Kapla planks are definitely the most versatile toy that can entice any age. We have had them for over a decade and they still get used. We even had a gaggle of teenagers try and build a tower to the ceiling - which they did with success and a subsequent splendid crash! Lego and Playmobil are other keepers:)
Kapla planks and building blocks yes! My kids still play with them, and the wooden train tracks, and they’re 10 and 12. Also Lego - my husband still plays with his 😂😂
We also have second generation duplo from my childhood which gets a lot of use. The other things that get played with pretty much every day are the wooden train tracks (a mix of Brio and other types, mostly sourced from second hand shops) and the magnet tiles. Oh, and a collection of wooden shapes that my sister made. They get used for all sorts of constructions and imaginative play, such a great gift. We also have a bunch of chestnuts that are used a lot (collected and refreshed each autumn) and a bunch of little plastic penguins from a game that have since been used for imaginative play every single day. I have no recollection of where we got the game from so I think it was probably another hand me down that my mother passed on.
I love how much they play with all these construction toys but they do tend to take over the whole lounge, which is the only downside. Hopefully one day I won't be impaling my feet on tiny penguins and their sharp beaks...
Duplo is such a great toy! It’s one my children have also revisited again and again even as they grow as well. Others that have had similar staying power for us have been Lego (of course), magnet tiles, Grimms rainbows and matchbox cars.
Construction toys large and small, from Kapla planks to magnetic tiles to giant boards, are such fun. My children also do things like you mention, laying blocks (and even the boards!) out as tracks and using them as markers rather than just means of construction. We've had many an obstacle course based on several different uses! Such fun. Thanks for linking to my piece.
“we learnt that rhinos do indeed communicate using poo, but not, obviously, by writing in it. Everybody felt like they’d won the argument, and we all learnt something about rhinos.” This made me laugh! I hope, somehow, it makes it into a novel someday about a slightly harried but also happy homeschooling mother.
Haha, and your comment made me laugh in turn! I can’t imagine what this novel would be, but there is definitely much potential for both humour and drama in a homeschooling family…!
The marketing note reminds me of when they first brought in cake mix and all the housewives didn't like it...until they made them add an egg. It wasn't necessarily, but it made them feel like they had 'baked' something...
Kapla blocks! About 5 years ago when we still lived in Scotland there was an exhibition at the V&A in Dundee, I think it was about play, but they put out several of the huge boxes of Kapla for people to make things with. We spent two hours there one afternoon with my then 6 year old making a rail network and stations across the gallery space. It was brilliant! He’s nearly 12 and he still sometimes gets the Brio trains out for a play, so they have definitely been long lasting.
Oh wow that’s amazing! Tate did something similar recently with a long table full of Polydrons (which I remember from my own childhood) available for people to play and build with. It was mostly adults who couldn’t tear themselves away! Good to hear the Brio is still going strong too.
Duplo really is one of the very best toys, regardless of age. Endlessly variable and used in so many different types of games. If I could only have one toy (and we don't keep many toys at all), that would probably be it.
I’m jealous of your toy minimalism. I’m a toy minimalist at heart, but my children are wild maximalists, and we have to meet somewhere in the middle (and it’s definitely nearer their end than mine!).
1. They’re exactly what they sound like, and you teach your kids to build with them, and then go inside and leave them to it! I’m desperate to try it. I’m certain Dixie shared a photo of it but I can’t find it anywhere, maybe it was in Notes…
2. Yes! I’d forgotten all about that book, we borrowed it from a library a few years ago and it’s great!
Oh, I think I did post that on notes, but it was forever ago and I can't find it. Catherine, I'll send you the picture by e-mail so that you can post it if you'd like!
Boxes, kinetic sand and play dough and other mooshable materials, jump rope, ball, art materials, twisty ties from the produce section, rocks sticks dirt, animals, marble maze, little people (the old thinner ones), all manner of open ended manipulatives, those magnetic drawing boards, musical instruments, all manner of water play including hoses sprinklers pvc tubing kitchen stuff, dirt kitchen
Kapla planks are definitely the most versatile toy that can entice any age. We have had them for over a decade and they still get used. We even had a gaggle of teenagers try and build a tower to the ceiling - which they did with success and a subsequent splendid crash! Lego and Playmobil are other keepers:)
How satisfying! The crash is definitely the best bit in this house.
Kapla planks and building blocks yes! My kids still play with them, and the wooden train tracks, and they’re 10 and 12. Also Lego - my husband still plays with his 😂😂
We also have second generation duplo from my childhood which gets a lot of use. The other things that get played with pretty much every day are the wooden train tracks (a mix of Brio and other types, mostly sourced from second hand shops) and the magnet tiles. Oh, and a collection of wooden shapes that my sister made. They get used for all sorts of constructions and imaginative play, such a great gift. We also have a bunch of chestnuts that are used a lot (collected and refreshed each autumn) and a bunch of little plastic penguins from a game that have since been used for imaginative play every single day. I have no recollection of where we got the game from so I think it was probably another hand me down that my mother passed on.
I love how much they play with all these construction toys but they do tend to take over the whole lounge, which is the only downside. Hopefully one day I won't be impaling my feet on tiny penguins and their sharp beaks...
Duplo is such a great toy! It’s one my children have also revisited again and again even as they grow as well. Others that have had similar staying power for us have been Lego (of course), magnet tiles, Grimms rainbows and matchbox cars.
Construction toys large and small, from Kapla planks to magnetic tiles to giant boards, are such fun. My children also do things like you mention, laying blocks (and even the boards!) out as tracks and using them as markers rather than just means of construction. We've had many an obstacle course based on several different uses! Such fun. Thanks for linking to my piece.
“we learnt that rhinos do indeed communicate using poo, but not, obviously, by writing in it. Everybody felt like they’d won the argument, and we all learnt something about rhinos.” This made me laugh! I hope, somehow, it makes it into a novel someday about a slightly harried but also happy homeschooling mother.
Haha, and your comment made me laugh in turn! I can’t imagine what this novel would be, but there is definitely much potential for both humour and drama in a homeschooling family…!
The marketing note reminds me of when they first brought in cake mix and all the housewives didn't like it...until they made them add an egg. It wasn't necessarily, but it made them feel like they had 'baked' something...
Is that true?! That’s hilarious. I’d never heard that before and it’s just the sort of thing I love.
I have heard this! They had powdered egg but it made the women feel useless.
Kapla blocks! About 5 years ago when we still lived in Scotland there was an exhibition at the V&A in Dundee, I think it was about play, but they put out several of the huge boxes of Kapla for people to make things with. We spent two hours there one afternoon with my then 6 year old making a rail network and stations across the gallery space. It was brilliant! He’s nearly 12 and he still sometimes gets the Brio trains out for a play, so they have definitely been long lasting.
Oh wow that’s amazing! Tate did something similar recently with a long table full of Polydrons (which I remember from my own childhood) available for people to play and build with. It was mostly adults who couldn’t tear themselves away! Good to hear the Brio is still going strong too.
Duplo really is one of the very best toys, regardless of age. Endlessly variable and used in so many different types of games. If I could only have one toy (and we don't keep many toys at all), that would probably be it.
I’m jealous of your toy minimalism. I’m a toy minimalist at heart, but my children are wild maximalists, and we have to meet somewhere in the middle (and it’s definitely nearer their end than mine!).
It’s mostly the constraints of our space. With 8 people living in 1500 sq ft, we just can’t have a lot of toys. Books, on the other hand…
Our chunky wooden bricks are still going strong here! They are used every week in someway or another!
I love it when a well-loved toy also happens to be plastic-free.
1. Tell me more about the fifty eight-foot two-by-fours?
2. Re: rhino poo: do you know the book What Do They Do With All That Poo? by Jane Kurtz. It's about poop in zoos...
1. They’re exactly what they sound like, and you teach your kids to build with them, and then go inside and leave them to it! I’m desperate to try it. I’m certain Dixie shared a photo of it but I can’t find it anywhere, maybe it was in Notes…
2. Yes! I’d forgotten all about that book, we borrowed it from a library a few years ago and it’s great!
Oh, I think I did post that on notes, but it was forever ago and I can't find it. Catherine, I'll send you the picture by e-mail so that you can post it if you'd like!
Actually, I'll just post it in a note right now. Then you can take it from there if you like!
https://substack.com/@dixiedillonlane/note/c-51063974
Boxes, kinetic sand and play dough and other mooshable materials, jump rope, ball, art materials, twisty ties from the produce section, rocks sticks dirt, animals, marble maze, little people (the old thinner ones), all manner of open ended manipulatives, those magnetic drawing boards, musical instruments, all manner of water play including hoses sprinklers pvc tubing kitchen stuff, dirt kitchen