Gabe’s birthday is in less than two weeks, which got me thinking about toys. How many toys is too many? What kinds are the best? What toys get the most mileage? And so on. (We actually already got him his birthday present – a wooden balance bike, sort of like this. It was reduced to $26 after Christmas last year. Score!).
My personal philosophy of minimalism and reducing clutter (and living in a fairly small apartment) means we try to keep the toy clutter to a dull roar. When I was reading Simplicity Parenting, the author wrote a chapter about toys that I found incredibly helpful. Some of his guidelines were:
– Reduce the number of toys and increase the amount of open space.
– Toys should leave room for imagination. That is, there is more to do more than just push a button.
We reduced the toy clutter a bit and tried to keep most toys that will last and foster Gabe’s imagination. Here is our living room (/dining room/home office/playroom):
And here is the toy situation:
Books on top, trucks, musical instruments, and random toys on bottom. (The cube on the far right is for his shoes so he can put them away and take them out himself.)
His toy cabinet – blocks, toddler Legos, a chunky puzzle, two pushing toys, a nesting stacker, play tools, train tracks, and a car track.
And his (fairly messy) bedroom:
A table to color and draw, some more books, and a plastic cube noise-making thing. (And aparently my child can never wear both pants AND a shirt.)
Since we have limited toy capacity, I’d love to add to his collection thoughtfully and with toys that stand the test of time – toys that he’ll use for a long time and that help him learn or spark his budding imagination. I’m going to share our favorite toys and ask for the same from you!
Gabe’s tried-and-true favorite toys:
Some toys he’s enjoyed for a year or more.
– These trucks. And this awesome truck-car set.
– Brio train set.
– The walker.
– Books.
– Water play outside (I have a giant shallow Rubbermaid container and several squeeze bottles for him on the balcony).
And plenty of not-actually-toys – such as cellphones, the tea kettle, the handheld mixer (?? weird kid), and the computer mouse.
What about you? If you have kids, what were/are their favorite toys? And if you don’t (and are still reading – YOU’RE AWESOME), what toys do you remember loving the most from childhood?
(Mine was a doctor’s kit with a toy thermometer, stethoscope, and a blood pressure cuff – hours of fun!)
Glad to see I’m not the only one who lets their kid play with a mouse. ;) We had an extra universal remote that she also loves. I’m really just going to start showing up at birthday parties with go phones and remotes.
Ahh! I had that doctor’s kit too! I also remember LOVING playing with blocks – simple wooden blocks. I would spend hours building things and knocking them over!
Eli is only nine months, so he’s a little limited in terms of what he can play with. He loves balls, soft blocks, a car he can push around, stacking barrels and his “tool set”. We try really hard to choose toys that stimulate his imagination and our general rule of thumb is avoiding toys that require batteries. Obviously there are some exceptions to that – he has a dragon that he can push around when he starts walking that makes noises as you push it, and his Exersaucer was full of lights and sounds. But we have friends whose living rooms are FULL of things that light up and play music and when Eli goes over he acts completely overwhelmed by it all! He’s also scared of his remote control car :)
We have a basket of toys in the living room and one in his room. The rest are put away, and we just rotate them every week or so to keep things fresh without having to buy new toys constantly.
I loved TinkerToys and Lincoln Logs (and when I was a kid, both were made of wood).
The Girl (who turns 18 this year… not quite sure how that happened) probably liked her stuffed animals best at that age.
My little nephew has a Vet’s kit that he loves – it has both animals AND doctor’s toys!
I was going to recommend the unit blocks, but then I saw that you already have them. The thing I didn’t see is rectangles of cloth — blankets/capes/headwraps/ whatever-he’s-imagining-now. Those are the FIRST things my grandchildren — girls and boys alike — tend to drag off the shelves. They certainly don’t have to be playSILKs, but some hemmed hunks of fabric will be worth their play-weight in gold.
Topher has SO MANY toys – he’s the first grandchild on my husband’s side, so to say he’s spoiled is to put it mildly. I try to rotate them every month but our house is still cluttered with toddler toys, most of which he rarely plays with. Some of his favourites – that he consistently plays with! – are his doll stroller (I found him a blue one. My husband was not impressed, but oh well :D), a dump truck, foamy letters/letter magnets, and an art easel that’s a chalkboard on one side and a white board on the other.
Our foster kiddos love the etch-a-sketch!
My doctors kit was loved too- and my play kitchen was big also. It’s hard with kids because they may love it one day and then never play with it again. In my classroom I keep it to mainly legos, blocks, some play food in the dramatic play area and some race cars. A toy I absolutely love that I think Gabe would like soon(ish) are called Magna Tiles, they are REALLY fun type of blocks basically that you can make into so many things.
I hope when I do have kids my house is not a cluttered mess!
You know, I can’t remember many of my toys. I remember the one I wanted but never got (a Magic Nursery Baby!) but not the ones I actually had. Terrible! I didn’t have a great imagination as a kid when it came to toys; I read & wrote & did crafts far more than I played with anything. I sucked at playing house & school & all of that, & I never liked Barbies, though I swore I needed that Magic Nursery Baby… One of my favorite things was a giant cardboard house that a friend won from a grocery store (?!). We didn’t even do anything in it, really. We colored the outside of it & then put a lamp inside & would sit in there for hours reading books & playing board games.
My son’s (14mo) favorite toys are:
– Small trucks he can push around
– A kids couch that transforms into a bed to climb over, sit on, lay on, jump on,etc.
– A walker he can put things into to carry around
– Plastic containers to put things into
– A Fisher Price Little People car track, the ‘traveler’ version
– Cardboard books
Making this list made me realize he has far too many toys he never uses! I’m going toy purging right this minute. Thanks for the inspiration, great blog! :)
I love you for writing this post, Ashley. I’ve been harping on our toy situation for a while. We think we’re one and done as far as kids go, so I have no problem giving away clothes when Gavin grows out of them, but toys? I can’t let go. Weird. We have bins of baby toys he never touches. And even the age-appropriate toys? He’s pretty meh about them. He loves his harmonica and drum (rock star in his future? Maybe!). But, he’s pretty lukewarm on pretty much everything else we have, unless it’s not for him. He loves going through our kitchen cabinets, opening (and climbing in) our dishwasher, playing with a pot of water and a big spoon at the sink and helping Sweets grill on our balcony. And what makes Gavin the most happy? Time spent outside … throwing balls, riding his Strider bike (just like Gabe’s, only in metal), exploring the garden, pulling grass/weeds and doing anything involving water. Gavin is ACTIVE – I wish there was a toy for that. =)
Right now, the boy’s favorites are an empty root beer bottle (he carries this with him everywhere…EVERYWHERE), a shape sorter (nothing ever gets sorted), and a set of nesting cups. We don’t have much space for anything else, so I’m glad he has such small favorites. I’m also hopeful that this lasts a good, long while.
Simplifying toys can be a wonderful experience for families. In my experience it has a lot to do with how much time you actually spend at home. IF your kid goes off to school/ preschool you might make due with just a handful of toys. If you are home most of the time you need a few options to rotate ;-) Great post!
My children have a lot of toys, but they always play with duplo. We got lots of it and my oldest make the greatest things with it; house, castle and many more. My toddler mostly play with the duplo dolls and animals. To be honoust, If i would throw everything out exept duplo, play kitchen, wooden trainset and crafts (and for the oldest some playmobil/lego) they would be just as happy.
My favourite toys were lego (fabuland), ghostbuster dolls/monsters and anything to draw with. And above all i loved climbing in trees with my friends. :)