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Austin Babies
Need new kids toys. What does your 4+ kiddo like?
Since we don't plan on having anymore babies, I'd like to get rid of some of the items that the girls don't play with (baby toys) and add things that are more age appropriate. I'm not really sure what to add or where to start! Things were so much easier when I could justify buying anything Fisher Price! We have a play kitchen with oodles play dishes, food etc. Huge train table with everything. A couple of M&D dress up sets, stacking/sorting things etc. I usually keep about half their toys out at a time and rotate them out but even at the last rotation they seemed bored. They have an obscene number of books.
Emily is more into pretend play and dress up than Abby. Emily loves hats and tutus. Abby is just now starting to play with her stuffed animals as pretend guests at a tea party or putting them to bed as her babies. We have consistantly provided art opportunities for them both but Abby isn't into organized art overall. She will however play with a bowl of cornstarch goop for hours. She's more tactile I guess? Even at school the teachers say she's a "minimalist" when it comes to painting.
So far my only big idea is to get Abby a dollhouse for her birthday since she loved the one at Terra Toys and more princess dress up since she's getting more interested in it. I tried looked at some of the Montessori toy websites for inspiration and I'm just not getting anywhere. The nest/bump always knows! What should we look for with Abby getting to almost kindergarten age (eek!) and Emily trying to keep up with her?
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Re: Need new kids toys. What does your 4+ kiddo like?
one thing my girls love is pop beads. they will string them together, then sort them by color, then sort them by style, then pretend they are berries, etc etc. we have had them for almost a year and they are still a daily request from the girls (i keep the jar out of reach when i'm not around) HERE
i tried puppets and my sister sewed them a puppet theater but that seems a little over their heads still. they love playsets of small figures now like these (but they drive me a little bonkers): HERE
of course still the most popular things tend to be household items like tupperware filled with dirt
they do like to dig in the flowerbeds a LOT and have little shovels/trowels HERE
Jakob started into Webkinz at about 4-5 years old.
He used to play this adventure game with the little girls up lived upstairs from us. They'd each have a backpack, stuffed animal, notebook, crayons and whatever else they could collect and they'd march around on safari. Or something. I was never perfectly clear on what they were doing
But they loved stuff like binoculars, telescopes, flashlights, cool notebooks with matching pens....
Other than that, he played with Ninja Turtles, GI Joe and Power Rangers. I guess Abby wouldn't be interested in that. Is she ready for Barbie or My Little Pony?
Since you mentioned Montessori toys and I am *in love* with all things Montessori, my dad is getting this for Kate's birthday. It's a bit old for her, but I want to go ahead and introduce it, especially since my dad's buying.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/62418906/mini-sandpaper-letters-set-uppercase
It's very tactile which seems like something Anny would love. The letters are cut out of sandpaper. The idea is that you trace their fingers along the sandpaper in the same way they will eventually write the letter. You're supposed to make the sound that the letter makes as you do it.
ETA: I've seen several tutorials to make them yourself, but I'm not that crafty.
Sandpaper letters are awesome. DD is in love with them, but the set she uses is in cursive.
She is just starting to get in to basic board and card games. This is her current fave and it's nice because DS can almost play it, but it can be a one person game, too.
I love toys! I try to buy things that aren't just straight forward and require some imaginative play or can be extended to do other things with.
My daughter loves her doll house and she is only 2 but my 4 year old son also enjoys playing with it.
We love these. We actually have the little ones but these look like they have more possibilities.
https://www.amazon.com/WEDGiTS-Deluxe-Set-30-Piece/dp/B000068E3J/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303833074&sr=8-1
we love these as well
https://www.amazon.com/Infinitoy-11125-ZOOB-125-Piece-Set/dp/B0007ZULSY/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1303833158&sr=1-1
and these
https://www.moolka.com/jzv/prod/30353/Aroundsquare/Toys/Building+Toys/Wooden+Blocks/GoodWood+Deconstructive+Blocks,+F?p=YzM9OTMy
Also, maybe a cash register for your kitchen? I know that kaleidescope toys has a good one that would be perfect for older kiddos.
Hope that helps! Can't figure out how to get the clickies to work, sorry.
A loves her doll houses and playing pretend. She also likes dolls and dressing them up. We have critters w/ clothes and a few dolls that she plays with in her castle.
She loves beads and stringing them on pipe cleaners or gluing them on paper. She likes crafts a lot (not just painting) but drawing, making pictures with leaves, sticks, poms, different types of paper, glitter, etc. Really - anything she can sit and make a mess with - she loves.
She also really enjoys puzzles. The Mighty Mind ones where you make different creations for shaping the pieces together are great and a big hit.
She also really likes Legos and building things.
She also likes learning - so maps (puzzle maps are fun), BrainQuest activities, science experiments (like baking soda and vinegar), basic beginning reader books, preschool books for tracing numbers, letters, etc, things like that.
Meredith loves stringing beads. You can get mixed sets for next to nothing at Hobby Lobby in the bead section and get some elastic in the fabric department.
Anything art-related is a big hit at our house: scissors, glue, pom poms, sequins, feathers, foam shapes, stickers, paint, etc.
She loves Calico Critters. We have the big mansion, a couple of rooms of furniture, a few of the critters, and some accessory sets. No worries about her developing a body image complex from it, although I will admit some of the pieces are really effing tiny, so it's definitely not appropriate for Emily.
Meredith is interested some in Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Pony, and she's just now getting into some of the Disney princess stuff, thanks to Tangled.
My mom got Mer a Leapster Explorer for Christmas, and we have a couple of games for it.
Meredith really likes building with Legos, so I hope to get more of those soon. I think she'd also probably like Lincoln Logs.
Meredith, 6-1-06 and Alex, 11-5-09
Abby loves arts and crafts stuff, not only painting. She has her own craft box that she can do whatever she wants with, pom poms, pipe cleaners, glitter glue, glue sticks, googly eyes (whatever I can find at the dollar store really.)
She also loves lego! This is pretty much her favorite "toy" now. She has a doll house that she plays with quite a bit (no barbie, just small dolls) and also she got a bunch of hand-me-down littlest pet shop stuff that she likes a lot.