It is time again

[colinsfebmommy]

For the thread that asks "What are your kids into"

BUT

What toys do your kids play well with alone? My kid plays great with toys but first kid syndrome wants me to play too. 

[brachysira]

Well, if DD has naptime, she probably won't nap but either way, she requires a stack of books. Where's Waldo books and the more advanced Look and Find books will keep her busy. She also will play with any manor of figures...like we went to a birthday party and the cupcake toppers were dogs and the gift bags had dinosaurs so all week if she has naptime she does pretend play with those. She might spend some time with duplos without calling me, that but is not something she can do with her brother present. Of course, she will spend any amount of time on the kids' kindle...

[cinnasugar]

Magna tiles were our best investment ever.

[brachysira]

cinnasugar, we have a different brand (whatever Amazon was pushing at Christmas) that just has squares and triangles, but they function well. But my kids never play with them. Maybe magnatiles are more fun? What do your kids do with them?

[creepyeyeball]

This is hard for me to answer because she rarely plays alone. I guess I catch her alone with her baby dolls. And crayons/paper. That's about it.

[beenandgone]

Elliott plays with his matchbox car storage truck alone. And he uses it as a ride on toy.

That's about the only thing he does alone.

[cinnasugar]

Jul 21, 2016 15:19:08 GMT -5 brachysira said:

cinnasugar, we have a different brand (whatever Amazon was pushing at Christmas) that just has squares and triangles, but they function well. But my kids never play with them. Maybe magnatiles are more fun? What do your kids do with them?

DS started playing with them alone a few months ago. He likes building things and they are good because they don't fall apart like blocks do. We keep them in a bin and will get them out when I'm cooking and he'll make houses, spaceships, etc. He did go through a phase when he wasn't as coordinated where he would get frustrated when they fell apart but that has mostly passed.

Other things he'll play with alone: train track, cars, etc. Dd who is five will just color and draw for hours, but so far DS isn't interested in that. He's more of a builder/tactile.

[colinsfebmommy]

OK well now I am not feeling so bad that my kid doesn't play much on his own lol You can all commiserate with me

[pinkie]

Nothing

[kleigh926]

Interesting that you bring this up because I have been thinking about how it almost seems like DD has regressed with playing alone. She is ALWAYS trying to play with DS and doesn't let him alone. We have to constantly remind her to back up and let him be. They are so close all the time that things often get physical (not necessarily violent, but she's just in his space too much). If he is napping, she would literally prefer to sit and do nothing while I am busy instead of finding something to do that doesn't involve watching TV.

Baby dolls and books are probably the top 2 things she'll do by herself. Occasionally she will reluctantly get out a different toy if I tell her she needs to play with something but that doesn't hold her attention for long. Sometimes we have success with play dough or coloring. She loves the new sandbox we just got, but I can't let her play outside unsupervised and the novelty of that might soon wear off. TV keeps her attention for awhile but I don't let her do that all day obviously.

[photomama1990]

Right now E is really in to dinosaurs. We have 6 or 8 big dinosaur figurines and a couple Dinotrux figurines. I made cupcakes for his birthday and ordered 75 small dinosaurs from Amazon. He uses them ALL the times. He lines them up on the couch and plays. I've also found this a good time to read some kid geared dinosaur nonfiction to him. He's learned a lot and will often play it out. "This t-Rex is a carnivore and he's going to eat meat. 'I'm gonna eat you triceratops'"

This is all of course if little brother leaves him alone long enough to actually play.

[sjames2015]

Her favorite things right now are her princess wood block puzzles. She can put them together now without help. So I'm ordering her a Mickey one. She also loves her wooden castle, her frozen, Sofia, and castle figurines. Her kitchen is sometime a hit but not often. Also, anything her baby sister is trying to play with.

[Meghanfelldown]

Hot Wheels seem to be the favourite toy around here these days. We made him a garage out of a cardboard box and he also likes to put them in my salad spinner, for some reason. Whatever keeps you quiet and happy, kiddo.

[brachysira]

Meghanfelldown, my kids love the salad spinner--always have...

[dc2london]

DS1 loved the salad spinner too lol

[aydee]

MagnaTiles/PlayMags have been amazing. The kids can play for quite some time independently when building with those. They also color with crayons by themselves, they'll "read" books independently, work on simple jigsaw puzzles, and DS will play garbage truck by himself. They actually do a great job playing on their own, maybe because they're twins so I've never been able to focus all of my attention on either one of them. We also work hard to verbally reinforce and encourage independent play.

[dc2london]

Mine are obsessed with water beads, kinetic sand, and model magic. Basically anything messy.

[brachysira]

Jul 25, 2016 7:53:45 GMT -5 dc2london said:

Mine are obsessed with water beads, kinetic sand, and model magic. Basically anything messy.

How do you clean up water beads?  Our always get crushed--maybe cheap ones.  Then there are just tons of little pieces all over--the yard, deck, kitchen.  Online isn't much help--"we just rinse ours into the gutter."  

[dc2london]

Jul 25, 2016 10:13:07 GMT -5 brachysira said:

Jul 25, 2016 7:53:45 GMT -5 dc2london said:

Mine are obsessed with water beads, kinetic sand, and model magic. Basically anything messy.

How do you clean up water beads?  Our always get crushed--maybe cheap ones.  Then there are just tons of little pieces all over--the yard, deck, kitchen.  Online isn't much help--"we just rinse ours into the gutter."  

I have a paper plate that I cut in half and I use the 2 halves to kind of scoop them up

[brachysira]

Jul 25, 2016 10:25:03 GMT -5 dc2london said:

Jul 25, 2016 10:13:07 GMT -5 brachysira said:

How do you clean up water beads?  Our always get crushed--maybe cheap ones.  Then there are just tons of little pieces all over--the yard, deck, kitchen.  Online isn't much help--"we just rinse ours into the gutter."  

I have a paper plate that I cut in half and I use the 2 halves to kind of scoop them up

Hmm...ours bounce all over.  Immediately they are everywhere.  Some blogger said they would just dry up and then you can vacuum them, but I'm kind of afraid.  I once took them to a playground and we played with them in the woods...I suspected that wasn't ethical since lots of little pieces remained in the grass...