We visited a friend and my son loved her ball. It's a cheap red ball I picked up at Walmart. He also likes these Fisher Price Brilliants Basics Stack and Roll Cups. He likes when the cups are snapped together and they roll around. Later when he's older he can stack the cups.
Re: Cheap toys my son likes
He likes anything paper. Place mats at a restaurant are his favorite. He also loves the tags on everything. I need to clip them off, would hate for him to tear one off one day!