Do I have the only kid who doesn't play with toys??

I swear, I have a house full of toys here that Ava never touches. I'm cleaning the house today for Easter, and as I'm going through stuff, this is just a FEW things we have that never, ever get touched: Mr. Potato Head, a car set with a track, puzzle after puzzle after puzzle, a work bench with tools, two different keyboards, a Dora train set, a doll house, waffle blocks, magnetic blocks, and the list just goes on from there. I just want to bang my head against the wall because I keep spending money for holidays and she doesn't touch these things. I try to engage her in play with them, and she doesn't want any part of it. The thing is, I never know what to buy her because I never know how she's going to take to a toy. For example, she received this adorable doll set for Christmas that came with a baby, a stroller, a carset, a bassinet and some other items. It was adorable and she used it for all of 2 days, now, rather than using the doll with the accessories, she uses the stroller as a shopping cart and the bassinet as a shopping basket. It's great that she's creative and loves imaginative play, but I NEVER know if she'll use the toys or not because she comes up with her own way of playing with them. Her most recent favorite activity is to take anything she can find around the house and throw it into a big box we have and call herself a "recycle lady"
She does love books and drawing and she plays with her Clickstart Computer, but other than that, she's just a complete mystery to me in terms of the things she would like to play with.
So now I'm torn....do I give all of the aforementioned toys away? Or do I keep them because we just spent so much money on them for Christmas?
For Easter, I got her a doll, a toy cash register and a game because I know she'll play with those, but other than that, when her birthday comes up in June, I don't want to have another house full of useless toys

Re: Do I have the only kid who doesn't play with toys??

I feel the same way. We have a lot of toys and most of them just stay in the baskets. I guess the novelty wears off. Maybe put them up and bring them out again and they will be like "new" to her?

I have to laugh at Recycle Lady..that's cute!

Re: Do I have the only kid who doesn't play with toys??

Alex isn't a toy player either so I rarely, if never, buy her toys at this point. I buy her "activities" like sidewalk chalk, a scooter, etc. She does LOVE board games and puzzles so I buy those for her. Other than that, the only thing she'll play with is dress up clothes. The rest has remained untouched since the day we got it.

I just take it all up to the attic and bring them down occasionally to see if she'll play with them. If we get gifts I don't open all of them and store them in the attic to regift for parties she's invited to. No sense in opening it up and letting it sit around and collect dust!

Re: Do I have the only kid who doesn't play with toys??

she sounds like me when I was a toddler

I can tell you exactly what it is... I was bored by toys that had only 1 purpose... board games, light brite, dolls, and trucks I would only use occassionally...

things that inspired my creativity I LOVED. Play dough, legos (as long as the wheels nd other interesting pieces were there), crayons.... I also loved cutting shapes from construction paper and making collages.... and helping mom in the garden / playing in the woods (analyzing the leaves and bugs, inspecting dirt, collecting rocks)

It's a very good sign IMO.... it means she's got a ton of creativity.... maybe she'll also become a scientist

oh, my FAVORITE toy? A giant cardboard box!

Message edited 4/10/2009 2:34:13 PM.

Re: Do I have the only kid who doesn't play with toys??

I would try rotating the toys as others mentioned. Maybe that way it will be like new and she wont get bored.

Recycle lady.....that is really cute!

Re: Do I have the only kid who doesn't play with toys??

Posted by wannabemom

she sounds like me when I was a toddler

I can tell you exactly what it is... I was bored by toys that had only 1 purpose... board games, light brite, dolls, and trucks I would only use occassionally...

things that inspired my creativity I LOVED. Play dough, legos (as long as the wheels nd other interesting pieces were there), crayons.... I also loved cutting shapes from construction paper and making collages.... and helping mom in the garden / playing in the woods (analyzing the leaves and bugs, inspecting dirt, collecting rocks)

It's a very good sign IMO.... it means she's got a ton of creativity.... maybe she'll also become a scientist

oh, my FAVORITE toy? A giant cardboard box!

Re: Do I have the only kid who doesn't play with toys??

My DS is the SAME way ....I just think he has too much and it overwhelms him.....He does much better with open-ended activities also...