Best places for new toys online?

[Mousey84]

I need a few outdoor toys for younger mindees (both are 1) and a few more indoor toys too. I really really dont want to get more bright plastic toys.

Any tips on good sources or really fab toys? Dont have a massive budget (in fact, I dont have a figure atm - just browsing and will sort out the purchases when I get back from hols)

Outside we have a sandpit table, plastic playhouse and a slide. Too much indoor stuff to list, but most of the stuff is really for older kids.

Get an aqua play will have to find out where from but it can be for all ages had a9month old playing with it Tuesday. It's like a river system with boats and bridges etc or I have a lawnmower a water table aseessw a sandpit some bats n balls. A tunnel and playhouse I put dolls highchairs n pushchairs out whihch they love helps with walking too.

Buy a cheap paddling pool and fill with plastic balls from asda or tesco [or other]. Babies love throwing them round the garden and crawling through them.

Bubbles go down well too - they chase them. For an easy life invest in an ELC bubble machine . Asda do a cheap 'big' bottle of bubble mix at the moment.

Have you got a local toy library, quite a lot of areas have them now, it's great for stuff that you don't want to keep but use now and then especially big things that take a lot of storing and they have good quality wooden toys that cover all of the age ranges. I like the inflatable pool / balls too but it's a bugger to tidy up and you find balls in all sorts of wierd places for weeks, my little ones like bark chippings and compost in the water / sand pit with animals / toys hidden inside, for the younger ones I bought a couple of cat litter trays to put stuff in them on the floor, mud with tractors / diggers is good fun to, they can make wheel marks and scoop things up. I also got a camoflage net that the children make dens with it's great for role play as you can do themes like jungles, ancient villages, zoos etc the litte ones like it as much as the big ones.

cat litter trays what a good idea perfect size and side height im going to use that one thanks

Oh, love the cat litter tray idea. Might stop older one using my veg patch! Also would help stop the sand table being emptied every day. He seems incapable of understanding the concept of keeping sand IN the sand table. Using a litter tray would limit the amount he can chuck round him.

I had a look at the aqua system and love it... reckon the slightly older ones would use it too. Very pricey though, but will keep an eye out for it on offer.

No toy libraries near here either. I had asked in the normal library the other day and the nearest is miles away and you need to live within a certain area to borrow from it.

Oh, and I tried the bubble machine earlier today, but the youngest mindee screamed the place down. Apparently I can add bubbles to the list if things he is terrified of (incl grass, leaves, stones, bugs, and brushes... )

Thanks for the advice ladies!