toys at grandma's

[DCmommy]

with DH's work schedule, i've been spending about one week per month up at my mom's in NYC. since i'm there so often, i'd like to not have to bring toys with me every single time, so i'm planning on getting stuff just for up there and leaving it. she already has a high chair, gymini, and exersaucer for sean, and the FP garage and ark and puzzles and duplos for patrick. so i have two questions:

1. do you have any special "just at grandma's" toys that you would recommend specifically for that purpose? i'm looking for things that aren't too big, and that leave room for lots of open-ended play so they're not boring by the end of the week.

2. what's your toy storage solution at grandma's? my mom lives in a 2-bedroom condo that's not too big, so i don't want her house to be swallowed by toys, but by the same token i can't just put big huge bins of toys in her living room (although she would probably let me, it would totally wreck the decor).

TIA!

Megan
Patrick (1/03) and Sean (8/05)

[kedss]

My Mom lives about an hour away from us, and she has a basket of books and toys that are for Christopher when he's there. You might try getting a large sweater box or Storage bin that will fit under a bed at her house that you can put books and puzzles and art supplies in?

[Jen841]

There are special Grandparent toys we have, and had as kids! Can your Mom give you a bottom of a closet and you can fill a rubbermaid container? That could be your child's spot to get toys, and put them away. I remember going right for the toys when we were young and they were always contained in the same place.

This summer, I would recommend checking out local garage sales and getting things there so you don't have to cart them with you.

Growing up a personal favorite at Grandma's was some of her games, dress ups and riding toys. Our Grandma's have large book collections, a lot of match box cars and a mat to play them on (rug from Home Depot). Legos too of course! Markers are fun at Grandma's too b/c I don't allow them much at home : ) Grandparents are great to trips to the park too.

Have fun! You are lucky to be able to spend so much time with Grandparents. I'm jealous!

[bjessen]

Besides garage sales, consignment shops and ebay are great sources for toys. Just use lysol wipes when you get them and you are ready to go.

Depends on her decor...If she doesn't have room in the closets for plastic containers, does she have any wall space to put up some shelves and baskets or galvanized bins(again, assuming that would match her decor)? Maybe even a decorative shelf up high from wall to wall that you could use a step stool to grab the stuff when you arrive?

My son was born 07/03 and loves, absolutely loves Thomas the Tank engine...could play for hours/days/weeks, and does. He started at 1 yrs old (I just didn't let him have free range with them at first due to the little wheels....never had a problem though). You can get a board from Pottery Barn Kids for around $20 that folds (same size as the Thomas board which sells for around $60) and could store it easily in a closet or under a bed. Then, you'd just need a basket, bin, or bucket of tracks and trains. The board would also work well for trucks, matchbox cars and wooden blocks.

I second the dress up idea. My kids both love it and I remember dressing up at my grandmas too. Ebay has costumes at this time of year (knights...you or grandma can be the princess....firefighters, dr, or a daddy with a suit jacket, boy baby doll and "guyish" diaper bag)

This is probably too big, but we will be doing it when we have a condo for several months near my parents while dh is deployed. We might get the Target play kitchen (a Pottery Barn knock-off....much smaller scaled) for around $70. It is blue and red with the stainless steel accents, looks nice...just like PBKs bigger, more expensive Metro set. My kids have the PBK Metro in our home, but I'm not lugging it to the condo. Anyway, they use it a lot.

Playdough...if she had a basket stocked with rolling pins, cookie cutters, piece where they can play dentist (open mouth and make teeth), etc and they could make homemade playdough with grandma....they'd probably love that. If you make it (it is really easy too), just store in ziplock containers, lasts a long time and is much softer than the regular stuff. My kids love doing this with their Nana.

A decorated box with art supplies in it. It's all in the presentation. Spend time with g-ma decorating it with Patrick. Then place all his "special" art stuff in there, washable crayons, washable markers (make sure not to put permanant ones in there...you may regret it), colored paper, get stickers, glitter sticks, glue sticks, etc. Micheals craft stores has a lot (Target has some too). Magazines are great too to cut out pictures. Some kids like felt boards too...I know they make Thomas ones, imagine there are some other popular characters out there too.

I'd make sure if grandma has a nice wooden table that you buy an inexpensive plastic tablecloth to protect her table while activities are going on. I went to JoAnn fabrics and got a heavy duty tablecloth for a 42x100"+ table by just using their their vinyl bolts in the back of the store. They have a ton of colors (different shades of red, green, etc too) to choose from and it only cost like $20.

HTH!

[brittone2]

Playsilks would work for both kids (pretend play for Patrick and Peek a Boo with Sean) and don't take up much room at all.