The Best Toys We've Ever Bought

'Tis the season for gift guides, and I wanted to take a few minutes today to share some gifts we've bought our girls over the years that they absolutely love. My go-to website for gift guides for children is Modern Parents Messy Kids, but I also love to browse for ideas on Amazon and the Indigo website. My goal when we are giving gifts to our kids is to buy toys that will last. We are fortunate that our children haven't (yet) bought into huge toy fads because they aren't really exposed to marketing the same way we used to be - due to Netflix, I think :) 

Here are some of their favourite things that we've had for a long time :) (no affiliate links) 

1) LeapReader with books and a couple of games like this one and this one. Molly got one of these from Santa a few years ago and Lucy got one last year. Lucy is 100% obsessed with this toy and she would listen to audiobooks with it all day long. We got headphones with it so it's wonderful for the car or for waiting rooms. Aside from us reading to our children all the time, I really think this toy played a part in Molly learning how to read before she started school and Lucy well on her way to doing the same. 

2) Magnetic blocks - we bought these non-brand-name ones last year, and they were expensive but they are constantly played with.

3) Lego/duplo - the girls are both getting more of this for Christmas and they love the building aspect. They still need to get a bit more creative with what they're building, but I'm sure that will come with time.

4) Kidizoom camera - this takes not-very-good-quality pictures, but it's so fun! 

5) Magna doodle - this provides wonderful entertainment on road trips

6) Boogie Board - this thing is amazing if you happen to have a child that loves to write and needs you to help them spell things. I actually kind of want one of these myself for notes on the fridge.

7) White board and dry-erase markers - I got the girls big magnetic white boards at the dollar store last year and I'm not joking when I say that they kept them entertained for 3 hours in a row one day on our summer road trip. They love these. Dry-erase activity books are also a big hit in our family. 

8) Board games such as Snug as a Bug in a rug, Memory, I can Do that! and Roll and Play (great for toddlers). 

9) Melissa and Doug reusable sticker pads

10) Kinetic sand - this was all the rage a few years ago, for good reason. It's soooo fun. It can make a bit of a mess, but it's easy to clean up. Our girls also love play dough, of course, but this has a different feel to it. 

and a bonus: 11) this snap together bead set for children's fashion :)

Plus, here are a few stocking stuffers that have gone over well:

1) this fun pen for a child who loves to write

2) these water wow books

3) these adorable magnetic bookmarks

4) small jigsaw puzzles - we like this set in particular (up to age 3-4) but there are thousands of options

5) Petit pop outs (many varieties)

6) Silly putty - only if your kids are old enough! haha