Our solution for Play-doh is to 1) make them work on a tray a la Montessori classroom, which helps contain it and 2) make them take it outside, which works REALLY well now that we live in California. In fact, we have jars of play doh that have lasted 4+ years (!) so I’m impressed. I banned the kinetic sand, though – probably the worst birthday gift my kids ever got. I thought I also remembered reading it is toxic to pets if they eat it, so that’s even worse 😛

We have Magformers (the other brand of magnetic building toys) and they have been popular from 18 months onward, and when adults come over for parties they love playing with them too 🙂 Definitely a good investment.

I was very sad when we gave away the Kidcraft kitchen right before we moved 2 years ago. It was still getting some use but it didn’t make sense to move it as we didn’t have a playroom in the new house and the girls were 4&7. But that was 100% worth the money!

Another thing that’s been great from about age 5 on is a set of nice-ish colored pencils on Amazon. I think I bought the 48 color set by Raffine, and it was maybe $11. But there is a HUGE variety of colors, they feel more “grown up” to little kids, and you can keep sharpening them unlike crayons. This particular set is very vibrant and nice to work with too (unlike the Crayola kids’ ones). I have a pack of white cardstock on Subscribe and Save so we always have nice white paper on hand. As a kid I was always frustrated by the low quality dingy paper in coloring books and construction paper so I try to buy my girls better stuff now that I’m kind of a paper snob 🙂

@Laura HA! Glad I’m not the only play-doh hater here.

@Louise – that is a good thing to outsource! We hired a handyman to make our swings outside and that was money well spent.

@Megan – I did not know about Nia and Rebecca! That might have made the series more appealing for my daughter 3-4 years ago.

@Amy – since this is my list, I refuse to put Play-doh on it, because I hate that stuff with a fiery passion. Also the kinetic sand stuff or whatever it’s called. Perfectly designed to grind itself into one’s carpet.

@Nikki- we definitely have dolls, and my sons have played with some of them. My 4-year-old’s special sleeping toy is a doll he calls Sweetie Face. My daughter has the standard assortment of American Girls (and Target’s Our Generation dolls) and a few Barbies.