We’re adding a round-up of our favorite open-ended toys today on the blog! Since my oldest was a little one, we’ve been collecting open-ending toys to encourage independent playtime. These toys have been favorites for years that are sure to delight time and time again. While other toys have come and gone, these toys have stayed around. Many of them continue to be played with daily in our home, even after years.
Why Open-Ended Toys?
Here’s a simple definition of open-ended toys that Sarah from Simple + Intentional shared:
“Open-ended toys don’t have a specific end or way to play with them. It’s up to your child’s imagination to make them into existence… They foster creativity, flexibility, imagination and problem solving.”
Open-ended toys allow children to enjoy playtime in it’s best form – imaginative and creative. As a homeschool mama, this is exactly what I want playtime to be. To me, playtime is an extension of learning time, and open-ended toys enhance the learning time.
What If i’M on A Budget?
Me too! My husband and I have a pretty strict budget that has allowed me to stay home with our children. It’s been an immense blessing, but it’s also meant that I have to be mindful of our purchasing. Here are a few ways that I’ve been able to curate a collection of open-ended toys without breaking the bank:
- Birthdays & Holidays: We have amazingly supportive family who genuinely want to give helpful gifts, so for birthdays I make an Amazon Wishlist (or simply send links) to give ideas of toys I think the children would enjoy.
- Thrifting: We have a few consignment sales in our area (Rhea Lana and Little Lambs) where my friends and I have found some amazing deals.
- Marketplace: When I had Facebook (my husband still does), I’d check Marketplace and or other Mom Groups for good deals.
- Hand-Me-Downs: We’ve mainly gotten clothing as hand-me-downs, but this is another place to find open-ended toys.
I’ll also add this – my collection has been growing for several years (my daughter is seven at the time of writing this). We’re just now getting to the point that I don’t have many more items on my wishlist, and it’s been fun to add little by little! I remember the pressure I felt when my daughter was little to have “all the perfect toys”, but it truly was more enjoyable to have the fun collecting over the years.
Our Favorite Open-Ended Toys
Without further ado, here is a quick list of our favorite toys! I hope you find some helpful items that inspire you’re next thrifting hunt, and I’d love to hear any of your favorite toys that we’ve missed!
Magna Tiles
After a few years of use, our Magna Tile set remains as one of our family favorite sets. We got our set when our daughter was around four, and now that our son has come along, we’ve found this set to be a true treasure that both our son (age two) and our daughter (age seven) can enjoy playing with together. These are on the pricier side, especially if you want to build a larger collection, but they’ve been well worth the investment (and have been a fun gift for grandparents to give).
Food + Kitchen Set
Our kitchen set is another set that has been enjoyable for our children to play together. When my daughter was little my sister helped us gift her a large IKEA play kitchen, which she adored, but over the years she began to neglect it a bit. When my son was born we had some space issues, so we switched to a tabletop play kitchen that could be more easily stored when not in use, and it’s worked so well! Somehow the play food is more frequently pulled out than the actual kitchen, so if space or money are an issue, I’d definitely recommend skipping the kitchen and just having a set of play food! I’ve linked our favorites (or similar items) below.
Wooden Blocks
Our wooden blocks have been a classic hit that my children come back to time and time again. We’ve loved these timeless toys, and they’re especially good toys to thrift since it’s such a classic (I thrifted mine one year from a Rhea Lana sale). Wooden blocks also combine well with other open-ended toys, making them a great base to any toy collection.
Melissa and Doug Wooden Blocks
Little Play People
Our set of play people have been excellent additions to our Magna Tiles and Wooden Block Sets – I’m frequently finding the little people in the baskets alongside the other toy sets. Both of our children have adored these sets of little people, and the Tender Leaf set has been one of our greatest thrift finds (NWT for $5!). The Peg People, in my opinion, are the most open-ended option in the mix, just because they can be easily adapted to other uses. I once found my son using our Peg People as a salt shaker with the kitchen set!
Baby Doll + Crib
This item feels especially nostalgic to me. I grew up playing with my American Girl Bitty Baby and thankfully saved it long enough to pass it down to my daughter. My daughter has loved her so much and particularly enjoyed playing with her when we brought my son home from the hospital. Now that my son is a little older, he’ll sometime sneak into my daughter’s room and play with the baby doll as well — he’s a pretty sweet lil’ Daddy if I do say so myself! Below is a similar doll, as well as a few accessories we’ve enjoyed in our home.
Playdough
Playdough has been a classic hit in our home. My son is just nearly old enough to begin playing with it (and sometimes his toddler attention span does not last as long), but my daughter could fill an afternoon delighting in playdough creations. I’ve linked a couple of Playdough accessories below that may round out your collection!
Playdough Letter Stamps & Accessories
Animal Figurines
My children (as well as my nephews) love animal figurines! This one took a little figuring out with our budget – I made some mistakes trying to save money along the way. As it turns out, the off-brand animal figurines had a hard time standing freely on our carpeted floor (which was super frustrating for my young daughter as they were constantly falling over). Since learning this, we’ve built up a collection of Schleich animals (pricier, but totally worth it) during birthdays and holidays. My sister has built her collection so beautifully, one animal at a time, over 8-9 years of parenthood, and it’s such a treat! Moral of the story – don’t be afraid to build this collection super slowly (or thrift) so that you can get quality toys that your children will actually enjoy playing with! I’m linking a few Schleich safari animals below to get you started!
Stacking Rainbow
Y’all, this stacking rainbow just seems so random, but as often as I clean it up off of my son’s bedroom floor it’s a definite winner. I love the open-ended nature of the toy – when taken apart, it can be combined with so many other toys in so many ways to create a really imaginative play space. Here’s a few options below – the first is the most similar to our own.
That’s A Wrap!
I hope you’ve enjoyed our collection of favorite open-ended toys! If this has helped you in any way, please share it with a friend (or Pin it on Pinterest!)
I am not an affiliate of Amazon or any other company, so any link you find in this post or on our website in general is simply a personal recommendation with no financial benefit whatsoever.