The Best Toys You Won't find at Toys-R-Us

My new niece was born yesterday, and her arrival has caused me to think back on the toys my own kids enjoyed most when they were young. Many of these were classics that, while simple in nature, provided an extremely wide scope for creative play.
I have already written a post about our favourite store-bought toys, so here I will concentrate on the ones that don't come from stores.

In no particular order, here are the top favourites:

1. Graduated plastic measuring cups for use in the sandbox, lentil table and bathtub/kitchen sink. Also for use in the water: a turkey baster, which can shoot water surprisingly and delightfully far.
2. A sandbox, as big as possible, with a protective cover to keep out nasties when not in use. Supply lots of different containers to scoop and mould the sand, including yogurt, cottage cheese etc. containers of various sizes and shapes,  old cookie cutters etc. and be sure to keep a source of water nearby so the wand can be wet down with rivers and also to keep it moist for moulding. Use only sand labeled "beach sand" since many other kinds contain fine dust that can be toxic to breathe.
3. A sensory table. We used a shallow plastic bin and filled it half0way full with rice or lentils (we alternated). Providing lots of different containers, scoops etc. is a must.
4. A patch of back yard space that is ruled by kids--this can be used for digging, making mud puddles, planting things, etc. It is the kids' domain, and is one area in which you will not complain about aesthetics. One year our kids let nature take over the spot where we took out a pool. A virtual forest of 7 foot-high weeds took over, and they built mazes, construction-toy projects and a waterway through it. We had read Weslandia around that time, and they were truly inspired. At the end of the summer, the weeds turned out to have very shallow roots and we simply pulled them out. It provided many hours of creative play that my teens still talk about.
5. Free, regular access to a natural area in which little adult supervision is needed (keep it safe, but let them play and problem solve--if it isn't life-threatening, destructive or emotionally debilitating, let it be).
6. Cardboard boxes--the bigger, the better. Many appliances no longer come packed this way, but if you are resourceful and call enough furniture and appliance stores, you will likely still find some. Smaller boxes make great building blocks as well.
7. Kid concoctions, including slime, play dough, finger paints, and kid-led experiments. Some recipes can be found here.
8. Rocks, stones, sticks, shells, pine cones, trees, boulders, bushes, streams and ponds. Nature provides an abundance of toys. Bring along a bucket and a net to help look closer at water creatures.
9. Imagination. Don't discount imaginary play with children; not only does it foster creativity, it also helps them develop problem-solving skills, communication and interpersonal skills, and reflective thought. It's also lots of fun.
10. Old clothes for dress-up. You can buy "dress-up" clothing at toy stores now, but the sturdiest and most fun ones are the ones you'll find in the back of your closet or at the local Thrift Shop.

I'm sure I'll want to add more to this list, but these are the ones that come to mind first. I hope you enjoy sharing these with a special child in your life.

Time-Tested Toy Favourites

My own children are growing out of the "toy store" years, but as I prepare for the holidays, I will admit to more than a little nostalgia for those days.
There are some toys, however, that even now still get pulled out regularly. Their play value has not diminished over the years, and they have stood up to time & punishment, so I thought they deserve a special mention at this time of year for all those parents who are at the beginning of their toy journey.

Note that I have not included here non-commercial toys of great value, such as appliance boxes, tree forts, sand boxes, rice tables, dress-up trunks, art supplies, etc. Non-commercial toys will be a subject for a separate post at a later time.

1. Pattern blocks. These are colourful blocks in a variety of scaled geometric shapes. They are made of a variety of materials including wood (traditional, and sturdiest), plastic, foam, and magnets. These have been used free-form in our house to build mandalas, make pictures to illustrate stories, to work out geometry problems, for stop-motion animation projects and many other purposes too.

2. Plain (dot-free) wooden coloured dominoes & accompanying gadgets (spinner, teeter-totter, bridge, steps,  bell tunnel, etc.). There have been more domino runs built in our house than I can count, and not a week has gone by over the past 7 years that they have not some out for use. They often form part of a more elaborate Rube Goldberg machine contraption. Our Melissa & Doug set was unfortunately discontinued, so we were forced to make homemade dominoes to flesh out our set and keep up with design demands. Fortunately, another manufacturer (HearthSong) now makes a similar product.

3. Crazy Forts This tinker-toy style building set is aimed for preschoolers. It allows kids to build fort-sized contraptions while still keeping the kitchen chairs available for adult use. Just add a blanket or sheet to finish off the fort. There is also a separate LED light you can pick up that fits into a connector piece so you can light up your fort. Yes, my tween & teen still get some use from these, although they only come out every few months or so now.

4. Plain wooden blocks. The more, the better. Foam also work, but aren't nearly as rugged and are tougher to keep clean. Look for smaller sizes with lots of variety in shapes (cones, arches, pyramids, cylinders, cubes, rectangular and triangular prisms, semi-spheres, etc.).

5. I hesitate to include this as it is made of plastic, but Playmobil is still going strong in our house. My youngest uses it to model historical scenes as well as scenes from favourite novels.

6. Building sets, such as Lego, K'nex, Straws & Connectors, UberStix, etc. The key here is to buy generic sets with no theme; the themed sets we have have only seen a single use (or at most, a week's worth of play) and once the novelty wore off, the generic pieces were taken for use in more creative projects while the specialized pieces sat in storage bins. The one exception to this might be Lego Mindstorms. UberStix is especially interesting as it incorporates all major building sets along with recyclables, including plastic water bottles, shower caps, drinking straws, etc.

7. Snap Circuits These sets have a guide book that takes you through ordered projects that introduce you to basic concepts in a logical way. This includes basic principals of circuitry and safety guidelines. After that is where the real fun begins.
Hint: if you cannot find a Snap Circuits piece you want, you can connect regular wires & components to the set, but be sure to follow safety rules and size your parts accordingly. Be sure your children thoroughly understand the basics before your introduce non-Snap Circuits parts.

Do you have any favourites to add?