Oh, the Toys!

So of course, the toy population around here has increased by three bazillion percent because of Christmas, Jonah’s birthday, and Sophie’s birthday all occurring in a 5-week-period. WHEW!  We’ve had to make some room for all this crap great stuff, and have done some reorganizing but we still have a few storage issues to resolve.  But, said issues aside, I must say I am super-pleased with most of the toys we purchased this year!  YAY!  I can’t tell you how discouraged I’ve felt (espeically after Joshua’s birthday last year) when I’ve bought toys that have turned out to be CRAP.  So I thought I’d share with you what the kids and parents in this house like the best from this year’s haul.

Sophie’s faves:

Dora Fiesta Favorites Kitchen Playset:

This was the “big-ticket item” that Sophie really wanted, and I’m glad we got it. (Of course I got a sweet deal on it, because regular price is a bit steep for me.)  The quality is good, Dora says lots of different phrases, the toy food & dishes are a nice quality, and you can change the window scene if you’re feeling creative.  It’s just a great pretend toy with the advantage of having the voice & image of Dora, whom Sophie adores.  Jonah absolutely LOVES playing with this also, so BONUS!

Learning Resources Pretend & Play School Set:

This set is SO much fun! I had  my mom get this for Sophie because I just really wanted her to have it and I knew she would love it.  What I didn’t count on was that Joshua would love it too and that they would love playing it together. Double BONUS!  Those two have had so much fun with it.  It comes with a school bell, map, dry-erase calendar and board, pointer for the teacher, stickers, worksheets, pencils, hall passes, all kinds of great supplies. The kids have been pretending up a STORM with this thing, and of course I’ve gotten into the act too. It also folds up so nicely for storage or to transport it somewhere – and is very sturdy! It is just a great set. I highly recommend it!

Joshua:

Transformers Kre-O sets by Hasbro:

Confession: I picked these toys out to buy for Joshua because I also knew how much my hubby loved Transformers as a kid.  And they have had SO MUCH FUN building them together.  Bobby has just been so impressed with the quality of the Kre-O.  I hunted down the big Optimus Prime set when it was on a good sale, and took advantage of sales and coupons both in-store and online on some of the other sets.  We like these so much that Joshua bought another one with his own Christmas money, and we bought another one for his birthday which is coming up in February (shh, don’t tell!) These bricks work with lego, which is great if you already have those, but they are great in their own right.  Bobby and Joshua had a lot of fun and bonding time building and playing with these over the holiday!  We will definitely be buying these for awhile I am sure.

Mario Kart K’nex:

Let me first just say that I was super, super worried about spending any $$ on this because up until now, ever Mario toy I’ve bought has been CRAP. But, I crossed my fingers that the respected K’nex brand would not produce crap, and it was a good gamble, because this is AWESOME!  The downside is that it is also giant and in my living room, but we will put it away eventually. 🙂 We’re just having too much fun with it right now.  The tracks are not hard to put together so it’s no problem to get them back out to play.  The cars are FAST and they really stay on the track (of course you CAN build it so that they fly off or crash if you want to).  The cars do eat up batteries somewhat but we’ve been playing with them non-stop so that’s not surprising to me.  Overall, I am very impressed. The cars work GREAT, are easy to build, the track is nice quality, it’s fun, it’s fast, it’s customizable, and it was a good investment.  Once again, I took advantage of a sale and already got Joshua another set of these for his birthday (again with the SHH!)

Jonah:

Playskool Poppin Park Elefun Busy Ball Bopper:

Technically I got this for review, full disclosure, but I have included it as Jonah’s favorite Christmas toy because it’s super-cool and definitely the top of all his toys! It’s my favorite as a parent as well!  It’s got fun music, it works GREAT, Jonah figured out how to work it instantly and he adores it.  He dances to the music as he plays, it’s pretty much adorable.  The big kids like playing it with him as well.  I love everything about this toy. I would buy one ten times over.  If you know a baby who has a birthday coming up, buy them this!!  All Jonah’s boring parents got him were socks and onesies, so thanks Playskool, for this one!

Well, there’s our favorite Christmas toy round-up! All of them were paid for with our own hard-earned money or were given by family except for the Elefun toy.  What toys are most glad that your kiddos received for Christmas?