Toys/games that kids play with for hours

[normaleggy]

Which toys or games do your kids play with for hours on end? I have 2 dc (dd5 & ds4) and I want to get them a few joint presents to go under the tree that they can share and will hopefully get good use out of.

I am already getting some lego and a marble run, any other ideas? DS already has brio trains that he loves so would also like a similar idea for dd too.

Thanks in advance..

Planx (DH and I play with them when the kids have gone to bed!)

Playmobil? Lots. Of different options depending on what they're interested in.

DS (5) can play with Octonauts toys for hours. He has a few sets, a tub of cheap sea creatures and a cardboard 'sea scene' set I fashioned for him using a lot of tissue paper, stickers and glue! He will play happily with it for ages.

Playmobil park and playmobil pool with slide. Best and most played with toys in this house.

Monopoly??? Used to take hours -now it's all over in 10mins.

Mine like just building stuff with the jenga bricks and some wooden dominos. Probably should get them some proper building bricks.

I've just spent hours constructing ds's lego does that count?

[whisper; there's no reason why your dd wouldn't play with brio]

art set
hama beads

anything you like doing yourself (hence the hama beads for me ds)

Playmobil... endless, really endless hours of fun.

Lego too- my DC love it.

I think it depends massively on the child.

DD never touches her Playmobil or any small world toys.

But I agree with basic lego and art & craft sets

Also:
Dolls she can dress
Build a bear teddies
Play food & tea set
A big tub of 100 felt tips in every imaginable colour
Outdoor toys like scooter, balls, water pistols and pavement chalk
Nintendo DS (if you don't mind computer games)
Activity books and comics
Dolly dressing sticker books
Play doh

Build a bear bears both played with, playmobil is DD2's thing.

Hama beads, they both do and DD2 has play date friends who love them too. (I have a lot of boards from doing Brownies and found a big tub of beads).

Wooden train track, we have rather a lot and some electric trains (so DDs as old as 9/10 and their parents) have been known to build very complex layouts.

We have Lego, they ignore it Lego was my fav.

3birthdaybunnies - what you want are Kapla blocks. Have a google. I spent a year trying to get some second hand on eBay, and then found an own-brand version in Aldi for a tenner a bucket in November when they were doing wooden toys. The Aldi version were called creative blocks. They don't look at all impressive, but you can build amazing things with them.

Mine mostly like to pack bags and go off an adventure around the world on a boat/plane/train. So backpacks, den-building stuff and pith helmets.

I have looked at the Kapla before but keep thinking dd2 (nearly 7) who is the main builder is growing out of it, then she gets them all out and builds something else. Will try to remember to think about Aldi in Nov - unfortunately our nearest is 15 miles away. There are citiblocs but not sure if they are as good. One review said that they warped.

I have a 4yo DS and a 6yo DD:

Lego
Wooden train set
Marble run
Numicon (not really a toy, but still great)
Toy food
Playmobil
Happy land
Wooden bricks
Toy cars

3birthdaybunnies, I got this recently, DS plays with it endlessly making different runways etc

Playmobil, playmobil, playmobil .

Dd and her friends can still do sylvanians for hours (and they're 9).

Ds (10) can do anything with a box with string, wire, selloptape, split pins, batteries and whatever other small things I can think of in. Add a copy of a science book and the dangerous book for boys and he's away.

Also have buckets of wooden blocks now, and wooden shape sorters. Both £10.

Thanks everyone, some great ideas. I might go down the playmobil route, I remember my brother and I playing with it for hours as kids.

Joan I know my dd could play with trains, I don't stop her, she's just not interested, I actually bought it for her first!

My DSes are 4 and 6 and have pretty much grown out of the wooden train set :(

But they love and play with endlessly:
Lego
Playmobil
Wooden dollhouse (this is where the Playmo people live!)
Trash Packs (in themselves not brilliant toys but they play with them for hours upon hours. I'd say 80% of their play is Trash Pack-based.)

pokesandprodsforthelasttime - I think you have dd1's twin

Iamsanta - How do you dc play with the slide for hours? In this house it falls apart within seconds

These are amazing for children that age, [http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200970609319]
They'll enjoy playing it on their own or with each other and its quite fun for adults too.

Sorry for dud link!!
cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200970609319

Lots of good sized toy dinosaurs. esprcially the really nice Schleidch models and the elc ones. And dinosaur books and encyclopaedia. He used to have 3 or 4 of the same type so he could have herds for the meat eater to ambush. We had lots of dinosaur dvd's like walking with dinosaurs which he loved, also dinosaur movies.

He's 9 now and still has the schleidch models displayed in his room.

My DD is almost three and plays with her easel, a pad and pens for hours and hours.

Also a big box of play food and her kitchen is a big hit.

And...iPad! (Oops!)