To just HATE "bring a toy" days at my DC school?

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They're so frigging fraught!

My DC don't have an awful lot of toys. They're ten and 6 and they have things which are mainly made up of loads of pieces and are craft based or they're soft toys, dolls, houses etc.

The older one has a tablet.

What on earth do yours take? We just don't DO board games!

Seems like a very aimless use of school time to me.

No I agree with you New! I think they'd be better of doing some sort of organised craft or sport activity!

I didn't like mine taking anything decent to school, but I bought a cheap version of twister called pasta panic.
As for board games, mine get at least 2 every Christmas, this year it's Guess Who Extra and a frozen one.
Not all board games are boring!
Orchard Toys do some fun things like shopping list, crazy chefs, cupcake, pigs in pants.
We have some good games, some of the favourites include piranha panic, Disney Princess magic wand game, uno robot, connect 4, funny bunny, nibble nibble, tugging puppies, looping Louie, Disney scrabble, plus orchard toy ones mentioned and some of their more traditional ones like pop to the shops.
its not all dice and counters you know!

Ooh I forgot magic tooth fairy!

These are all the games they play when friends come as well.
Someone bought them monopoly, which we've only played once as it went on for hours!! My girls are 10 and 6.

Mad-Libs would be good.

Pack of playing cards (50p) or uno or top trump cards.

supermarket version of snakes and ladders, draughts, ludo, jenga, memory, pick up sticks, jacks etc...

See it as an 'investment' for years to come...

Car boot sale - get a couple of board games at a few pence (Guess Who? Connect 4, Twister). Store under bed for Bring-a-toy-to-school-day.

Our school.doesn't do it, thank God. My boy would just want to take some paper and a pen, the oldest would just roll her eyes at not being allowed her tablet and the youngest would want to take everything she owns.

I knew that someone would call it an aimless use of school time! The classroom does need to be cleared at the end of term. It is great fun for the children who love it. Adults like a bit of time off and relaxation so I don't know why children should be kept at the grindstone the entire time! Everyone is tired, especially with school productions. They may even like board games if they play someone else's game!

Mine are 10 and 8 and have neve taken anything in (that I know of). There's plenty of things to go round. I certainly wouldn't be spending money on something new for it to get lost or broken at school!

And yes, I know, if everyone thought like that these days wouldn't happen ... but would that really be such a bad thing! ;-)

So who would clear the classroom? The teacher I expect on his/her own in the holidays without any children to help! The children might be a bit upset not to get to take all their Christmas artwork etc home.

Wilkinson a do,a,great range of cheap version games. They have 'don't say it' for (£5 I think) ATM.

We have loads of games, there are plenty that aren't dice/counters/boards, you might like those better. How about rapidough, connect4, battleships, operation, guess who? I have the same gap between my oldest and youngest, although they're 8 and 4, and they can play operation together happily (youngest has one extra 'buzz' allowed).

We always played family board games and my younger brother is 6 yrs younger than me- it didn't half quicken him up! He was way ahead with mental arithmetic. It was the best part of Christmas, having the full attention of both parents as we played.

Jenga is a great idea. Not that ours is ever used for playing jenga. They use it in combination with kapla blocks to build houses, pyramids, stages etc. Must show them sometime how to play properly, I doubt that the younger two can remember!