Presents that wont end up abandoned after 3 days

[Fernie3]

We have 4 dcs ages 6,4,1 and 4 months. They have a playroom full of toys that they never play with. In fact even though the playroom is downstairs rit next to the living room and dining room ( so not exactly a chore to get to) they haven even set foot in there for 3 days to get any of their toys.

Their favourite games are things they do together like making tents with four couch throws ( sounds cute but these were not cheap lol) and chasing each other my oldest two also like pretending to run a nursery for the younger two which has different areas ( like they have in their schools). the like pretend play and art/ cooking

Past presents have included Thomas train sets (if i get that out they play for about 5 minutes then I am left sitting thereplaying on my own!) and barbies, my littles ponies and dolls are universally ignored by them all.

My budget for each child is as follows

Dd 1 (6) £100 ( so far spent around 12 on stocking stuff)
Ds 1 (4) £100
Dd2 (1) £50
dd3 (4 months) £25

What can i buy!! I have spent days searching through different websites but everything i see i just know it will end up shoved in the toy box never to be seen again.

Any ideas for children who don't play with many toys??

At risk of stating the bleeding obvious, don't get then toys!

The way they play sounds lovely: how about getting things like dressing up clothes, a doctor's kit, modelling stuff, art kits and lots of paper and an easel, aprons, cookery book, pop-up theatre and glove puppets, musical instrument?

Toys that have lasted in our house (2 dd's 4 and 6),

Lego
Playmobil (park, rubbish truck, vet surgery)
Happyland (from elc)
Musical instruments
Play-dough (rolling pin, cutters etc..)

My dd's have too many toys but only really play with the above and the PC. We also have a Wii which hardly gets played with .

Do you have a wooden train set? Like brio but you can get much cheaper ones that fit together. Much more varied than plastic ones.

Also just general toys like bricks and other construction stuff.

Maybe they just have too many toys? Can you have a big clear out/charity shop run? That's what we are doing.

Or you could put some of your budget Towards a day out - theme park or something?

An easel and chalk for the school, sleeping bags and a little trunkie or suitcase each.

Playmobil do a school.

Have you got an ikea wooden kitchen? It's amazing for all ages.
We also have a pretend shop which is used all the time.
We have a table with chairs with kids names on them thats used every day.
Rody horse is also very popular.
My kids can't get enough art stuff either.

where did you get the shop and table please Confuzzeled ...just what I`m looking for

put together a play school kit for them - registers, pens, gold stars, workbooks, do a search on mumsnet because there's been a few threads suggesting this - which i think is a brilliant idea.

Have a look here www.whywoodworks.co.uk/role-play.html they could share a theatre, shop or market stall?

MIL bought our chairs and not sure were she got them but had a look online and these are similar - www.woodenkeepsakes.co.uk/index.php/personalised-traditional-childs-pink-wooden-chair.html?___store=default

The table is an ikea job, it gets trashed every few months so I can just sand it down and varnish again.

Re-do the toy room to make it more of a play room as a gift for all of them. It sounds like they don't need or want toys when they have each other, but dd1 might start to appreciate her own things soon. Maybe something like a diary which can be locked or a treasure chest for keeping special things in would be a good idea.

If they love to build dens but you want your throws left alone then take a look at cranium fort. My ds (now 6) got one when he was 3 and both my dcs still play with it a lot (she is now 9). Sorry I don't know how to link.

Just googled it and it is called Cranium Super Fort.

A puppet theatre and puppets. Musical instruments.

how about a wigwam www.realsports.co.uk/childrens-wigwam-3025-p-2257.html to help with their dens
superfort seems good, perhaps look on ebay as it seems to have been discontinued
I second idea of school kit and other "props" for their imaginative play, dressing up stuff is always good.
How about games? - like cranium hullaballoo which is quite lively

this

It is not exactly the same as ours but looks very very similar.