The Toys That Have Kept On Giving

[Sycamoretree]

Do your DC's have certain toys that have just stood the test of time, worth every penny you paid for them and become much loved and returned to favourites, long after you expected your DC(s) to have tired of them?

My DD 2.6 has played, every night, with her bath time teletubbies and house since she was about 9 months old. She hasn't watched the programme for over a year...She keeps finding new and ingenious ways to develop her play with them, and I'm just astounded by the value for money they have proved to be.

Care to share?

PommePoire, I can outdo your stacking cups - mine still play with them in the bath and they are 8 and 10

Likewise, blankets and cushions.

When they were small, a £5 fold-up doll pushchair.

For DS, since he was 1, a football

Otherwise, Lego and bikes.

wooden train track

bob the builder trucks

floating animal shapes for the bath

small cars

Another one for the large size lego and duplo. ds(6) and dd(5) still play together with it.

Toy food still used.

Ds also love magnetix - his favourite toy ever. I am forever treading on the damn balls!

I'll confirm Duplo's popularity and longevity. My DD's have just "inherited" the family Duplo. It was mine and my 2 brothers' (30 ish years ago ), got passed to my cousins who are now 17 and 15 and DD's now have it.

They've also inherited the wooden trainset from the other side of the family and they're now 15 and 13.

bigTillyMint - I'm to hear your stacking cups are still going after 8 to 10 years; it means I can expect at least another 5 years out of ours!

Lego and duplo, playmobil, magnetic writing board, tea sets and play food, toy people (happyland and then character figures ...

These all get used endlessly here because they can get recycled into any game.

DS (6) got a second-hand playmobil castle for Christmas 3 years ago and it has been played with a huge amount.

The playmobil rubbish truck is fairly fabled on mumsnet because for no reason whatsoever it is beloved, and played with obsessively, by all children who see it.

Dressing up stuff is used a lot here, but the general police/fire hats and superhero capes are much better than 'character suits' which are quickly forgotten.

lego
train track
young childs trampoline....now dd is 5 it's a springboard under the climbing frame

wooden train track, duplo, lego and wooden bricks.
Hopefully playmobil too as have just bought loads for all 3 DC christmas presents!

Wooden train track - played with ceaselessly at the moment. Also gives DH hours of fun constructing new and elaborate layouts for it.

Road mat from Ikea - a permanent fixture in our living room now and often used in conjunction with the train track (with a level crossing, naturally)

Ride-on tractor and trailer - again often used with the tracks and the road. Not to scale, but who cares?!

Lego is DS's most favourite followed by

Fuzzy Felt! (I wanna play with it!!!)

A Steady Eddie bike. (balance bike with no pedals). My son is three and has ridden it every day since his second birthday. Nothing else has held it's appeal like it!!
Cost about £70 and he won't need stabilisers to ride a pedal bike as it teaches them balance when they "run" along on it and then lift their legs to coast.
They send one blue and one pink seat cover too so siblings can inherit them.

Big thumbs up!

Cosy Coupe car we bought for DS1 for his 2nd birthday (he is now 11 ) and its on its 5th child and still going strong!! they all love it

cars and car mat - all 3 boys and DD1 have played with this nearly every day for about 7 years

DD1 loves all the 'in my pocket' things

Happyland stuff - we have most of and i will force DD2 to play with it

I'm just about to get some playmobil for DS3 so i do hope its worth the money!!

oh and both DS2 and DS3 have mini micro scooters they are soooooo worth the money - love them!

The one thing that was played with by all dds all the time is a large piece of sparkly blue fabric. It has been used for dressing up and as the sea with playmobil/sylvanians and is used to hide under and make dens out of. Someone gave it to us and I thought they were crazy it has been used every day since we were given it 13 years ago.

Another vote for stacking cups... we got them when DS was 6 months old and now he's almost 7 (and DD 5) and they still get played with (as bath/pool/beach toys).

There was a giant teddy bear that DS#1 got for Christmas once. They kept on giving - mainly stuffing from all the holes in the seams... bloody thing! It went to the Great Toy Box in the sky.

Wooden train track. In fact, I have just spent half an hour putting the blimmin thing together to fitin all the new bits ds1 got for his birthday this weekend.

But top of my list are the balance bikes and also stacking cups, which still get played with in the bath.

Plastic house from ELC
Plastic food
Plastic kitchen from Woolworths (sob)
The plastic Happyland people ('The Peoples' as they are known here
£5 buggy
Vinyl dolls (actually mine so 30 years old which really have been the gift that keeps giving. Santa is replacing them this year as they have already lived through two sisters pulling their arms off in a fight (superglue - brilliant) and don't think history can be allowed to repeat itself!

wheelibug...even when they have big long gangly legs

lego

playmobil

all wooden thomas stuff

just in case it hasn't been stressed enough...
wooden train track!
We still have 3 boxes of the stuuf, I have a 12 yr old and a 9yr old. and we started collecting when the 12 yr old was a year old. 11 years continuous play is value for money in my book!Visiting toddlers of both sexes love it too.

also
Push along trolley with wooden blocks in. Got played with consistently for around 6 years. I had to confiscate it when they started using it as a makeshift skateboard down the driveway...

ELC marble run. Bought when ds1 was 2 - STILL played with 10 years later by his brother.

Plastic tea set in a plastic carrying basket was also worth several years' of play value.

Oh! Sandpit with lid - 12 full years of constant playing!!!!
Lego: Both boys been obsessed with it since they were 5.

Play till with card swipe from ELC. Again, purchased when ds1 was around 3, played with until he was 8 and his brother.

Bear in mind we didn't pay £5000 for this , we bought it second hand from a friend who's children had outgrown it, this has entertained my 7 year and 2 year old DDs for hour upon hour. On the opposite end of the scale, simple coloured Crayola chalk for writing/colouring on the patio is another favourite pastime for them.

any thoughts on wheely bugs ladies???

thinking fo getting dd2 one for her 1st bday???

wheely bugs are great, I got DD2 one for her 1st birthday but DD1(7) sat on it too much and has damaged it. Get the larger one, she won't be able to do much on it for a while and by the time she can scoot around it, the small one won't get as much use.

this thread is going to give me some great ideas for xmas!!!
mine for ds1 are:
megablocks (been passed to us from a friend and ds1 has had them now for 2 years and they will be played with by ds2 i imagine also)
shopping till!!! 1 of ds' faves
pretend food and kitchen
toy cars!!!!!
allot of books ds1 has had for a while now and will be read for many years by him and his brother!!!

i would highly un reccomend the plastic shopping trolley ds1 sat in his the day it was bought and broke it, but maybe that was more down to ds rather thn the actual trolley

We bought Dd a baby keyboard from ELC when she was 18 months old, she 5.6 now and its still going on the original batteries!

Ds2 1 loves it now!

We bought him a wheely bug for his 1st birthday, went down very well with 5 year old Dd !!