How to decide what toys to keep...

[mamamoo]

I have an 8yr old, 6.5 yr old, 3 yr old, and 1 yr old. How do I decide what to keep. What do *you* think are the top 5-10 toys to have around the house?
I am thinking:
playsilks/dressup
wood blocks
puppets
puzzles

but we have so many other things...I am going crazy, part of it is the age range, but also they don't want to get rid of anything. A lot of the stuff is plastic, junky stuff that I don't want around, and my mom still buys it for them which irks me. i was just talking about paring down the toys, and she said oh, but you can't get rid of the lego dump truck(that she bought for my 1 yr old a couple of weeks ago). I hate feeling ungrateful, but I really don't have room for all this stuff.
TIA for any advice.

[2GR8KIDS]

My kids are 4 years apart so we also have some challenges finding things that appeal to both. I agree with your list. I'd also add:

* a set of building toys- There are so many different kinds available, but I like the idea of focusing on one. We like legos. My 2-year-old and 6-year-old play with duplos together, and my 6-year-old also likes smaller legos
* a set of kid-sized musical instruments- again, kids of all ages can use these.
* some kind of little people, animals, etc. that the kids can create playscenes with- both my kids like Playmobil.
* toy food, kitchen, etc.
* dolls and accessories esp. if you have girls

[provocativa]

And art supplies.

[Siana]

The plastic stuff bugged me too, so DP and I got together one day, took out all the big plastic toys and donated them to Goodwill (except for mega blocks because we find them very open-minded for a pastic toy) . Later I got together the small plastic toys and did the same (except for some small items that my children obviously loved). Lastly, I had bits and pieces of plastic toys -- I don't want to donate them because they're truly worthless, so they're just sitting in a closet (I hate tossing plastic because it'll just sit in a filty landfill)

When your mom comes around to visit, I'm sure she'll notice the lack of plastic and may be you could let her know your philosophies about toys. Since she's your mom, I assume it won't be too difficult to get her to understand.