The BEST toys ever.

Yesterday, you read a really great post by Aaron about open-ended play. So, I decided to ask everyone here at Studio3Music what their manipulative and toy “must haves” were. Here are their candid and creative answers.

Kim – The best gift I EVER purchased Hallie was a sensory table! I dump water in the summer, pinto beans in the fall, sand in the spring, snow in the winter. Found that table at Target for only $30 – the best investment.

Stacey – Mr. Potato Head. We have a marble set that Isaac and a couple of his older friends played with for an hour! A marbleworks set with the pieces where they put it together, and then drop them through.

Katie - I’d definitely have to say dress-up clothes. They represent the portal into becoming somebody else, anyone else… 

Allison - You know- my boys played with PVC pipe and connectors that Michael bought for them at the hardware store for years and years, too. (See Jes’s list below.)  They built all kinds of wacky Dr. Suess style things out of them and then rolled things through them- everything from marbles to hot wheel cars….

And stuffed animals.  They were big into stuffed animals.  They were the action heroes of our house….

I say all children need capes- in as many different colors as you can swing.  A good cape and be a cape, wings, a fairy princess skirt, a tent, a blanket, a time machine and a tunnel.   I made the boys capes- so easy to make!! And I only got rid of the last of them just a couple of years ago.  Other dress up clothes are a bonus as well, but capes are the foundation for a dress up box.

I also think they need blocks.  Thousands and thousands and thousands of them….

Aaron - Legos, lincoln logs are a must, and of course playdough. A good paint set is necessary. And tons and tons of blocks. Tons.

Anita - Dominoes (around age 3), Zoobs, Humungous Scarves, Bilibos… Pretend Food (we have plastic but I’d buy wooden if I had it to do again. I can’t tell you the HOURS of imaginative play and the vast array of creatures that has been fed with that food.) My boys are 8 & 10 and still play with all of those things. 

Beth - Boxes…tissue boxes to refrigerator boxes…paint them up or leave them as is.  Oh, and paper and crayons and finger paint.

Jesikah - Boy…everybody has listed just about everything on my list!  Blocks, dress-up and stuffed animals are what my kids play with just about every day.  Also, they love simple art supplies like paper, pencils, markers and crayons. 

But they play continuously with everyday items, too.

So here is a list of household items that my kids never get enough of:

Blankets & Pillows – they have been mud puddles, magical lakes, walls and roofs for a fort, snow drifts, stepping stones, even an ant farm in garden dirt  (their beds are rarely made!)

Chairs – they become the foundation for the fort, when placed in a straight line it has been a bus, a train, a submarine, airplane, rocket ship.

Measuring cups – they started out as a teething/exploration item and are now pretend play objects that have held very powerful potions, yucky medicines, and even alien water!

The strangest object that is a coveted toy that belongs to a friend of my boys. It’s a 4-5” wide piece of black plastic pipe that had an attached connector piece near the middle – for over a year that toy is a must when my boys get together with their friend who is the proud owner of this construction site toss-out.  It has been more objects in their pretend play than I can name!

Colleen - I just bought 4 fabulous bird puppets at Costco for less than $8!   They can be mommies, or daddies, or babies, or friends, or….???

Nancy - Blocks! Paper cups! Everyday items like straws, scarves, packaging materials and boxes! The item my kids played with longest that was an actual toy was a plastic toddler slide from Toys R Us..when they got too big to slide down it they turned it over and jumped up and down on the underside of it!

Analiisa - Well, here at the end I am going to talk about the things that do cost a bit of money to invest in, but have been played with for years at my house, through various ages and stages. Which makes them TOTALLY WORTH IT! With a bit of legwork these things can be found on Craig’s list, Ebay, garage sales or consignment stores. Or… with the help of present money from Grandparents and Aunties or Uncles.

All of these things are good for both boys and girls. Boys will need to grow up knowing how to cook, you know!

A kitchen. If you hate plastic, Costco sells wooden ones around Christmas time. At my house, we have a great wooden one from Melissa and Doug. (I can special order it for you.) And I agree with Anita – wooden food.

A dollhouse. It doesn’t have to be “the latest version”. Ours came from our neighbor as a hand me down. We got it for Rob when he was in speech therapy. Awesome for vocabulary development and the beginning of pretend play.

Playmobil. My favorite toy of all time. My children (almost 4, almost 8, almost 11) have been playing with it for years. TOGETHER!! And still do. One of those things (along with legos and the wooden train set) that I’ll save for my grandchildren. Which hopefully some day, (far in the future, please!) I’ll have.

-posted by all of us, who wish your children many happy hours of open-ended play!