Best toys/items you've purchased or made for your dayhome!

[Mom of 3]

Just curious for some ideas. I was hoping everyone could post they're most loved item in the daycare. It doesn't have to be a kid thing it could be a provider thing too :-) But something you couldn't or wouldn't do without!
Thanks

[monkeymama]

favorites at my house: books and puzzles, dress up clothes, play kitchen, lego, trains and little people

[squirrel]

I does depend on the children's ages but blocks (duplo, baby duplo), cars, house area items (dishes, plastic food, dolls, etc), puzzles, books, manipulative toys (bristle blocks, zoob, potato head, etc), shape sorter toy, stacking cup, ball machine (looks like a gum ball machine).

[Dreamalittledream]

Great question
For outdoor: Shovels, scoops, bowls, squirt bottles, spray bottles (great all seasons...food coloring in water to spray snow).
Indoor: Best thing I did (for my sanity & their development) was phase out of any toys requiring batteries. Fav. Toys/activities: Magnet wall, foam blocks, baskets with handles for collecting, book nook area, peg boards, puzzles, doorbell house (Melissa & Doug).
Best big ticket items (yard sale finds, actually): Play kitchen, mini cube climber, ball pit (old hard plastic kiddie pool; I change out what's inside, balls, foam blocks, pillows, blankets, stuffed animals...), tool bench, a ramp with a gradual incline ( great for rolling anything down & for practicing walking).

[Inspired by Reggio]

My space is limited in my home so when I choose toys and equipment I have to be able to envision several different ways the children can use the equipment ~ so instead of having things like a big Little Tykes farm, School house, Fire Stations and so forth I invested in a nice size wooden 'doll house' from Micheal's which I left stained plain ... and than I have props that can be interchanged into the house to make it the 'farm', the 'school house', the fire station or hospital or whatever their interest takes its even been a 'dinosaur cave' ... this way I am not having to store a bunch of large pieces of equipment that are typically only ever use in that one way ... just the one staple that is always out and than can evolve and change as the child's interests do.

Other staples in my playroom I could not do without starting out ~ dramatic play kitchen area and props, a good set of wooden blocks and props like little animals, vehicles, people, and a variety of creative art mediums for exploration (painting, gluing, drawing, sculpting) .... every age group and every gender group uses them daily so they are never sitting!

Have hordes of other stuff but those are the most used staples.

[mlle.coccinelle]

duck tape and cardboard boxes! We made a big house with a door and mail box.... the girls will spend HOURS playing in that! What's great is that they got to decorate it with stickers and glitter... and once it's in bad shape... I just cut it to pieces and put it in the recycle bin!
Best 8$ ever spent!

[kidlove]

tunnel for sure....the big nylon ones that you can pull together and tie up when not playing with it....kids of all ages LOVE the tunnel. crawling to school age. They also LOVE dress up bin...I go right after halloween and catch all the outfits 75 to 90% off. They also LOVE the kitchen and all the food that goes with. Also, doll houses and furniture, toys, dolls that go inside. any kid of building toys, blocks, mega legos, pipe toys..any thing that can be attached to create and use imagination. and BALLS....kids love balls, throw roll play with. I also have this fire truck that opens up into a tiny city and has small cars to drive around inside....the 2-5 yr old can't wait for me to give them the go ahead to drag that out also, they could play for hours with it!

[Momof4]

The favourites with my daycare children even as they change and grow: the big kitchen and shopping cart full of dishes and plastic food, the baby buggy full of dolls and blankets, the parking garage and all the millions of little cars, the barn and all the little animals, the easel, the rocking horses, LOUD MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS that the provider hides after a while, haha, and blocks. They also love to put on the dressup clothes and hats while they do all of the above.