie, I put a strip of clear packing tape across the center back of the really tempting tiles (like the 8, with it's little round parts inside the 8) so he can't pull the parts up. So far he hasn't noticed that they are separate pieces, anyway. I don't leave him alone on this, either, but that's mainly because I'm afraid he'll get into mischief with the bookcases in the room, not because of the floor tiles.
Ikea Mammut table & chairs: These are a nice height for a 3-foot-tall toddler, and easy to clean. Most play tables are shorter than this; ditto chairs.
Schleich figures: On the expensive side (compared to the bucket-o-animals type), but very nicely designed and durable, with a lot of interesting choices. Including a group of Sioux figures that look like they might not be full of fail, although the Schleich site doesn't show the Mother, girl, and boy who are available on Amazon--they just show the men and some accessories. Um, and a settler's wagon, oddly...gotta have a harbinger of doom in there, I guess. Anyway, when they sell them grouped with other figures it's Bison and wolves, rather than cowboys. Sadly, this looks kinda progressive. We don't have any Sioux but we've gotten the Knights, Fairies, and animals for various of the kids in the family and they have pronounced them good.
Playmobil Toys in all their incarnations. Charlie has a couple of trucks from their toddler line ("Playmobil 123"), and most of my nieces and nephews like the regular lines quite a lot. Not good if you don't approve of or like plastic; I am a child of the space age and plastic makes me happy. (Note: hard plastics typically do not outgas BPA, even if they have BPA in them. This is why melamine plates & cups are ok as long as you don't overheat them, while soft #7 plastics are not).
I'm also a big fan of Lego bricks, but presumably everyone is already familiar with Legos. (Mike is currently not a fan, because he knelt down on one by accident and injured his knee, ow).
Fancy Nancy is a book series that has exploded into gobs of merchandise. The books are about Nancy, who likes everything to be fancy, so uses a lot of fancy words and dresses in fancy clothes. Despite the merchandise explosion they're quite enjoyable, and they encourage vocabulary building, dress-up play, and general fabulousness. Target has a nice 18" FN doll who can probably wear clothes for American Girl dolls and others in that size range, but who costs a lot less than AG, is cute, and who has (separately purchaseable) outfits that are crazy and over-the-top, since that's what Fancy Nancy likes. There are other licensed FN dolls including a few different Madame Alexanders, and one by Robert Tonner, if you're feeling particularly spendy.
What are some of your favorite toys?
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Date: 2010-01-25 07:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-25 07:54 pm (UTC)I like the books. So does my niece. :-)
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Date: 2010-01-25 08:28 pm (UTC)Dorling Kindersley now makes sticker books which are extremely beautiful (and pricy).
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Date: 2010-01-25 08:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 12:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 12:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 02:37 am (UTC)And wall mounted spinning mirrors. If you're an institution there are some great durable birch wall mounted manipulables. I bought the alphabet foam floor mats, and the really big magnet backed foam letters for my library.
Pretty much anything with magnets, actually.