Smaller presents that your kids love and play with longer than the Christmas holidays

[Coldcafeeveryday]

My kids are 7 (DD) and 4 (DS) years old. I'd like to buy some smaller/cheaper presents for them that they will continue to play with for longer than the Christmas holidays. They love animals, make believe/dress up, crafts and preferably something that would encourage them to play together.

Can anyone recommend something tried and tested for say less than £20?

My daughter and niece age 7 both loved a potion kit I got from TikTok shop it’s adorable they make tiny little potions it comes with a recipe book and lots of little sparkly ingredients.

My kids have many of the things on this thread but I would say their top cheap presents were

Baking apron and chef's hat set
Plastic sparkly poo from The Workxz or however the hell you spell it
Cheap crayon set

However I think the most played with of all was.... a bag of cheap soft foam dinosaurs and farm animals (mixed together, just like in nature). Those things have come on holiday with us, been the children in many schools games, been bath and paddling pool toys, doubled as pretend Pokemon and Dragon Ball Super figures, and on and on....

I think an el cheapo bag of figurines is likely to get a lot of mileage.

My daughter collects Schleich animal figures, they're all she's played with for years. She makes up all sorts of adventures with them like some kids have done on YouTube. They're a bit more expensive than the usual cheapy animal figures you can get in bulk but they're realistic and durable, and there are hundreds to collect.

The basic makedo set

Magnitiles
Lego free play bricks
an ice cream cart
beyblades
all quite cheap (you can pick the carts up for £10 second hand) and played with extensively here

Play silks.

Genius Square games are really good.
Pick up sticks is still a fave here with the teens!

Giant inflatable squeaky hammers.
They love them.

If they like to be the character then lean into that. Superhero cloaks and masks. A playtent and tunnel. Facepaints. Circus things like stilts, juggling balls, Diablo.

Mine's only three so we're right in the thick of the make-believe stage too, and the things with the longest legs at our house have been dead simple. One of those cheap mixed bags of plastic animals — a few quid and she lines them up, makes them talk to each other, gives them baths in the sink, builds them houses out of cushions. Two kids could easily turn that into a vet surgery or a zoo together and it costs basically nothing to top up.

Crafts but the reusable kind: air-dry clay and those wipe-clean colouring cards. The one-use sticker books die within an hour here, but a chunky set of crayons and a big pad of paper have lasted us months.

And second-hand wooden train track off a local selling page. We paid a couple of pounds for a small bag of it, and it gets played with every single week. A tunnel and a few carriages would fill a stocking nicely and give them something to build together.

A pack of cards in their stocking
Hours of fun beginning with simple games.
My ds absolutely loved card games particularly.
Also loved toy soldiers which l kept adding to with knights horses etc. When his friends came around they played for hours. He always hated lego but loved soldiers. He has grown up to be an extremely peaceful person in case there is any doubt.
And of course a football for nonstop games outside..well mostly outside!

Usbourne do books of papers airplanes we have the regular and the dinosaur. Different designs to make they took a bit to get played with (maybe bought to soon) but they are the one thing that gets played with gets put down and then played with again. They go on holiday, to nans and outdoors in summer inside in winter. A seemingly never ending supply.

Mine also love dress up beast thing we I’d was buy a little children’s clothing rail to display it all on hangers Mr Ben style so they could see it all and it encouraged consistent play as it was visible and not in the old dressing up box.

Costco dress up costumes are amazing and they have them in annually around Halloween. I think we own every one . There’s a knight turning up this xmas.

The foam gliders from Smyth's. They LOVE them !!! If you're near an open space they're brilliant to take out on a walk.

Disco ball, regularly ask for a party and i put on music and they just go wild.

The junior version is great, simple for them to understand and doesn’t go on so long that they lose interest. Junior monopoly is also good

Most played with things here over the years
Balls (various types)
Marble run
Electronic dart board (kids one so no sharp things being thrown)
Squishies, again various types. They’re something that I would dismiss as tat but they do actually get used a lot.

We also have a bowl of spinning tops on the dresser and almost everyone that walks past has a quick spin. They don’t get played with for long at a time but they are used daily. If they were in a box they probably wouldn’t get touched so I think it’s more about making things visible sometimes than what the actual toy is.

I’m not in the UK so not sure on prices but magnetic tiles have been great and you can add more as they get older. 9 year old grandsonstill plays with at times and 3 year old also enjoys them. They come and go when th them (play with for a while, lose interest, come back to them) And a present my 3 year old granddaughter got last Xmas and still uses/plays with - a little spray bottle that was easy to squeeze ( about half the size of one you or I might use) and a soft cloth. She loves cleaning. Uses it with water in it on windows, tables, blackboard etc. Books are also great as long as you choose well for their age and interests. My 3 year old granddaughter is enjoying Fancy Nancy books and 9 year old likes graphic novels.

Just simple paper and colouring pencils here, we go through sooo much paper!
My DD2 still loves playing in her play kitchen (we are buying her a bigger one this Christmas) she just has the little plastic peppa pig one at the moment.
Doctors set- i have had surgery soo many times this year, i have lost count of the amount of kittys/monkeys/dinos ive had stuck in my tummy 😂
Honestly at the moment DD2 can play for hours with a blanket some little crabs and some little figures at “ the beach” 😂
i am also thinking of getting her a shopping set this year as she likes going to the “shop” (the kitchen) and buying her snacks haha.

Not sure about for a 4 year old with plus plus but it is small, you can get animal build ones and it is easy to take on holiday/trips and mine use it all the time to create their own mini builds. Nightmare for losing bits/having them scattered over the house though

Following as I love getting ideas! Though mine are younger at 5 and almost 2.

Agree with magnatiles- we got some last Christmas for the older one and it took a while for her to get into them but she loves them now. The younger one of also enjoying building towers with them, not to mention DH . My 5yo likes role play games as well - so playing schools/drs with her toys.

My grandson loves the magnetic tiles, but you do need several sets to build anything worthwhile. Everyone loves UNO, but steer clear of the more complicated versions as they lead to ill-feeling and fights.

Standard uno. We got it for ours about 7 years ago and it’s still going strong now with them being ages 11 and 14

Agree. Uno was a gift here that was used as a family for years.

Melissa and doug ice cream/pizza/sandwich shop - played with for years and you may pick up second hand for less than £20.

A laminator - they laminate and create stories with 2d characters and scenes.

Brio builder - this was expensive but was played with for hours. You may get second hand for under £20. This is thirty pounds but I only had a quick look.

https://www.vinted.co.uk/items/10005657257-brio-builder-motor-set?referrer=catalog

karaoke mic

Walkie Talkies

Marble run - Smyths have a good electronic one in at the moment that my 7 and 3 year old love.

Kinetic sand - always a winner

Screwball Scramble - a classic from the 90’s! Can get the original ones or some alternative ones on Amazon that are little cars instead of silver balls (don’t roll away!)

Junior Cluedo - took a gamble on this when oldest was 5 and it’s come out every few weeks for 2 years now