Magnatiles

Play do is our only consistent one.

Play dough and magnatiles.

But by far the best thing I did was have 2 kids 2 years apart. Now at 3 and 5 they play together all day every day. Hour long stretches. We hear giggles nonstop. Different genders too but they totally love each other.

Play dough, toy kitchen, sparkly washi tape are things that keep my 4yo and 2yo busy.

Water table,shaving cream and kinetic sand. Be prepared to clean a mess but kids will play with those things forever.

Anonymous wrote:Huge box that they can get inside and stickers and markers. They are 6.5 and 2.5 and they will play for hours! They decorate it. It is a club house, a boat, a rocket ship, a school, their house. They color and draw and sticker and design and drag it around the house. Then after a month or so they destroy it and when the next big box comes in, rinse and repeat.

+1

Another cardboard box option, put a few pounds of pasta in a shallow box big enough to sit in, and add some digger trucks. Should get you 15 min ++

I'll probably get flamed for this, but my 4yo just hammered nails into an old piece of wood for almost 90 minutes. I was about 20 feet away, and he was wearing safety glasses. Pretty sure he would have kept doing it all day, but I had to go inside, so I made him stop.

He also likes puzzles.

Water tables and bins of beans with trucks
Those used to be my go to activities when I had kids at home and work calls

Nanny here and I have given the Fisher Price Little People Animal Rescue to three preschoolers (2 to 4) and all love it. It has a helicopter, fire truck, a dog and cat and I think two other people figurines.

Another big hit for long play is a baby and bathtub set. My 2.5 year old charge pretend washes all her stuffed animals and dolls.

Huge box that they can get inside and stickers and markers. They are 6.5 and 2.5 and they will play for hours! They decorate it. It is a club house, a boat, a rocket ship, a school, their house. They color and draw and sticker and design and drag it around the house. Then after a month or so they destroy it and when the next big box comes in, rinse and repeat.

I think like PP's it really depends on what your child is interested in. I don't think there's a guarantee for any toy or activity. I do think that you can do things to work towards your child being able to play independently for longer periods of time. When my daughter was around 2 I would set-up a few "stations" to entice her to play. It was really simple things like putting out some stamps, stamp pads and paper in a tray, another tray with play-doh and loose materials like pipe cleaners, googley eyes and sticky gemstones to make monsters and a simple sensory bin with dried beans and somethings to pour and mix from a kitchen drawer Usually she was most excited by the sensory bin and when she got tired of that would move around trying the other things and then get distracted by her own toys. We worked on her playing by herself for longer periods of time and now, at age 5, she can do it for hours. She colors, does legos and magnatiles, listens to stories on her cd player, does puzzles, etc.

My son is now 2 and its been easier with him because we have a lot more toys available. Even at the age of 2 he is able to get his paper and markers by himself and sit quietly for 15-20 minutes and color.

If I did have one, I guarantee you they would stop playing with it the second I posted about it here.

PP again

Those excavation eggs with animals inside

Play kitchen and lots of pots, pans, utensils and food.
Velcro darts
Water Wow and water "paint" mats
Water table set up in the kitchen if you can supervise while cooking
Large crane truck or other construction equipment
Melissa and Doug broom and brush set

Thomas Train (son and daughter)
Play Food (+ cash register for the 5 year old).
Play School set