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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Best/Fav. Toys?
treehugger82 06:06 PM 03-06-2011
Anyone have suggestions for best/fav toys? I am a big fan of simple toys and have some things from my own kids, but they are older, so wondering what you all see your dck playing with the most?

Also, when I am filling out paperwork for licensing, it asks me to list all toys I have in my daycare....seriously? Do I have to list every single one? What did you all put down (if you remember)?

Thanks ladies LOVE this board!!!
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Meeko 06:36 PM 03-06-2011
Lego (actually I use the bigger, Duplo blocks) win hands down......followed closely by wooden blocks.
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DCMomOf3 07:01 PM 03-06-2011
I agree with PP about the duplos and blocks. My kids like the little people and wooden puzzles too.
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GretasLittleFriends 07:10 PM 03-06-2011
Blocks are a huge hit here too. Duplos or Mega-blocks. I have LOTS of mega-blocks and they are a hit for all ages.

As far as listing all toys, I think I had to make a list, but my list was fairly generic... I.E. Craft supplies, coloring supplies, Cars and trucks, several different interlocking building block sets, dress-up (for boys and girls) clothes, books, several different Little People play sets, action figures, stuffed animals, dolls, etc. I figure the licensor could look more in depth at my toys when she did her inspection.
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snowborden1 09:47 PM 03-06-2011
My DCK really like the playsilks I just made, hide away people, blocks, and wooden puzzles.
They really want to know all the toys you have??? Do they even really read through that list I wonder? Wow
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SilverSabre25 04:34 AM 03-07-2011
Duplos, wooden train tracks (well...right now more the trains than the tracks, but it's an age thing), little people, art stuff, our giant yellow metal Tonka truck.
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lil angels 04:40 AM 03-07-2011
Play kitchen and food, Little tykes trucks and legos. these are my bigggest hit.

I too just made a genaric list of things that the kids play with and they glance at it when they come to my home.
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morgan24 05:05 AM 03-07-2011
I only have little girls right now and they are into any type of dolls. I'm in MI also and my last licensing vivist he had the list of toys I sent in and looked it over as he was looking at my toys. He was not very pleasant. I would list as many as possible.
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youretooloud 05:43 AM 03-07-2011
Our favorites are

RODY

Bilibo seats <---can't be used on wood floor.

Cardboard blocks... although they have destroyed my new set in less than a year, so I'm not buying any more.

Small wooden blocks.

Fisher Price house, fire house, bus. (but I think these are pretty old)

An old Fisher Price Record Player from the 70s. I have to put that away every few days because they end up fighting over it. If I have only a few kids, they can manage without screaming.
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jessrlee 06:51 AM 03-07-2011
I wanted a set of carboard blocks but didn't want to pay the $40 so I went to USPS.com and ordered 2 25 packs of the smallest flat rate boxes for free. The kids are loving them!
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MommyMuffin 07:05 AM 03-07-2011
My kids LOVE books!! They also play with cars a lot.
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MyAngels 07:28 AM 03-07-2011
Originally Posted by jessrlee:
I wanted a set of carboard blocks but didn't want to pay the $40 so I went to USPS.com and ordered 2 25 packs of the smallest flat rate boxes for free. The kids are loving them!
I got a bunch of small boxes from the stationery stocker at wal-mart and stuffed them tightly with newspaper from the recycle bin, then covered them in contact paper. They've lasted a really long time, and the kids love them.
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treehugger82 01:00 PM 03-07-2011
Wow, thanks for all the great ideas and replies! Keep the ideas coming if there are more out there
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WImom 05:02 PM 03-07-2011
On the cardboard block discussion, I just got a set at Michaels for $15 after 50% coupon. They are Melissa and Doug Brand.
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Hunni Bee 05:07 PM 03-07-2011
1. Computer (i know...i know...kid-powered is better. But we were blessed to have it donated to us...so we will use it. They love it, but they are limited to 8 minutes per kid).

2. Fine Motor Toys (legos, other interlocking building toys, puzzles, large and small wooden beads and laces, etc.)

3. Kitchen/Food/Dress-Up

4. Block Area Toys (community building blocks, plastic people & animals, toys cars, etc)
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My Lil' Monkeys 11:36 AM 03-08-2011
My kids love the kitchen, drawing boards/whiteboards, books, shopping cart, stroller with baby, and blocks - peek-a-boo, wooden, cardboard - craigslist $10 for 100 of them

As for list (I live in Mi) so... I just put a general list... like blocks, books, kitchen w/play food, trains (wooden and plastic), cars, little people... I put what I could think of as my whole house is FULL of toys... and Michigan State Licensing gave me a license and I didn't get questioned. I believe they are just looking to make sure you have an assortment of toys for the children to play with.

Oh, I might have my list I sent them as I did it on my computer... I wouldn't mind e-mailing it to you (if I can find it)... if you wanted
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daycare 11:40 AM 03-08-2011
dont waste your money on toys... my DCK have been playing with big (huge) empty boxes for the past week and I have never seen them so busy in their life.


I have heard more laughter and cooperative play than ever... I love it
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kcnjason 12:27 PM 03-08-2011
Great Subject! I was just thinking of this same topic today. I have been doing daycare for 5 years and rotate out my toys and we do preschool so we have a busy day. I feel that the kids get bored and I may not have enough variety for them to choose from but I have all that was listed, just not the large legos or duplo blocks in which I shall consider purchasing. I have the kitchen/food, dress up stuff with vanity, baby dolls and misc, cars, baby toys, etc....it just seems that they get bored. I guess that kids need to learn to use their imagination and play with what they have. They often ask for new toys but when I go to the store, I don't find anything other than what we already have that they may be interested in. I'm so glad that you started this post and that so many people replied.
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ammama 03:19 PM 03-08-2011
In our house the fav's are the playsilks, dress up clothes in general and baby dolls for the girls and the cars, blocks and ride on toys for the boys.
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snbauser 04:08 PM 03-08-2011
I have to say the most used toy here is the magnetic block set. We have had these for almost 2 years and I can honestly say that there hasn't been a single day that these haven't been played with by someone. They are almost always off the shelf and on the floor with a child playing with them anytime we are not eating, napping or outside. They make everything from castles to car tracks to ice cream cones and pizza.

http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/seo...es/viewall.jsp
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treehugger82 09:30 AM 03-10-2011
Originally Posted by My Lil' Monkeys:
My kids love the kitchen, drawing boards/whiteboards, books, shopping cart, stroller with baby, and blocks - peek-a-boo, wooden, cardboard - craigslist $10 for 100 of them

As for list (I live in Mi) so... I just put a general list... like blocks, books, kitchen w/play food, trains (wooden and plastic), cars, little people... I put what I could think of as my whole house is FULL of toys... and Michigan State Licensing gave me a license and I didn't get questioned. I believe they are just looking to make sure you have an assortment of toys for the children to play with.

Oh, I might have my list I sent them as I did it on my computer... I wouldn't mind e-mailing it to you (if I can find it)... if you wanted
Thank you! If you have the list and it isn't too much trouble, I would love to see it. Glad to hear from someone in MI (Although I greatly appreciate all the other replies too!)
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thecrazyisout 09:45 AM 03-10-2011
Originally Posted by MyAngels:
I got a bunch of small boxes from the stationery stocker at wal-mart and stuffed them tightly with newspaper from the recycle bin, then covered them in contact paper. They've lasted a really long time, and the kids love them.
I am totally going to do this....I LOVE CONTACT PAPER...I just made sun catchers with clear contact paper, tissue paper and modge podge. My preschoolers has so much fun.
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