Our Family's 7 Favorite Toys

Maybe the subject of Christmas when it isn’t even Halloween drives you bonkers. Yet, I’ve found the more preparation I do throughout the year results in a more peaceful Advent and Christmas season. Hence this post on our family’s all-time favorite toys. You can never be too prepared!

I’m not a huge toy giver. I despise clutter, and kid clutter is some of the worst! I try to keep my kids’ toys to a minimum since I don’t think a house full of toys is good for our children or for our own sanity.

Last year, I shared with you 100 plus ideas for a No-toy Christmas, but this year I want to share the toys that have gotten given our family the most mileage and fun. I like to provide my children with well made, open-ended toys that will provide them hours of play. These 7 toys are our all-time favorite toys – the ones that are tough enough to make it in a family of 4 littles and that get played with again and again.

I’d love to know what your family favorite toys are – please, leave a comment!

Our Family’s All-time Favorite Toys

1.Wooden Track and Trains

This toy is #1 in our household. I will admit that our children were birthed into a train loving family, but I think any child will love these wooden track and trains. We started our son with the smaller (less expensive) Melissa and Doug set, but soon found ourselves purchasing the deluxe set. I can’t believe I (a self-professed cheap-skate) ever spent that much money on a toy! Yet I’ve never lived to regret that purchase. It has been worth every.single.penny. To reduce the sticker shock, I actually broke the set up and gifted it to our oldest son over the course of a year or more. The “set-up” as we call it, has been played with for hours everyday for the last 8 years. It is our #1 all-time favorite toy with good reason!

I love that these wooden train and tracks are so sturdy. In all our hours of play, there is only one piece that has ever broken. Our oldest son, who is more mechanically inclined loves to build extravagant layouts, while our younger children like to make up stories about what is happening on the railroad.

Things we love about Wooden Trains and Track:

Lots of hours of open-ended play
Sturdy, well-made, and hard to break
Great for those who are imaginative as well as children who are builders
Wide age range (all of our children ages 1 year to 9 years play with our set)
Easy to keep clean

2.Duplos

Duplos are a sturdy, open-ended toy that span a wide range of ages. Babies can hold, chew on, and stack the sturdy blocks. Toddlers and preschoolers can build simple houses. Older children can be more creative (my oldest son loves to build Lego/Duplo combo structures). I got our Duplo set from a garage sale for a steal, but even if you pay full price, you will more than get your money’s worth.

Things we love about Duplos:

Lots of hours of open-ended play
Sturdy, well-made, and hard to break
Great for those who are imaginative as well as children who are builders
Wide age range (our children have played with Duplos as soon as they can hold something all the way up to 9 years of age and more!)
Easy to keep clean

3.Legos

(Here is my son at 7 years old with his tractor (with working PTO) and mixer wagon fashioned after his grandfather’s real life farm equipment.)

My kids love their Legos. I must admit, I have a love/hate relationship with this toy. Yes, they are fabulous for the mechanical creative. Yes, they provide hours of play. BUT they hurt so blasted to step on!

My little ones love building simple structures like houses and vehicles (the Lego Creative Brick Box is a great set to start with). As they get a little more adept at building, the Lego Creator kits are a great, and affordable option (some cost as little as $4!). If your child is really taken with Legos, the Lego Technic Kits are the perfect next step, although more pricey.

My oldest is very mechanically minded, and I love seeing how he develops amazing contraptions without any sort of guidance. My more imaginative children like to build cars, trucks, and houses for their animals.

Things we love about Legos:

Lots of hours of open-ended play
Sturdy, well-made, and hard to break (my children play with Husband’s from 20 plus years ago!)
Great for those who are imaginative as well as children who are builders
Wide age range (our children have played with Legos from age 3 and up)
Easy to keep clean
CONS: stepping on Legos and choking hazard for little ones

4.Dolls

I just love watching my little girl play with her dollies. She sings to them, feeds them, dresses them, and undresses them for hours. However, this is definitely more of a toy for little girls than little boys! (The doll pictured above was made by Christine from Jacob’s Toy Box. You can read what I said about her product here.)

Things we love about Dolls:

Lots of hours of open-ended play (dressing, undressing, feeding, rocking, etc.)
They are often sturdy, well-made, and hard to break (we still have dolls from my childhood!)
Wide age range (great for girls ages 12 months and up!)
Easy to keep clean
CONS: mostly for little girls

5.Wooden Building Blocks

My kiddos use wooden blocks for everything. Our bucket of blocks become animal stalls, barns, cities, and roads. They also love to make tunnels, mountains, and trestles for their wooden train. Our family also likes to challenge ourselves to build the tallest block tower we can before it comes crashing down. This set below looks perfect for little builders and it’s reasonably priced too!

Things we love about Blocks:

Lots of hours of open-ended play
Pairs well with other toys (trains, cars, trucks, animals, people)
They are often sturdy, well-made, and hard to break (this will be a toy you pass on to your grandkids)
Wide age range (babies and up!)
Easy to keep clean

6.Marble Run

My children were given a marble run for Christmas several years ago and it continues to remain a favorite. My oldest son (9 years old) loves to help the little ones build intricate marble runs and they all love to roll the marbles down. There are so many ways to build runs that they never tire of working with the set.

Things we love about our marble run:

Lots of hours of open-ended play
They are often sturdy, well-made, and hard to break
Easy to keep clean
Infinite building possibilities
CONS: marbles are a choking hazard for babies, the marbles can be loud rolling down the chutes

7.Dress-ups

My children love our dress up bin! It also seems to be a favorite whenever other children visit our home. The great thing about dress-ups is they can be as inexpensive or expensive as your budget allows. For Sally’s birthday last year I purchased her a princess dress-up, but other than that, all our dress-ups are homemade or old Halloween costumes. We even have swords made from duct tape and cardboard! Both my boys and girls love our dress-ups.

Things we love about our Dress-ups:

Hours of open-ended play
Lots of fun!

Toys we like:

The 8 toys above are our favorites, but there are others that my kids get a lot of fun out of too! Here are some others that didn’t make the list.

Magne-tiles

Confession. We don’t actually own these (yet!), but they will most likely be under the tree come this Christmas. I have had several mothers (of large families) tell me how much their children love Magne-tiles. They snap together easily so that even the youngest children can enjoy them, yet they can grow with your child as they learn to build something more complex. I can already see little Sally constructing something simple and Big Jim making something complicated with their new set of Magne-tiles.

Playdough

My kids love their playdough. We were going through it so fast, I ended up making my own. Whip up a batch to give to your kids!

Schleich Animals

My children are often given a Schleich animal for birthdays and other special occasions. I love how they are sturdy and well made. My kids love to play farm and role play with them. My mechanical child is less inclined to play with these, but will give them rides on the contraptions he builds.

Snapcircuits

Looking for another toy for your little builder? We love our Snap Circuits. They are definitely for an older age range of kids, but my 5 year old can easily make many of the circuits. It is a fun and safe way to play with electricity!

Trucks/Cars/Tractors

My kids like their cars and trucks, but I won’t say they love them. Just a handful of sturdy vehicles are perfect for playing with your wooden train set or blocks.

What are the favorite toys in your household?

Our Family’s 7 Favorite Toys