How do I know they will play with it?

[gwen's mom]

My DDs love train tables. Whenever we go to a toy store they play at the train tables as long as we will let them. They do not care about the characters they just like playing trains. So two Christmases ago we go out and get them a train table and a bunch of assorted trains and accessories. It never gets played with. It doesn't matter if DH and I play with them or not, it just doesn't hold their interest at home.

Fast forward to this Christmas. Dh takes DDs to the local toy store where they spend over an hour playing with the train table and the doll house. Apparently the doll house was a huge hit. So now we are discussing Christmas gifts and I am contemplating giving DDs my old doll house which is in great shape, very sturdy and free and filling it with furniture from Lakeshore
http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/seo...02060908~~.jsp

I think this furniture looks durable and long lasting but the cost has me hesitating. Dh and I are worried that this will turn into another train table scenario where they love it in the store but don't play with it at home.

Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can be confident that we are not going to have another train table experience? BTW, DDs are 5 and 2.5 and are very imaginative little people.

[MissSJ]

I'm not sure how you can ever be sure any item will be played with by children. We have had this happen in the past too. I have found that if dh or I initiate playing with ignored toys the boys will join us but they still do not initiate playing with them on their own.

[LynnS6]

You can't ever. But you can look at their interests and try to get toys that match those. If your kids never play family themes at home, or they aren't into doll play/small manipulatives, then I wouldn't get it.

I'm getting dd a doll house/pretend school because she PLAYS this at home. We've got a few small playmobil dolls that she plays with a lot. She is also very very into acting out family themes. A doll house will fit nicely with her play interests.

I wouldn't get something like this for ds, because he doesn't play with small figures and make them do things. He's more large motor oriented. He wants to be the fire truck driver, not make some little figure be the fire truck driver. And I don't think he's ever played 'house' or family oriented themes at all. What he does is play teacher and fire fighter.

Example: We own a Playmobil airplane. Ds flies the plane around sometimes. Dd loads it up, talks to the passengers, packs the suitcases, etc. I won't buy more Playmobil for ds because he doesn't use it. Dd does.

Oh, and my kids do best when I remember to rotate toys. So, the trains go untouched for months, and then they're rediscovered. You might try that.

[Qtopia]

Originally Posted by LynnS6

Oh, and my kids do best when I remember to rotate toys. So, the trains go untouched for months, and then they're rediscovered. You might try that.

Yep!

If it were me, I wouldn't spend big $$$ on something I was unsure about. You're getting the dollhouse for free, which is awesome. I probably wouldn't "fill it" with furniture, though, until I saw that my kids were really diggin' it. Maybe you could buy a few pieces? Or try ebay, craigslist etc? Or if you wanted to go hard core , how about really open-ended furniture like acorn caps, simple small wooden blocks, pretty cloths/small pieces of fabric, spools of thread? Get kind of a "The Borrowers" vibe going on?

[MissSJ]

I agree with just getting some furniture instead of going all out and filling the house. Then you could encourage more imaginative play with your dcs using other items in the home, you won't spend a lot of $ if they don't play with it and if they do play with it you can buy more for upcoming birthdays/holidays. We are buying our boys a kitchen this year and at first I wanted to go all out and get them all the accessories, we decided to get them only a few so we can add on later.

[TiredX2]

I just wanted to address the problem with the train table.

Did you screw your pieces down to the table? With the ages of your kids, there is a good chance they like the table at the store because the pieces can't fall apart. At home, though, it can get really frustrating for little kids that the pieces fall apart all the time. You can test this out by buying a cheap set and gluing/nailing/screwing it down and seeing if the kids have a better time with it.

[quest4mom]

I know this sounds kind of lame, but I will chime in anyway.

We have noticed that our daughter loves to play with things at the store and at other people's houses. Once we get something similar for her at home she seems totally uninterested. It is like she likes to play with a certain toy at a certain place and only that place. At the store we play with trains, at grandma's house we play with dolls, etc. Sometimes she identifies a place by the toy she played with there.

That said, we usually buy gently used toys so that if they don't work out we can turn around and sell them for about what we paid for them and get something else.

[TiredX2]

As for the dollhouse. For my kids, I think their biggest frustration with their dollhouse was the dolls. We had the Felt Alex ones and you could NOT make them sit or do what you wanted with them. I'd consider going to the store and seeing *how* they played with the dollhouse--- was it the accessories they liked, the dolls, what and basing your decision on that. You could even get out your dollhouse now and see how they play with it.

[jdedmom]

About the train table....

We have one and we rotate the toys for it every few months. We have wooden trains, Geo track sets, Legos, Plan City and Playmobile. Whatever set is out the other four are put away. They always have a renewed interest in the toy if it's been put away awhile.

I can't imagine gluing the train set together permanently. That would be a pain to store and takes the fun out of creating new tracks, limiting the creativity.

Maybe you could make different scenes and trace track patterns on plastic sheets or cardboard fitting the table. You could store them in tubes and change them out if they get boring.

[Ceili]

ds will find a renewed interest in toys if they are displayed in a new way. For example I'll go into the play room and set up a tea party at the table and he'll play happily by himself with that tea party set for a long time even if it's been sitting on the shelf ignored for months. Same with his doll house, if I put it out on the table and "set the scene" he finds it a lot more interesting.

[3*is*magic]

In response to the OP- I could have written your post word for word. They LOVE the trains/table at the toy store, but ignore ours for the most part. Same with the dollhouse. My sisters bought the girls the house last Christmas and my parents filled it will furniture. It never gets played with. I would love to stash it in the basement, but am filled with guilt that my parents and sisters purchased such an expensive gift (at my suggestion) and don't want them to be annoyed that it's disappeared.

I say give your kids the house now with stuff they can improvise as furniture. Watch how (if) they play with it. If they do,go for it and buy the furniture.

Oh, and FWIW, I have seen lots of Ryan's Room furniture for dollhouses at TJ Maxx, Tuesday Morning, etc. for a deep discount. Might be worth checking out to minimize the financial investment.

ETA - Just peeked at the Lakeshore furniture and I actually think it's a bargain for the amount you get. You might not find the RR stuff any cheaper!

[Adele_Mommy]

Have you asked your kids what they want? IME frequently my dd will play with something a lot at the store and then when I ask her what she wants for Christmas or a birthday she does not mention it. On one occasion I specifically said, "What about X? You played with it a lot at the store." and she told me it was fun at the store, but she really didn't want one for herself!

[Jessy1019]

Originally Posted by TiredX2

I just wanted to address the problem with the train table.

Did you screw your pieces down to the table? With the ages of your kids, there is a good chance they like the table at the store because the pieces can't fall apart. At home, though, it can get really frustrating for little kids that the pieces fall apart all the time. You can test this out by buying a cheap set and gluing/nailing/screwing it down and seeing if the kids have a better time with it.

That was my thought. We are getting my son a train layout for xmas, because he loves them in the stores, but we are planning on building it for him, gluing or screwing down the track, and then leaving him the trains and figures to run around on it.

[AllisonR]

I wouldn't glue a track and equipment down, unless you plan on trashing it within the year. It limits the creative play tremendously and makes one boring scene.

DS has been playing with trains since just over 2, and the fact that we have enough tracks, tunnels, bridgles... they can be put together in all sorts of interesting configurations. A standard figure 8 is not going to cut it. You can get a small wooden set and add to for birthdays, christmas.... When he was 2, DH or I put the tracks together, often with DS's help, and then he would play for extended periods. At 3 he is more interested in building the track configurations, and then playing.

[Imogen]

My son generally declares what he would like. We only focus on gifts at Christmas/Birthday time and attempt not to buy toys in between those periods. But recently I did buy a small toy because he had expressed interest in those particular toys, as Ste considered buying a lot of these particular toys as Christmas gifts and I thought that buying a small one and seeing how much time he played with it would be a good indicator if Ste was potentially about to waste money.

Thank goodness I did, he played with it twice and now it is forgotten


Peace