Gift S/O - MOOKS, what do your kids still play with?

[redheadk]

I think this might be helpful when shopping! So many toys are junk that just sits around. 

What are the toys/gifts that have gotten the most mileage? 

Include your kid's age(s) and about how long they've played with the toy!



I have one DD, age 9. 


She still regularly plays with the Nugget, magnatiles, and American Girl playsets.

And of course the iPad and Switch. 


She doesn't play with the magnatiles quite as often now but they are easy to store and a big hit when younger kids come over. She does still play with them occasionally. I feel like they are worth keeping around for younger kids since they are reasonably easy to clean up (we just toss ours in a large basket).

[Becca]

I have an almost 13 year old daughter and 8 year old son.

My daughter plays legos occasionally, my son is still obsessed with legos

I still rotate toys, and will usually have a small bin of manipulatives in our family room. Both kids will build with magnatiles when they are out, as well as play sticks.

Both kids will also still play with Play Mobil (though my daughter would never admit it, haha)

It’s the hands-on, non-electronic toys that seem to have staying power around here.

[ssmjlm]

E is 8.5

Magnatiles are still going here. Switches between them and Lego.

Arts and crafts-loves to paint, watercolors are current fave
For younger ones, the paint stix are awesome

Hula Hoop - never thought it would last as long as it has

Dress up - it’s starting to dwindle, but it was a bit for a long time

Any sort of bath bomb or soap kit. She’s been doing those for years.

[CloudBee]

DS is 8.5

- Magnatiles
- Legos
- Marble Run
- Labrynth maze balls
- Snap Circuits
- science kits
- Nerf guns
- domino track (hundreds of colorful wooden dominoes, with a marble that sets them off)
- anything related to outdoor sports play (balls, bike, scooter, skateboard, etc.)

Everything above, with the exception of outdoor/sports stuff, gets used in rotation. For instance: winter is Lego season. Over the past few years he rarely plays with Legos unless it's winter.

[karinothing]

Ds1 will be 10 soon. I feel like he hardly plays with toys anymore. He does like legos, snap circuits, science kits, and dominos (like the kind you knock over not the game).

Mostly he plays board games.

[waverly]

Kids are 8 and 11.

The 11 year old does mostly outdoor sports stuff with his friends, nerf guns, legos, and board games. He is big into WW2 so I got him an army set. He wanted a hot wheels set but I don’t know how much he will use it.

8 year old still plays in her room with dolls and toys but with her friends since they are outside it’s mostly sports, bikes, scooters etc.

[thebreakfastclub]

My almost 9yo still plays with Legos, some generic military figures, battle bots, and board games. He never cared for Magnatiles, is not into art, and doesn't care about bike riding or team sports.

These days, he'd spend all his free time playing Fortnite if allowed.

[nicolewi]

My kids seem to stick with toys longer than most. 12, 10, 8 and 6.

American Girl
Baby dolls, probably mainly until 5isH?
BARBIES--my two little girls play Barbies all the time. We've gotten so much mileage out of those!
Magnatiles--they use them with other toys all the time to make rooms or accessories for whatever else they are playing. They are using them less to just build for the fun of building.
Playmobil--I think they use the medium-size sets the most! The largest that are the hardest to get out actually get played with less than the mid-sized sets.
Kickboard Scooters, especially the Mini-Kick when my kids were smaller. Used SOOOOOO much here.
Lego minifigs
Army Guys
Lego dinos and toy plastic dinos
Play foods/kitchen. My kids are mostly done with the kitchen and it's in the basement, but they still use the foods sometimes even now.
Green Toys tea set has been great to have and comes out periodically.
Play-Doh sets, mostly until 7ish? But if I get them out, everyone likes Play Doh.
Paint Stix
Rody Horse( (until about age 5?)
Some of the good-quality vehicles were used by DS for a long time. Maybe until..9ish?
Nerf guns
Dress-up (for sure until 8? Even DS likes dressing up in his Star Wars outfits or similar if it works with what they are playing)
The girls had a decent Polly Pocket phase, too. They still come out sometimes.
Action figures for whatever show they were into at the time were used a lot. For example, we had Paw Patrol figures that used to be used daily. They've been out of that for a while, but during the prime time they played with them a ton.

Games (we have more complicated long games, but for quick play):
Most-played is probably Candyland
Uno
My First Carcassone (for little kids; 8 year old still likes it)
Mastermind
eeBoo matching games
Outfoxed
Sleeping Queens
Sushi-Go

[gastro]

My kids are 10, 6, 2. Magnatiles, legos, board games (esp. gamewright brand games), nerf guns, foam swords, Springfree trampoline, Nugget couch, good quality drawing pens like tombow. At least one of these my kids plays with daily. We are done and I’m loving purging all the toys that barely get played with.

[krystee]

I already feel like my 6.5YO is aging out of toys. He does legos and very occasionally Magnatiles, but mostly likes outside stuff (scooter, bike, soccer), and indoor stuff is drawing or building forts and playing swords or nerf blasters with his brother. I could get rid of 90% and he wouldn’t blink. Makes me sad at how fast it goes! This year, I don’t think he’s asking for a single toy for Christmas. He wants board games, art stuff, switch games, a skateboard and a bike.

[ohgillian]

9YO girl:

Pretend play with supplies (eg set up a restaurant and uses play food for it)
Tiny figures
Dress up (eg teen titans go costume)
Board games
Play tent (she spends a LOT of time in her tent)
Stuffed animals
American Girl accessories, like food (but not the dolls or their clothing/dressing accessories)

[felicity]

Oct 10, 2021 19:49:28 GMT -5 krystee said:

I already feel like my 6.5YO is aging out of toys. He does legos and very occasionally Magnatiles, but mostly likes outside stuff (scooter, bike, soccer), and indoor stuff is drawing or building forts and playing swords or nerf blasters with his brother. I could get rid of 90% and he wouldn’t blink. Makes me sad at how fast it goes! This year, I don’t think he’s asking for a single toy for Christmas. He wants board games, art stuff, switch games, a skateboard and a bike.

I've been thinking the same thing about my almost 7yo. He does play with legos sometimes still, and he wants some for his birthday, but he will go long stretches without playing them or with any of his actual toys. He also does a lot of art or just runs around the house pretending things while making battle sounds lol. He likes board games too and outdoor stuff. This thread is giving me some hope that maybe he'll circle back around to some of his toys more. 

[lauralala]

DS is 11. He still loves legos and occasionally plays with his snap circuits. He is still into his Pokemon cards, too. He plays a lot of board games and card games. Outdoors he just rides his bike at this point, no other outside games or activities.

[abs]

I have a 10 almost 11 year old. She doesn’t play with toys at all anymore and hasn’t for awhile.

American Girl and Lego lasted until she was 8/9.

Magnatiles remain the least ever played with.

She does still play the switch occasionally but now it’s all iPad, reading, or sports. Sports equipment is still a big hit whether she plays the sport or not.

She likes to paint occasionally.

[dcn]

I have a 9 yr old and 5.5 yr old. Magnatiles are the big one that still get played with most days.

Ds1 will do snap circuits sometimes, and he likes board games. We have tons of legos but they haven’t touched them in awhile.

I’m probably going to get rid of the hot wheels stuff and our marble run set to make some room.

[devonpow]

My boys are 14 and 9. The 14 year old still uses: sports equipment (basketball hoop in driveway, skateboards, spike ball etc), video games, and board games when forced

9 year old - Legos, board games, video games. Will still pull out our bin of plastic army guys, magnatiles, and marble runs occasionally. The big cardboard blocks still come out to make forts.

[redheadbaker]

DS will be 10 next month. He still plays with Hot Wheels cars, Legos, Nerf guns, Legos, his Scooby Doo action figures, video games (Mario Kart, Wii Sports, and some Pokemon game for Nintendo Switch), Minecraft, Roblox, and more Legos. Also loves Uno, board games (Battleship, Trouble, Ticket to Ride, and Guess Who, mostly) and puzzles.

[aspentosh]

DD is almost 10. Just in the last month she's decided she is mostly over legos except for a random set or two, she purged a bunch of her American Girl stuff, and doesn't want as many Switch games. She also just threw out donating her playground set. So yeah... it's sad here.

Things she does still enjoy:
soccer ball and goal
hoverboard and scooter
jump mat
art stuff (tie dye, painting anything from canvases to rocks, etc)
board and card games
polly pockets (probably her toy of choice for the last 5-6 months)
she also loves pretend play like mom and dad or grocery store or farm owner or whatever

[edwardo123]

My girls are 12 and 7.

My oldest will style the hair of her American Girl dolls, occasionally build with Legos or magnatiles if my youngest has them out, puzzles, and games. If really bored, she will set up a scene with her old Calico Critters or Playmobile while her sister is playing.

My youngest loves all of the above. She has really been into dolls lately and takes them on walks in our neighborhood with her stroller.

[abs]

aspentosh, what is the jump mat?

[jinkies]

My DD turns 10 this month, and just put together her wish list.

I will admit that I think she skews "young" in her interests.

But she is still asking for Rainbow High, LOL, and Barbie dolls. She plays with them a decent amount. She was never really into American Girls.

She just re-discovered our Snap Circuits (which had been packed away in the attic) and was so excited to play with them.

And obsessed with fidgets of all kinds-- pop its, mochis, etc

She did ask for legos this year, but has never really been all that into them, so I was surprised. She likes to "free build" better than she likes the sets.

I don't think she will ever outgrow art stuff.

[mrsGreeko]

My kids are much older in general, 15, 12, and almost 10.

The almost 10 year old pretty much only uses the MP3 player we got him for Christmas a couple years ago to listen to audiobooks and his bike and then various electronics. Oh and the fishing poles and gear he’s been given as gifts. Toys haven’t really seen action in a long time. He still has legos, hot wheels, various dress up things, trucks, remote control cars, robots and drones, but they don’t get much action really.

The 12 year old hasn’t really played with toys in years. Gifts that still get action are mostly the phone and room decor.

15 year old also hasn’t played with toys for a long time. Mostly just phone and makeup get action anymore.

[scribellesam]

My boys are 9 and 7. The 9yo still loves toys. Magnatiles, marble run, Legos, and board games are in heavy rotation. Anything you can use to build a fort - play tents, play tunnels, and those stick-and-ball fort construction sets. The basics are always popular- arts and crafts, Play-doh and kinetic sand, large inflatable balls, hippity-hops. My 9yo’s special interest is vehicles, so he’ll still set up tracks with our Brio, Hot Wheels and Magic Trax but he may be an outlier.

I also created a maker-space in the corner of the playroom that’s a large box filled with clean recycling items - smaller boxes, bottles, random packing materials. They build the most creative items/games with it but most parents (understandably) aren’t interested in keeping a large box filled with what is essentially trash in their home.

[minzy]

They both love their iPads.
The 10 y/o loves football stuff, she likes coding, books, she just asked for a Fitbit, I think she’d like a basketball hoop, but eh.
The 8 y/o loves art supplies. I was surprised to see her playing with magnatiles the other day since those haven’t been out in awhile, and she was also playing Monopoly with my husband. (He must have told her no iPad, lol.) She just made us a list of things she wants and included markers, and a drone, and a white Apple Mac. Dream on, dreamer.

[186momx]

DD almost 10.5

Breyer horses (pretends to groom and puts on competitions)
Play food (concessions for her horse competitions or she uses the bowls and such to sort legos, K'nex, beads)
Legos & K'nex
gymnastic equipment
Coloring black fuzzy posters and diamond dots are latest go to
Books, books, and more books

She will do marble run, dominos, and dolls (only at grandmas house).

[ellipses84]

My 10 year old still plays with Legos and nerf guns, and likes science kits and outdoor sports equipment. He’s more into games, especially card games which are nice since many can be 2-player. He likes board games, but we don’t have a ton of time to play them as a family. Sometimes we’ll play headzup or similar while we eat dinner. There’s some fun outdoor games that I’ve only heard about in the past couple years marketed to tweens / teens. He still likes Pokémon cards although he’s not as obsessed as he’s been for the past 3 years. His favorite thing to do is play video games (Switch and 3DS) or read, and he’s always begging to go to the library and get more books. At the store, if I say he can buy something he’ll buy a book instead of Pokémon cards or toys 90% of the time.

[sandandsea]

Ds is 9, almost 10 and electronics are everything - iPad, roblox, switch, computer games, etc.

He will only do legos to build a new kit.

Sports equipment gets used (shin guards, goalie gloves, cleats, new balls, etc).

Pokémon cards

Outdoor stuff like hoverboard, electric scooter, regular scooter, bike, etc.

Icecream or other treat gift cards.

Also still likes nerf things though I do not because the temptation to shoot each other is too high and someone always ends up mad.

[kershnic]

Kids are 7.5. Playmobile, but maybe mostly because we let the giant horse barn and pet hotel with accessories live in the living room.... They currently have Chinese Checkers out and are pretending the checkers are sheep and the Playmobile dogs are charged with herding the sheep.

Pokemon love hit about a year ago and is still going strong.

Magnatiles still get played with occasionally, with whatever random plastic figures as the characters.

Spirograph has gotten some decent mileage.

[Poeticxpassion]

DS is 7. He loves video games (Switch and Xbox), riding his bike and scooter, legos, iPad, board games(Uno and Mario Jenga are BIG hits!)

He is pretty much over small toys. He doesn't like art or magnatiles. Nerf guns are used occasionally.

[glitzy07]

My 8yo boy still plays with:

- Anything sports related - baseball stuff, hockey net for shooting pucks, football, basketball
- Tech Deck skateboard toys
- RC cars, but not the cheap ones, the good ones with real suspensions
- Nintendo Switch games
- Lego sets

We also bought a trampoline this year which still gets daily use!