Top Ten Terrific Toy Tuesday

("Tis Tiptop Tosh, That).

Well, I've had a lot of fun putting this post together, I can tell you.

In our house, toys are Important. I have a few rules. Foremost among them is  "no batteries or your mother will go crazy". Toys should also be multi-purpose and stimulating, and well made enough to last. Most of our toys are of natural materials, but there are exceptions (a moulded plastic animal can go from tub to sandbox to mudpuddle to paint box with far less damage than a carved wooden one can. Not that I would know about that...)

After close observation and testing (ahem) both at home and at preschool, here are the Final Favourites (sorry, sorry).

In first place, it is a tie between Play Silks and Wooden Food.
Regular readers will have seen plenty of evidence of silks on this blog. They are standard dress up attire, dance assistants, baby blankets, hide-and-seek accessories (anyone else see toes in that picture?) and also inspire a great deal of flurried "fighting". They are used every single day both at home and at school. Don't you need to wear a silk cape while fingerpainting? Most of our silks are thrifted scarves (silk and hand-dyed still) from the local market. Who knew. I recommend trying to find them second-hand as they are extremely pricey new, and generally only found through Waldorf sources. Or you could always try to talk me into a swap for a few ;)

Wooden food. How many many many hours have I spent watching wooden food being carted around, buried in sand, spread out for a picnic, plonked in a "pot". Another huge hit, both at preschool and here. Ana makes elaborate restaurant plays (menu and bill inclusive), Bella arranges elegant tea parties, and the two year olds will not be convinced to keep the wooden lollies out of their mouths. Ew. Found this lovely "picnic" amongst the rocks this morning where Asher and Medea had left it (tea on the rocks, tee hee). As far as sources go, Melissa and Doug make a good introductory "four food groups set" that is widely available online and even at Target. Haba play food is expensive but great for a few fun bits like ice cream cones, lollipops and tea bags!

Wooden blocks are also great fun. We have some gorgeous maple ones my brother and I inherited as children, and a few coloured Waldorf ones as well. Little kiddies build towers. Older ones palaces, doll houses, roadways and  Eiffel Towers. My children enjoy wooden blocks more than legos (eeeek, stop with the evil eye, Laura!) because they are more open-ended and flexible.

Our best loved dolls are the soft, Waldorf ones. I had a few plastic and even other types of soft dolls in the house corner at school, but they were largely ignored. I thought the kids simply weren't interested in baby play until I happened to bring in our Waldorf dolls from home. I don't know why they are different, but they are. They get bundled around and stuffed into corners, and spend most of their lives naked, but I suppose it could be worse. I made all of our dolls, and used a kit from Weir Dolls to get started. They really are quite simple once you understand the whole head-shaping bit, and then you can make them from all sorts of things (I use t-shirts and cotton balls sometimes).

Alright, the plastic corner. Animals are much adored and in constant use. They are found in the tub, in the sandbox, all over the place, really. And they bring with them all their brilliant array of sound effects. These ones are being used to act out a Pogo comic. Safari Toobs makes affordable themed, um, tubes of animals that are available both online and in better toystores. We love the monkeys, farm animals, safari animals and dinosaurs. Who wouldn't?

The other plastic toys that will never be banned are Playmobile (anyone remember these guys?). Right now the space under the girls bed is filled with containers holding all of the Playmobile my brother and I managed to collect. It pretty much rocks. You can find it everywhere, too. My kids are fonder of the animals and setting up panoramas (igloos, campsites, etc) than they are of actually playing with the people. They are kind of strange... Especially the ones with beards. That move.

Good games are few and far between. We have bought many, including overpriced German ones, and been disappointed a lot. Except with these:

First pictured is an eeBoo game called "Storefront Bingo". We always have scuffles over the petshop, bakery and toy store. This is beautifully illustrated and sturdy, and not highly competitive (good when there are kids of different ages playing together). All three kids love this game, and haul it out regularly.

Second off is a pack of cards that lists "Party Games" according to Active, Quiet, Musical and Circle. My kids love choosing one or two and then playing them in dull moments. Sunday evening Ana actually set up a whole string of them for us to play together. I adapted this idea for school by making my own cards on scrapbook paper and keeping them in baskets (again according to Active, Quiet,etc) which the kids can draw in yet more dull moments. This may seem silly, but it sure beats trying to come up with ideas when you are tired! And who says party games are only for parties?

Finally, eeBoo's "I Never Forget a Face" memory game. We fell in love with this at a friend's house and they let us keep it. The box is not in the picture because it is now in pieces. That's how much we like this game.

The sandbox keeps coming up. Every kid needs a sandbox to muck about in, or at least a pile of dirt. We also keep big buckets for water play nearby (regular readers will know about these, too). More everyday things.

Cars are one of those things that you sort of take for granted. But here are the ones we use the most:

A large red one made from foam(!) and wood by Plan toys that is the perfect size for taking dollhouse dolls or plastic animals cruising  (I think you can find this online).

A collection of matchbox/ diecast cars that are yet another relic from my childhood. Nothing, but nothing, crashes and slides under the couch like a good old matchbox.

A big dump truck for hauling *stuff*. Soft animals, silks, other cars, wooden food... This one was Asher's birthday present.

This may seem strange, but trust me here. Baskets, boxes, bags and tins. These are used all the time and in all sorts of ways to carry, organise, hide and collect. Some of our boxes are those ones that clementines come in, a lot of our bags are simple ones I made from worn-out linen pant legs cut into pieces and then sewn up on one end. Quite a few of the tins are from those expensive German games no one would play. Bah.

And finally, art supplies. A roll of butcher paper (we bought ours at Cosco when Ana was one and a half and it's still going strong), buckets of coloured pencils and markers, and a case of crayons (yes, I keep them in a case so I can find them and they aren't all broken-- I'm neurotic)  are always out. We use plain old crayola supplies. I used to have beeswax crayons but the kids found them awkward to use and they kept getting eaten.

Older ones have access to glue, scissors, graphite pencils and tape, too. Play dough with rollers and cutters (if you use the tin ones, for heaven's sake make sure they're not the sharp kind. Just hypothetically, you know), and plastecine are also always on hand.

I keep watercolour paper and paint, as well as finger paints but they do have to ask for these. The older kids are also free to use any of my sewing and craft supplies with permission. I don't like keeping oodles of glitter and popsicle sticks and pompoms around because I find it overwhelms the children, and they get so caught up in the "stuff" they rarely end up developing actual skills. We do crafts, but generally they are more guided, and we do them together (ie- peg people, flower fairies, thumbprint art, etc). Also, the older kids are really enjoying a few "How to Draw" type books. Ed Emberly's are always fun, but a few less cartoony, more perspective and geometry oriented ones are also greatly appreciated. Ours are from Usborne, but I'm sure there are many available.

Okay, and just because, I'll let you in on a few of our, er, stranger toys. We keep a basket of socks for sliding around on the tile floor. We collect mountains of things like seeds, rocks and bits of string and then deposit them in strange places. We deposit bouncy balls for random "findings", too. And our nature corner is full of things like feathers and lizard skin and butterfly wings.

Phew! That was more than ten, wasn't it?

So, here's what I'm thinking. If the rest of you would like to post your favourite toys, please do! Then let me know and I will add a list of links to everyone else's posts  on the right hand side of my blog. Sound good?

I think I need some biscuits and a nap...

Comments

[kirsten]

wow, excellent post - and good timing - before Christmas!
i love your silks! thanks for idea of getting them secondhand. that's one of those 'i should have thought of that' ideas.
i'm excited because my kiddos are getting playmobil for christmas this year. my daughter LOVES that size of figure and i like playmobil way better than 'pollys'.

[CrystalT]

I love seeing the favorite toys. Thank you so much for sharing!!

[Georgia]

Whew! That was a post. Good fun though. My link:
http://earthgypsies.blogspot.com

[Sue]

Can we come over? Great post describing great fun. I have been lurking for quite awhile now but I just couldn't resist leaving a comment today. We are far away in Connecticut and my 6 yr. old fella and I love checking your blog. The pictures and stories are always lovely. He is actually starting a unit on Africa this semester...all very exciting. Keep up the wonderful posts.

[laeroport]

What a great post! We have so many similar toys at our house. But we also have trains. Lots of trains. And more coming soon. We have grandpa to thank for that.

[capello]

the only reason why i could possibly comprehend why your kids like blocks more than legos is the ease of destructablity.

good list (other than missing legos, of course).

[Angela]

Super list. I'm going to have a hard time with my top ten since most of them are ones you already wrote. Hmmmm....I'll have to look around again now. Thank you for sharing.
You rock. :)

[amy h]

Great list! These are just the sort of things I'd like for my daughter. We're just starting to accumulate more toys (she's 18 months). This will come in handy!

[Kristy]

Great list of favourites.I agree with the boxes and bags we must have dozens.Plastic animals are a must too!

[Amy]

I enjoyed reading your toy list and had fun picturing your lovely children and their friends playing with everything. I will try to work on a mini list of my own but I must admit we probably don't have too many more things of quite such a wholesome nature to add to your great list.

I haven't been over to your blog in ages (thanks Angela for reminding me) but I always enjoy your perspective.

[molly]

our favorite toy lists are very similar...when we moved from our house into the place on my g'parents farm, we really had to downsize. we started with toys and only brought the absolute favorites. a lot of these toys made our list, too.
I've been wanting to find some good games for the girls for christmas so I'm going to check out your eeboo suggestions. we have their domino cards and alphabet game which are fun, too!
thanks for this great post.
(and happy belated 200 posts. wish i could have been there to wish you well on the right day!!)

[Harriett]

Funny - I was just photographing Cullen playing with some of our Playmobil this weekend. And we already have some tucked away for Christmas this year. We found wonderful wooden food with velcro to mimic "cutting" that the kids love.
Great suggestions for all kinds of play.

[The Weekend Warrior]

That post was great - very useful info for me - thank you!

[Mirre]

I love this post :)
Wonderful toys you have!

[Courtney]

I didn't comment when you posted this, but I've had it checked in my bloglines ever since to re-read, and I wanted to thank you for a great post. We have many of these toys, and wanted to mention that costumes are my (3 year old) son's favorites, he loves his little Waldorf doll (we got a small one from Nova Naturals) and he has always loved cars- which I absolutely never would have encouraged! He also has Plan City which he seems to like better than his Brio train set (although they are made by the same company). I love your blog, I sort of live vicariously through you. I have always had a fascination with Africa. Also, thanks for the tip about Weir Dolls, they are local to me.

[music]

very interesting.
i'm adding in RSS Reader

[bracha silverman]

i have about 50 plastic poker chips, the cheapest you can buy at the everything store. they stack into towers, for the babies to knock down, they come in 3 colors for those bigger children who want to make different colored towers, they make lovely clicking sounds, and clean up is easy, too.