Most cost effective toys in your home

[kavalkada]

Posting here for traffic.

Last week I got a big delivery box and my kids (six year old and two year old) spent all week playing with empty box and with the help of pillows and blankets made a castle. Their room is full of toys they almost never play with, some of them very expensive and I had to save a lot to give them (hot wheels garage, I'm looking at you). So, what are the toys you do not regret having and what are those you could throw away in a minute and nobody would notice.

Most effective in our home:

1. board games (yesterday we played three games of ticket to ride, happy, happy mum)
2. bicycle
3. ball
4. paper, coloring books and crayons (my two year old loves them)
5. soft toys (for sleeping at night)
6. hidden pictures magazine
7. books
8. tablet (although I should have probably put that damn thing on the first place)

Least effective:

1. Hot wheels everything
2. LEGO - my son hates it, and we'll see if my daughter will be interested
3. puzzles - my son will do one only one if I ask him, but I like them, so...
4. dolls
5. hundreds pf plastic toys that are forgotten the moment we open them
6. NERF everything
7. arts and crafts

and everything else in our room.

Most effective
Trampoline
Hot wheels
Stacking cups
Door bouncer (when they were little)
Sticker books
Aquadraw

Least effective
Sylvanians
Spirograph
Remote controlled cars

Duplo- very much a favourite of 9 year old.

Playmobil

Poor value

Lego- make the set and keep as a model or break it up and never use as it’s designed for the set.

Sylvanion families- never played with

We are fortunate to have a huge playroom but that also meant lots and lots of toys. I find that as they get older there is less of the plastic stuff and more one item things. My ds was first and was really spoilt , with dd she plays with all the stuff we have. I really am more mindful about things we buy now. Most of our family and friends ask before hand what they want or like so we are able to choose better.

Do you remember when LEGO was creative and fun instead of being a glorified jigsaw?

Best
A packet of pompoms which cost about 1.49 from Hobby Craft
Magnetic tiles
IKEA toy kitchen

Worst
Balance bike
Puzzles

Brio
Britain’s farm although both of those were hand me downs
Sandpit, logs,stones, plastic dinosaurs
Odd chosen items of plastic tat will get played with constantly for a couple of weeks.

If you have a toy they are not currently playing with, put it in a bag by the front door to go to the charity shop.

They will sniff this out like blood hounds, drag it out of the bag and play with it exclusively for two weeks 😂.... Better value achieved.

Seriously though mine have played endlessly with lego, duplo, brio, playmobil and wooden kitchen. Large plastic paw patrol toys not really played with at all.

Wooden trains and train set. Between the two Dc, I think this has been played with almost daily since 2010. I’ve spent an absolute fortune in it over the years though - it’s got to be in the region of £1500.

Playmobil was the biggest waste for us. It has been played with a lot during a very short period, so nowhere near value for money.

Lego gets played with constantly in this house, so would be high on the list for good value.

The best value things are the items I thought of as plastic tat. The PJ masks playset, the Ben 10 characters, spiderman - the stuff they really wanted, basically, rather than the stuff I wanted!

I have one DC who changes dressing up outfits multiple times every day, and his dressing up outfits are better value than his normal clothes. And one DC who wears an outfit once and then never again.

We also have a large bin lorry toy that is still being played with 5 years on.

Most

dolls house

Use a toy library like Whirli, OP. I've tried lots of very expensive toys through that, found DD wasn't fussed at all and returned them.

Cheap pushchairs are a huge favourite for my DD’s and seeing them taking them a little walk is so cute too. Most vtech toys with buttons and lights etc have been a waste except one sharped like a boat. We also have too many soft toys, mine are fans of little plastic things they can put in bags and containers.

3yo DS

Most:

Paw patrol toys, go jetters jet pad, octonauts toys - he plays with these daily (and I once vowed he’d only have open ended wooden toys! HA!)

Cars - he’s recently discovered matchbox

Dinosaurs

Books

Train set

Least effective:

All his beautiful wooden toys, that in hindsight were really for me

Arts and crafts - he’s just not interested

Wobbel board - played with it for a few weeks when he got it, it just sits there now

I do a toy rotation which I find helps stuff get love - I keep a box under the stairs and swap a few things every few weeks. That also means he doesn’t have an overwhelming amount of toys out. Anything he plays with daily is always out, if it’s something he’s not touched for a long time, it goes to charity/eBay

SarahBellam you must be looking at the wrong Lego sets if you don't think it's creative
Over the years (she is almost 13) my daughter has probably got most play from her dolls (Baby Born etc), 1000s of beads, random toys from McDonalds, hot wheels, 10 million felt tip pens and stickers, various Nintendo consoles.
Oh and yes...a giant cardboard box.

DS7

If I am honest the switch - but we play a lot of games as a family on it and he has used it to play with friends during lockdown.
Colouring stuff
Pokemon figures - hours of free play from them
Stuff toys
Board games - cluedo, monopoly

Waste of time

Lego
Playmobil
All garden toys he would rather be at the park

Most cost effective are the secondhand books I buy for him. He loves them. Least effective is a £40 playmat I got when he was 2 months old. He was a very early shuffler and crawler and so didn’t want to use until recently (he’s 16 mths old now) - it’s now the place where be sits and cuddles his teddies lol

Most:

Arts and crafts stuff, we have tonnes and it all gets used. Especially chunky chalk for drawing on the patio, paint, glue, coloured paper and stickers.
Balls, especially bouncy balls.
A slinky - it goes everywhere with us atm!
Dressing up clothes
Plastic animals
Balance bike and scooter are used daily.
Loads of blankets and pillows for making dens.
A hammock in the garden, dc play with it for hours.

Least:
Wobbel/balance board, barely looked at.
Plastic tat, especially a racetrack.
Pirate ship.

Most effective
Balance board (second hand)
Wooden railway (lots of it second hand)
Lego and other building based toys
Puzzles

Pointless
Stuffed toys
Remote control vehicles.

My kids loved Lego but the sets were a waste because they built their own stuff, mostly hotels for the dolls from their dolls house! They enjoyed making room layouts, neither have become architects though one is an engineer

I conclude from these lists that every child is different!!!

Hmm. 3.5 year old.

Most:
Duplo (I bought a job lot for £20 for a mountain of it with figures and cars)
Toy kitchen - played with daily after over two years
Balloons

Hon mention: The Tupperware drawer

Least:
Any stuffed toy (though they are starting to get a bit of use now in imaginative play)
Puzzles
Card games

I have grandchildren now and I can report that duplo, dolls house and sylvanians have stood the test of time as they are now being played with 30 years later. Sad that Lego is all about kits now and maybe not so creative.

Best:

• sleich(sp) animals
• duplo
• animal hospital
• marble run
• old board games from when I was young

Worst

• dolls house (DD1 no imagination, DD2 more interested in animals)
• anything fiddly (both girls had motor skills issues)

Over the years

Most effective

Cardboard box
Lego - mine play with it all the time
Arts and crafts
Swing
Football
Bikes
Musical instruments
Jigsaws

Least effective

Most plastic stuff
Themed stuff
Whatever is the latest thing
Dolls
Stuffed animals

Most-
Lego / duplo - all 3 love it
Dolls house
Craft
Colouring books
Puzzles & jigsaws
Wooden Train set
Cars
Dinosaurs
Action figures

Least-
Character specific toys usually bought by family at Christmas / birthdays / peppy pig sets etc