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I don’t know about you, but my kids get spoiled at Christmas. As conservative as we try to keep the gift giving we have a large family and the gifts just add up. No one likes being robbed of the look on their faces of opening something they think is awesome…so I get the resistance of gifting experiences, etc.
We do a toy cycle system in our house. Every month or so we pack away all the toys in the play area and bring out a couple totes of something else. I find that this helps with stimulation overload and it keeps things a bit tidier. A BIT, let’s be real. It also gives us a really good indication of what toys are actual hits and not just one hit wonders. Interestingly enough, the hits are usually toys that the kids didn’t even know they wanted and did not ask Santa for.
My boys are 5, 3 and 1 and although they’ve all gone through the stage of our pots and ladles being the number one fun items to play with, I’d like to share our hits. These are the toys that get played with a lot, at every age and I can actually walk away and not hear screaming for a minute and a half or more. These are the ones I recommend in the name of longevity and sanity.
VTech Go! Go! Playsets
These play sets are so easy for little hands to build, all the different sets connect together and it creates a cool little city. We have this one pictured, which is the parking tower, we call it. We then also have the Take Flight Airport, Fire Station, and about 4 others. They also have the extra road accessories which gives you more track to add the sets together: VTech Go! Go! Smart Wheels Track Pack (Bilingual CA EN/FR)
The car songs can get a little obnoxious but sometimes batteries go dead over night – amirite?
Melissa and Doug Puzzles
Their wooden chunky puzzles have lasted all three kids and still going strong. They show the picture under the pieces and I’ve loved these for beginning the puzzle addiction. They even like playing with the puzzle pieces themselves and they are hardy enough to take the punishment of a giraffe and a fire truck crashing into each other.
4 in 1 wooden jigsaw puzzles are perfect intermediate puzzles that come with their own wooden storage box. The box has 4 compartments and each puzzle piece has a shape on the back of it so my kids also enjoy putting the pieces away in their respective shape areas…genius.
This is one of the floor puzzles we have – my oldest son is interested in the solar system so he’s really enjoyed putting this one together and quizzing us on what we remember from science class – I had to google how many moons Jupiter has. We have 3 of these floor puzzles and will be looking into more this Christmas as our middle son is also enjoying the bigger pieces and how much room it takes up on the floor, ha ha.
Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Crawl Around Car
If you don’t have one of these cars, you’ll be interested to know that every child that comes across one of these from ages 1 to 8 (in my experience) will jam themselves into them. Every age likes this thing and it’s one of the toys we keep out permanently. It gives you an exact look as to how you are in the car – do you rock out to tunes? So will they. Do you honk the horn? So will they. I find it super cute and amusing to see them carry a little ‘laptop’ bag and say “Byeee I’m off to work! See you later!”
Play Kitchen/Market
These are one of the big ticket items that hold their value over the years. The 1 year old likes to disorganize the fridge and put pretend fruit inside and outside the pots and pans. The older ones find endless games of grocery shopping, restaurant for their stuffed animals and action figures and of course serving us endless and endless amounts of coffee and hamburgers. Are they trying to tell me I drink too much coffee?
Melissa and Doug accessories are fantastic and good quality additions:
Don’t forget a cash register; my kids love this VTech one, pretending to have a debit card and counting the coins for their purchases:
Slides
I thought that this slide would be grown out of in a year, I was so wrong. It’s the perfect slide for little ones and then you have your older ones pull it up to the kiddie pools and use it as a water slide [Use at own risk!]
Ride in Cars
There’s a reason every yard has one of these cars – kids love them. They come in so many different varieties, they have cup holders, trunks, horns and all three of my kids love them. They make little gas stations with pylons, drive to the cabin and repair it in their car shop; I just love hearing their imaginative stories. They also make fantastic tracks in the snow.
Lawn Mowers
Whether it’s popping balls or bubbles for some reason my kids love pushing these around the yard – monkey see monkey do. Especially good for toddlers learning to walk.
Where’s Waldo Books
Do you remember these books? I loved them! I got some for my then 4 year old last Christmas and was so happy that he thought they were just as cool. There’s so many things to find and then when you’ve found all those there are even more in the back pages to find. Classics are classic for a reason.
Art Supplies
This art easel has a chalk board, dry-erase board and paper roller. It comes with clips and the storage trays hold chalk and paint containers perfectly. Pro Tip: Ikea Drawing Paper Rolls fit perfectly on this.
Other fun art accessories that are big hits around here:
Lego
Classic Lego and yes you’re going to end up stepping on it. So don’t get me wrong, we love a good themed Lego Set but this Classic set gets the most use. It comes with all the basics we remember and then some. The foundation for all the different sets and perfect all on it’s own.
Hopefully our favorites gave you some ideas. If you have other solid choices I’d love to hear them!
