Do your kids play with toys?

Crystalina wrote: I realized over the weekend that my kids really don't. Evan does have a few trucks/cars he will take outside and Izabella has this little dog carrier that a fake yorkie came in, she tossed the yorkie aside and puts her kitten in there instead. I just realized we have so many toys and they never ever get played with.

Celestrina replied: Yes, Ben loves his action figures.

stella6979 replied: Avery NEVER plays with her toys. She'd rather be painting, doing playdough, reading books or just running around outside.

Calimama replied: Oh yeah. She plays with her doll house, barbies, balls, blocks, legos, stuffed animals, everything. She's probably playing with them for most of the time she's awake. She even brings some in the car, to the pool, and to the park.

ETA: Right now she's big on being a mommy to her "babies". She has the highchair, stroller, crib for her dolls and she takes care of them for hours.

stella6979 replied:
How in the world do you get her to play by herself!!?? Avery refuses to play by herself and it DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!!

Crystalina replied:
Izabella used to be the same way at that age. Now if she gets a Barbie she'll play with it for a few hours the first day, maybe pick it up a couple times the next day and then she's done with it.

Danalana replied: Currently, Kade's favorite "toys" are his feet We are really going to encourage him to play and use his imagination, though

Calimama replied:
Aw man.. you saying it doesn't last until they are like.. 15?

Calimama replied:
No idea! I figure it won't last. We build a lot of tents in our living room that she turns it into a "castle" and she likes to pretend she's the princess. Occasionally she needs daddy to come be the "dragon" and then she really gets scared when he roars.. it's the funniest thing ever.

Crystalina replied:
Nope, not in my case.

When I was a kid I played with Barbies forever!

Calimama replied:
Me too!! Until I was like 11-12!

stella6979 replied:
That is hilarious! I tried making a tent not too long ago and she was too scared to play in it.

luvbug00 replied:

ditto and mya's 7

mom21kid2dogs replied: No, almost never. She loves games & puzzles, likes outdoor things like bikes, basketball and soccer but she never initates toy play. Actually, she never has. It's interesting to watch her friends. Almost all of them LOVE to play with dolls, etc. O will play for about 5 minutes at their initiation then she's done. Although I was never a doll player, I played with my brothers toys all the time. I don't think I've ever met a kid IRL that is like her in that way.

A&A'smommy replied: Alyssa doesn't really play with her toys but she has a MILLION beenie babies and stuffed animals that she plays with.. and her bath toys she plays with those and her computer

~Roo'sMama~ replied:
Andrew's always been the same way. He just turned three and he still doesn't like to play by himself. I'm so glad Allie is getting old enough to play with him!

Both my kids play with their toys, but we do have a lot of toys that they don't really play with... I need to go through them again, but I always end up keeping the a lot that they don't play with because I like them.

grapfruit replied:
Oh PLEASE video tape that for us!!!!

Jamison'smama replied: Jack plays with his toys all the time. He plays in his room for an hour at a time. He has always loved toys and is almost obsessive about them.

Jamison rarely plays wtih anything. She is like Olivia, she will play with dolls or Barbies for a little while with friends but she is more into running aound and imaginative play. Give her a walkie-talkie and a friend and she will be happy indefinately.

MommyToAshley replied: Ashley isn't into dolls or barbies either. Never really was. I loved to play with Barbies when I was a kid and was looking forward to playing them with Ashley. It's just not her thing. She'll play with them if her friends want to play that though.

She loves the outside and would be content being out there all day. As for toys, she likes puzzles and games. But, she's really into the more expensive toys... the computer, Xbox 360, Wii, and Vsmile (although now she is kind of outgrowing the Vsmile, and wants a Nintendo DS).

AlexsPajamaMama replied: Not very often. Although today I did catch him sitting in his room with tons of toys dumped out of the toy box. He is constantly asking me to play with him. He'd rather be outside riding his bike or playing in the sand box.

luvmykids replied: Kylie does more than Colt and Macie, but even at that they all have a few favorites and the rest goes untouched. When I clean out their rooms, anything that is actually put away where it goes is history....that means they haven't played with it since the last time

They all LOVE to be outside. Inside Kylie is big on playing school with Macie and playing store where they take all my groceries out and take turns being the cashier Colt is into his army guys, horses, and cowboys and indians but thats about it.

Crystalina replied:
My kids always have the toys dumped out but I never see them playing with them. Funny how that happens huh?

~Roo'sMama~ replied:
LOL - sounds like a lot of fun! Funny how real stuff is more fun than the fake pretend kind. That made me remember that my sister and I used to love playing "library". We had one of those date stamper things, and we'd make the cards that you stamp out of poster paper and put one in all the books on our bookshelves, and then take turns being the librarian.

luvmykids replied:
LOL, they would LOVE that I buy them the cheap packs of message pads, restaurant tickets, etc when I go to an office supply store, they like to take our dinner orders

My mom had a typewriter at her garage sale and Kylie just HAD to have it, she bangs away on that thing all day long (except I can't find the cartridges so it doesn't work ) with a toy headset and pretends she's everything from a 911 dispatcher to a travel agent

HuskerMom replied: Keith really doesn't play with his toys, he's into his blocks now and he's obsessed with books. He can be content for a couple hours just looking at books. We've been spending more time outside lately so I've been wanting to get him some outdoor toys but the only ones I saw at walmart were like pool toys. So I may just have to keep looking. I know Dh can't wait to get him interested in matchbox cars and hotwheels. And Summer likes her hands right now.

moped replied: Cars, trucks and trains he will play with for a long time.......but sometimes has a problem playing by himself.

Boo&BugsMom replied: If Tanner is with friends, yes. If he's alone, rarely.

Aiden does, but it depends on his mood. He'd rather play with an empty Budlight box than play with one of his "toys".

TheOaf66 replied:
I'd rather play with a full Bud Light Box

mommymommy replied: Cate goes in spurts..She will and then she wo't..She'd rather be outside

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: I agree, my kids don't always play with their toys. But without sounding like I'm criticizing anyone, which I'm not, I think often parents just put toys out and expect kids to know how to play with them, alone. I remember a preschool teacher came to talk to my moms group once about summer activities to do with your kids...activities that don't require buying anything. Things you can make from stuff around the house. And I remember her vividly saying that just plain blocks for a kid is a great toy, no bells and whistles. BUT kids don't automatically know how to play with blocks. Parents need to sit down and play WITH their kids, show them how to build something with the blocks. I remind myself this all the time, especially when I see the boys uninterested in any of their toys. If I make time to sit down with them, they seem more involved, eager to learn. Wil loves board games, so we do games a lot together. Wesley is getting into them now too. The boys do love to play cars together, or trains...but like others said, they are happiest running around outside playing with water.

mom21kid2dogs replied:
Although that might be the case with some parents, it certainly wasn't with us! We LOVE to play here. I've tried every way I know how to engage her in toy play but she simply is not interested. On a large number of occasions, I'd still be playing with the blocks, dolls, marbles, etc long after she'd lost interest and went to read a book or color. Although your point is very well taken, Rae, it wasn't the case in our house. She is simply not interested in any kind of toy play the way her peers seem to enjoy it. It's always struck me as odd and before she went to school, I wondered if she would have attentional issues because no toy has ever held her attention for more than 20 minutres. Thankfully, it never translated to school problems.

I think as a result of the OP I might pull like 90% of her toys (non games and puzzels) and see how long it takes her to notice.

Teesa®© replied: DD has mostly dolls, doll houses and accessories, which she plays with a lot. She has tons of Princess toys - figurines, hair accessories, horse and carriage for Cinderella. She has a full kitchen play set with all the dishes and food. Tons of fast food toys that came in a meal, huge foam puzzle pieces - the ones you could build a play fort with - and dinky cars.

DS has TONS of cars and trucks - they take up 2 storage bins! , a huge collection of Batman and paraphernalia - including the Batcave! That took me YEARS to find. He also has tons of fast food toys, his own foam puzzle pieces and all sorts of car mats.

The two of them have probably about 100 puzzles, different types of playing cards - Uno, Go Fish, etc - and all sorts of mini games you can play with in a car - Connect Four, Checkers, etc. They probably have about 1000 books. We're big on books. Oh, and the LeapPad books too. DS has a little LeapPad game as well, with block letters you can stick in it and it sings, "A, A is "Aa" and A is "Ay". Every letter makes a sound and A is "Aa". It's REAL annoying after a while!! lol

They both have quite of few of those puzzle shape games that you fit in pictures of things, but they only go in one spot.

There isn't much that they don't play with anymore. They go through phases. Some days, they just want to watch movies or play PC games. Other days they'll play in each other's rooms. DD will play cars for hours with DS, and DS will play "babies" with DD. Some days they're on a puzzle kick, other's they'll just read.

About a week or two before their Bdays, I'll sit down in their rooms and we'll go through EVERY toy and pull out the ones they don't play with anymore or have outgrown. We spend a weekend doing this as we also weed out the broken toys and try to match up all the ones for a set.