Toys That Will Grow With Your Family (and Won’t Annoy You) By Greg Williams At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

What exactly makes a good choice for long-term play? In a throwaway market, parents are looking for toys that their children will be able to use for longer than just a few months. Children grow so fast in the early years though, so finding toys that cross the ages can be a challenge.

First, put back anything that talks, walks, blinks or dings on it’s own. Young children need toys to play with and explore, not toys that will play for them. Children need to learn by doing, not watching.

Allow your daughter to be the voice of the baby doll, figuring out what baby needs and filling that need. A doll that tells her what to do puts her in a passive role, she needs to create the scenario and play it out to the fullest without her doll having any input at all.

Allow your son to power that fire truck. He can sound a siren just as well as any pre-made battery powered noise box and you know it.

You want a toy that will get played with day in and day out? Let me let you in on a little secret. Little people like to play with little people. Little girls like to play with dolls, we all know that. Little boys also like to play with people. A castle set with knights, a king and queen and a dragon adorns the play table many a living room.

You won’t find the knights in there though. There are usually some in the bathtub, some by the table in the kitchen and at least one tucked into bed with each of the little guys. Those knights have likely learned to swim, hide under the table, battle the dragon, drive the fire truck, and have apparently become accustomed to sleeping in beds.

Children also enjoy a good physical challenge. I used to have a basketball hoop hung on the closet door at the end of the hall. If you don’t want your children playing basketball in the hallway (although I’m the type to encourage it), one of those basketball hoops that adjust as your child grows is an investment that will last for years. Not the tiny one made for the just walking crowd, mind you, that thing is good for six months, maybe. I like the portable and adjustable hoops that can accommodate big brother, little sister and Grandma if needed.

Given the freedom to choose anything they want in the toy store, they will be undoubtedly drawn to the blinking, dinging, singing, talking whizding in the brightly colored box. That doesn’t mean that is the best choice for them. (Give them a choice between the produce section and the candy isle and chances are they won’t make the best choice there either.)

On the other hand, if you bring home the new doll or the wooden handcrafted fire truck and sit down and play with them for an hour or so, they will cherish and play with that toy far longer than they would have appreciated that noisy whizding they picked out.

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