Whether it's a birthday party or the holidays that are coming up, here is a guide to the 10 best open ended toys for your little one.
These are the items that my children continue to love over the years.
No, they are not all wooden or bougie Montessori toys that cost a fortune. They're just good toys that have stood the test of time and entertained my own children from the ages of 18 months to almost 6. I'm sure there are lots of children who love their wooden peg dolls and alphabet boards, but for my kids, those toys end up in a corner, crying to be played with.
If you're curious about other ways to entertain your preschool aged child I highly recommend browsing the following posts:
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These geometric tiles are so strong, they can build all kinds of structures. Yes, I’ve seen the cheaper versions and no, they don’t work as well. What makes Magnatiles so incredible is how easily even the youngest children can successfully build three dimensional creations of all kinds. My favorite Magnatiles activity was when my kids' friends made a maze for their hamster with them!
These solid, quality wooden blocks have ignited so much play in our house. Kids won't just build architectural structures...They use them as food in a shop, babies in a nursery, plants that grow, and so much more. There are natural colors and bright colors to fit your taste!
It’s not just for painting! Playing school has never been so easy with dry erase and chalkboard sides, plus it comes with alphabet magnets. You know Melissa and Doug always deliver quality too.
We have loved this set for many years, and got it preloved from another family. These babies last and, kids just love to play chef and cook. Why? It’s because they see YOU doing it ; ) There are a multitude of other ways to play with the cabinets, which kids just love opening and closing. I do love the retro style, but Kidcraft also has modern styles of kitchens too! After many years, our kitchen moved on to a kindergarten classroom.
I don’t always have these but when I do, it’s like a concentration button for my children. These are the perfect entertainment to bring along to a restaurant or airplane, kids can build and create without mess or lots of pieces. Plus it’s easy to plop one of these in your purse...a great stocking stuffer!
If you haven’t tried kinetic sand, you need to! The sand doesn’t dry and easily clumps together for less mess than regular sand. Also, it feels so satisfying to squish... it's like sensory play heaven. Kinetic sand omes in lots of different colors and additional sets. It's one of my favorite sensory bin fillers. To get a free printable list of easy sensory bin fillers, check out this post.
A friend got this for my 3 year old on her birthday. Before that, she hadn’t really shown interest in drawing, but since she got this art set, she has become an artist. I also trust that when Crayola says washable, they really mean it, so this has been a favorite of mine as well. It’s also great to bring on a trip, since it folds flat and weighs very little.
Nothing beats the convenience and bright colors of Play-doh. This is a big stocking stuffer for us, and I feel great about all the play that it brings about because it’s all fantastic fine motor practice!
You are very likely to already have this "best open ended toy." There are endless fun ways to build with Duplo, and they're perfect for little hands to connect with a satisfying snap. These everlasting toys came to my children from my Transitional Kindergarten classroom, and what I love is that I use them for many learning targets too. I've used legos for making patterns, measuring sticks, and practicing counting. I even use them to teach word families in this post.
They seem at first to just be for building, but Duplo is my top choice for an open ended toy that brings in the learning!
Kids will build so many unimaginable things with these bendy straws and connectors. Seriously, I've seen kids build boats, whales, flowers, and even spiderwebs with this unendingly imaginative toy. It's so easy to use that little fingers will accomplish creations beyond their wildest dreams. In my kindergarten classroom, this was a very popular toy to use in groups.
An open ended toy can be played with in multiple ways. This means that kids must use their imagination and creativity to play with it.
The best open ended toys can be reimagined many times and played with for years as children go through different life stages.
A toy might be played with by a toddler, then preschooler, and finally a grade school aged child. I did question myself a little putting the kitchen related items like the kid appliances on the list, but from my observations as a parent, they are open ended because each time the play is different and surprisingly not all food related. Goodness, the appliances have even been used with sensory bins and science experiments.
An example of a toy that is not open ended would be a board game, a basketball hoop, or a child's laptop game. There is value in all kinds of toys, however I have found that the best toys are open ended and/or spark creativity. Those are the toys that my kids always come back to and I can rely on!
I hope you've found this list to be helpful! It doubles as a preschooler's holiday gift guide, so don't be shy about sharing it not so subtly to grandparents.
A sticky wall is a fine motor platform for so many types of activities: art, building, sorting, and puzzling. It can include open ended activities or can have a prompt, and best of all it keeps kids busy while meeting their sensory and creativity needs.
Sticky walls are also sometimes known as sensory walls. Kids just love using their senses to touch and explore different materials as they put them on and take them off the wall.
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Materials:
Blue Painters tape - safe for walls!
Contact paper for walls!
Can you use toilet paper rolls and other recyclable items to make a path for your pom poms?
Place a coloring page with your child's favorite characters behind the contact paper and with tissue paper or construction paper, have them tear off sections to "color in" the character.
Match puzzle pieces together on the wall for a new way to use your puzzles!
Toddlers love the soft feeling of pom poms as they place them on the sticky contact paper. This sensory wall combines sticky and soft textures for open ended play. Include language development by discussing the size and colors of the pom poms.
For the next two setups, you'll want to remove a small piece of the blue tape so you can place colored paper behind the contact paper. Then redo the blue tape...Now toddlers can sort items by color. Use flat, lightweight items to make sure they stick.
Section off the wall into areas for each shape. Cut out paper shapes or find shapes in your home. To get your free printout of shapes to sort visit this post.
Open ended and celebratory, definitely a favorite around here. This one is perfect for a special day. Blow up balloons and stick them as you please. Throw and see if you can get your sticky wall to "catch" your balloon.
Open ended- kids use letters to stick to the wall and make words. Kids can explore letter names, match uppercase and lowercase letters, etc.
For more hands-on ways to learn about letters with toddlers and preschoolers, you'll wanna see these 12 Letter Games.
This activity comes from Happy Toddler Playtime, and is all about sorting coins! How fun!
This one is a little different, because I taped the contact paper into a cardboard frame so we could take it on our nature walk. You could also collect natural objects from a walk and then bring them home to put on the sticky wall you already have.
When your sticky wall begins to get slightly less sticky and it's time to switch it out, don't throw it away. Instead let your children decorate it with different kinds of paper (tissue paper, construction paper, cardboard, cut outs) and then remove it. To keep the art intact, place it sticky side against the wall for a beautiful decorative art piece.
Whether you have babies, preschoolers, or little kids, a sticky wall is a versatile, interactive activity you can have up all year long. These 11 sticky wall activities got me through COVID with a baby and a 4 year old-gosh I'm so glad those days are behind us! I hope they are just as fun for you!
