Your top toys for grandchildren

At last I've got some people to play Brio trains with! My children weren't particularly interested but my GC love it and its fun devising weird and wonderful track arrangements - thanks to ebay. Really recommend it - loads of discussion, trying things out, making alterations etc. I love it!!!

There is a wonderful board game called Tummyache (Orchard Games) which is easy enough for three year olds but fun enough for eight year olds. There are not many board games that are good for a wide range of ages. I even enjoy it myself!

5 yr old GD loves dressing up, books, craft kits, cooking

2yr old GS, top toy is a plastic jar with a screw on magnifier lid for looking at all the slugs, snails,worms, ladybirds and other insects he can find in the garden. This has been top toy for about six months. Building bricks, DVD of WOW! (nursery rhymes sung to a beat), dinosaurs, monsters, musical instruments

Oh yes wheniwasyourage The Mothercare sit and ride tractor! My DS had that and adored it. On a long journey from London to Cornwall in a car stuffed to the gunwales with toddler and baby and associated stuff, somewhere around Bodmin, the plaintive cry from DS was "We didn't bring my tractor". A sit and ride toy is an essential for toddlers.

For my children from grandparents the best used small presents were a constant supply of "Berol" felt tip pens. A bit more expensive that others but wonderful quality, and now not available as that brand. Plus paper to draw on. That would never fail to quieten them down and keep them happy.

Hello Grannylin. If you're going on holiday to Greece or Turkey or know anyone who is, catapults are on sale in all the best resorts. Very cheap. And quite accurate. Don't know how long the elastic is going to last though.

Yip! They have a choice of several. This is the Browning! Isn't tere a Browning gun?
I'm going to practice at the weekend.
Not on Sunday though, maniac is coming round!

I meant that I was joking about the squirrels! [sigh...]
You bought it on the internet....?

Moi? Joking? NEVER!!!!!!
On amazon, they've quite a choice?

Only joking about the squirrels, jeni!

I'd love a catapult.I always played with the boys when I was a child.Where did you get it jeni or are you having one of your jokes

What do you think? (I LIKE THE SQUIRRELS)

Ooh, jeni! Is it for the Old Git? Or squirrels?

I've just bought myself a catapult!

Thanks JO4. My nice new Whot is apparently now in the post. I feel quite excited!

Duplo, Lego, cars and other vehicles, Britains' farm and zoo animals, and the Mothercare sit-on-and push-with-your-feet tractor that DS got for his first Christmas in 1980 all go down well with GC ranging from about 2 to (so far) 7. All these toys were ones our children had, as were the baby toys which the GC played/play with as babies. I agree, GadaboutGran, that stacking cups are great. The ones I really love is the set of Kiddicraft beakers. There are 12 beakers, 3 of each of 4 colours and each colour stacks together as does the whole lot. (Hope that makes sense.) It seems to me to be an engineering triumph, and so, of course, they don't make it any more. Does anyone else remember it?

I've found that the best, most versatile and cheap toy is a set of stacking cups for fun (with water) and learning without it feeling they are being instructed. They can be built up and knocked over, fitted together, used to learn colour, size, order, for hiding things under, tricks, used as scoops etc etc and have 101 uses for imaginative play.

You can still get Whot.

from Amazon

We have a very battered card game called Whot. It was loved by our kids and now our DGDs love it too. At 4 years old the eldest is now getting the hang of Uno which seems to have superseded Whot but is still too complicated for the little ones. (Uno is excellent too for grown ups after a tipple or two)

My 3 year old GD loves Happyland, 2 year old GS anything involving a hammer and the 5 and 8 year olds love dressing up and board games.

My 3 love Playmobil of which we have an ever growing collection. Also they love to play with their play kitchen and all the bits and pieces.

For boys, you can't beat Micro Machines. They are great because the parts are all stuck to the toy - no lost pieces!

My GD is 2 and we have a Duplo Zoo at our house which she plays with when ever she comes over. I frequently trawl ebay looking for animals to add to it as they don't seem to be available at toy shops, without having to buy another complete zoo.

Ten year old GS likes his slackwire (doesn't get far though, they usually finish up jumping over it or limboing under), his trampoline and his drumkit. I know that last one is not a toy, but he spends loads of time on it. (Not at my house though). I guess by ten they are out of the toys stage.

Seven year old likes lego, playmobile, and anything moshi.

Mega blocks, Happyland farm [ELC], dinosaur figures, play kitchen [ELC], baby dolls and buggy, outside thay have a very battered sandpit which they love-when the rain stops long enough! Age ranges 1yr to 6yrs.