Do your 2 &3 year olds play with their toys????

[MilaMae]

Mine don't and I'm wondering what I've done wrong. Actually it's more my 3 year old twin boys, my 2 year old daughter is better. They have lovely toys all age appropriate;-

ELC Happyland
Thomas wooden train set
wooden farm
Go Tools
Duplo zoo
Duplo Bob
Duplo train
wooden Noah's Ark
threading stuff
Pat Snap Trax
various cars etc
garage
Aqua draw
dressing up clothes

1 just likes reading books, puzzles and fiddling with steros, dvd players etc the other used to love his Thomas train set but he doesn't really play with that for long now. I'm wondering if we bought toys that were too babyish, should we have bought more plastic crap,if we don't organise it right or what. I wonder if it's a twin thing(ie they'd rather annoy each other) or what???? Really need some tips from mums who have kids who do play with their toys. How you set it out, get them going etc. We live in a small house with no playroom so that doesn't help. I'll admit I was a primary school teacher so maybe have too high expectations. Counting down til next birthday(Sep)so we can get some Playmobil, if that doesn't work I'm giving up.

[schneebly]

I have a 3yo and a 2yo and they dont play muh with their toys really! They prefer to make things up or play with 'real' things. I dont mind this though as I like to see them using their imagination!

[dingolimpet]

Mine don't really, but have find if you put things away in an array of plastic boxes, then get one out every now and again, they are amused for hours. Just keep rotating the tubs.

[ellieandhattie]

my 2.7 will play with her toys now and again mainly her kitchen/food/tea set but will constantly ask for me to play with her. She has no patience for puzzles/coouring but generally she has a low boredom threshold, the last few days she has asked for her mega blocks and pop onz and spent a fair while building towers etc but gets so stressed out if the tower falls over and ends up having a bit of a meltdown. She normally ends up next to me so if I am dusting she has a empty tin of polish and duster and does it if I am washing up she stands on chair and watches etc etc hoping she'll get better when she starts preschool in april

[gladbag]

My ds (just 3) will play with toys like that for about 20 mins on his own (except his kitchen, which he will play with for hours, especially if there is real water involved for washing up/pouring). If he has a friend here, or if dh or I actually play with him, then it lasts much longer.

I've found that he does play better with stuff if we've spent some time sort of modelling it together (making different things with construction stuff, showing him what to do, role-playing with his garage and cars, or animals etc). He'll also play for longer if I actually give him a stimulus (putting number cards down around his train track so he can drop off his cargo at different places, can he make a car for his Bob the builder figure, can he use his building blocks to make a space for all the different animals etc etc). I was/am an early years teacher, and I do sometimes feel like I'm being too structured and teachery, but it does keep him busy, and as an 'only' he needs to play by himself sometimes. HTH

[niccij]

my 2yo daughter loves playing plasticine,as long as i help her.if i iron,she'll get her toy ironining board and help. same when i'm cleaning she goes round with a cloth and tells me what to do x she also loves dressing up and putting clips in her hair.apart from that she doesn't play with much else.although i do swap her toys about so she has a different variety to choose from x

[throckenholt]

not a lot to be honest. We have a lot of toys that stay in the cupboard. Anything that does get played with in terms of their favourite theme - in our case tractors - eg they turn toy lego men into "muck" and haul it around in trailers .

Mine are now 4 and 5 and it is still the same. And it is not a twin thing - my twins are pretty much the same as DS1 in this case.

Basically they only play with things if they really fit with their view of the world and it is pretty much impossible to tell before hand which things actually will.

[LucyJones]

My ds has simliar toys to you, but he plays mostly with 3 or 4 little people animals - putting them in cars and following them about. He also plays with dinosaurs.
But he'd much rather help sort the washing or do the washing up!!

[Lovecat]

dd (2.1) plays endlessly with her teaset and toys, will spend hours arranging her cuddlies and dollies in straight lines and then either putting them to bed or giving them tea - I was mildly worried about this until I spoke to other mothers at the nursery and their kids do exactly the same - they're just copying what they do during the day. She also orders me into the game if she thinks I'm just sitting about drinking tea or reading the newspaper (god forbid!)

She also loves books esp. lift-the-flap ones (she doesn't get pop up books any more as she has a tendency to destroy them in an attempt to see how they work), doing her alphabet jigsaw (but that's a recent development) and messing about with paint, playdough, water or real dough (we do gingerbread men baking/decorating sessions).

She also has duplo, a shedload of ELC/fisher price men/animals/toy castle/trebuchet (I have a thing about the medieval...), toy cars, a rocking horse, toy supermarket and various noisy plastic gizmos which get ignored unless we actively play with them with her or one of her friends comes round and then if they want to play she'll join in with them.

But, mainly when her friends are around or she goes to visit them, her favourite game with them is chase round the house with/without dollies pushchair/supermarket trolley (we have interlinking rooms so they can do a circuit) or mess about with a bowl of water and cups/bottles/boxes, so I'd imagine that if your two have each other, then they probably don't need the toys as much....?

[Laura032004]

DS1's favourite toys (he's 3 next month) are:

Marble run (needs us to set up)
Farmyard (prefers us to help him set up)
Bob the Builder vehicles
Garage, cars & road mat
Wooden train set (now glued to a board so no set up required)
Tool set & construction toys (needs help with construction toys)
Kitchen & tea-set
Playdough (prefers us to play with him)
Duplo/building blocks
Playmobil pirate ship
Jigsaws (needs us to help him until he 'learns' them)

Once they're set up, he will play independently for an hour or so. Also have games & domino sets, but they are put away, and only come out when I get them out. Have shed loads of plastic cr@p hidden away upstairs. Would really like to throw it all away, but feel too guilty. Will also happily play with DS2's toys for hours (DS2 is 8m old!)

[Tamz77]

No, hardly at all. He's 3.5 and an only child. He likes pushing cars around, building his marble run, playing on his keyboard and doing play-doh, but that's about it. He would rather be playing in the sink, baking, or listening to a CD/watching TV.

TBH it's mostly because of me; I am not very good at joining him on the floor for mindless car crash games, and being a single mum he has to entertain himself while I am cooking, cleaning, washing up etc. I prefer to be out and about 'doing' stuff eg I am good at taking him to groups, soft play, the park, biking, cinema etc. As a result our out and about stuff costs me a fortune and he has loads of toys gathering dust.

Don't think it's a bad thing really I think going to the park and pretending to be pirates together or doing a dance class together or even buying popcorn and seeing a film together are at least equal in value to playing with toys at home.

[Tamz77]

Have to justify my 'watching tv' comment he only watches Milkshake while I have a bath in the morning and maybe a few episodes of Tom & Jerry or Button Moon on DVD later on in the day eg while I cook, that's it. I don't watch TV, we didn't have one until he was 2.5 and I seriously limit his watching.

[Laura032004]

Agree with going out comment Tamz77. I much prefer to be out with DS1. He does 3 sessions a week at nursery, we do a gym class, go to a soft play centre twice a week, to a NT type gardens place and the local park once a week each. Also see friends around 2/3 afternoons a week. He is only really in the house by 'himself' (without company) for about one morning & afternoon a week. He also spends a lot of time in the garden weather permitting (have a TP climbing frame, slides, sand pit, play house, trikes & sit on and push around toys plus balls, golf-set, frisbee etc.

[Laura032004]

And he also loves his telly!

[OrmIrian]

Gawd no! Apart from a vast collection of plastic animals. Played with everyone else's toys (went down well...not!) and the stuff in the kitchen cupboard, the cat and anything that he found in the garden But now (at just 4) he is starting to play with all the blardy expensive Playmobil that we've been buying for years.

[VoluptuaGoodshag]

Nope.

DS always made a beeline for a neighbour's brio train set. We got him one for his birthday dreaming of endless hours of peace but he hardly touches it. I don't put out all the toys at once and bring down different ones to ring the cnages but they are still not that interested. Colouring and drawing keep their interest the longest (20 mins-half an hour) but they've started to play more with each other at hiding and chasing and generally careering around like nutters.

Am seriously considering ditching most of the toys now as I'm fed up standing on them and constantly clearing them up. And we don't have that many. A neighbour has literally piles of different toys everywhere but it doesn't seem to make any difference how much or how little you have. Tis all to do with imagination I think.

[emat]

dd and ds only play with toys when other children come over.

[MilaMae]

Thanks for all the info, reassuring and useful. I prefer to be out and about too and rarely give them time to get bored( would be a total nightmare believe me) but maybe thinking I need to a bit more. Gladbag and Dimplo like your ideas. Have to admit I've actually drawn up a plan for the MONTH they've got off at Easter-saaaad I know but once a teacher. I must do more of the lying down and playing bit too but I'm just so busy. Bet mine are going to be the only kids not entranced by Playmobil. Thanks again

[florenceuk]

My DS was never very interested in his toys - mostly he liked books, TV, and drawing/crafty stuff. Oh and playdough, and digging holes in teh garden. He was a bit of a nightmare actually, hardly ever did independent play unless it involved mud, sticks and rocks. DD is much better, loves her plastic food, bags, trolley, kitchen, megabloks, plastic animals, etc etc. She is not so good when its just me and her (she wants me to play with her) but if left to her own devices will play with just about anything. And the two of them play together very well. Personally I'd avoid anything with little bits as they just go missing.