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Amongst all the questions I receive from parents and readers, one of the most common I get involve the toys that we have in the daycare. What are the most popular toys that we have? We don’t spend a tremendous amount of money on toys, if you read my past post, you know that a lot of the toys we get we get by cheap or free means. The kids are rough with the toys which means that we go through a lot of toys. The ages of our children range between 6 months and 5 years old. All of these toys that I am talking about today are all popular with the 2-5 year olds. Because I don’t want to invade anyone’s privacy, I didn’t post any pictures of the children playing with the toys. But, take my word for it, these toys are a huge hit in the daycare!

Mega Bloks – 1 – 5 Years

Because we only pull out Legos during table time (we have quite a few kids who like to put things in their mouth), Mega Bloks are a huge hit during free play. Some of the older kids make some crazy stuff with them and even though the one year olds aren’t always building with them, they definitely try! Mega Bloks are played with every day in the daycare and are definitely most popular with the 3 and older kids. If you are interested in purchasing these for your kids (or maybe your daycare) you can purchase them here.

Brain Flakes – 3 – 5 Years

Brain Flakes are so cool. I didn’t know what they were until a daycare parent donated some to the daycare. They are a manipulative toy that we pull out during table time (again, they are a choking hazard). The kids make some creative things that I don’t even think I could do. The tub that we got came with some ideas and we made a couple of them. We made a robot, a giant car, some balls, and the kids enjoy making towers with them. The 2 year olds play with Brain Flakes too, but they only make a line of them. Still, they are raising their dexterity and it’s awesome watching their imaginations and abilities grow. You can buy them here!

Legos – 3 – 5 Years

I feel like this one goes without saying, but Legos have always been so popular with the kids. The children like to make lavish towns and houses with them and the kids can sit and play for hours with them! We don’t buy any of the kits, but we buy the bins of random bricks and let the children’s imaginations go wild. If you are going to get some Legos for a child, I would also suggest getting some extra boards and people because the listing that I have shared doesn’t come with any of the extra stuff. You can find the container that we buy here.

Coloring – 1.5 – 5 Years

We do a lot of coloring at our daycare. We also go through a lot of coloring books. We hit up the Back to School sales to mass purchase crayons and we buy the coloring books from the Dollar Store, Michaels, and Target for $1 each. The kids can go through a coloring book a day with the amount that they can color.

Baby Dolls – 1.5 – 3 Years

The babies are definitely more popular with the little girls. We have a shopping cart, kitchen set, and some baby accessories and we have a couple girls that will immediately grab their babies and carry them around with some accessories. The girls like to have the babies near them and will play with the other toys while holding their babies. Baby dolls are really expensive on Amazon, but you can find cheap ones at Target (they are mini) and I’m sure you can find some at the Dollar Store for cheap.

It seems like these toys are always changing in rotations. I will probably post something like this per season, unless they stay the same. The daycare rotates toys and as kids come and go, toys go through waves of popularity. What were your favorite toys as a kid and what are your child’s favorite toys?