Comments on: Kids Toys – A Lesson on Quality, Sharing, Respect and Simplicity

By: May

May — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 14:22:49 +0000

great post :) thanks for sharing your wonderful tips and ideas.

By: Wee Sing:Grandpa’s Magical Toys

Wee Sing:Grandpa’s Magical Toys — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 13:36:00 +0000

[...] Kids Toys – A Lesson on Quality, Sharing, Respect and Simplicity [...]

By: m@rtin

m@rtin — Wed, 19 May 2010 12:34:02 +0000

Thanks, Sandrine, for your interesting thoughts.
The list of toys sounds quite similar what our son has (2.5 years old), just add some more musical instruments.
:-)

One of the most important points imho is being imaginative …
Our son always finds new interesting things which he “urgently needs” (but only for a short time).
For example, there was a picture of a fork lift truck, he saw in a book and he wanted one… I thought: we can’t buy a toy each time he sees something cool, so we build one with Lego Duplo. It was very “abstract”, but he was happy with it. Same with earth movers, cranes, and although they are only made of simple Duplo bricks, they “have” everything it needs (buttons and switches to turn them on and off, etc.)…
So, if you teach your child to be imaginative instead of needing a perfectly shaped and featured miniature model of each thing it wants, that works perfectly.

He also loves cooking and making cakes, so he has his own cupboard in our kitchen, where he has some basic kitchen “tools” an lots of empty boxes from food, tea etc. to play with – so no need to buy a big and expensive doll kitchen..

… and once he needed water to cook his pasta, I proposed him to use “play water” (as we call it), which can’t be seen by most adults, but (that’s the advantage) it is not wet at all, so no pools on the floor. ;-)
And now he uses e. g. (his own idea) “play batteries” etc. for things he is not allowed to use.

m@rtin

By: The bouncer toy bar fell foward & hit my 5 month baby’s forehead. Will her head be ok? | Baby Bouncer – Fisher-Price Babygear Baby Bouncers

Tue, 18 May 2010 04:33:24 +0000

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By: Internet Design With Search engine optimisation in Thoughts is the Key to Success | Linkinvestments - Web Promotion Strategies

Thu, 13 May 2010 08:56:44 +0000

[...] Kids Toys – A Lesson on Quality, Sharing, Respect and Simplicity [...]

By: Sandrine

Sandrine — Thu, 13 May 2010 05:33:22 +0000

Thanks for all the lovely comments. It’s great that so many people help their kids enjoy their toys rather than just stash them.
I noticed I left out a couple of things when I listed our toys – there’s a pile of foam letter puzzle pieces I can see in a corner (very useful for building boats and houses) and a bag of dressing up things under a chair (mostly tutus and witch dresses which my son loves. My daughter is more into homemade zombie costumes now).
Also, I wanted to let you know, Tinky Winky turned up two days ago. My son spotted him under the drinks cabinet, and we extracted him with our special getting-things-from-under-the-radiator stick.
Oh yes, and there’s probably other toys behind the radiator. I haven’t listed those.

By: Lily

Lily — Thu, 13 May 2010 02:10:03 +0000

I have noticed that you do not have to have a toy for every occasion or interest…kids will make do. My son loves the Thunderbirds (60s TV marionette show) – his favorite activity is to reenact scenes with the vehicles we have made together out of toilet rolls, cardboard and lego, along with any of the cars/trucks he can find in his toybox. He is only 2 years old and it blows me away how creative he is when it comes to improvising something for a scene. Toys are just a means of expressing himself.

By: Organic Motherhood with Cool Whip

Organic Motherhood with Cool Whip — Wed, 12 May 2010 23:51:54 +0000

Lovely post!! There is so much consumerism in this world, it is actually refreshing to really think about what we are giving our children to play with, rather than just succumbing to the latest craze.

By: MotherLodeBeth

MotherLodeBeth — Wed, 12 May 2010 21:12:05 +0000

Our kids love the most hands on homemade toys, which means we have fewer than ten store bought toys, and these are Lego, art items, science items. We never ever buy fast food which means we avoid the fast food movie toys. We do have bikes, ski equipment, but these arent toys as much as modes of transporation during the year, since we avoid driving as much as possible. Have never fully understood, and probably never will, the American idea that kids need their own play room that is full of ‘stuff’. And then America wonders why we have so many kids with health, weight issues and sadly lower test scores in school.

By: morgin1013

morgin1013 — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:22:00 +0000

When my son was young I knew for his birthday and Christmas people would overwhelm us with toys and “stuff” (junk really) even when I had told them that we would prefer just a few small things or even no gifts as he had enough. The Grandparents especially ignored our request. So to help manage the barrage of stuff and to teach my son a lesson about charity every year before his birthday (which is 1 month before Christmas) I had him go through everything he had (toys, clothes, books) and pack a few boxes to give to Goodwill. I would tell him that this allowed him to make room for all his new stuff and that at the same time he could help someone who normally wouldn’t be getting anything. It helped tame the clutter and helped people in need which is a win-win. Letting him pick the items himself helped him decide what was really worth keeping and what wasn’t. It also got rid of the trash, things with missing pieces, broken items, and the like because as he found them he threw them away whereas the rest of the year he just tossed that stuff into a corner, toy box, or closet. Now that he is older he doesn’t have problems with letting stuff go and he is always happy to give items to charity so they can be used by someone else. It is his first instinct to give something away that is in good shape and usable rather then just tossing it which helps people in need and is better for the environment.