Creche Toys

[RuckAndRoll]

I run the Sunday School at our (small, rather elderly) church and lately we've had an influx of under 3s. Our creche facilties are pretty much non existant and I've been tasked with buying whatever we need.

So, if you were taking your under 3 (newborn right up) to church, what would you like to see in a creche? The older ones come out to Sunday School and we're sorted for that for the moment.

So far we have:
Changing table
Spongy type floor mating like this
Blankets and cushions (mainly for parents sitting on the floor)
Toddler size table and chairs
Lots and lots of books - pretty much every age
Ratlles/tamborines/maraccas
Stacking cups
Wooden aeroplane
Wooden Noahs Ark
Few teddies

Any ideas more than welcome

Puzzles
Shape sorters
Blocks

Depending on your room, a rug is quite nice to have. Do you have to pack stuff up each week - get some robust storage boxes.

Our creche goes up to 4/5 and has

craft box - crayons etc
Duplo/mega blocks
Very old fisher-price/weeble type activity house - this is loved and played with every single week!

toy trains and cars and a road mat
toddler jigsaws and books
play-doh (some weeks)
stuff to give drink and snack
plastic tablecloth
instruments
baby play mat

Box of odds and ends of plastic toys - you will gradually acquire outgrown ones: shape sorter, pushalong trucks etc.

Just like at home they will like the plasticky, beep-and-flash toys the best, and these are very good for a distraction. But try not to have too many character toys as kids tend to latch onto them and not share Bob the Builder or whatever.

Thanks for the ideas so far

Will add a few bits to the list, unfortunately we do have to tidy away every week as we use the church hall which is let out for groups in the week.

fossil - some of those bits we already have in Sunday School so I can just borrow theirs. We were trying to avoid toys that make a noise of their own accord incase they become attached and won't leave it behind when going in for communion. Good point about character toys - will try and avoid.

Oh we also bought a bulk buy of baby wipes and disinfectant type wipes.

Our creche has a couple of baby gym type things (with a padded mat) that younger babies can lie on. The toy garage and cars are popular with the 2-3 yr olds and the play kitchen/food too. All these things are fairly bulky though (we have a walk-in cupboard for storage). The majority of our toys have been donated by families that have grown out of them so it might be worth asking those with older children.