Granny's Toys

Have I ever mentioned that I live in a tiny house? After our youngest moved out, I weeded through our plethora of belongings with a fine-toothed comb. Not meaning to mix my metaphors, just letting you know I cast the stink-eye over our stuff and sold/donated/tossed literal truckloads I didn't think I'd ever need again. I was ruthless. How ruthless? So ruthless that when my little grandchildren visited, they had to draw in the dirt with a stick. So I had to think about how to acquire - and store - some quality toys. The kind of toys that would appeal to babies and older kids alike and take up a minimum of space.

Here's what I came up with.

After Sister used this dresser for several years, Mom used it for fabric storage. It's now my entertainment center.  It holds all our DVDs and VHS tapes. And we plunked our TV, VCR, and DVD players on top. But it has some *gasp* wasted space underneath where these baskets fit perfectly. OK, not perfectly. It's a little tight, but they still fit.

The left-hand basket holds all the Lincoln Logs I could find at yard sales and thrift stores. It also holds a set of plastic pioneers and livestock as well as some cowboys and indians. Babies enjoy chewing and banging themselves in the head with the logs. The older kids spend hours blocking whole areas of my home building forts and homesteads and eventually bombing and destroying said forts and homesteads. Apparently a short log set under a long log can fling another short log quite a ways. It was good to find that pretty much all children from crawlers to 10-year-olds enjoy Lincoln Logs. Then, when the babies are done drooling and mucousing on them and the older kids are done rubbing them around on the floor, they can be dumped right into a sinkfull of soapy dishwater and, after a quick rinse, they're ready for next time.

The middle basket holds two Potato Heads and all the accessories I could find at yard sales and thrift stores. Thank you, Sweetie, for the Ziploc of spud parts! The shoes and hats are popular with the little teethers, the older kids will sometimes "play" with the younger ones (if I put some stuff together and give it to baby he'll leave me alone), but little girls really love Potato Head. There are some old Matchbox cars and some action figures (GI Joe is NOT a doll!) in there also. Again, when the kids are done, dump 'em in the dishwater. Easy peasy.

The basket on the right has paper, coloring books, colored pencils and reading books. Those usually come out after the forts have been bombed to smithereens and tempers are heating up - cousins need a little quiet time. Alone. Separated by at least ten feet.

Then there's board games.

Our couch makes down into a full-sized bed that's not horribly uncomfortable. And it's got bonus storage space under the seat. A THREE-fer! It's just enough room for all the board games. They're enormously popular with everyone from about five years old on up. In fact, #1 Son (a thirty-something), asked us to bring Pig Mania down when we visit next time. The favorites here seem to be Tripoly and Dominos. Tripoly for the game (you get to bet with real poker chips) and Dominos for the effect. You know, setting up amazing, fantastical, exacting, intricate Domino agility courses only to knock them down.  'Cause nothing's so satisfying as the clacking destruction of a Domino set-up!

So, while there's nothing wrong with drawing in the dirt with a stick, Grandma still needs toys. A few toys with broad appeal that clean up easily and can withstand the rigors of drool, teethmarks, cannonades, and all other forms of play.