Mumsnet Talk

I'm a childminder. As I was registered in 2010 I tend to buy toys as I see a child interested in a certain thing (ie at a childrens centre) or a need to help develop them in a certain way. I would like to compile a list of things that work and don't work for the child.(although what works for one might not work for another and vice versa)

Please could you put the age of your child and why you think they like/dislike the toy. Also if the toy spans varying ages helps too.

Thanks

I found the best toys are items not designed to be a toy, ie have a bag of coloured material, pegs, string, emergency blenkets etc and they can be turned into space ships, cloaks and any number of dens.
treasure baskets for different ages or textures ie a basket of brushes or shiny bangles to explore.
I ditched all my plastic noisy crap ages ago, i kept a couple of bits to tick the ict box but thats it.
Jigsaws for any age, lego for all ages, used in different ways. anything to draw with and on ie chalk on black paper or pavements.
If toys are used at the children centre then don't replicate them let them be used there.
The treasure basket book is good and also anything on holistic learning, I found some good toys on the tts website and places designed for nuseries, really good investment.
I tried to do a list ages ago and its really hard as one toy to one child is used totally different by another.

I have been very surprised by the longevity of the little plastic 'gogo crazy bones' in our house. I have a seven year old daughter and ten year old son and they have lots of fun together playing with them. They create all sorts of storylines and just fit the figures into them.
I am surprised my daughter is not really into dolls at all (as I loved them when I was a girl!)-I wonder if it is because she is the youngest and has not had much experience with real babies. She does however LOVE her toy stuffed animals. They all have names and are dearly beloved.

Sticklebricks, played with constantly from age 3-5 (girl); now son (2) is getting into them. She is just transfering to lego, although we have mega blocks they are too big, anything which is made with them is big, so precious constructions have to be destroyed which she hates. Dressing up too, just generic stuff mainly, but they still get all their stuff on to go to fairyland.

Neither of my girls have been into dolls either, they are nearly 7 and 5 now. Have had the odd sucess with a few random little dolls, but despite having real babies in the house they weren't bothered.

Playmobil - played with constantly from 2y to 8y and onwards.

5-7 lego, both genders, not kits, just bricks and boards.
8+ girl (and 6-7 boy ) Harumika. Plays non stop with it!

Wooden blocks of various sizes, colours and shapes. Played with most days at age 7 and 2 (7 year old played with since around 1.5.

Lego, Magnetix, Marble Run, Hexabits, Knex, Megablocks, Zoob and any other open ended construction material. Ds in particular has had many play miles out of these toys.

Puzzles have been really popular in this house.

Any outdoor play equipment so swings, trampolene, pole tennis etc all played with a great deal.

Books, books and more books.

Toy farm, castle, dollhouse
Garage and cars
Train track and trains

Assortment of animals and figures DS has lovingly collected from boot sales etc are played with constantly.

At 12-18 months it was hide and squeak eggs.
At almost 2 years it's his Thomas trains, ikea train set, his tea set, Lego and playmobil.