Toys My Kids Can’t Get Enough Of

When my oldest child was born 6 years ago, I had zero knowledge about the Montessori approach and minimalism when it came to purchasing toys for him. We had an elaborate mobile for his crib, plastic shape blocks, a noisy activity table.. you name it and we had it! He was our first born and of course I wanted to get him the best there was available for his age. After he turned a year old, I happened to stumble upon a Montessori blog (after googling how to purposefully engage him at home) and a Facebook group of Montessori home-schoolers that discussed toys which would meaningfully engage children for prolonged periods of time.

After several toy purges and a toy audit of my childhood collection (my sister and I are still proud to have kept our Polly Pocket collections, a few vintage board games and dolls in mint condition!), I narrowed down my children's toy selection keeping the following 5 principles in mind:

1. Will the toy offer my children a chance to be creative, be co-operative with each other and offer endless possibilities in the way it is played with? (such toys are called "open-ended")

2. Is the toy a passive toy i.e., do my children actively play with it to entertain themselves rather than the other way around?

3. Is the toy made of sustainable, quality materials that ensure it is ethically made and holds up with rough use?

4. Will the toy be useful for a wider age range thus giving me value to the money I spent on it?

5. Will my children be able to focus on the toy for prolonged periods of time? (note to self: rotate out existing toys periodically based on their interest thus not keeping out too many choices of toys)

Why 'less is more' in our home:

We honestly don't have a lot of toys at home (I know the exact location of every toy we own!). I read somewhere that your child's toy choices at home could be compared to that of groceries in a supermarket. Imagine yourself walking into a supermarket and having to choose your breakfast cereal off a floor-to-ceiling shelf that houses 20 different brands? How long do you think you would take to make a decision if you had fewer choices? Would you be less overwhelmed and less anxious as well? The same principles could be applied to how many toys you keep out for your child.

My children's favourite toys are kept on their shelves ALL the time and the rest are rotated out (not that many). The former that aren't rotated as frequently as the others are:

• Magnatiles:

I store these in a cane basket so they can see the tiles easily and tidy up independently once done with play. I've had the kids use them since they were 2.5 years old and they still haven't gotten tired of playing with them. The kids have made 2-D structures (including structures on a small window with a metallic frame!) and 3-D structures taller than themselves. There's really no end to the type of creations one can make out of these. This toy is easily one of our most loved at home.

Here are some of my children's creations using their Magnatiles:

• Spielgaben:

We saved up for this "toy" last year and have not regretted buying it (it is slightly on the higher end in terms of cost but if you're like us and spend money on toys every 1-2 years, then this is a very worthwhile investment). Spielgaben is a curriculum-based learning resource that consists of various toy manipulatives. In my opinion, this is a fantastic material that encourages learning through play. The kids are learning symmetry, geometry and many math concepts on their own when they play with the numerous loose parts this toy has to offer. I know of some parents who have created their own version of the Spielgaben so if you're looking for ideas to DIY, Pinterest may have tons of inspiration for you!

We've learnt the different moon phases, made country flags in our cultural studies and still make imaginary worlds using the Spielgaben loose parts!

• Brick toys:

LEGO may be one of the few plastic toys that we absolutely love. No kid or parent needs any introduction to this versatile genius of a toy. We prefer LEGO classic blocks as they are open-ended and my children prefer these compared to “themed sets” (although we do have a few of those as hand-me-downs).

• Grimm's magnetic puzzles:

My mom gifted my youngest a Colourful Spiral Magnetic puzzle from Grimm's Toys and she has loved creating "art" with it. What I love about open-ended toys is that no two creations could ever be the same and this aspect makes the toy a lot more interesting to kids. This puzzle is handy to bring to restaurants (keep an eye on the small parts!) and on your travels as the pieces are easily stored in the metal tin (the insides work as the frames for the wooden magnetic art pieces).

Here are some of my daughter's creations:

• Recyclable Material & Art/Craft Supplies:

As my kids have gotten older (to be honest, even when they were little), I have come to realise that the lesser the choices I give them when it comes to play materials, the more engaged they are.⁠ So even though we have expensive toys as mentioned above, they still gravitate towards simple art materials (that we reuse multiple times!). Your child's best memories will be the experiences & simple things you gave them & not the fancy things they played with! Try creating a no-fuss art corner for them with basic supplies (like paint, paper, string, scissors, glue etc. Keep it simple & less overwhelming!) and you will see their creativity shine!