What are your children still playing with almost 7 months on...

[MTWTFSS]

DS1 (4 years old)... still loves his Imaginext Castle

DS2 (2.5 years old)... still loves his Playmobil Zoo

Interested to hear what others are still playing with :)

Playmobil park! DD, 3.9 loves it.

Balance bikes, and now aged 3, pedal bikes are a massive hit- we'd use them almost every day for DTs, aged 3 and DD aged 4.

Lego

Brio/ wooden train set.

ELC till- though 2nd one is now broken too

Not used- begged for barbie type Elsa and Anna dolls
Small wooden kitchen- too small i think as all 3 play with them a bit at other's houses/ playgroups.

DS (7) - Lego Chima and Skylanders trap team. I can't for the life of me remember what else he got in that big pile of presents. He did get a lot of Lego though.

Marble run. DS got one when he was 3, still played with a couple of times a week two years on.
ELC whizz around garage still a hit from last Christmas with DS(age 2)
Consistent favourite is a big box of random cars - matchbox style metal ones - gathered from various Christmas stockings, birthday presents, pocket money buys. Still played with daily by both DSs (2 and nearly 5).
Wooden train set ( mix of brio, ELC, Tesco). Always comes out on rainy days.
Micro scooters.

Not played with now - remote control cars ( if batteries not replaced in 20 secs they seem to get bored and move on), play tent (surprised me, I thought they'd love it, they prefer to build dens behind the sofa...).

Dd (3) loves her board games, guitar (she's formed a band!) and marble run when I can be bothered to get it all out

I'd not bother with the robo-fish or accordion (once you've heard it for 20mins you'll realise the popper holding it together is a godsend and it soon becomes less interesting )

DS (4) is still playing daily with his playmobil fire station and fire engine.... Though this means I am daily 'encouraging' him to pick up the little bits / hoping he forgets their existence when I have put them away for safe keeping.can I ask if the imagineext stuff also has lots of tiny bits?

Things that have worked well over the years:

Thomas the Tank Engine trainset. We had the blue track one. All 3 DCs played with this. They still reminisce about how I built a track (yes we had that much track) that went all the way from the back room down the hall and to the front room and back - I only did it once and they weren't that interested at the time!

Whiteboard and whiteboard pens for DD for playing schools. A register, when we could get one (surprisingly hard to get hold of) was also treasured.

This PC game of Thomas the Tank Engine which had print out colouring pages was very popular for years. They just loved the pictures and would colour them over and over. DS1 once took them to school on a bring-your-own-toys day and all the kids were doing them.

Massive Thunderbird 2 my Dad got at a boot fair has just been rediscovered in the shed and called back into action.

Hits
DD1 (6) Furreal cookie dog, books/encylopedia/atlas, Playmobil takealong unicorn castle, art stuff
DD2 (3) Princess dress, magi-clip disney princesses, anna doll

Misses
DD1 (6) robot puppy thing, ice cream maker that doesn't work
DD1 (3) despite loving Frozen/Disney etc the soft Anna/Elsa dolls, she plays with them in her bed a bit.

sorry forgot to add our biggest hit was Magnatiles - still played with a lot, popular with both DC (and adults too!)

another miss was the Minions Operation game - thought she would love it :(

My dd was 3.5 last Christmas. The biggest hit was her wooden shop which we got from Asda for £35. She plays with it most days and, because it is on wheels, she moves it around and it becomes a cake shop, a cafe, a theatre etc. I bought toy food to go with it. By stuffing the cardboard food boxes with kitchen roll and sellotaping them shut they have lasted all year. Board games like 'Guess who?' and the law patrol game regularly get used. A pretend cleaning trolley was very well received. Infact, the imaginary, role play type things were the things that she liked best. Not so successful were things like the peppa pig fun fair.

DS (4.5)

Tablet, Thomas the Tank engine books (book people bargain), Mr and Mrs Potato Head, Planes 2 figures, Playmobil.

Gathering dust: Furby (it's just weird), playdoh, board games (pop up pirate, operation etc)

Imaginext doesn't really have many bits btw, it's quite chunky and very sturdy. We got the castle a few years back and it has a few missiles and weapons for the Knights to carry, but no where near as 'spready' as Playmobil.

Hit for DS (3) Thomas Take n Play sets.
Miss: Fancy helicopter thing.
Hit for DD (5) Dressing up stuff, craft stuff (but not sets), doll Anna and Elsa.
Miss: Golden coin maker Do not buy!!!!

Mine are 9 and 5, boys.

Lego
Army stuff, soldiers, planes etc.
Anything computerised (tablet, Wii games)
They are both still playing with the wooden trains now yonks old
Planes 2 toys

Milkmilklemonade, thanks for that. Sounds much better than 60 billion pieces playmobil!

Just keeping this bumped for its usefulness.

DD1 is 7 DD2 is 5
Dressing up things, I think it was the frozen dresses, DD2 loves dressing up.
Face paints and Glitter Tattoos. both DDs
Dollys. Last year is was one that makes a noise AND cries real tears. The function is never used and was a complete wastr of money it's just a doll that gets put in a makeshift bed made out of a cardboard box. The best ones are the hard bodied dolls that they can bathe and dry, they are also the cheapest to buy.
Story CDs, look out for the sets on book people.
Scooters, DD2 wants a better one this year.
Djeco art kits. beautiful we've bought a few over the year and they've all been a it but especially the ones with a transfer that you rub over with a pencil, (like in the olden day that I played with)

Misses
Lego It comes out every now and then but really isn't great value for money in our house.
Fur Real pet, again played with only occasionally. (but it was so wanted from Father Christmas)

ooh and the liitle life birds have been out a surprising amount,

dd1 (6) dressing up costumes - in particular the mulan dress. she wears it whenever she can!

dd2 (3) turtle teddy, he goes everywhere with her.

both love moshi monsters - they have 100's of them and are played with almost daily.
the ikea tent has been a hit, they love sitting in there reading.
busy books are loved by both.
pokemon toys are a hit.

cant remember what else they got....

this year im waiting till closer to the time to buy, and not buying any fad toys.

Jigsaws.
Dolls.
Frustration and labyrinth.
Jewellery box and jewellery

Previous Christmas toys:
Belle&boo tea set (now 3years old)
Dolls cot (now 2 years old)
Happy land fairies and treehouse (now 3years old)
Wooden pirate ship and figures (2 years old)
Nerf guns (2 years old we buy them new bullets as a stocking filler)
Dressing up outfits
Play kitchen

Just bumping this thread as I think it's a good one to read for ideas.

It's 8 months on now. More people have started Christmas shopping now than when this thread first started

Dd 2.9 Duplo cafe set and jigsaw puzzles.

Hits for DS (then just 2): Brio trainset, wooden kitchen & play food, duplo, giant ELC floor puzzle. All played with almost every day. From the previous Christmas, he still lives wooden bricks and a big house shaped shape sorter

loves not lives