How many "building" toys are too many?

[Kymberley]

DS is building castles with everything these days. His ABC/123 wood blocks, his Unit Blocks, Mega blocks, and Duplos. We have a huge set of Lincoln Logs that I refuse to let him open because there are 250 pieces and they would end up everywhere along with the bajillion other blocks. I love that he's getting this drive to build stuff. It's a lot of fun. I'd love to get him some Magnatiles eventually, especially because they are different from everything else he builds with, but when is it too much?

[roseyloxs]

We also love building toys. We have cardboard bricks, duplos, twig blocks, magformers, and the kids are getting magnatiles for Christmas. We did get lincoln logs one year but I sold them. They weren't as I remembered them and just didn't cut it for how much of a mess they made. The twig blocks get used the least so I might sell or give those away soon too. The duplos and magformers get used every single day by both ds and dd. I am crossing my fingers that some family members will add to our magformer collection this Christmas.

[Seitvonzu]

we have SO many building toys (duplos, unit blocks, abc/123 blocks, planks, cityblocs, castle blocks, cardboard blocks, bristle blocks, etc (i'm sure i'm forgetting some)), but i finally added magnatiles and they are so wildly popular with my DD that i often tease her by saying "i'm going to give the magnatiles away to XYZ because you don't like them at ALL!"

this is met with "NOOOooooooooooooo!" from DD :)

[hillview]

I think it depends on the child. DS1 could never have enough building things (although Lincoln Logs were a bust). DS2 could care less. Really. No interest. If you have a builder get the magna tiles!

[Kymberley]

I think it depends on the child. DS1 could never have enough building things (although Lincoln Logs were a bust). DS2 could care less. Really. No interest. If you have a builder get the magna tiles!

I think I will! He has just gotten into building, but he does it all day. We haven't been in the house much all summer, and now that it's colder and we're inside more he's a building maniac. Thanks for the push everyone. I think Magna tiles will make a great gift!

[wimama]

Too many different types of building toys drives me crazy.

We had Trio blocks, Legos, Duplos, unit blocks and Magnatiles, Lincoln Logs, Automoblox. We have downsized to Legos, Magnatiles and unit blocks. The Duplos will come back out when DD is ready for them. Clean up is easier when you don't have to sort and separate out different building systems. We just add to the building systems we have instead of buying different ones.

[kristac]

We love building toys here. We own enough unit blocks to make a preschool teacher green with envy, magnatiles, legos, duplos, kapla, tabletop blocks, zoobs, marble run, matchbox mega rigs, etc and these: http://www.amazon.com/Treehaus-16403590042-Wood-Castle-Blocks/dp/B005GQUWH4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352404302&sr=8-1&keywords=treehaus+castle+blocks which I highly recommend if he is a castle lover.

[abh5e8]

i think fewer sets, but with more pieces each is better (both for kids and moms sanity!). we have duplos, unit blocks and magformers and they see a TON of play...pretty much all 3 every day. i mostly limit them to having 1 type out at a time, which helps with the clean up. and we have tons...think an 18 gallon plastic box FULL to the brim with duplos. they play with those the most. the magformers are still pretty new (bdays last month) and we only have 3 sets...more coming for christmas. they are a hit too.

[hellokitty]

I feel like we have almost every building toy under the sun. I am going to weed some out. The ones I think I am going to sell are:

Zoob (these break way too easily, the company has some sort of warranty that I did not know about until I wrote a negative review on amazon, but we have an entire container full of broken zoob, if they ask me to pay shipping to get replacements, it's not worth it)

Lincoln Logs (DS1 bugged us about these, DH said that they are dumb, but bought some at a garage sale, needless to say, they get very little play and DH is right, they are going to be sold)

Bristle Blocks (They are a very mediocre building toy and fall apart too easily and are so crude, buh bye)

I'm contemplating whether or not to get rid of our kid knex, the kids actually still play with them sometimes, but mostly to make weapons.

Even though it's not necessarily a building toy, I might get rid of our huge mr. potato head family set. I'm just sick of how the pieces get sprawled out everywhere.

Our citiblocks/kapla are also not played much. I'm debating whether to keep those or not. Whenever the kids go to a museum that has these they love them, but they don't seem to play with them that much at home.

Pottery barn building blocks, IDK their official name, DH scored them for super cheap at the outlet. These are sometimes fun, but take up a TON of space. They are construction themed, actually very cool, but I also hate how they still smell of paint. They're wooden, but steel beamed shaped and concrete wall shaped with bricks.

I got rid of our regular knex last summer, b/c the pieces are microscopic and annoying (so skinny that they sink into the playroom rug). I just got sick of it. I am still finding pieces and just pitching them in the trash. What a waste of $. Now I know why I see these at garage sales all of the time.

I may also get rid of our magnet set (balls and rods, I can't remember the name of these). The kids play with them, but for a very brief time and then there are pieces everywhere. I think that they are for younger kids, so my older ones are too old for them.

We are keeping:
Lego
Marble runs
Trio
Gears, gears, gears
Castle blocks, these are just too cool, *I* like them.
M&D blocks

After all that, had I known about magnatiles when my older two were younger, I would have invested in them. By the time I got to see them in person, they were already 4 and 5, and I couldn't justify the cost when I wasn't sure if they'd get much play. They are sooo cool, esp the ones that you use on a light table.