So my advice:
- start with YOUR family's interests, and go from there
- look for toys and belongings that will be enduring
- remember that very young children really don't need much at all to play with, and often are happier with household objects and having you involved in the game.
Some parents don't like faddish, trendy toys. I don't particularly, but if one of my children (at the age of having some maturity and reasoning) has saved their money and is making purchasing decisions by themselves, then it's part of real life to buy what you like. Perhaps there will be buyer's remorse. Perhaps it will become a treasured item to remind the child of that time in their life. A parent with a healthy, respectful attitude towards this sort of thing will find the lines of communication open, and the child may receive and enjoy advice/stories of "when I was younger I bought a <fill in the blank> and <consequence> happened."
(My children like the story of "When Mummy bought the "Roar Power" accessory for her bicycle ...")
Enough talking!
I took a few photos from around our place to give young families some ideas of what they might like to look out for in op-shops, garage sales, or even request from grandparents etc.
(Remember - we have been adding to our stash for over 20 years, sifting out the things that arn't worth keeping, and trying to maintain the ones that are used a lot.)
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| Nice little bits of fabric, easily accessible to be grabbed and used. |
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| Jigsaw puzzles and some of our games |
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| Our crafting suitcase - felt fabric, embroidery floss, needles, embroidery hoops etc |
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| Beautiful soft wool roving (sliver) for wet-felting, needle-felting or adding as a loose part to a game (I sell this!) |
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| LEGO!!! Fantastic for the fingers and the brain |
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| We have a little stash of notebook, art books and stationary so people can get one at any time for a project (we usually buy them at the "Back To School" sales in late January/early Feb.) |
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| Something nice for when Mummy plays with someone - I like to enjoy the game too! |
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| Cars, cars and more cars |
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| A personal library |
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| One of my TOP recommendations is that every family should have their own library |
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| Our library is in our hallway - even in a small house it's imperative to have a personal library!!! |
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| Beautiful art equipment that is only used by careful arty sorts |
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| Pens, pencils, washi tape, scissors, sellotape ... you might probably guess that I love art stuff! |
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| Things that make you feel good when you look at them - when you are at home so much it's important to personalize your home, make it work and feel good for everyone living there |
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| Some children love em, some children can't be bothered - soft toys and puppets |
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| More bits of fabric for projects |
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| More books that won't fit in our library (this is our storeroom) |
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| Must be time for a tidy-up in the storeroom ... I see a mess - he sees ADVENTURE |
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| Minatures (not for little people who SCATTER them far and wide) |
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| More puzzles in our storeroom |
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| Magnetix, and magnet tiles (not photographed) highly recommended |
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| Things you might not consider to be fun. |
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| Playmobil |
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| Wooden dollhouse furniture - an acceptable scale for Sylvanian, Kelly Dolls, "Wooden and Rope people" and Fisher Price Loving Family dolls etc |
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| Marble Roller kit (would prefer a wooden one, but am grateful for this one) |
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| Favourite stash of marker pens! |
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| And just to show you what my little guy was playing with as I was photographing some of our resources! |
I hope this has been interesting for you to look at. Do you have any resources you would definitely include in your "we have loved these" list?
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