Dushwari

share any brand name, kind of toy which you know is popular with teh age group above.

sharing toys meant for boys and girls is fine, keeping in mind group activities that will make children feel included and not excluded based on gender stereotypes.

please share its price and where it can be bought from, if you can.

best,

Dushwari

ConservativeGirl

Leapfrog is the best when it comes to learning, fun, and educational toys.

We have their set of five DVDs... cost us around $45 from amazon. Excellent way of teaching alphabets, number, phonics, and story reading.... and works for most kids.... Look for its rating at amazon.

Also bought the Leapster LMax for Aymans' fourth birthday last year. Now the leapster itself is real pricey- $79 bucks usually at amazon, but i got it for $69 at amazon through a short time deal. Besides the Leapster itself, almost every game cartridge that goes with the system is between $20-$30. Game cartridge are age/grade appropriate. Ayman loves playing with it and it really is hours of educational fun. You can even hook it up to your TV.

We also have this Leapfrog phonic Magnetic set- cost $20 or so.... again teaches phonics, and i believe at walmart you can get a set at the same price that also has numbers 0-10 included. Word Whammer and Farm Sounds are also good but not up to my standard.

Now the above were the ones that are from age 0-7, and which have been tried and tested by us.

For older kids, we gave this Fly Fusion Pentop Computer to my husband nephew on his 9th birthday and he really loves using it... Yeah Leapfrog did it again. They also have this Quantum Pad, Turbo Twister (Spelling wonder), LeapPad etc, and i believe they would be as good as most of other leapfrog products are.... check www.leapfrog.com

Quality and educational value wise, VTech toys are next. My kids have a couple of Vtech toys and they are also fun to play with while learning at the same time. They are not much pricey but then they don't offer a wide range of option to pick from either.... But anyway they are good.

Baby Einstein is a so so... pricey but really boring and doesn't really capture your baby/kids attention. Good for little babies but not for older.


Waisay, it is always a very good idea to check the reviews about any toy (or any product) at amazon, even if you are not buying it from them.... It helps.

ConservativeGirl

Oh there is one more...

A two sided easel does wonder for my 4, 2, and 1.5 year old kids. It's chalkboard on one side and white board on the other. They spend a lot of time writing with chalk, dry erase marker, drawing pictures, and painting on the white paper roll. It's from Mellisa and Doug and cost us $36 from amazon.

X2

#1 learning and fun toy for kids 1 or 2 years old = Daddy

Niksik

X2: It's daddy all the way up until 5...that's how far my experience goes...

hareem01

For educational purposes
Magic slate, alphabetsflash cards, number and shape blocks.
I don't rely much on electronical toys for teaching children. Talking, singing and reading to children for first 18 months is a must and afterwards sharing a bed time story and playing with them teddy bear's picnic, playdough, cooking etc.
For fun,
Boys love toy cars and vehicles. I've also bought them a picnic set(they love pretend cooking and eating), building blocks etc

Dushwari

thanks all. Fraudia bhai & Niksik, i do like the daddy being the toy idea

:>

fisher price is the most common educational toys making brand, so is lego.
sciencekits on line has a good collection of educational and experiential toys.
in olden days, people had wooden or cloth toys especially dolls. wooden tooys are best for very young children ages 3 & up to 5.
share video games, as well if you like.

best,
Dushwari

hareem01

The more simple a toy is the more children will enjoy playing with it, I'm against all the complicated expensive toys, just another trick of emtying parents pockets by consumerists.