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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Suggestions for New Toys
trippingontoys 06:32 PM 04-11-2013
What's the most played with toys in your daycare? I am ready to buy some new toys but am tired of children dumping out a bucket and running off to something else. We spend most of the day picking up what they dump before they can get something else out. I need toys for children with the attention span of knats. :-) Ages 6 months to 5 years...........No small pieces. No lots of pieces. Things that don't easily break. If I had room it would be an indoor jungle gym because my kids seem to be full of endless energy. But I don't. So what's some toys to keep them interested with a very small daycare space? We go outside a lot this time of year. But I need things for when it rains or is unbearably humid, or I am banging my head against a wall.............
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MyAngels 07:00 PM 04-11-2013
Favorites right now are Little People, blocks and legos, kitchen, play food and baby dolls, dress up items and trucks both big and small.

When I start having a problem with dumping I just make sure they don't go on to something new until they clean up what they have and that seems to curb it.
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cheerfuldom 07:02 PM 04-11-2013
Perhaps you have too many toys. That would be my first guess for kids that are bored like that. or perhaps their activities are not age appropriate or challenging enough. may not be the case, just some thoughts.

as for toys, I dont do electronic/battery operated/screens. No toys that entertain or can only be played one way (like things that you push buttons).

Here are our current favorites

Dress up
plain wooden blocks
legos....just plain basic legos, not the sets
little people collection
huge magnetic board hung on the wall and lots of magnets
free art...set out supplies and let them go at it
play kitchen with lots of food
books
baby doll stuff
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blandino 07:06 PM 04-11-2013

Those are our MOST played with/requested toys.
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cheerfuldom 07:12 PM 04-11-2013
sensory bins are great too!

i am on the hunt for large magna doodles. the kids play with those till they literally fall apart.
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MrsSteinel'sHouse 04:03 AM 04-12-2013
I bought a Little Tykes cash register a few months ago and it is loved! I do not leave it out but choose when to place it out.
Mr Potato Head- I pick up extra parts at yard sales whenever I find them!! They love them!
Wooden blocks. Add extras to extend play
Duplos- I have a huge bucket and they LOVE them.
Little people
Kitchen and food
puzzles at the table
play doh
I rotate all my toys (I even have two food sets, one is little tykes and one is the velcro cutting food) When they are no longer playing nicely I switch! I have a smaller playroom and this really helps. I do have dumpers so I only have out what I can pick up in 5 min without them doing anything Generally though they pick up, but when I had all little ones that was my rule and I keep with that because then it is a resonable amount for them to pick up and it isn't overwhelming.
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Lavender 04:20 AM 04-12-2013
For younger ones (our kids right now are between 7-17 months) they love the little colorful bouncy balls with nubs on them (found them on Amazon), baby dolls, that piggy bank toy with the coins that go in it, and those peek-a-blocks.
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trippingontoys 06:32 AM 04-12-2013
Thanks for all the suggestions! I have been leaning towards a small kitchen and new play food. I have dishes and shopping cart and they love to play grocery store (cash register sounds good too) and house.

I want to buy new dress up clothes. They have about worn mine out! Now if I can just find some that don't cost and arm and a leg. :-) I made some purses out of my boys old blue jeans and the girls love them. If I had better sewing skills, I'd make some simple dresses and such but that may be out of my league. Time to call the mother in law!

I've got small tubs of little people, farm animals for the farm, zoo animals, tools, leap frog magnetic letters, blocks duplo and wooden, cars, books, puzzles, magna doodles, lacing shapes, art supplies, and a few bigger push toys like a fire truck, train, and tractor. I keep about half of those things where the kids can reach and the other half up high where they can't. We have a built in bookshelf I use for storage. The dumping has gotten better just because I've moved the toys out of reach. We have the rule that you have to pick up the toys you dumped before getting out new ones. It just seems like we are picking something up after 3 minutes.

I've got a really small area for my daycare and want to get toys they will play with and not just take up space. So far the thing that holds their attention the longest has been some 18 gallon plastic storage tubs I bought to store winter clothes in the off season. :-) They pretend they are cars, swimming pools, beds, rocketships, etc. I guess I will be buying more of those for the winter clothes...........
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butterfly 11:55 AM 04-12-2013
Originally Posted by cheerfuldom:
Perhaps you have too many toys. That would be my first guess for kids that are bored like that. or perhaps their activities are not age appropriate or challenging enough. may not be the case, just some thoughts.
I put away almost 2/3 of my toys. I rotate a little more often now, but having less out actually keeps them more interested. They don't seem to get so overwhelmed with all the options.

Others have mentioned some great options.

My kids have loved a muffin tin to sort large wooden beads into different groups, colors, etc.

We do more table activities as a group, when they start getting really distracted and wild. Puzzles, games, writing, etc. Dry erase boards are a hit too.
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EAP 03:20 PM 04-12-2013
I'm curious about what everyone keeps out all the time - I think they have too many choices but its what was listed for FCCERS so I'm hesitant to put things away. I would love some examples of what is in blocks center etc.
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blandino 03:42 PM 04-12-2013
Originally Posted by EAP:
I'm curious about what everyone keeps out all the time - I think they have too many choices but its what was listed for FCCERS so I'm hesitant to put things away. I would love some examples of what is in blocks center etc.
Out all the time we have:

Kitchen play
Dolls & cradle
Table with magnadoodles
Toy box (not a ton of toys mostly large toys)
Musical instruments
A ball container that is also a basketball hoop
Cozy corner: a small pass trough room with foam floor, a foam couch, pillows, and baskets of books and stuffed animals (these items done leave the cozy corner)

The infant play area has large play items like a leap frog table, a cube toy (like they have in doctors offices), a large house toy, and a bucket of soft cloth toys. All other items are in bins and rotated.
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cheerfuldom 04:07 PM 04-12-2013
Originally Posted by butterfly:
I put away almost 2/3 of my toys. I rotate a little more often now, but having less out actually keeps them more interested. They don't seem to get so overwhelmed with all the options.

Others have mentioned some great options.

My kids have loved a muffin tin to sort large wooden beads into different groups, colors, etc.

We do more table activities as a group, when they start getting really distracted and wild. Puzzles, games, writing, etc. Dry erase boards are a hit too.
cheaper than muffin tins....re-use egg cartons. we love sorting beads, buttons, rocks and shells. i also give the kids small mirrors and they can sort on the mirror. try it....they love it!
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EAP 03:59 PM 04-13-2013
Originally Posted by blandino:
Out all the time we have:

Kitchen play
Dolls & cradle
Table with magnadoodles
Toy box (not a ton of toys mostly large toys)
Musical instruments
A ball container that is also a basketball hoop
Cozy corner: a small pass trough room with foam floor, a foam couch, pillows, and baskets of books and stuffed animals (these items done leave the cozy corner)

The infant play area has large play items like a leap frog table, a cube toy (like they have in doctors offices), a large house toy, and a bucket of soft cloth toys. All other items are in bins and rotated.
How many kids do you have and what ages?

I have 5 preschoolers age 18m-3.5yrs and I am trying to figure out what to take out of the room. We have :

dramatic play - kitchen, dollhouse, dolls, 2 shopping carts, dress-up clothes, fruit stand, assorted dramatic play props.

fine motor area (puzzles, magnet blocks, bristle blocks, lacing beads, shape sorters)

art center - crayons, play dough, roller painter

natural area (house plants, discovery box with collection of natural things -shells, pine cones, feathers, river rocks)

reading center - small child sized couch and assortment of books

blocks center with 2 kinds of wooden blocks, soft blocks, farm animals, cars, dinosaurs and career people

all of my centers were based off FCCERS rating scale and I am a 5 star but I think it is just too much. I rotate the items in the centers every few weeks. I think some of the issues are my 2 kids that are under 2 years but also think there are just too many choices.
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blandino 04:47 PM 04-13-2013
Originally Posted by EAP:
How many kids do you have and what ages?

I have 5 preschoolers age 18m-3.5yrs and I am trying to figure out what to take out of the room. We have :

dramatic play - kitchen, dollhouse, dolls, 2 shopping carts, dress-up clothes, fruit stand, assorted dramatic play props.

fine motor area (puzzles, magnet blocks, bristle blocks, lacing beads, shape sorters)

art center - crayons, play dough, roller painter

natural area (house plants, discovery box with collection of natural things -shells, pine cones, feathers, river rocks)

reading center - small child sized couch and assortment of books

blocks center with 2 kinds of wooden blocks, soft blocks, farm animals, cars, dinosaurs and career people

all of my centers were based off FCCERS rating scale and I am a 5 star but I think it is just too much. I rotate the items in the centers every few weeks. I think some of the issues are my 2 kids that are under 2 years but also think there are just too many choices.
See we don't have any sort of checklist like that. There might be one available if we participated in the stars program, but in OK you have to accept state subsidy payments in order to receive anything higher than a 1 star rating (and the subsidy payments are less than 1/2 of our private pay rate & it's illegal to charge the difference). Anyway, I digress So my choice isn't based off of a list I received.

My kids are 18 months - 4. I have 8/9 of them depending on the day. The others are in the infant/toddler room.


All of our blocks, are in tubs and brought out to use one at a time. I agree that with the under 2's toys get transferred, carried around the room, and mixed up. I used to have a lot more out, and available any time, and I realized that made them much less special and the kids got tired of theme easily.
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