Toys etc

I was just thinking after sending a little doll to Ciara( Kat glad she liked it) i wondered was it appropriate for her. Now while i know that all little girls dolls, it got me thinking about when we buy toys etc for our kids with Ds. Do we get them things that are age appropriate? or do we concentrate more on educational toys? With all my kids before Amarli if they saw something they liked toys etc they usually got it, birthdays etc. I dont think i ever thought about was it appropriate for them, only once i put my foot down to the "baby alive doll", the whole thought of a doll that pooped gave me nightmares hey if nobody helped me change dirty nappies then who was gunna change the doll?
And ive never censored what games they played (their not big on these anyway) or movies they watched, I know i can hear some of you now........(bad mother ) but i think ive done a pretty good job and non of them so far is an axe murderer or violent
But i am wondering about this and any answers would help shed some light IYKWIM.

Ciara loves dolls- she has really got into the play acting thing lately (since starting pre-school) loves putting them to bed and brushing their hair etc- last year she had no interest in them whatsoever.

I concentrate on educational type things for Ciara- a lot of the age appropriate things are too hard for her but then again sometimes I wonder if I am holding her back by not getting more age appropriate things, yk? I also bear in mind that alot of the toys are shared between Ciara and Lia so have to be careful with the more age appropriate toys as Lia could choke on stuff (But then again Lia and Ciara are about the same developmentally so they enjoy the same toys except for in a few areas)

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a lot of the age appropriate things are too hard for her but then again sometimes I wonder if I am holding her back by not getting more age appropriate things, yk?

See thats what im thinking. And i dont want to be always thinking.........is this toy educational IYKWIM toys are ment to be fun While Amarli is little its easy but im thinking when she's older.

I don’t know that our toys are educational.
I try to keep in mind things like, The fisher price Pig with the coins, good for Aden’s hand eye coordination and fun for Matthew.
The boys have soooo many toys, one thing the OT said to me she is impressed with how quickly Aden works out how to make toys work. She had the fisher price toy like a gum ball machine, put balls in toy, turn handle bolls come out down bottom, (it was one toy she had we didn’t) and he worked it out so quick. She was impressed or at least she said she was. Hehehe

Aden loves balls so he has a few toys that he can put balls into……
Also he has a baby doll with a bottle bowl and spoon, potty to help with roll play
The sit and spin Aden loves I picked it up for about $20 both boys like it, the first time Aden made it work he cheered and clapped it was the best

I’m thinning out the toys at the moment, oh and all those stuffed toys I parted with 2 big black garbage bags full. My sister when through and saved a few, I’m not happy cause Matthew might see them, so she has to hide them.

Talitha likes dolls at the moment. She likes to undress and dress them, only problem is that her motor skills just aren't quite there so she gets really frustrated and I have to help her every couple of seconds when she is playing. I am looking for a doll that I can afford that the clothes come off and go on easy. She has mostly lost interest in her noisy toys from last year - she won't play her toy keyboard, she will only play our real one. I know she wants a guitar so she can copy me because she loves music so I am going to look out for one for her. I would like to get her kiddy drums too but we don't even have room to set up my drum kit so she will have to wait.

I am a bit stuck on stuff for her apart from the things I have mentioned. She loves puzzles but it is almost impossible to keep all the pieces together and she is kind of bored with the puzzles we have. I don't know what she does with the pieces but they disappear for days or weeks and then turn up randomly.

I really need to get off my butt and get her some educational stuff as well as some fun stuff, particularly to get us through winter coz sometimes it is just tooooo cold to go outside here. Outside is her favourite thing. We are hoping to rent a bigger house soon so hopefully we can do that and have room for her to have her toys and play with them.

argh! toys....we have too many and I don't think we've really got heaps. One thing that we like to do during the wet season (when it's too stinking hot to go outside) is get a small climbing frame from the Toy Library and set it up in the loungeroom. It takes up the whole lounge room but it's only for a couple of weeks. Another thing we do is blow up the double airbed and let the kids use it as an indoor trampoline. Again, it takes up the whole loungeroom but it's short term and HEAPS of fun

As for educational, I think just about anything can be seen as educational. Just depends on how you play with it

Cas

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I am looking for a doll that I can afford that the clothes come off and go on easy.

I will have a look in my shed cause packed away are all my girls dolls. Well you saw the condition of the baby clothes well the dolls are the same, almost new, way too many for Amarli. I think we have 2 baby borns if you want one its yours and i can bring it to the meetup. I'll check first and let you know.Though it will most likely be a black doll as 90% of the girls dolls were black

What sort of doll are you talking about Karyn? I don't know any dolls who are easy to dress lol....

Cas

Hannah seems to like age appropriate toys the best - dolls, puzzles. just now she is trying to get me to play Lotto with her ( ) and I got them that shopping list game recentlyw hich they love - so board games are in at the moment. Sigh - best go paly with her ...

As Cas says though - all toys are educational - it depends how you play with them.

Robyn any dolls would be fantastic. I took Talitha to playgroup today and she spent most of her time carrying around a baby doll and then putting it to bed. I think black dolls would be cool. Years ago we had some asian baby dolls which Ben's mum had bought for his brothers (his brothers and step father are vietnamese).

I may have said this already but can I just say, Toy Libraries are the BEST!

Ours is a bit different to city ones because we don't have waiting lists, fines and clean toys. But for $50 a year and more toys than I can borrow in a year - I love it! They have dolls (aboriginal, african, asian and caucasian), puzzles, ride on toys, trampolines, climbing frames (outdoor equipment), board games, Leap Pads, baby toys, play kitchens...I could go on!

Cas

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I may have said this already but can I just say, Toy Libraries are the BEST!

Cas My DH says our house could be a toy library he Is a tease made worse since I brought the boys a roller coaster (we hired one from a toy library in our last town) but they love it
I’m going through the boys toys at the moment, I have taken pics of some and am going to put them on the notice board here. We have too many big things that take up way too much room.

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I have taken pics of some and am going to put them on the notice board here.

Yeh show me im on the hunt now for stuff for Amarli.
Karen we have asian dolls too for some reason Koebii was very one sided when it came to her dolls and wouldnt have any white ones and then she never played with them. So they got passed to Mundi who was the same, she wouldnt even push her dolls pram outside. I also have a few dolls prams here too if Talitha wants one? We have every baby born pram they made im only keeping one for Amarli.

Amarlismum wrote:

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I have taken pics of some and am going to put them on the notice board here.

Yeh show me im on the hunt now for stuff for Amarli.
.

I haven’t' got them off the camera yet. But Ill post pics of when I sorted out their stuff you can see many of the toys we have around the place although not them all, like the ones up the hall.
Have a look any you thinking about I’ll tell you what I think if they are good or not.






These arnt for sale Robyn just the christmas pics Matthew wouldnt' stand with his


Aden did





And this is the room trashed in only 30mins
Now we keep a lot more out in the store room and rotate although tell that to my lounge room




See they play well together trashing everything. And we do clean up lol this is just one days mess

I try to choose stage appropriate toys.
I will buy something that is more difficult for Emily, just to build on.

I don't think she would have a clue in a toy that is designed for a 6-8 year old! I mean, kids her age are playing playstation etc, she wouldn't have a clue! (not that I mind there! it's a video game! lol, we can't afford to keep up with that trend! hahaha)

The same goes for Kailah. I wouldn't buy her something that is suited for a 6 year old.
They both share a lot (ok ALL) of their toys. If I buy one I know I'm going to have to buy 2 (if it's cheap enough!) cos they will only fight over it! They are like twins!
I think Kailah is a little advanced for her age, so Emily and her are nearly on par. Kailah speaks very well, and Emily, well not so great! So we work on words and sounds with flash cards together!

Amarlismum wrote:

I also have a few dolls prams here too if Talitha wants one? We have every baby born pram they made im only keeping one for Amarli.

I would love a doll pram that works. Talitha loves dolls prams. We had two that someone gave us but they were very ratty and fell apart in quick succession. Talitha spent half the summer pushing a doll around the deck in a broken pram. Unfortunately the dog ate the doll because we left it outside. It was a good theory to have a toy box outside but I never thought the dog would eat dolls, he is way past his puppy stage. She has one doll that goes in the bath with her and we have her doll with the feeding tube which is the one she tries to dress and undress and the clothes don't fit properly so we always get frustrated yells.

Cathy, I can't believe how many toys you guys have Joel is past the kiddy toy stage so he has mostly lego or other construction stuff so the only kiddy toys we have are Talitha's - one toy box and a plastic box full of mega blocks. We used to have lots and lots of stuffed toys but I have gradually culled them down. We do have a basket of stuffed toys in the lounge room because Talitha likes the tags. She has her special taggy blanket that Robyn made when she goes to bed

OMG Cathy....I thought we had some toys here...your place looks just like EI at the DSSSA Well except for the beds!

Now were you worried about Aden's stimulation...don't be

WOW And Hubby thinks we have too many toys here !!!
Makes Lewis' room look really dull!!

I like Lewis to have toys the same as other kids his age.
He has a few Spidermans, Supermans, Batmans etc, but is really an outdoor kid. He has lots of bikes, scooters and stuff for climbing.

I get a little miffed when people buy him Fisher Price toys for Birthdays and Christmas etc... they still see a baby, but I see a little boy... even though he loves those toys...

kookaburra wrote:

OMG Cathy....I thought we had some toys here...your place looks just like EI at the DSSSA Well except for the beds!
Now were you worried about Aden's stimulation...don't be

Good thing I didn’t post the other 2 cupboards, but this is for two and a mum that has panic disorder lol I do worry about stimulation. you know my sisters house is fuller then mine, so I don’t feel to bad, other than a bit claustrophobic I’ve been good and not brought any toys this year!
DH said when we get rid of the big stuff I can buy more, and Karyn I have just parted with two bags of stuffed toys and still have way too many. Matthew lines them up and Aden cuddles them.

Lewis looks like he has lots of toys look at all those boxes to.

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I get a little miffed when people buy him Fisher Price toys for Birthdays and Christmas etc... they still see a baby, but I see a little boy... even though he loves those toys...

That would annoy me t, but would be nice if someone brought my kids toys.

Robyn I’ll pm you soon with which toys I think would be good for Amarli.

Wow, Tammy - is your house rammed earth???

Cas

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Wow, Tammy - is your house rammed earth???

Yes Cas.... it is....

We live on the Riverbank in a house built of Mud...

Hi, I have found over the years with Jodie is anything to do with Music has always been an interest to her, when she was a baby to three she loved fisher price toys with lots of noise and also I got her that peg game where they put the pegs on top of one another, a lot of Early intervention centres have them, it's great for their fine motor skills ,as she got older and into books she like the ones that have the sounds down the side, after 3 she started to get into dolls and that stay with her until only a few years ago, as she got into the school system she used to name her dolls her friend's name and she line them up and talk to them like she was the teacher hehehe, it ws so cute to watch, it took me a few years to realise not to worry about what is age appro in toys especailly educational ones as if you think it would help your child get it, trust your instincts as you know your child the best. One of the best things I found for her when you was older approx 8 - 9 my mum and Dad bought her a trampoline and that really strengthens her leg muscles and still now at 18 she loves jumpimg on it. You can now get the ones with the net around them for safetly which I think is great. As Jodie has gotten older she has got into Music and DVD's, she has a MP3 player and for her birthday we got her a stereo as she just loves her CD's.

Amarli has sooo many dolls to play with when she gets older she even has ones that were mine, thumbelina, baby chrissy
Here are just a few from her room and i have plastic buckets full in the shed
and as you can see, she has black,asian and white ones

I’ve not seen a Thumbelina doll which one is it?
I think we had the doll to the left of the centre one, looks like one Tayla had when she was little.
You know I never thought of buying her any other dolls then white! I would try to find ones with hair colour other than blonde, that was about it. Just never thought about it, also maybe their wasn’t as many around then not that there are heaps now. Or I just over looked them. Oh feeling bad.

My sister sent me her daughters room back when she had it all sorted, we did our kids rooms at the same time. Her daughter has 6 times as much as all my kids put together and that is just in her bedroom, then there is her huge cubby house, the lounge room……..

I had a Thumbelina doll when I was little. As I recall I drowned it I was a very disturbed child.