The $5 Toy We’ve Used a Million Times

Just coming here to comment that my genius friend filled a piñata with bouncy balls for her 4-year-old’s birthday party, and it was the best thing ever.

A frisbee! It never fails to entertain kids or adults. If there are lots of us, we have two go at once! The kids in the park always join in!

Silly putty. A tiny tape measure. A baggie of Lego mini figures. For older kids: a keychain size version of boggle. I pride myself on being the cool great aunt that always has something fun to pull out while waiting for food at a restaurant.

Uno is definitely our family’s go to!!! I always pop it in my bag if we’re going somewhere!!
Also a shout out for Five Minute Mum (Daisy Upton) … she has a new book called On The Go which has loads of ideas to pass the time in various locations and with a variety of stuff to hand, her ideas are always a winner with my little girl!!!!

I call those super pinky balls! I bought a 12 pack and we use them to roll out knots when I teach my yoga class. My students love them – they feel so good. So a bonus use for your fun toy!

This thread is PRICELESS!!! Thank you – that’s super timely as I was out of ideas, which (compact) toys to take to our upcoming holiday.

I was wondering if you could do a post on nighttime routines with elementary age kids. At 7-8 yrs old we’re kind of struggling to find a fun, relaxing nighttime routine as a family or something we can do together … a relaxing game, a conversation etc. What does bedtime / after school time look like for everyone?

Oh – and washi tape! It has pretty mild stickiness which means it never leaves residue or pulls the finish off of things like walls, furniture, etc. It comes in every print, design, and colour you can think of, and my kids have always loved the freedom to tape up whatever/wherever they wanted when they were little (it was always in their stockings at Christmas) as long as they used washi tape.

I have one of those little wedding-favour sized bottles of bubbles in my purse. I usually forget it’s there, but in a pinch, it’s a great distraction for kids – and surprisingly, not just little kids! There’s also always a little notebook & pen(cil)s tucked in my bag. Great for tic-tac-toe, doodling, lists, sharing contact info…and if you happen to know a couple simple origami shapes, all the better.

For outside play, squirt bottles are great for toddlers. I have triplet 4-year-olds, and that’s my go-to when I want them to play quietly for an extended time. I usually buy the cheap ones (less than $5) from the cleaning aisle or cosmetics aisle at Target or the dollar store. My kids are usually quiet and lost in concentration until they need to ask for a refill. Plus pulling the lever on a squirt bottle helps littles with fine motor skills and it’s just challenging enough that it’s fun.

Hahaha, this is so good and unexpected! I was subconsciously expecting something “fancier” like one of those magnetic boards you can draw on then erase with your hands. Coincidentally, as a cat mom, I can also vouch for the enduring allure of bouncy balls for cats. There are smaller ones with a feather attached (yes, the feather does reduce the bounce count, but it’s still good :) that every kitty I’ve given them to has been obsessed with. That being said, cats are such idiosyncratic individuals, results are not guaranteed :D

When my brother and I were little, we once had a babysitter named Dinel who swore us to secrecy one day. She produced a tiny bouncy ball and proceeded to bounce it hard in our kitchen. That ball bounced around in there for close to an hour. Dinel, if you’re reading, sorry for probably spelling your name wrong, but you were our favourite by far.

I clicked this post thinking like, OK, yes, let me entertain my rowdy twins with some of those water pens or a suction cup that attaches to other suction cups or whatever…

Was NOT expecting this to hit so close to home.

My dad is in his mid 80s and grew up in Brooklyn playing stickball with Spaldeens. We never played stickball but passed hours, legit hours, bouncing these same pink balls around. He was insistent that we never got “some plastic crap” but always Spalding brand. Growing up pre-Amazon these specific bouncy balls were already kind of endangered.. we would get these balls at the local magazine-candy-everything else store which has since then closed…and my dad would dutifully replace our Spaldeen every time it bounced too far afield. When my kids were born I was like, OMG, WHERE are we gonna get them a SPALDEEN?! Our local store closed! I have never seen them anywhere!

And of course the answer is: the internet.

Thanks for this, Jo. Spalding Hi-Bounce: forever classic.

Oh my gosh! Those gorgeous boys are growing so fast. Make time stop! ;)

my mom always had a balloon in her purse when we were kids…. blow it up and toss it around, don’t tie it and blow it up and see where lands when the air rushes out, make a water balloon and toss it…. was the perfect cheap super light doesn’t take up any room kinda toy- also it often broke and then we had to figure out what to do next- one time our dog ate a whole bag of balloons- the poop pick up the following week was epic and colorful!!!

The super ball you could bounce in a alley and throw against wall and watch it go wild . Also 🧲. Keep you busy for hours without getting into trouble.

My cousin gave our son 24 small bouncy balls in all different colors and sizes when he was a preschooler because he absolutely loved balls. The years have past and they have spread out from their original container. Every once in a while when I find one around the house, I feel
her love and it brings me back to that sweet time with him being so little.

I just discovered the joy of thrift store toys! From across the store, my 2.5 year old spotted these bags of toys hanging on the wall and his eyes lit up. I let him pick out one. After sanitizing and cleaning the heck out of those toys, they are his new favorites! We got about 4 mini monster trucks for $2!! Winner winner!!

KOOSH BALL !!!!!!!!! (no, I don’t have kids) just my own childhood memory

When I was a kid we would travel from Australia to visit my grandparents in the US, and at the time flights always stopped in Hawaii en route, and then another stopover in LA before we finally made it to the east coast. My parents would always pack a tennis ball and we would spend hours in the empty airports in the middle of the night on our layovers practicing our throwing and catching, and running after the ball when we missed it. Apparently this would also guarantee we would pass out as soon as we finally got on the next leg of our flight.

PIPE CLEANER. No mess, all fun. And reusable! I’ve kept a pack in the car for years, and always have it on flights or in restaurants. They come in wild colors and tons of different textures (our favorites are the huge shaggy kind and the more traditional sparkly kind). My kids form letters, make jewelry, build GUPS from Octonauts, create outlines of body parts (which are usuuuually SFW), and weave them into other items/things within reach.

Five bucks and a trip to Michael’s will increase your quality of parental life by 19%. This isn’t peer-reviewed data but believe me anyway.

This is more of a travel trip than a park tip, but I recommend a roll of masking tape or painter’s tape for HOURS of entertainment on planes and in hotel rooms. Tear pieces to practice letters, shapes or designs on the tray table, stick all over themselves for giggles, or, in a hotel room, when paired with a couple of matchbox cars – endless racetrack creations! My kids LOVED the freedom of being able to tear the tape themselves for some reason.

Bouncy balls for the win with my kiddos too :) Also is Toby at the playground at Mission Dolores Park in SF? That was the BIGGEST hit with my 6yo on our recent California road trip – he woke up every day after asking if we can go back to the park with the “wide slides.”

Awesome! Still love sidwalk chalk at 36! We had state flashcards in our car for road trips…. my sister still has all the capitals memorized!!! Inflatable beach balls – in the backyard at sunset…

Bocce ball to play or just chuck around…hula hoops, etc. I also find my friends’ kids love playing in the dirt with trowels more than anything!!! LOL children

I love this! I don’t have children, but my parents had the best idea for a cheap, endless-hours-of-fun toy when my younger brother was little: an inflatable beach ball. We took a trip to London and Paris when he was 5, and we kept the ball tucked away in a bag in case we wanted to stop and sit in a park for a little while.

Best. Idea. Ever. It’s been years and years, and we still talk about the little friends he made while toddling around with a beach ball: a little girl on the grounds of Kensington Palace (with the most adorable British accent! She told my brother, “Your voice sounds funny, where are you from?” “I’m from America!” he replied excitedly), dogs and their owners on the walk back to our hotel, an adorable toddler at the Eiffel Tower whose only word in common with my brother was, “Hello!” And for hours and hours, my little brother would play with his new friends in these parks around the world, all with different nationalities but a common love of just tossing around a beach ball. I totally want to do that when I have children of my own someday.