Your Child's Favorite Toys, Games, and Activities

I'm wanting ideas for future toys and games to get for
my child. When I look in toy stores, I don't see much that I think
would appeal to her.

I'd like to hear:
1. how old your child(ren) is/are right now, and
2. what their favorite toys, games, and activities are right now.

I want to know what toys or games or activities really hold their
interest at their current age (or at past ages, if you can remember).
What toys do they play with every day? What things to they love to do?

What toys or games are good for traveling in the car? What things are
good for sunny days? For rainy days? What outings are fun to go on?

I want to compile all of this information into an age-by-age
spreadsheet so that I'll have ideas of things for my child to do when
she reaches each age. She's almost 2 right now. This will save me
from purchasing toys that aren't going to be any fun for her. Thanks
for your help!

Lisa

On 2005-06-06, ParentingGal wrote:
I'm wanting ideas for future toys and games to get for
my child. When I look in toy stores, I don't see much that I think
would appeal to her.

I'd like to hear:
1. how old your child(ren) is/are right now, and
2. what their favorite toys, games, and activities are right now.

I want to know what toys or games or activities really hold their
interest at their current age (or at past ages, if you can remember).
What toys do they play with every day? What things to they love to do?

What toys or games are good for traveling in the car? What things are
good for sunny days? For rainy days? What outings are fun to go on?

I want to compile all of this information into an age-by-age
spreadsheet so that I'll have ideas of things for my child to do when
she reaches each age. She's almost 2 right now. This will save me
from purchasing toys that aren't going to be any fun for her. Thanks
for your help!

Ummm, kids differ. You are almost certainly going to end up buying
toys that aren't going to be any fun and missing toys that would have
been fun, no matter what you do. Kids develop at different rates and
have different interests---what fascinates one kid at 7 may be
suitable for another at 9. Some kids love books, others hate them.
Some kids want to run around all the time, others want to sit quietly.
There is no universal toy or game that will appeal to all kids.
Learn to watch your child and try to guess what directions she is
likely to grow in.

Furthermore, after kids go to school they may be more interested in
games and toys that their friends are interested in, which may be
quite different from the ones that are currently popular.

As a general rule of thumb, look for "open-ended" toys that allow many
different ways of playing with them, rather than just one way.
Duplo, Legos, K'nex, No-endz, and similar construction sets are
generally good, unless they are set up to make one specific model.
Dressup clothes that can be used for many functions (skirts, shawls,
capes, ...) are preferable to specific costumes.

Quite frankly, this request sounds more like a request from a
journalist trying to write an article without doing research than from
a parent---I don't know anyone who seriously proposes doing
spreadsheets to plan their toy buying years in advance. It seems such
a futile exercise.

------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus
Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz
Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics
(Senior member, IEEE) (Board of Directors, ISCB)
life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels)
Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed)
Affiliations for identification only.

ParentingGal wrote:

What toys or games are good for traveling in the car?

The best items for the car at age 2 or so were magnadoodles.
We also found magnetized storyboards with different themes --
dinosaurs, forests, oceans. Can't rememeber the name of
the toy, but it came from Smethport, PA. Anyway, it was
basically a magnetized scene onto which you could place
magnetic animals. Great for the car.

Now they just read.


Scott DD 11.9 and DS 9

Hi --

Honestly, each child is so different that although you may get some good
ideas here, don't make the mistake of purchasing ahead! toys are even
harder than clothing to get right.

Mine (both boys) still love imagination games. They started laying out
plastic picnics for me at about age 2 and now, at 7 and 9, the action
figures and castle building set are still in active use.

I'd say dolls (or the boy-equivalent) and other things that can be
animated (like stuffed animals) starting at about age 2-ish. Perhaps
some fo the lego duplos as well.

As they get older they get more interested in some specific kind of
imagination thing. It might be polly pocket dolls, or beanie babies, or
rescue heroes -- it depends upon what piques your child's imagination.

We didn't find board games to be at all interesting until 2nd grade, and
even then you need to have someone to play with. Our kids play them at
school but not at home.

In the car we don't much bother with toys. We've been doing music CDs
and books on tape for several years now.

Beyond that, it REALLY depends upon your child. Mine loved some toy
that let them see gears in action. They loved the pop-up schoolbus
that's still in the attic. They really did love that plastic food set
until they were 3 or 4 years old. The only board game they liked until
recently was Jungry Hungry Hippos, which DS#2 started playing while
still in diapers. Very action oriented.

These days the preferred toys are all various sized balls, and must be
kept OUT of the HOUSE. Sofa cushions, blankets and pillows are popular
for fort building on an indoor day. (Claaning up afterwards is NOT
popular -- they think their masterpieces should be kept around
indefinitely, even if that means the family room becomes unusable.)

Your mileage will vary considerably.
--Beth Kevles

http://web.mit.edu/kevles/www/nomilk.html -- a page for the milk-allergic
Disclaimer: Nothing in this message should be construed as medical
advice. Please consult with your own medical practicioner.

NOTE: No email is read at my MIT address. Use the AOL one if you would
like me to reply.

"ParentingGal" wrote:

I'm wanting ideas for future toys and games to get for
my child. When I look in toy stores, I don't see much that I think
would appeal to her.

I'd like to hear:
1. how old your child(ren) is/are right now, and
2. what their favorite toys, games, and activities are right now.

I think you are over thinking this. It's not possible to always score
a home run with gifts.

When my grandkids were two I tended to get them those wooden puzzles.

I once by mistake gave one granddaughter jewelry making stuff two
times. The second time the gift for her brother got mixed up with her
gifts (don't remember what it was) and she got it instead of him (her
birthday is a month before his) and she loved it, but then I had to
return her gift and get a different one for him. As a pre-teen, this
same girl (who is not a mechanical engineer working for Pratt Whitney)
asked for an erector set for Xmas, so that's what I gave her.

Up through about age 10, I try to give the family a gift of a game
that everyone can play.




grandma Rosalie

Duplo, Legos, K'nex, No-endz, and similar construction sets are
generally good, unless they are set up to make one specific model.

Just to emphasize the YYMV on this, when kid #1 got one of those
"specific model" Legos, the toy would be made up and stay that way for
many months. Kid #1 starts to take them apart and redesign them after a
couple of weeks.

In article ,
Allen McIntosh wrote:


Duplo, Legos, K'nex, No-endz, and similar construction sets are
generally good, unless they are set up to make one specific model.

Just to emphasize the YYMV on this, when kid #1 got one of those
"specific model" Legos, the toy would be made up and stay that way for
many months. Kid #1 starts to take them apart and redesign them after a
couple of weeks.


My boys also build the original model once, but then quickly dissasemble it
to salvage "good" pieces for other creations. So for us, single-model
lego kits with "cool" pieces are a better bet than the generic buckets
of bricks.

--Robyn (who should own stock in Lego by now....)

..

ParentingGal wrote:
I'm wanting ideas for future toys and games to get for
my child. When I look in toy stores, I don't see much that I think
would appeal to her.

I'd like to hear:
1. how old your child(ren) is/are right now, and
2. what their favorite toys, games, and activities are right now.

All kids are different. I've gotten things for mine I thought would be a
huge hit and they totally bombed.

Mine are boys, aged 4yo and 6yo. They like their bikes, go-cart, kiddy
trampoline, love playing outside, going to the beach to play in the sand and
water. They like going to the park and making up scenarios and stories
while they climb around on the equipment. They love to read books before
bed. The 4yo likes puzzles (never a big hit with the 6yo). Both like
magnetix. They play with legos, blocks, Lincoln logs but not a lot. The
6yo loves to cut and paste things - not so big into coloring or drawing.
The 4yo likes to draw. They like to paint but for about 10 minutes. They
like tents and forts - love flashlights and lanterns. They like play dough.
They both like to cook but the 6yo especially likes that. They like to have
tools and go around the house fixing stuff. They could tape things and tie
strings on things forever. They like to play cards and some board games.
They like to play ball - the 4yo especially. They have cars and things.
They 4yo likes stuffed animals so he has about a zillion.

--
Nikki

On 2005-06-07, Robyn Kozierok wrote:
In article ,
Allen McIntosh wrote:


Duplo, Legos, K'nex, No-endz, and similar construction sets are
generally good, unless they are set up to make one specific model.

Just to emphasize the YYMV on this, when kid #1 got one of those
"specific model" Legos, the toy would be made up and stay that way for
many months. Kid #1 starts to take them apart and redesign them after a
couple of weeks.


My boys also build the original model once, but then quickly dissasemble it
to salvage "good" pieces for other creations. So for us, single-model
lego kits with "cool" pieces are a better bet than the generic buckets
of bricks.

To confess---my son has had a few of the single-model Lego kits (he
liked the Morcia knights and some of the Harry Potter stuff), but the
overall play value seems less: after the initial flurry of building
there is a week or so of playing with the model, then nothing.
Eventually it gets taken apart for the pieces, but it would probably
be better to get a collection of the interesting pieces (trapdoors,
hinges, wheels, ...) and not bother with the over-priced specialty
kits.

Right now, his main lego interest is in building fleets of vehicles
that he plays with with a friend. (You can see some of them at
http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus/abe...hure_small.pdf) For the
fleets, it helps to have a lot of wheels, a lot of people, and a
variety of wierd-shaped parts. http://www.legoeducation.com/ is a
good source for lego spare parts.

------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus
Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz
Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics
(Senior member, IEEE) (Board of Directors, ISCB)
life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels)
Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed)
Affiliations for identification only.

In article ,
Kevin Karplus wrote:


To confess---my son has had a few of the single-model Lego kits (he
liked the Morcia knights and some of the Harry Potter stuff), but the
overall play value seems less: after the initial flurry of building
there is a week or so of playing with the model, then nothing.
Eventually it gets taken apart for the pieces, but it would probably
be better to get a collection of the interesting pieces (trapdoors,
hinges, wheels, ...) and not bother with the over-priced specialty
kits.

In our experience, the pieces that my kids value the most are hard
to get outside of the specialty kits. But we also don't necessarily
buy the huge kits -- a small kit is often inexpensive but has a
high percentage of "cool" pieces.

http://www.legoeducation.com/ is a good source for lego spare parts.

It is a cool source, especially for "technics" type pieces, but it
is definitely not inexpensive! Another source we have used when
looking for a few particular special pieces is www.bricklink.com,
which is a peer-to-peer marketplace of individuals selling individual
pieces (and some kits). When you need another treasure chest or
green gem for your latest lego-mediated fantasy adventure, it is a
good place to look. Obviously, shipping and handling costs dwarf
the cost of a small number of pieces, so we try to find a seller
with several pieces they want at once.

--Robyn
..