Classic Children's Toys

As a mother of three children, we've had many hits and misses when buying toys. I prefer to spend money on quality toys that offer imaginative play for many years rather than a cheap toy that will be outgrown in a few months. I can't say for sure this is why, but all three of my kids have very active imaginations, high vocabularies and play well in groups and independently.

Wooden blocks are so basic and so old fashioned, but they remain a long time favorite of all three of my children. The recommended age is 3-6 years but most children will play with them a little longer than that. Not only can they be used for building, but they can be combined with other play sets to be food, action figures, obstacles for cars and more.

Mega Blocks are interlocking blocks that are chunky enough for small hands but older kids still like playing with them. They can be used to make buildings for towns for small cars to zoom through. My kids use them to make action figures to play with even though they have bins of "real" action figures.

The toy sets that has gotten the most use in our household has been play food. With young children it's one of the first toys they use to pretend play like adults. Even a child as young as eighteen months old likes to mimic mom and dad by serving food. As children get older, play food can be used for sorting, counting, and color names. After that, it can be used to learn food groups and basic nutrition. Even without a kitchen set, play food is a great toy for years of play time.

Stacking cups are wonderful to play with a child that's old enough to sit up to teach baby cause and effect. Babies love knocking down towers. Older siblings can stack and baby can knock them over providing social play and sibling bonding. As the child gets older they learn about spatial relationships and how things fit together.

It's hard to resist temptation not to buy your child the latest and greatest new gadgets. But for toys that your child will play with for years and encourage creative and social play look into the toys that have stood the test of time.