I have a stupid question - Page 2

[teachma]

Originally Posted by Shaunam

I just look at my sister, who is sooo mainstream, and I think she really feels this stuff is necessary for her DD's brain to be properly stimulated. : And I'm thinking, "Is this what most Americans think? That these toys are going to stimulate their brains and make them smarter or better somehow?"

Oooh nooo. The ones we do have exist solely for the purpose of FUN!

[sparkprincess]

I don't think all plastic toys are evil. I did pitch all the soft toys (and the Baby Einstein bath book that are made from pvc), and plastic teething rings. We've been lucky in that most of the plastic toys ds has received have been either the Little People sets (that he loves!) or little pianos, etc.

With this baby, I'm really going to encourage more art supplies, books, puzzles, etc because in watching my ds I've learned that those are the things that he's most interested in anyway!!

[irishprincess71]

I found one plastic toy that is probably better for the environment in the long run. Doodle pads. As toddlers, their idea of an art page is a line on a piece of paper and then they move on - leaving pages and pages of virtually unused paper to throw away/recycle. Doodle pads are plastic magnetic boards with magnet pens. My boys LOVE them. They can sit and draw and redraw for hours and not waste a single piece of paper. If I want to save a particular piece of art work, i.e. my son's first attempt at his name I take a digital picture of the board before erasing.

My other plastic favorites are little people and dinosaurs which don't come in wood unfortunately. My conscience-amending thoughts are that they can be save for all 4 kids and the next generation - or sell on ebay.

[Jennifer3141]

I cannot imagine our playroom without our Little People all over. They will go into a box someday (far in the future!!) for my grandkids.

[Tonia80]

ya know, this thread has been very informative as just the other day I was trying to explain to DH why I woudl rather we tell family to get the boys more natural wooden toys. (they have soooo many junk toys and once a month I have to go through and toss out all teh toys with broken pieces) But my dh is a big ki at heart and to say no more plastic toys means nomore transformers or star wars toys for HIm to play with. I think there will be exceptions. (my oldest is a lego maniac) but we are veering towards slowly thropwing out most of teh crap toys as we replace them with natural toys. I love the example of last summer when my kids were bored to death stuck inside most of the time as it was too hot. I went out and collected a bog basket of twigs, bark, picecones, stones, etc.... My sons sat on the floor and played with taht stuff alllll day long. they made log cabibns and roadways with teh twigs, they made trees from teh pinecones, they rolled the acorns.....
Leabving kids to thier own devices with basic toys like blocks or art supplies leads to more constructive play IMO. My kids get bored too fast with the noisy plastic toys.

[phathui5]

I prefer the feel of wood and cloth toys. Maybe they have nicer vibes or something.

That said, we also have a ton of Legos.

[Shaunam]

Originally Posted by Tonia80

ya know, this thread has been very informative as just the other day I was trying to explain to DH why I woudl rather we tell family to get the boys more natural wooden toys. (they have soooo many junk toys and once a month I have to go through and toss out all teh toys with broken pieces) But my dh is a big ki at heart and to say no more plastic toys means nomore transformers or star wars toys for HIm to play with. I think there will be exceptions. (my oldest is a lego maniac) but we are veering towards slowly thropwing out most of teh crap toys as we replace them with natural toys. I love the example of last summer when my kids were bored to death stuck inside most of the time as it was too hot. I went out and collected a bog basket of twigs, bark, picecones, stones, etc.... My sons sat on the floor and played with taht stuff alllll day long. they made log cabibns and roadways with teh twigs, they made trees from teh pinecones, they rolled the acorns.....
Leabving kids to thier own devices with basic toys like blocks or art supplies leads to more constructive play IMO. My kids get bored too fast with the noisy plastic toys.

Yeah, there will be exceptions here too. DH is also a big kid who loves GI Joes and legos. He's been buying GI Joes for DS since before he was born. When DS is old enough, he's going to give them to him. DH thinks of it like a father-son bonding thing and since he didn't have a dad, I'm not about to try and stop him from this bonding thing with his son. It's not *that* important, ya know?

But for the most part, we keep the playroom clear of plastic.

[northcountrymamma]

Originally Posted by irishprincess71

My other plastic favorites are little people and dinosaurs which don't come in wood unfortunately.

There are little doll house dolls that are quite cute I think that are made by Melissa and Doug and relatively inexpensive as an alternative to little people.
Dinosaurs...don't think there are any, but wool felted animals are another natural option...that is if you are looking for a natural option.

[starry_mama]

There are actually wooden dinosaur toys - they aren't as detailed as the plastic ones, but they are pretty cute.

http://store.kidbean.com/1102731.html

There are alos lots of kits where you can build a dinosaur ("fossils"). Those would probably be better for an older child