Products I love: Non-battery powered toys

I just love Toys R Us.  Not just because I’m literally a kid at heart and I love being surrounded by all of those toys; but mostly because they have a special catalog for our kids.  Their catalog is called the Toys R Us Differently-Abled Guide, and if you haven’t heard of it, it’s a must-read for Christmas shopping ideas for your kiddos.

Here are my favorite things from the catalog that we have used around our house.  Nothing listed below is battery operated (ok, one thing is).  I don’t know about you, but I hate that most of the toys made today need some kind of battery or power cord to make them work.

First on my list is the Just Like Home toys.  These are toys like play food, pots and pans, a broom or vacuum, etc.  Our most favorite is the play food which goes hand in hand with our pots and pans and the play kitchen (which we bought at a yard sale).  This kind of play is imitation based where the kids can pretend to be Mommy/Daddy cooking and/or cleaning.  My kids move the pots and pans around, put the food in them and cook on the kitchen stove.  They will even come up with hideous combinations of dinners like meatloaf pizza with ice cream and tomatoes for dessert.  It’s fun to play these games with them because we are all laughing about how gross this meal would be.  This has also helped Jamie, who is 9 and has CP, learn that he can’t put everything in his mouth.  Pizza isn’t so appetizing when it’s plastic.  Another aspect of this type of play is the fine motor skills it takes to put a slice of tomato on a bowl of ice cream.  This takes a lot of practice and hand-over-hand work to get it done, but we are working on it!  Plus, you’re teaching life skills and independence!

Another product I love are the Melissa and Doug chunky puzzles.  We have one with 3 different cars on it.  Jamie loves this puzzle!  It’s easy to manipulate and the large chunky knobs on the puzzle pieces make it easy to pick up and hang onto until the piece is in place.  This is another game we’ve done hand over hand for years until Jamie’s finally getting it!  We are almost there.  If your child hates puzzles (as mine always has) try these.  Jamie was very resistant to them up until about 2 months ago when he first was able to pick up the piece and put it in the right spot.  It hasn’t gone in all the way without a little adjustment from Mom and/or Teacher, but he is now enjoying it.  He knows he’s almost got it!  And success is always a motivator to move onto something new.

Mega Bloks are fun, too.  Imagination at play, fine motor skills in fitting the Bloks together, and gross motor skills in the leaning over to get more pieces, pushing pieces together, sitting or standing.  These can also be done hand over hand.  Much of what we do in our house is hand over hand and it works great.  Jamie loves that he’s able to build such tall buildings or cars.

Pretty much anything made by Crayola is perfect for KWSNs.  Right now we are loving our Magnetic Double Easel.  Both of our kids can play on it at the same time.  With this, you can work on letter and number recognition, “writing” out words, simple phrases, or sentences.  It works on fine motor skills (holding a paintbrush, marker, or chalk with the proper grip) and gross motor (standing, sitting, and broad strokes on the board).  You’ll be amazed by what your child draws or paints! A side note to this is please make sure to use washable/non-toxic paints, markers, dry erase markers, and chalk.  Or an artist’s smock.  Anything to protect your child’s clothes and skin.

The Loving Family Grand Dollhouse was purchased for Riley who is 4 and neurotypical.  But, Jamie loves playing with it, too.  She will (sometimes!) let him play with the Dad while she’s the Mom and the twin babies.  They sit at the table in the kitchen and eat, put their babies in the swings and push them, or grill out back.  Now, most times when you buy the Dollhouse, you will only get a few pieces of furniture and a couple of dolls.  You will have to purchase extra furniture if you’re child is into that.  But, none of what we’ve purchased has needed batteries, so score! (Yes, I’m weird about battery operated toys…they drive me nuts! I think it’s a ploy between the toy makers and the Duracell and Energizer companies to make money off of consumers and drive parents crazy with all of the loud, obnoxious noises they make.)

Last, but not least, The Fisher-Price Little People Noah’s Ark (or their school bus, which comes with a child in a wheelchair!) is one of the best toys we’ve ever purchased.  Both of these toys have traveled with us from Florida to Minnesota.  Both kids love them.  Riley loves the school bus and the child in the wheelchair, because as she says, “It’s just like my brother!”  Jamie loves the school bus, too (though he likes it because it does need batteries and sings a perfectly lovely rendition of “The Wheels On the Bus”; though it’s not at all annoying.)  The school bus is the ONLY toy on this list with batteries.  The Noah’s Ark is very cool!  You can use the animals to teach big and little, male and female, matching, counting, the story of Noah, and kids can use their imaginations.

I’m a big fan of anything that makes kids THINK and/or MOVE.  We play with baby dolls (yep, even Jamie), Barbie dolls (the bane of my existence, though that’s another topic), tea sets, building blocks of all sizes (none small enough to choke on: safety first!).  We do lots of art projects, hand over hand play, and using our imaginations.

What are your child’s favorite toys?