Below are toys for the Pre-K through elementary school age range. Toys that have stood the test of time in our house – meaning they still get used a great deal, and they still work.

I will start with Baby Alive. This is another of those toys the kids like way more than I do. We actually have an older model that seems to have been discontinued, ours doesn’t say anything about pottying, it just dirties her diaper. You should know that the baby alive diapers are very expensive, more than a dollar each. And they aren’t made well. So I buy a case of 96 Pampers newborn diapers at Christmas and then again during the summer and they know they have to make those diapers last. How ironic sad that the real diapers are cheaper than the pretend diapers. I also look for deals on the food, and when a good sale I buy a whole bunch at a time. I found some on sale online a while back and bought 80 packets at about half of their regular cost. I’ve looked around for food recipes, but I’m afraid if I use something that is actually food that it will rot in the doll, so for now we’re buying the special food since it does not seem to cause problems. We’ve had this doll for years and she still gets regular use. We thought she was broken once, turned out she just needed new batteries. The batteries last a surprisingly long time, I think we’ve replaced them two or three times in the past three or four years.

I’ll jump to technology for a minute. First the Leapster LMax. The difference in the regular Leapster and the LMax is that you can hook the LMax up to the TV and play if you want. I like being able to see what is being done occasionally, and if they hook up to the TV and play, you can watch them play. It’s hard to do that when they are playing the unit by themselves. I see lots of kids using these with headphones, but GG does not use headphones. Well, she did on the plane to and from China, but that’s it. I’m not going to point to all of the cartridges, it’s almost embarrassing how many we have. We’ve given them at Christmas and birthdays and family days and, well, there are a lot. We have considered the new Leapster Didj for GG, I love that you can put the spelling words into it, but GG still uses the Leapster a good bit so as of now we haven’t made the, er, leap. If anyone has the Didj and wants to comment on it, that would be great. I’ve also pointed to GG’s MP3 player, I talked about it here. And the Write and Learn letter pad – TT loves that thing. I can’t blame her, even I have spent time drawing the shapes and watching them dance. More time than I’d like to admit to, actually. You’ll note that I’m not pointing to the Vtech V.Motion System, and that is because it really hasn’t gotten that much use.

 
Ah, building toys. These are the toys of our childhood: TinkerToys, Lincoln Logs, Legos, Erector Sets. I don’t really need to say anything about them, do I?

Who doesn’t love Mr. Potato Head? We actually have the Potato Head family, which had Mr and Mrs and Junior… but I guess it is now discontinued and selling for an exorbitant price. So I’ve pointed to the basic Mr Potato Head, but I would recommend the deluxe Mr and Mrs if you can find them at a decent price somewhere. Having a ton of options is part of the fun. Matching Mrs. Potato Head’s hat and purse and shoes and earrings, or making them clash with each other, or just playing around with happy faces and sad faces and silly faces. Oh, and then there is the fun of putting arms where the ears go and shoes on top of the head and, yeah. I’m not sure why this toy holds kids’ imaginations as well as it does… but it does.

Next subject: Games. I have found that games are so important to teaching so many life lessons, not to mention things learned like strategy and logic and memory skills. First, I have to start with a basic deck of cards as probably our most used game hardware. Everyone has cards so I won’t point to them, but I will point to a page of games. Those games are wonderful with little ones, and then as they get older you can teach them games like rummy and poker. GG happens to be really good at both of the latter.

Our favorite board game right now is Blokus, but we play all of the ones I’ve listed fairly regularly. Thankfully, I think we are finally done with Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders. I probably should have mentioned those on the Toys for Little Ones page the other day.

Then there are things like play-doh and jump ropes and hula hoops and sidewalk chalk and bubbles and yo-yos and dress up clothes. Oh, the dress up clothes. I probably should have mentioned dress up clothes when I did the toys for little ones. We have a corner with a tall mirror and lots of hooks going both directions. Dress up clothes hang on the hooks, play shoes are on the floor below, and there are containers of fake jewelry and tiaras on a shelf. This is another of those “we have so much it’s almost embarrassing” things. But this corner gets a lot of use. And the clothes also get used when the girls put on their various shows and plays. We don’t just have princess and dance and fru-fru type stuff, there is also a doctor’s outfit, pirate outfit, cowboy outfit, fire fighter, police, etc. Though, the fru-fru stuff does make up the majority of it, I’ll admit.

 
It appears the Magna Doodle is now called the Doodle Pro and the Doodler. We have the large one in the house and two small ones in the car.

 
What better way to teach our kids not to be gullible, than to teach them how to do magic tricks? This has helped GG to not take things at face value more than I can explain. It started when someone showed her a card trick. You know, pick a card… any card, then put it on top of the deck, the person cuts the deck, turns it over, looks through, and pulls out the card. GG was convinced it had to be magic. I showed her how it is done once we were home – look at the bottom card before you cut the deck and their card will be just before it. This was a light bulb moment for her, you could see the gears turning in her head as she realized it wasn’t magic, it was a trick. She’s been hooked on magic tricks ever since. When we went to a birthday party with a magician I had to coach her ahead of time to not blurt out how the tricks were done as the magician was doing them. I could see her whispering to her friend during the show, so I guess she had to tell someone – LOL.

Then there are things like bicycles and scooters and skateboards. And we must not forget the safety gear for those items. I require the helmet and provide but do not require knee and elbow pads and gloves. When GG is learning new tricks she wears the knee pads and gloves, but rarely wears the elbow pads.

Our art supplies include crayons, water colors, poster paints, markers, colored pencils, stamps and stamp pads, lots of stencils, a Spirograph, chalk, paint brushes of all sizes, glue (stick and bottle), scissors, coloring books, sketch books (one for each girl), and a huge pile of blank recycled manila paper that I found pretty cheap, something like 1,000 sheets for $10, I think. It’s a nice heavy weight and makes for great drawing with all kinds of media. Art supplies are stored in containers in a kitchen cabinet, and all artwork is done in the kitchen, either in the floor or at the kitchen table.

I know there are more toys that have gotten a lot of use, but I’m drawing a blank. Some things from the “little ones” post still get used, like the swingset and art easel. And I’m tempted to point to a computer, because GG gets a lot of use out of her computer. It might be more appropriate to do a post on software though, and point to which software has gotten the most use.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 1:30 pm and is filed under Reviews: Tech, Reviews: Toys. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.