Hits and Misses 2012 - ages 2 to 4

[123LuckyMom]

Hits for DS (age 4): hex bug nanos and 3D elevation. Thanks BBB!!!; astronaut costume from the Smithsonian; Pegasus and horse figures (Schleich horses and Papo Pegasus); Melissa and Doug pattern blocks and board; puzzle map of USA; religiously themed Christmas sticker books; hopper ball with monkey cover (for Hanukah); loon stuffed animal that makes the loon call (Hanukah); Schleich dragon figure (Hanukah)

Misses: No Stress Chess-- lots of stress, actually. It does say age 7 on the box, and DH refused to use the cards properly, so we'll try it again down the road.

Sort of ignored: Magnatiles. They were totally eclipsed by the hex bugs. I, however, LOVE them, and I'm sure DS will, too, down the road. I hope so. He has 200 of them.

[wellyes]

Age 4 hits:
Princess dress that lights up
Emma doll (drink-and-wet)
Play market with farmers market foods
M&D shopping cart
M&D bead set

Age 4 miss:
Vtech spin and smile camera. She says it's too hard for her, I think because she is so used to the ipad touch screen and this has lots of buttons. I'm hoping she'll grow into it.

Age 2 hits:
The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel
Dinosaurs from Imaginext, Dinosaur Train, and these ones
M&D bug catching game
Imaginext pirate ship from Kohls - wow, it really is a well made, thoughtfully conceived toy. crazy good value.
Age 2 misses:
he's ill, so, can't say yet. He was too tired to open half his presents!

[Snow mom]

Biggest hit so far: paper jamz mic (totally not the type of toy we usually get her but she LOVES it): http://www.amazon.com/Wowwee-Paper-J...rds=paper+jamz

Other hits:
woodstock toy accordion
harmonica
rush hour jr.
camelot jr.

[kaitlyns.mom]

Almost 2yo DS
HUGE HIT: Legoville train. He did not want to stop playing to open any other gifts. He has been playing with it since 7 a.m. Santa set the whole thing up last night and so he got to start right away when he saw it.
Fire truck
Megblocks truck

[wellyes]

Inchimals -- wow. It was from a relative and I thought she'd be too young for it, but, my 4 year old is excitedly explaining to anyone and everyone how to do addition.

[brittone2]

I had no idea what to give Ds 2 for his big gift as we have so many toys already. At the last min dh and I decided on a Bruder trash truck and that has been an enormous hit. he wanted it on his bed for his nap and bedtime and played for hours with it.

my brother got him a slot car track...not age appropriate but ds2 giggled so hard for so long about the cars flying off the track that it was still great fun.

[gobadgers]

DS is 3.5

Hits:
Rocket ship play set
Caterpillar dump truck from his sister
Lightning McQueen smart phone thing
Animal planet tub of dinos
Piggy bank
Hot wheels elimination race track. It's really poor quality but he's getting a huge kick out of it.

Miss:
Discovery kids fort. This sounded so cool, but really sucked. The poles are flimsy and impossible to put together. And when they do finally fit, they fall right apart. I'm going to look for a better version of this toy, though, because it sounds like so much fun.

[goldenpig]

We've only done Santa presents so far, but 2.75 yo DS loves his Thomas playtent and Thomas Zipbin/playmat and a new Thomas train (Ferdinand). He is crazy about Thomas! He even wants me to name the baby Percy!

[TwinFoxes]

Lots of hits! Bitty Babies, Imaginext Pirate Ship from MIL (HUGE hit! Agree with PP, thoughtfully made a great value, so glad we didn't ask for Bucky!) Magnatiles a hit (yay!) And the $20 for a two pack of remote control cars from Target a big hit. S asked Santa for cars to race, and I didn't want a huge set. Perfect solution and the last gift I bought!

Not quite misses, but certainly not hits: green toys recycling truck. D asked Santa for a garbage truck, but hasn't played with it very much.
Doc McStuffins figurines and exam table.
Automoblox.

Misses: step on piano. The novelty wore off pretty quickly. It was obnoxiously loud. Thanks SIL! (DH used to get her kids obnoxious gifts...payback's a b**ch!)

ETA: I forgot, those Disney Storybook Collections we got from Amazon for $5 are another huge hit.

[MamaMolly]

2.5 yo Dolly:
Magnatiles are a sleeper hit. They didn't play with them right away, but man they are getting it now!
Her giant cheetah: http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Republic-...lekins+cheetah It was our huge splurge for her, she asked Santa for it for about 2 months! It is super soft, bigger than she is, and everyone has been cuddling it, even DH and the dog! Last night she slept beside it, with one paw pulled around her
Craftsman Kid My First Tape Measure. She kept breaking mine, and this has already lasted more than a day. Bonus: it was on clearance at Kmart for $2.

Misses:
Hape dolly highchair. Maybe they'll play more once the new wears off the other stuff.