Need a great toy for our grandchildren

In My Humble Opinion
1

They are 10-months old, identical twin boys who spend a day a week with us.

They are crazy nuts for the digital piano - it’s wired in tunes plus the fun of bashing the keys. When they’re not on our laps sitting at the piano and listening to the tunes, they are on the carpet, crawling towards it to stand on tiptoe to reach up and squeeze the keys.

So what knockout ideas do you have? It may be two toys or just one they can share. Doesn’t have to be musical, just something that grabs their attention and keeps it. And if possible something that will still be enjoyable maybe 6-8 months down the line.

If possible, can you provide a link to a picture?

2

My son had loads of fun with plain ol’ blocks and oatmeal boxes. They love to play “put it in and dump it out”. Simple, I know…but he really dug it.

3

\

Thank you, Kalhoun.

I have to admit the simplicity of those toys is appealing. But they’re things I can always get. I’m beginning to wonder who I’m trying to please. Me or them. :smiley: :smiley:

And I checked all of Toys R Us offerings. Blah, dammit.

4

Leafrog makes some great toys for a range of different ages. They’re fun and eductaional, too. (Every one of my neices and nephews have loved them.)

5

I got this LeapFrog Learning Piano for my cousin’s baby. He’s not old enough to use it but I thought it was darn cool.

6

I knew that…I just wanted you to admit that you love the toys! They are very cool these days. I always like artistic toys. You can get those magic marking pens by Crayola. They only work on the special paper. Let 'em go nuts with the creativity!

7

For widdle kids, probably your safest bet is something soft and chewable. Floppy stuffed animals for instance.

A pair of Cthulus might be good:

http://www.toyvault.com/cthulhu/plush_cthulhu.html

8

Well, they’re two different questions. In my experience, you can get a whiz-bang, wow-is-this-cool reaction for about two to three weeks, or you can get a midline excitement reaction for 6-8 months. I think everyone should enjoy both, but Grandma Presents are usually the first, admit it! :smiley:

The first would be the Leapfrog type toys - WhyBaby loves her Leapfrog Activity Table, but every two weeks I hide it for two weeks or so and bring it out again when she’s forgotten about it and it’s new again - otherwise, she starts to ignore it. Ditto those books that makes sounds when you press buttons, balls that play music when you bounce them, etc. One nice thing about these is mom can cook dinner and hear that the kids are safe and busy in the next room, but they can also be abused and make people ignore their kids.

The second, the longevity toys, are the stacking cups, the blocks, the wooden train, the measuring spoons from my kitchen, her keyring (she ignores the plastic keys - I gave her a bunch of clean real keys that I don’t have any use for), her crayons, a rubbermate crate filled with sand (we don’t have a yard for a sandbox, but she loves to scoop and pour sand), my mixing bowls and a wooden spoon, a shoebox filled with Mardi Gras beads that I got from a Doper (only under adult supervision, to prevent choking or strangulation, of course), the balls-that-roll-down-the-track-when-you-put-them-through-the-hole-at-top, etc.

Somewhere in between are her drums - real drums, not electric ones. She has a little set of congos, a set of bongos and a tiny djembe. She loves to drum with Daddy. She also likes her shakers and maracas. I especially like the Lock and Link Shakers - they have four pieces with different shakey things - one has beads, one has bells, one tamborine, and the other clacky plastic discs. It’s easy to take apart for one sound, or snap together to make four percussive sounds at once. She loves it, and my husband even “borrows” it to take to grown-up drum circles!

9

I’m with WhyNot on the longevity toys. If you look here , there’s a total goldmine of toys. Stacking cups were big for my kids at that age, and very versatile. Stack them! Nest them! Hide Cheerios under them and see if the child can lift them up and find the Cheerio!

The different shape sorter toys are great, and blocks are a toy that will grow as the kids grow.

The Leapfrog toys of the world have their place, but they can quickly lose their charm for both adult and child, so the idea of rotating them is great one. But I’m a quiet toy person whenever possible myself.

10

I have b/g twins, they’re 2.5 now, so I have give a shout-out to Grandma for babysitting every week! Woo-hoo!!

I also really agree with WhyNot, the classic and simple toys are the best. Electronic stuff’s fun, but it has to be rotated to stay interesting.

I read the OP last night & was looking around the twins’ playroom to see which items they’d had since they were 10 months old — fake food, that’s a big hit. Most of ours is plastic, I was afraid they’d whack each other with the wooden stuff. They used to just gnaw on it & enjoy the shapes & colors, now they actually use it.

The Mega Bloks they have nowadays are a lot of fun. Of course, mine weren’t actually “stacking” them at 10 months, but it didn’t take long for them to start enjoying them. Don’t buy those new, though, no reason to pay full price - head on over to Once Upon a Child (there’s got to be one in your town). They’re all franchises, and some are better than others, but the prices are phenomenal!

I picked up a set of these foam shapes at OUAC, for $40 – they love them, do all kinds of things with them, and I think they’re pretty too. That website has a lot of neat stuff.

This set of blocks comes in a push wagon. I thought this was an excellent investment & they could’ve enjoyed it even as early as 10 months. There are soft, squeezable blocks (some with shakers inside), rubber blocks, and wooden ones with letters. The soft ones would be great for 10-month-olds, and the rubber ones make good stackers for beginners.

Now, this toy is still one of their absolute favorites. They used to just roll it, but now they kick, throw, bounce, drop, lay on, etc. We have several in different sizes :wink:

11

Car keys and remotes.
Oh, wait, the present is for you!..SAY No More!

:slight_smile:
May I humbly recommend: **Shirley’s Favorite Really Good Toy Stores & Stuff. **

Hearthsong

Magic Cabin This catalog and website is illustrated which adds to its charming appeal. I loves it all. Waldorf-y stuff.

Chinaberry mostly books, but this is a fantastic resource for non-commericialized childrens books with very good reviews.

Back To Basic Toys classic toys from the last 100 years that are back in production or have been quietly surviving all this time and you forgot. Get this cataloge just for yourself

6 ft Piano Mat ( Yeah, it’s for ages 3+, but really, think of the fun and spasms of pure joy for all!

12

I don’t have a specific toy recommendation, but Gummy Lump Toys is a great website for finding toys that don’t require batteries or a Masters in Engineering to put together.

13

er… that link goes to “Heartsong Hypnotherapy Center.” What are you trying to tell the OP, Shirley? :smiley:

14

Heh.

I think she meant this link: Hearthsong

15

My son got this for Christmas when he was ten months old. He’s still having a good time with it. It’s kind of big, but there are SO many things to manipulate and look at and play with on this playhouse that I’m still not sure we’ve seen them all.

16

Fisher Price makes Peek-a-Block toys that I really like. My son got a few when he turned one and he is two now and still plays with them. The dump truck and the circus train are favorites, for little ones like yours I would go with the dump truck - my son just liked to look at the blocks first and used the dump truck as a shape sorter. I remember him putting the blocks in and dumping them out over and over. Now he likes it just as a nice truck to play with.

There are lots of blocks to choose from and they function as stacking blocks and also individual toys as they all have different things inside. My friends with kids this age all got some peek a blocks and they seemed universally liked. If you don’t mind spending a little more you could get the Incrediblock:
http://toyfinder.ebay.com/products/fisher_price_incrediblock.html

We have one and my son still plays with it too. The sides all have different activities and I know when my son was learning to stand he liked it because he could pull himself up on it and play with the blocks on top of it and see the lights and make the music play. A really good toy, IMO.

17

I’m a coding idiot, what can I say.

18

My mom went to a kitchen store and picked up a few plastic kitchen timers for a friend’s grandson. The kid twists ‘em, and they start making noise. The kid keeps fiddling around… and nothing else happens. He goes back to playing with blocks, and then BRRRRRRRRRING!!! and there’s a LOUD NOISE. Be sure that everyone else in the room makes the ringing noise when the alarm goes off, or laughs, or smiles – often, the adults’ reaction will prompt the kid how to react.

Also, blowing up balloons can be fun. Fill the room with enough big bright balloons and the kid will toddle around for hours trying to grab them. Not sure how dangerous balloons are in terms of possible injury from popping.

19

/psa
Latex balloon debris is extremely dangerous if kids get pieces in their mouths (as small children are wont to do). Those suckers flatten out and cover the windpipe with unusual efficiency, and are very difficult to dislodge.

20

Fricken A. Tonight, I found a flabby balloon tied to the baby’s crib! My husband, unbeknownst to me, tied it on there two days ago when it was ballooney! (He took her to a street fair and put her to bed while I was out with a friend.) Once deflated, it flopped itself down along the bars so I didn’t notice it.

Check the newspapers tomorrow for my husband’s death notice. :mad: