Are children's toys just a complete rip off?!

[whenyouwantalittlesomething]

DC is 20 months and his favourite things are still random household objects Never has he really 'played with anything'. If he did, it's always been put down very quickly.

But things not meant for him, he loves. He was absolutely contented to within an inch of his life this morning because I allowed him to have a water bottle, hand satisfier, tube of cream and a sponge.

He just lines them up, knocks them off and does the same again for ages. And then when he's fed up of that proceeds to walk around with them aimlessly in his arms.

Another favourite is a bucket full of sponges, walking around with the bucket like he's won the lottery and repeatedly just taking them out and putting them back in again.

Is anyone else's child like this? Toys aren't really very good, are they?

Under about 2.5 what you describe is exactly how children play. Toys are just objects to explore. Look up 'treasure baskets' if you want to take it further. By 2.5 though they should be able to do a little pretend play and begin to develop interests, have favourite characters etc so toys become a lot more meaningful. I agree there are an awful lot of toys marketed for babies which are totally unnecessary and expensive.

I think it depends on the kid. DS2 has been way more into toys than DS1 was. DS2 has, since about 18 months, enjoyed the toy kitchen, he likes Duplo, likes playdoh and kinetic sand, and now at 2.5 likes doing ‘tea parties’, is even more obsessed with playdoh, plays with Happyland (which to be fair was a huge hit with both my kids) and enjoys building train tracks with his big brother. I think to be honest, kids need company to enjoy toys and DS1 would either get bored with me or I would need to move on and do something else. DS2 has a sibling to play so the toys are also more interesting as a result.

In short, yes. I have four children and I can honestly say, none of them were particularly worthwhile. I only bought fancy wooden toys when they were under four, then moved onto Lego and Knex sets mostly. The majority of the Lego and Knex ended up in my vacuum.

My youngest is a baby and has a few wooden toys but prefers crisp packets and the TV remote.

Some toys are a complete rip off. I'm looking at you, LOL dolls.

DS is 2 and currently using a pack of nappies as a climbing block

I will say the one toy they all universally loved and had an attachment to is Sophie the Giraffe.

Yanbu but gets annoying when you need something they've been playing with and have to hunt through the house to find it.

That's said, dd (2.5) would play all day with a cushion, bit of cloth and maybe a spray bottle.

I have twins with ASD - one has always loved cause and effect toys, stacking toys, open ended toys, sorting and matching toys. The other stopped playing with toys completely for a year (but didn’t play with anything else either).

The best toy I’ve ever found is the Fat Brain Spin Again cogs toy - it’s perfect. Easy to operate independently, durable, no batteries and they love exploring what happens when you try different things - they’re learning about gravity, sorting by size and colour, they love it.

Fat Brain FA110-1 Spin Again Baby Toy www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B016F5QJQW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_upVnDbB6G69SM?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

This company’s toys are brilliant all round

Depends what your child likes.

My 3 year old loves putting things in bags. Handbags, lunch bags, carrier bags. She fills them with scarves, cuddly toys, plastic crockery, groceries, books and clothes and "goes on holiday."

Duplo, Lego and wooden blocks are pretty much the only other thing she reliably plays with. Oh and those football giant head collectibles (were they called Headz?) from the 90s.

That said, her big sisters love LOL dolls, Barbies, toy cars and other actual toys.

Once they started preschool at 3.5 or so they've all developed proper interests and have toys which match those interests (Paw Patrol small world play, fancy dress costumes etc.)

My 8mo daughters favourite thing is my DVD remote with the batteries taken out and today she's mostly played with a Primark shopping bag

Varies on the child I think. Dc1 wasn't particularly interested until he turned 3ish and at 4 now he's obsessed with imaginative play, playmobil, lego, dinosaurs, knights, castles, playhouse and kitchen etc.

Dc2 wants to be like him and at 13 months will copy as much as possible so is getting more use out of the toys. We were given two massive boxes of Happyland by one of dh's sisters and dc1 wasn't interested at all. Dc2 loves them already and has been fascinated by pushing the cars around, putting people in and out of vehicles and houses since around 8-9 months.

They are so expensive too. I only buy second hand and/or very sparingly. DS2 is currently enjoying a glasses case, shredding pieces of toilet paper, and anything pen or stick shaped (pens, spoons, actual sticks) And the ikea wagon that's meant to be for walking with but he crawls with it instead.

DS always liked toys. The only non toy things he liked were when I gave him tupperware/kitchen utensils to play with.
Maybe he doesn't have the best imagination? I remember being the same as a small DC...someone would give me something to play with and I'd be annoyed if it looked nothing like whatever it was meant to be...ie. no this teddy isnt a baby, its a bear!

My baby is nearly 1 and his favourite things to play with include a bottle of suncream (before I get flamed, he can't get the lid off and I obviously supervise him), empty boxes and wooden spoons.

His baby friends all have 2-3 times the amount of toys that he has but this is the way we like it. He doesn't need much!

My DD is nearly 4 and is exactly the same.

She has a playroom FULL of toys, a puppet theatre, a kitchen, dolls house, that giant Paw Patrol Lookout Tower thing, Food Truck, Ice Cream Cart, Easel.
Plus tonnes of dolls, puzzles, books, educational toys, craft stuff, a keyboard...
The list just goes on and on and on.

Yet, right now, she's sitting in front of me playing with her handbag, putting random objects in it and then taking them out again.
Another favourite game at the minute is playing with her LOL tissues - they're mini packets with the dolls on them. She lines them up as though they're dolls when she HAS THE ACTUAL DOLLS IN THE NEXT ROOM!

Most toys are over priced shit.
The worst one we ever had was a Polly Pocket car thing. Essentially it was a large plastic 'car wash' with lots of bits of trim concealed inside. So the kid is meant to get her Polly Pocket doll into its car, then put it through the car wash. It picked the bits up as it went through so it came out 'pimped' at the other end. my dd loved it. But it took her about 20 seconds to put it through the car wash, and then me ten minutes to put the bits back into the car wash so she could do it all over again.

And I was never a patient mother.