My 2.9 year old doesn’t have enough toys?

[Toffee2]

I recently visited a friends and the house was full of toys in every room. It was a bit too much for me but I left feeling guilty my son didn’t have half the toys.
He has

• A bus
• A Police car
• 3 dinosaurs
• A wooden puzzle
• Books
• Crayons and colouring books
• Tonies box
• Building blocks
• Handful of teddies
• Garden digger and ride on car

Am I going crazy?
It’s his birthday in a couple months and haven’t a clue what else to buy him. FTM mum here so clearly got too much time on my hands !

Have you tried to look for a local toy library?

For bigger toys which children grow out of or get bored with

I have to know

Do you mean 2.9 as in 2 year 9 months or 2.9 as in .9 of a year so 2 years nearly 11 months?

Doesn’t seem enough to me but I was a sahm and lockdown hit when my oldest started school nursery so we needed more things. If your son is at nursery a lot then you would need fewer toys.

I would look at different areas your not meeting at the moment or where you could have more eg board games (orchard games are great), maybe more complex construction toys (magnetic tiles), more small world (farm animals, dinosaurs, elc happy land), more crafts and mark making (pens - crayola washable, paint, scissors, paper, glue), role play (outfits, doctors or building sets), gross motor skills (balls, bike, scooter), sensory play (playdoh, kinetic sand, tuff tray style activities you can do this in a washing up bowl).

I'm forgetting about other things like we have a mud kitchen in the garden and also bath toys.

Bath toys are great because we also use various scoops and containers in the sand pit or out in the garden too.

He also has a little tin in his bedroom that he calls his "treasure tin" and he puts things in that he finds like shells, acorns, conkers and so on. It's not all about the toys you buy them but providing them the opportunity to collect their own special things. He has his own torch and we've gone on late night adventures to the beach with it, or we make dens with the bedsheets and read books by torchlight. He's crazy about that torch. A big part of childhood is having your own toys and belongings that are precious to you.

I’m not a parent so have less frame of reference here than others, but was surprised so many think your DS doesn’t have enough toys. Generations of children grew up with zero toys pre manufacturing so it’s not like they are an innate requirement that you’ve failed to give him. Kids can play with anything that’s safe and also use their imaginations. Not that it isn’t nice to get him more toys, but I definitely don’t think you should feel bad about it OP!

I meant he’s 2 years and 9 months old

I will check out our charity shops in town tomorrow see what I can find! There’s a lot on sale on the entertainer website too I’ve got plenty of ideas I can’t wait to surprise him!

This is what I was thinking. Children play with what they have, and what they find, and use their imaginations. Often the children with the most are the ones bored. I didn't have much at all, DS didn't have a lot. He wasn't watching much television either, he was out a lot playing at the playground, on his balance bike, in the woods, climbing trees. At home he was happy to play with the same toy for ages. He'd make a den from blankets, jump from sofa to cushions. He was rarely bored.

At that age I think they benefit from more variety. They get bored and it's good to keep bringing in new types of activities.
I think childten love:
Duplo/ lego
Brio trainset
Toy kitchen
Play food( the kind that's velcroed and you can take apart and re assemble)
Toy tea set/ pots and orange etc
Toy kitchen
Cleaning set ( the Melissa and doug one on a stand has been enduring)
Puzzles
Magnetic tiles
Books
Drawing and messy painting stuff( the ultra big roll of paper is great)
Playdough
Boys and girls love a Toy buggy to wheel around their favourite doll/ teddy/ cat which needs rescuing
Then things like matching pairs games ( orchard toys are great)
Skittles or other ball stuff and everywhere a scooter or balance bike

There's such as thing as too much, but there's also such a thing as not enough variety, it s finding an in between that keeps them entertained and their mind going.

This is what I was thinking. Children play with what they have, and what they find, and use their imaginations. Often the children with the most are the ones bored. I didn't have much at all, DS didn't have a lot. He wasn't watching much television either, he was out a lot playing at the playground, on his balance bike, in the woods, climbing trees. At home he was happy to play with the same toy for ages. He'd make a den from blankets, jump from sofa to cushions. He was rarely bored

This is my son too. He would be out 24/7 living in a tent if we let him. He's at nursery 3 days and the rest of the week we're out and about often for the whole day. He's happiest in the woods, at the beach, or on his bike.

But I do like to provide him with a variety of toys at home. I think it depends less how many toys they have but more what type of toys they have. Quality over quantity.

That doesn't mean the toys need to be expensive "aesthetic" looking things. More that they need to be durable, timeless, and open-ended. It's good to cover a range of categories in toys for kids. I think if a child of OP's age has a selection of construction toys, small world toys, role-play toys, books, arts/crafts, gross motor and fine motor toys then that's fine.

The kids I see who don't know how to play independently are the ones with a random jumble of toys that can't be played with together- often bonkers plastic things that beep and flash and only serve one purpose. Whereas a box of magnetic tiles can be tunnels for train sets, houses for teddies, ramps for cars, a castle, a barn for toy farm animals and so on.

Awwww it doesn’t sound like many toys at all. I feel a bit sad for him.

my 3 yo has quite a lot of toys but won’t let me pass anything on as it’s all ‘precious’

we have:
50+ hot wheels cars
3 hot wheels race tracks
car mat carpet
6 construction vehicles eg diggers
BRIO train set
8 puzzles
playdough set
eisel and paints and chalks.
big box of felt tips, pencils, pastels, wax crayons
play kitchen
magna tiles
noahs ark with animals
stomp rocket
button puzzle game
hungru hippos
wooden blocks
magnetic fishing game
dolls house

The absolute winner in my house DD5 and DD2 is magnetic titles - ours are the brand magna-tiles but there’s loads of different ones out there. You need a good amount to build anything, but they are fantastic, educational but lots of fun.

It does sound a bit limited for his age but equally you don't need to go OTT. I think he would benefit with a bit more variety , for example I note he has a bus and police car, could you add some monster trucks, small hot wheels type cars , fire engine etc so he's got more of a variety?

At that age my son loved and we had:

Wooden tracks and train sets
A varied mix of vehicle toys
Magnetic tiles
Duplo
Balance Bike
A ball
Playdough/ kinetic sand
Paints and craft sets
Car track set

You can pick up a lot of good quality second hand toys on vinted/ebay and from charity shops.

I was just coming on to say he needs more cars and dinosaurs . 😀

Charity shops are great for really good value second hand toys, just give them a hand wash in soapy water and let them air dry. I've noticed there's a recent trend for massive charity shops on retail parks and the ones near me, mainly Cancer Research and Barnardos have loads of great toys for a couple of pounds each.

Google educational toys for his age group. Plenty of ideas will come up.
What about a sturdy garage or kitchen
More puzzles
Duplo
Toy farm and tractor
Interactive toys
Magic painting
Outdoor ride on toys
Ball
Playdough

The fact you can easily list his toys is odd.

One "toy" my DD has consistently liked is a very large cardboard box she can fit into.

She also likes balloons, bubble mixture either from wands or guns, and balls.

I've noticed boys tend to like the same things.

Id get him more puzzles, some Duplo or other construction type toys, and some role play type toys , cooking set, toolbox etc

Check out lovevery for ideas- I found their kits amazing and developmentally appropriate however you can get most of the stuff (or similar) off amazon

Wait until he has his first birthday party at school/nursery, we were drowning in toys from that moment on.

I would say more role play toys ie Farm or school and more puzzles. You can buy a whole tub of dinosaurs in Argos quite cheap. We also have dinosaurs you can take apart and put back together with a plastic screwdriver which is great fun.

I could list my son's toys up to the age of one year old. Up to that point he only had a wicker "treasure" basket (full of various wooden bits and bobs, sensory toys and kitchen utensils), some board books and some teddies. Otherwise he "played" with baskets of laundry or Tupperware from the kitchen cabinets.

On his first birthday he got a big chunky toy dumper truck and a scuttlebug. That was the start of a new era! Wheels everywhere now. The absolute majority of boys are just nuts for vehicles of any kind.

OP I'd recommend the container concept if you want to expand his toys but keep things from getting out of control. I can't remember the woman's name on YouTube but she talks about this as a way of controlling minimal collections of things from becoming out of control clutter.

So my son loves little matchbox or hot wheels types of cars but he has one box for them and no more. Same goes for his brio, Duplo, playmobil etc. They all have a box or a basket and once it's full it's full. We don't buy more.

@Hoolagan adding you feel sad for him isn't really necessary is it. OP has stated her child has lots of activities outside of the home, he's not stuck at home all day.

She has just seen what a friend has toys wise for her child and is now considering if she should add to her sons toy collection. It doesn't sound as though her son is unhappy and people need to feel sad for him..

That doesn't seem many toys at all for a child nearly 3. It sounds like about 4 actual toys, and the rest books, puzzles and blocks. They don't need insane amounts, but 3 or 4 toys doesn't seem like he can use his imagination much.

Things that can be added to are good. Brio trains and Duplo or Playmobile

Oh my goodness you have such a better balance. My boys loved their toys when they had a just a few and sadly this was ruined over time with generous gifts and it becomes
overwhelming and honestly less imaginative. Do not buy more!

Apparently less toys is supposed to be healthier. I have many happy memories of pretending marbles were little people at my Grans house. My DD is a similar age though and has waaaay too much as she has an older brother and all his hand me downs. If you're looking for ideas I agree with a ball and playdough or kinetic sand. Maybe something for role play like a kitchen. My DS has always loved hot wheels cars. He still plays with them now at 7. My DDs current favourite toy is her sand pit, one of those cheap plastic shell ones.