Our Favorite Toys from 2005
From Our Members… (and some of our friends!)
Originally printed in November, 2005

Question: In planning for the big shopping season, what was the absolute 
best toy or entertainment item that was purchased for your children over the 
past year and why?  Was there a specific reason why this item worked so well 
with multiples or is it just a great overall toy for any child?


From 6-months to about 18-months, there are two toys they are still using: 
The Incrediblock - Because it has five sides/top and they can all use it together.  
It works on coordination, fine and gross motor skills and cooperation.  They learned 
to stand up and walk around it, place blocks in all different locations, press 
buttons that play music and have mirrors that they look at to recognize themselves.
The other toy is the Fisher Price "Laugh and Learn Home.”  This has a door that swings 
open both ways that they can crawl through, light switches, mail boxes, a radio, a 
clock, a window, and its loads of fun to watch them play together with it.
~Lisa B. (18mo BBG)

I've got two: 
Duplo/Legos - The girls got two boxes on their 2nd birthday and three of the mats.  
They got another box this birthday because we kept running out of Legos.  They use 
them every day without fail.  If I ever just need quiet, I sit on the floor with them 
and we all play and build.  They will also build on their own and there isn't much 
fighting because they can each have their own mat and there's a bunch of them.
Floor puzzles - The girls got several for their 3rd birthday.  After two weeks, 
Madeline could do the Elmo puzzle by herself (YEAH!).  The harder ones are a great 
activity for all of us or just a bit of one-on-one time if the other two are playing 
elsewhere.  I'm amazed at how in six weeks of doing the puzzles, the girls can 
distinguish the shapes and the colors.
~Wendy F. (3yo GGG)

I can't think of anything offhand that works particularly well for multiples, 
but some of their favorites are:
A little vacuum cleaner that really works (looks like a Dirt Devil)
Kitchen with fake food
For Gracie: a purse with playing cards in it ( she loves to put them in and 
take them out and organize them)
For the boys: little plastic toy soldiers from the dollar store (they are 
OBSESSED with them right now)
BAO Simulated Driver: Difficult to find, but I recently saw it in the catalog 
from Constructive Playthings.  It's a driving toy - the kid actually sits in a 
seat behind a steering wheel, there is a brake and a gas petal, and there is a 
screen in front of them that shows them driving on a street.  It has lots of great 
noises too.
Train Set
~Debbie O. (9yo B and 3yo BBG)

I would second that about the kitchen.  They really started liking ours at age 2.  
That’s probably their very favorite toy they’ve had.  They play with it every day.
~Steph W-L. (3yo GGB)

I think the best thing that we have purchased is the Little Tikes Jump-N-Slide.  
It's a moonwalk for kids 2 ½ to 6-years old or, when they are little, you can use 
it as a ball pit.  It occupies kids for hours and even the neighbor’s kids.  You 
can use it outside or in.  It even has a bag so it's portable as long as wherever 
you are going has electricity.  It's pricey, however, you definitely get your moneys 
worth… we have!
~Nancy W. (5yo G and 3yo GGB)

Any limit on the size of the item?  We put in an above-ground pool last year... J 

Actually, Legos (the little ones, not Duplo) have been, by far, the most used by all 
my children.  My kids use them creatively, making patterns, playing Star Wars 
imaginary games - anything!  The Lego Store at the Burlington Mall is their favorite store!
~Sue J. (10yo B and 6yo BBG)

Our year-old crew L-O-V-E-S the Fisher Price “Laugh and Learn Home.”  It literally 
does about 60 different things... music, windows, door, doorbell, etc.  They also 
just got a tube and tent that they crawl through called "Ryan's Room."  It has been 
a big hit so far and even my "big" guys like it.  Actually, all five love both of 
these toys.
~Shannon L. (6yo G, 4yo B, and 1yo BBG)

I would have to say the best overall toy was the Wedgits (www.wedgits.com).  They 
are great for all ages.  My son loves the way he can make so many different things 
and Cristen loves how she can build something and then take the top piece and do it 
in reverse.  I plan on getting more for Christmas.  They are definitely a winner in 
my book!!!
~Katie B. (5yo B, 3yo GGG)

The top four right now:
Wooden blocks
Duplos and Legos
Floor puzzles
Dress-up clothes, especially hats
The blocks and Duplos have been a huge hit for the past year, the floor puzzles 
for about two months.  The blocks and Duplos/Legos are played with pretty much 
every day, and are so versatile - what they build changes with their interests and 
abilities.  We just started using the little Legos about four months ago.  The 
wooden blocks are just the best.  We have the kind that has four different sizes: 
4x4, 4x8, 2x8, and 4x12.  Along with excellent play toys, they teach wonderful 
spatial relations.  And yes - kitchen, dishes, food... HUGELY popular.
~Amy S-D. (3yo BBG)

We have the Step2 Deluxe Lifestyle Kitchen and it rocks!  It's big enough for 
all three and has tons of cute, working features (the stove sizzles when you 
put the pan on it).  And, don't forget plenty of play food and plates and 
silverware to set the table with.
~Gretchen H. (3yo GGG and 1yo G)

I would have to say any of the ride-on toys.  My kids absolutely love their bikes, 
trikes, and anything and everything in between.  I think they just like the freedom 
and being outdoors.  The boys also really enjoy the Lego/Duplo blocks and Natalie 
loves her baby dolls.
~Heather N. (5yo BBG)

My son Jeffrey, at the age of 4-years, got the Matville Puzzle Road Map from Discovery 
Toys.  It has the big foam pieces that lock together like a puzzle.  It is a big 
road with lots of pictures of different building/businesses.  He plays with it EVERY 
day, almost a year after receiving it and it entertains him for at least an hour.  
I think he likes this better then the rug map roads you can buy because every day, 
he can set up the road a different way.  Unfortunately, Discovery Toys just changed 
the mat completely in their new catalog, but if you can find the foam puzzle one, grab 
it!!  I've found with Discovery Toys that you can't go wrong. 
~Joyce B. (5yo BBB)

I remember when my kids were just barely walking (11-mos. or so), the best thing in 
the world was the four-wheeled walkers (I'm not even sure if you can buy them today... 
I see them a lot at consignment shops now).  They were perfect for me because I knew 
the kids were relatively safe... All doors were closed and I knew they weren't strong 
enough to roll themselves into another room, over the little hump from the linoleum to 
the carpet.  The kitchen was the prefect place.  Walkers allowed me to do the dishes 
and clean up the kitchen while they rolled around and "got to know each other."  They 
got to have fun, got to exercise their legs, and I got to get some things done around 
the house!  Now that they are older (4), the swing set my parents bought them seems to 
be the ticket this year.  It's just a basic swing set and they just love it.  Every day 
when we get home from daycare, that's the first thing they want to do.  Three swings, a 
slide and a small swinging bench seat seems to be the toy of choice right now.  Over 
the summer, we bought the game Hullabaloo from Cranium, which is a lot of fun.  It 
gives us a chance to see our colors, it gives a variety of pictures (from instruments 
to animals to food), and it gives us a chance to dance and laugh a little bit.  [It’s a] 
fun game on a rainy evening.  There are plenty of pieces so everyone doesn't have to 
fight over anything - AND the announcer on the machine actually says that more than one 
person can be on a piece!  That takes the wind right out of their sails when they 
start to argue over who gets to stand on the piece.  Between the ages of 2 ½ to 3ish, 
I had a really hard time finding things for that "worked" for all the kids.  They just 
seemed to be at an in-between stage where they weren't really old enough to understand 
a lot of things, yet too young for others.  Personally, that was a tough age for me.
~Michelle S. (4yo GGB)

Here are our favorites... the Fridge Phonics by Leap Frog, Sit n' Spin, baby dolls 
with carriages to push, Step 2 Kitchen, Step 2 Climber with slide, those stackable 
blocks that fit into one another, an acrylic mirror and box of dress-up clothes.
~Jess T. (2yo GGG)

I recommend the Little Tikes Push and Ride Doll Walker (for ages 9-36 mos. $24.99).  
I think it single-handedly helped my son Matthew to crawl.  It strengthened his hips 
and legs to the point where he could lift his belly off the floor and crawl.  He loves 
rolling across the floor on this, and it also got him interested in other toys we had 
that he could now reach (the Incrediblock and Leap Frog Learning Table).  I am also 
going to credit this toy with helping Jessica to walk!  Yesterday, she grabbed onto 
the handle and walked across the room and back!
~Kari R. (1yo BBG)

From 6-mos to around age 2, I swear the best money we spent was on the Leap Frog 
Learning Table.  It could go leg-less on the floor in front of pre-crawlers and, 
as the kids got bigger, with the legs on, they spent hours pressing all the buttons 
and listening to the sounds.  Well worth the $40 or so odd dollars.  In the past 
year, my 3-year olds have thoroughly enjoyed the Fisher Price GeoTrax play system.  
It’s basically a chunky, toddler-friendly model train set which also features every 
other mode of transportation.  For Christmas, we bought them a basic starter set 
which included tracks, some basic buildings, a few cars, construction vehicles, and 
one train and its controller for around $39.  We bought additional parts and pieces 
(ranging from $3 to $24) – some examples are a light house/dock/boat set (and it 
has real sounds and lights), fire station with fire truck, a mining mountain complete 
with “exploding” boulders, etc.,  You can also buy extra tracks all by themselves 
which is nice too.  We think this is the perfect toy for any child, but is especially 
good for multiples, and also those with different gender mixes.  There are enough 
pieces for everyone to play with and everything fits and works together.  There are 
enough different themes to entertain each child’s interests (one is into boats, one 
trains, one fire trucks).  If you buy additional vehicles and controllers, each child 
can be driving their particular vehicle on the same tracks together – no fighting!  
My 10-year old nephew loves to play with it as much as the kids do, and I’ll admit, 
both Momma and Grandpa are happy to hop down on the floor with the kids to create 
new towns.  We hear Auntie was looking at the GeoTrax airport recently, so there will 
probably be yet another facet to our set very soon.  The Leap Frog Fridge Phonics, 
music CDs, lacing beads, pegs, and (real good quality) play food have also been 
investments well spent.
~Renée R. (3yo BBG)

We were so busy running back and forth to the hospital for Allison that we never 
really shopped for any real "toys."  We ate a lot of yogurt earlier on (at 10-mos. 
to 2-years) and saved the plastic containers.  The girls had a blast stacking them 
and knocking them down and spent hours trying to get the lids off and on.  Someone 
gave them a Fisher Price carousel and they loved the colors and music and the animals 
that went around.  The Fisher Price stars stacker was also good, since they loved to 
stack the stars and hear the reinforcing "chimes" and music.  As they got bigger, 
we found the more expensive and complex the toy, the less it got played with.  We 
made albums with plastic pages and put pictures of family members in it and shapes 
and animals that we had taken pictures of at the zoo and they loved that talk-and-say 
book.  It seemed that the more creative home toys were the winners.  I made a match 
game with family photos and that is a big hit now that they are 4.  Anything that is 
family interactive is a big hit.  Puzzles were very big too, and now they are into 
25 to 100-piece ones.
~Trish L. (4yo GG)

We just got a great toy from our neighbor today; it's an M&M baking set.
The cookware is child-sized and seems really durable and it's oven safe too!
Jenna and Jared have been playing with it all afternoon, and we've had to
bake a carrot cake (recipe from a cookbook that she also gave them) so that
we could use all of the utensils (measuring spoons, spatula, wooden spoon,
non-slip mat).  I think that it's going to be a fast favorite.  Other than
that, Jared's all-time favorite toy is a barbecue grill that I got him from
LTD.  He has literally spent hours "grilling" everything and anything.  It's
the only toy that we have to put away when we have visitors because he just
can't bring himself to share it.  It has been well worth the price (which wasn't 
that much to begin with).  Jenna really enjoys a Barbie pet shop that she has also.  
It comes with lots of very tiny, but very cute, pets and both kids have tons of fun 
feeding the pets with these extremely small and kind of annoying pellets, giving 
them baths, etc.  I tend to prefer toys that don't require batteries, or, if they 
do have batteries, no one will notice if they are never replaced.  Another thing 
that both kids like are the Look and Find books.  They have all different ones, 
like Disney Princesses, Dora, Nemo, etc., and can occupy my kids for quite a while.    
~Jill O. (4yo G, 3yo B, and ? due any day!)