Our Favorite Toys

(27 Months)

We love playing.  I love watching them play.  I was a child in the 70's, back then there was no Internet, texting, involved computer games (well, there was Pong before the huge Atari explosion), and all we had were the basic TV channels with a turn dial.  If we wanted to play, we played.  We didn't have toys that played for us, while we just sat back and soaked it all in.  We didn't sit in front of a DVR filled with children's programs (VHS anyone?).  We played.  I loved that about our childhood and wanted to do my best to replicate that in the year 2012.

Right now, their favorite toys are reflective of that.  Here is a quick list of their favorite toys.  When you glance through the list, you'll probably nod your head in agreement that most of them were YOUR favorite toys as well.  Tried and true toys stand the test of time.

• Baby (Little Miss's doll) and other random stuffed animals
• Books
• Blocks, Mega Blocks and Legos
• Balls
• Bicycles (tricycles, big wheels)
• Crayons, markers, finger paints, water color paint, sidewalk chalk
• Play-Doh and clay
• Play house, slide and kitchen (tea set, pots and pans, play food, measuring cups/spoons, random items borrowed from the kitchen)
• Magna Doodle and Aqua Doodle
• Water table, filled with plain water, bubbles, shaving cream (back then it was the big plastic kiddie swimming pools)
• Wooden puzzles
• Homemade toys- let's face it, our parents knew us best and they always could make the best toys
• Musical instruments
• Music (back then it was on the radio or LPs or 45s)  
• Trains and train set, cars and trucks

It's amazing isn't it, they are the same toys.  I wonder now, if the moms and dads back then knew that generations later there would be books written about the importance of imaginative play, how to integrate fine and gross motor skills into daily activities, the value of sensory play, the correlation of exercise and improved brain function?  Without all of the research, the Internet, they knew that those toys were good toys to aid their children's development and prepare them for school.  Yet, when was the last time you bought a random toy without first looking up reviews about it?