Recently I bought Kathleen one of those toys where you put the pieces through the different shaped holes (not sure what you call it - a shape sorter or posting toy?). It's one of those typical ones that everyone has - round plastic ball, two colours, and has 12 different coloured, different shaped pieces that fit through one hole and one hole only.Obviously she's too young to put the pieces through the holes, but it is a great toy for lots of reasons: the pieces are easy for her to hold, she can put the pieces in her mouth, the pieces can be banged together to make noise, the ball can roll along the floor, and in time she will be able to learn about the different colours and shapes.
That got Peter and I talking about toys. I much prefer wooden toys over plastic toys. Wooden toys are timeless and traditional, whereas to me plastic toys are mass produced and gaudy. It seems to me producers of plastic toys are always coming out with new toys that your child "has to have" or they will miss out on some crucial development step. Peter and I both agree that it didn't do us any harm to grow up without these toys. And we both agree that Kathleen doesn't need a lot of toys.
What's the best toy of all time? Lego. (Yeah, ok, Lego is plastic. I don't like the new range of Lego where the toy is practically made and you only assemble one or two pieces. I like having lots of Lego pieces and using your imagination to make whatever you want out of them).
Kathleen is too young for Lego now, but when she is older we will have lots of fun playing with it with her. So what's the next best thing to Lego for a baby? Wooden blocks!
We don't have any wooden blocks, but we do have Jenga. So, rather than run out and buy some purpose made baby's wooden blocks, we pulled out the game instead on Friday night. We have had great fun with it over the weekend. Peter and I played several games of Jenga (currently a draw). Kathleen has had fun chewing on the blocks. Peter and I have had a competition to build the best tower - it has to be as tall as possible, aesthetically pleasing, and stable. But the most fun of all has been us trying to build something, anything, while Kathleen sits on our laps and tries to destroy it.| Going ...
| Going ...
| Gone !
|
 | The Amazing Towers of Jenga
|  |
-Megz
2 comments:
Legos ARE the best toy of all time! Even though they're plastic, they really great. Though my mom still has the old wooden blocks we used to play with as kids, and those are pretty darn cool too. I'm with you on the wooden toys; there's something nice about the heavy, solid feel of a wooden toy as opposed to the flimsy feeling plastic ones.
Two words.
Lincoln Logs :)
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