I remember when I was pregnant with Axel, friends of mine who already had babies would tell me not to spend too much time investing in toys because more often than not, the things kids choose to play with are household items [pots/pans/Tupperware/empty water bottles/spoons/spatulas etc]. Being in my pre-mom status I was thinking "but there are so many cute toys! and my child will definitely play with them"
Wrong again. We have what feels like thousands of toys in our house...90% of which never get any attention. I suppose this is what Woody felt like when Andy was going off to school? Anyways, point is, the advice was true. Most toys will just take up space in your house and never serve much of a purpose. HOWEVER there have been a handful of key items that have gotten a tremendous amount of use and were worth the clutter space.
I'm going to narrow it down to my top 5 toys that were totally worth it...and hopefully this will prevent all the newer mamas out there from doing what we did, not listening to advice, and ending up with 18 million toys we didn't need.
1. Play kitchen. I mentioned this in a previous post. This is worth its weight in gold. I highly highly recommend this purchase. Plus, why not teach your kid the steps to brewing you a cup of coffee in a toy format? These are life skills people. If we're gonna have kids, might as well teach them useful tricks?
2. Indoor play tunnel. We were gifted one of these by my cousins for Axel's first birthday and it has gotten use every single day since then! You can find these easily on amazon. The one we have collapses and closes so that we can bring it with us when we travel...this has been a life saver multiple times.
3. Ball pit. We purchased a ball pit from Modern Nursery and it was worth every cent. I ordered it in monochrome tones [obviously] to match our home decor so that I could keep it in the family room and it wouldn't be an eye sore. I got it when Axel was around 8 months old and it has only continued to grow in its use. When he was little it was a soft/safe place to put him down that was more stimulating than just on a floor mat. As he grew he started to be more interactive with it; playing with the balls/throwing them. Now, he pretty much just dive-bombs in and out of it and thinks it's hilarious. It's pricy, but when you think about the years of use through multiple stages of play, it is worth it.
4. Blocks. Building block towers is one of Axel's favorite things to do...mostly because he gets to knock them down:). When he was younger the blocks were used more for teething purposes, but as he has gotten older and learned to make towers himself, its a huge source of entertainment and accomplishment when he builds something by himself. It is also a good opportunity to practice fine motor skills and counting while doing something fun. I count the blocks as I stack them as fast as I can before he knocks the whole thing down :)
5. Water table. I cannot even tell you how much joy this thing has brought Axel. We got it for him for his first birthday and he has been obsessed ever since. During the warmer months we would literally be outside multiple times daily to play with it. It's a great way to have contained fun outside and it does not take up a huge amount of space. It's also the perfect activity to whip out when you have baby friends over because multiple children can play with it at one time. We used it at Axel's first birthday party and literally 8 children were crowded around it like some kind of watering hole.
Ours is a Step 2, but there are several other brand options available.
There are certainly other toys we have that I would consider worth the expense and the clutter space, but I have narrowed it down to the 5 our son has gotten the most consistent use out of across age ranges. I would absolutely stand by each and every one of these purchases!
What do your kids absolutely love playing with?
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