Our Favorite Kids Toys

2/20/2019

I've had a few people ask about our boys' toys, and I've been meaning to share about them for quite some time! Ever since I found out that I was pregnant with Emmet I have been researching (specifically into montessori), DIYing (see a list of my DIY's below), and shopping for the best kid's toys. I LOVE it. I get told that I am too picky , perhaps even a little snobbish, but I would rather have fewer, quality kids toys for our kiddos that a) they love to play with, b) teaches them something while they play or encourages imagination, c) last a long time, and d) look good even when scattered all over our house. We really only buy the boys toys at Christmas time and for their birthdays (with a few other toys scattered throughout the year). We've also been really lucky to receive some awesome toys as gifts! We are so grateful to everyone who loves our boys (and also to those who give them things too).

Our main "rules":
-Natural Materials if possible. Wood, Fabric, etc. Silicone is an iffy one. But preferably, limited amounts of brightly colored plastic (unless they are from green toys, which are made from recycled plastic!)
-Preferably no batteries (we have a few things). I'm cruel I know. But they break. or kids swallow batteries. or they just make god awful sounds all the time and turn their little brains to mush. no thanks.
-Little to no character toys or short term interest toys. I catch myself on this one ALL THE TIME. Emmet went through a big incredibles phase and I found myself eyeing the action figures of them at the store more than once. OR sesame street, or frozen, moana, etc. Unless they love it so much that they are going to love it for a really long time, like truly obsessed with it, It will probably just get played with for a short amount of time and then thrown out.
-Avoid having TOO many. If we already have one of something, I try to assess if we actually NEED an additional one. For instance, I've found a few shape puzzles that I love, but we already have a shape sorter and shape flash cards, so they aren't necessary as they won't teach them anything new. Or if we already have a set of blocks or stackers, we don't need another set (even if they are cuter). My goal is to avoid expansion packs for things. Wish us luck when we hit the lego stage.

Below I've made a list of all of our favorite toys, brands, and places to shop. I even put a few of our wishlist things on here too (for more ideas for you!)

What are your favorite kids toys?

Our Favorite Toys

For Baby:
(have)

Rattles - Bla Bla Kids, Manhattan Squish Rattle, Maileg (we have an older design but they are all so cute!)
Teethers - Oli and Carol, Lavender & Clover, & Lil' Peach E Design makes great ones too!
Grasping Beads - Available from lots of places! We have this one.
Soft Books - We have this one. I would set it up for Henry to look at when he was first doing tummy time.
Mobiles - Ours is Lil' Peach E Design and we LOVE it. We also love this one from Bla Bla Kids, and this DIY here.
Baby Gyms - Ours is Lil' Peach E Design. We also love this one from Crate and Kids
Textured Balls - We have some like these.
Ball Drop
Walker - Ours is Hape and it is the best! It is sturdy, doesn't tip, and it doesn't roll TOO quickly

(we also love...)

Object Permanence Boxes - There are a ton out there! Coin boxes, Ball Drops, and more. We have this one on our wishlist.
Activity Chairs and Gyms - We love this one from Crate and Kids and this one from Anthropologie

Stacking, Sorting, & Puzzles:
(have)

Rainbow Stacker - Ours is Grimms! I kind of Wish we would have gotten the bigger one...
Stacking Towers - Ours is Melissa and Doug, but we also love this one from Grimms
Stacking Cups - We have the natural version from Grimms.
Shapes Sorter - Ours is Melissa and Doug. My only beef with it is that it rolls away, so it was a little harder to manipulate at first AND one of the shapes fits in the lid which was really confusing for Emmet. I might pick one more like this now.
Puzzles - THERE ARE SO MANY POSSIBLE PUZZLES OUT THERE. From chunky wooden puzzles, classic puzzles, shapes, trucks, and if you get into the montessori world... holy moly. We have this vegetable one, these sticks and rings, and these first easy puzzles. (we plan to add a LOT of puzzles in the next year or so. See wishlist below)

(we also love...)

Puzzles - Upper Case Letters, Lower Case Letters, Numbers, and basically all of the puzzles from this shop.
Sorting Acorns
Memory Game - we love this one from Plan Toys

Things that Move (or help them move!):
(have)

Large Vehicles - Our favorites are from Hape and Green Toys. We have this dump truck, school bus, tractor, and this car carrier from Melissa and Doug
Diecast Cars - By far Emmet's favorites! Find them on amazon.
Wooden Cars - Our little ones are from our car carrier set (above), we also love these ones from Bella Luna Toys.
Ride on Toys - We have this bike and this bouncy hippo
Trains - We got this pretty basic set for Emmet to see if he likes it. We *might* consider adding more tracks and accessories but I'd like to avoid getting into too many expansion packs (see rules above). This was our dream set (but we decided it was too expensive)
Pull Toys - We have the cutest little ducks from Janod. Emmet is very into his ducks right now.

(we also love...)

Large Vehicles - We probably don't NEED any more large vehicles but we want this recycling truck and this fire truck from Green Toys.
Large Wooden Cars - I love these from Candy Lab
Rocking Horse - In my dream world I find one of these vintage wicker rocking horses locally and for a great price. I also love this more affordable one from IKEA. Plus here are great DIY's for customizing them! This one from Plan Toys even folds up!
Wooden Balance Board - We love this one from Maisonette or this one from Amazon.

Pretend Play:
(have)

Kitchen - We have (and love) this kitchen from Ikea. It is super cute and has taken a beating and still looks great!
Kitchen Accessories - Espresso Machine, Coffee Maker, Pots and Pans, Utensils, Vegetable Set,
Mop/Broom Set
Dolls - We love Hazel Village Dolls (we have this one of the people dolls) and this Corolle baby doll
Doll Houses - We have this one AND this one and love them both! We also have a Vintage Fisher Price Barn for Henry.
Peg Dolls (I DIY'd mine but you can find some REALLY cute ones here!)
Animals - We have wooden ones from Ostheimer Animals and a variety of plastic ones, our favorite being Schleich.

(we also love...)

Doll House - We are all set on Doll Houses but this one is precious! And this matching barn is super cute too!
Pretend Food - Tea Set, Dish Set, & I'm obsessed with this line of pretend food
Vegetable Garden
Mini Dolls - We love these tiny mice from Maileg!

Building:
(have)

Blocks - We have a couple different sets, but if we could start over we would get these and these.
Duplos - We got Emmet this set of Duplos at about 1.5. They were a little hard at first but now he loves them and plays with them all the time. They have been a house, cameras, airplanes, and more. He builds something new each time.

(we also love...)

Legos - When we feel brave enough we'll start them! I'd *like* to just get this large basic set and leave it at that, but I'll look back and this and laugh hysterically I'm sure.

Dress Up: I love the idea of having a large basket of dress up clothes for the boys' minds to run wild with! We have a few items so far and we plan to build it up slowly. We have found a few hats already at local thrift shops and we hit them up again around halloween time for more ideas.
(have)

Space Suit - Emmet has this suit and this helmet (they are our favorite!)
Binoculars - We received a few pairs as gifts, but we love these wooden ones too!
Cameras - Similar

(we also love...)

Super Hero Costume - I LOVE everything from Love lane designs, but we especially would love this super hero set.
Butterfly Wings - I dream of watching Emmet run around our future garden in these wings.
Cow Boy - Love this hat and llama ride on toy!

Outside Play:
(have)

Cozy Coupe - Ours was a hand-me-down, find one here.
Balls - We have a variety of soccer balls, goals, etc.
Sand/Water Tables - We DIYed ours from a wooden thing we found on the side of the road during spring clean up. I'll try to share a closer look at it. OR you can buy this pretty table from IKEA and these tubs.
Scooter - We have this one from Micro and this Helmet

(we also love...)

Bike - We plan to get this bike for Emmet when he is ready.
Swing - I LOVE this swing! Currently scoping out a good branch.

Bathtime: a tip, avoid ANYTHING that water can get trapped in. Squirty toys, foam, etc. Mold is a huge problem no matter how diligent you are. Plastic is your friend here.
(have)

(we also love...)

Boat - There are a bunch of cute ones, we like this one from green toys.
Oli and Carrol - Origami Boat, car, and Rubber Duck (NO HOLES YAY!)

Music:
(have)

Xylophones - We have a larger version of this set of xylo-pipes and the one that came with his ball drop toy.
Microphone - (gasp! batteries! It was a gift and we made an exception because he loooves it)

(we also love...)

guitar - still worrying that this is too advanced. But our little mini mumford needs it.
piano - we can't fit a full sized piano in our house, so we've been looking into a toy version instead.
banjo - This banjo from plan toys is so cute!
drums - Love this mini wooden drum set

Other:
(have)

Tents/Teepees - My sister in law made our tent! We also love Lil' Peach E Design's A frame tents too.
Stuffed Animals - Our favorite brands are Hazel Village, Bla Bla Kids, and Jelly Cat. The boys each have 1 (I may have broken that rule for Henry's birthday) of each and then a few other stuffed animals we couldn't resist as well (I'm a sucker for stuffed animals and blankets)! Emmet's owl, Emmet's Alpaca, Emmet's Dinosaur, Henry's Bear, Henry's Fox, Henry's Lion.

(we also love...)

Marble and Car Runs - This musical marble run is so dreamy, but we also love this one and this car run.

Finding the right toy can sometimes be a trick! For Christmas or birthdays, or when Emmet reaches a new milestone and is ready for a new toy OR when he gets a new interest, I usually start by looking at some of my brands or at some of my favorite stores. I typically look around until I find a few options and then narrow down when I find my favorite one (and for a decent price too!)

Our Favorite Brands:

Plan toys - Great Wooden Toys! Their baby toys are especially cute! This roller and these sensory tumblers are super cute. Plus we LOVE this rocking horse (bonus - it folds up!) and this memory game.
Hape - More great mostly wooden toys. We have and love their walker and this tumbling musical penguin (and several other things too!)
Janod - Still even more great wooden toys.
Manhattan Toys -
Green Toys- Made from recycled milk jugs and oh so cute!
Melissa and Doug - We've gotten a few cute things from Melissa and Doug! The quality is really amazing or occasionally a miss, but they are priced really affordably! We have (and love) their broom and mom set, rainbow stacking toy, shape sorter, and lacing beads, and we still have their large giraffe on our wishlist!
Hearth and Hand with Magnolia -
Hazel Village - By far our very favorite animals and dolls! I would buy them all if I could. We have and love the owl, bear, boar, and this doll.
Bla Bla Kids - The cutest knitted dolls you'll ever see. We have a few of their rattles, pillows, and dolls. Click here to get $10 off your first order!
Jelly Cat - If you are into more of a "classic" stuffed animal, we love these! Henry's lion is Jelly Cat and he LOVES it.
Schleich - We love our plastic animals! We give them baths, take them outside, build zoos to put them in and more! For consistency I would recommend sticking with one brand (other wise the sizing gets weird) We like schleich! I like to give the boys animals as stocking stuffers, or they look super cute as gift toppers too!
Ostheimer Animals - a little pricier, but ooooh are these the cutest wooden animals you'll ever see! I recently got a few for Henry.
Monroe Workshop - (they just closed up shop, but you can still find them here and here)
Grimms Wooden Toys - These are our FAVORITE open ended wooden toys. We have the small rainbow stacker and the natural stacking cups. We hope to add more to our collection as the boys grow! Grimms toys can also be found here and here.
Oli and Carol - Natural rubber teethers and bath toys. We have a few of their fruits and veggies and this mushroom
Maileg - Super cute stuffed animals, rattles, and dolls

Places to Shop:

Newton/Wichita Area

Love of Character - I love this wichita shop! She carries a few of our favorite brands listed above, my favorite rifle paper co products and a ton of adorable party supplies!

Buying second hand when possible is also a great way to save money AND save the earth! I frequent shops in our local area and pick up toys when I find them. I usually try to ask myself "would I have bought this at full price?" to prevent us having too many toys.