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?

izzy i have 4 year old thats what i was worried about was going to get a small one

We have a Little People Farm which was bought for my DD aged 8, she is 8 now and still plays with it, younger DD also still plays with it. With us the toys that are played with most are those where imagination can be used to play with them in a variety of - dolls house, farm, duplo, etc. Things that can only be played with in one way such as the train set, get played with less often.

DD is now 3.

Till, food and shopping, with trolley - has played with this for last 2 years. Saucepans, tea set and food. Since she was 1 or so, loves her tea parties.

Bears. She loves her bears, an assortment of branded (peppa pig, noddy, charlie and lola etc) and non-branded whatever bears, some new and some from DH and I when we were children.

Stacking cups - plays with them in the bath now.

Dolly and pushchair, and cradle.

A box . Sometimes we wonder why we just don't buy her a new box for birthdays etc! She loves boxes.

my dd1 is 4 she loves her teddies
the computer
her fisher price camera brillant
playdoh

Ferrari ride on
Thomas the tank ride on
Weebalot castle and cottage
Glow seahorse, still comforts him at 17 months
My first thomas trains, been going in my family for 4 years, been passed down to ds
Megablox school bus

Lego, some of dd's lego is 25 years old , it gets played with most days.

Elc Happy land and fisher price little people.

Playmobil gets played with a lot but bits go missing (up the hoover).

Magna doodle (these even come on holiday with us).

Play food gets played with a lot.

Aqua draw- both dd's love these but i seem to have to buy a new one each year because dd2 takes a biro to it .

Orchard games and puzzles.

Lego and X-box

A doll's buggy.
A ride on car.
Toy cars (matchbox type).

ELC Marble Run
Brio-style wooden train tracks
Pull-along Thomas (going to ebay before Christmas)
Lego
Toy cars

Graduated to:
Thomas Tomy plastic trains (ebaying soon as well)
Quercetti skyrail marble run (this is ace!)
Lego
toy cars

Now on:
Hornby trains (OMG are they expensive!)
Board games (going to compile a list OOTD).
Lego
Toy cars. The older ones now have wonky wheels.
GoGos

Lego wins the 'test of time', I think. We've ended up with two boxes worth, and they get used pretty frequently.

Playmobil always seemed too expensive.

Bath toys: A cheap plastic jug and funnel. We ended up getting two of each to reduce the contention when bathing both boys at once.

The cat. Comes with real scratches.

Extremely laid back cat, DD has to subject to all manner of torture before the claws come out. Normally when I'm not looking.

Apart from that, the beater from a toy xylophone. Hardly ever used for hitting the xylophone, but (obviously?) used for hitting everything else.

ELC garage - bought when ds1 was a year old. He'll be 4 in january and has played with it every day! It's covered in crayon, stickers have all worn away but it's the one thing he's never abandoned.
You can buy the magnetic cars that line up together to zoom round it and fortunately has an OFF button (every parents' dream) to mute all the petrol pump/air/beep beep sounds.

Another must have is a number of small very light balls. Foam ones aren't so good as I've found ds2 tries to eat them but Mothercare do a great spiky one and various other cheap and cheerful ones will keep them amused for hours. I'm guessing you won't have china lying about at this stage anyway so let them chuck them about to their heart's content

Playmobil
Lego
Wooden blocks
Wooden train track
Stacking cups

Another vote for a Laufrad, otherwise known as a balance bike. Worth every penny to avoid the agony of stabilisers.

Harrogatedad - are you Harrogatemum's other half? Or is that a stupid question?

When DD was younger Happy Land was a fab buy for us and it lasted her a few years and then dold on for half original cost as it was in great condition still, despite constant play.

Probably have to say Baby Annabel too. DD got it at 20mo and it is still in good order now, some 6 years on. Still played with too, although its noise stuff is rarely turned on these days.

Now she is older - would have to say scooter. Got it at about 3y and it only just needs replaced now, 4 years on. Still works but a couple of nuts have come off. Getting her a new one this Christmas.

There are several things on this thread that, for my DD at least, I would have to disagree with as they have been bought for DD but not really used very much at all - lego, marble run, wooden toys.

Orchard games...dominoes and crazy chefs
Ride on car with steering (bobby car)
small cars, big cars
train track
pens, crayons, pencils and reams of paper.
glue, hole punch, stapler, stickers.

Lego
Dr's Medical Kit
Wooden Train set (yes, yes, yes)
Garage
Trike
Scooter
Bath Boats
Dressing up sets

.....and a stick from a walk in the park that can be a gun, sword, fishing rod, aeroplane wings, light saver (?) Star Wars I think .....

ELC safari rescue sets (plastic animals, vehicles and people)
Plastic dinosaurs
Toy cars
Plastic castle & knights

All toys had when DS was about 4, is now 8 and still plays with them all.

For us the wooden train set wasn't a good buy - DS would watch while I put it up, then play for about 5 mins before losing interest ....

tea set and plastic play food - we've had ours for 4 years and tea parties or picnics for the teddies and barbies are still a regular occurrence.

TP climbing frame and swing - ours were both bought second hand but have loads of life left in them and are in constant use in the summer.

Orchard games - even keep mummy interested

scooters - great for encouraging lazy children to go out for a walk with you!

Dresing up costumes

• we have built up lots over the years (from eldest ds) and although they can be expensive, we've had our monies worth out of them

For us a train set on a play table. It has been played with everyday by both ds. Ds2 learnt to stand because he wanted to see the trains. We have all the Thomas trains but with Tesco track. I don't buy the Thomas trains but the mental grandparents do. They are so expensive but I guess the pay per play ratio is very good.
Also I can recommend a car mat and the Ikea one is great. Oh and we have this fab book from GLTC that is a story, a road mat and then can also be built into a fire engine!
I am really struggling with presents for ds2 who also has his 1st birthday on the 19th December. With a spoilt ds1 there is pretty much nothing we don't have but then I don't want him to miss out. I keep telling people just to buy things for his mummy as he loves her and wants her to look pretty. After nearly a year of no sleep surely I deserve it?!

I second
Garages (Plan City buildings are great!)
Toy food
Lego and Duplo
Train tracks
Ride on toys (and esp those Flintstone cars if you have space)
MagnaDoodles
Orchard toys make great games and puzzles (esp Shopping List!)

And to go with all that plastic food -- one of those little microwaves from ELC. Spins the food around and beeps when it's 'done'. Every kid who comes through the door makes a beeline.

Playing cards, esp Snap and Memory Match, anyone?

We save squeezy bottles for bathtime. Endless fun.

Pebbles -- lovely smooth round ones, esp. My DS2 cannot leave them when he sees a nice one, and brings several home each day, which are in a huge bucket in the playroom.

its nice to see people listing things like playmobil for older kids. My ds is 7 soon and whilst he loves playmobil and his toy cars I wasn't sure if it was not something the other boys in his class would tell him was 'babyish' as they all seem to be into comuter games etc. Superman/ superheroes are'babyish' as well allegedly. I know because have been told he has been getting teased as his PE bag has a picture of Superman on it.

So I am glad we are getting him some new playmobil bits for christmas and hopefully he will have a few more years of enjoyment out of it.

mollyroger -

Don't think so!