construction toys??

[mushpea]

whats your best construction toy for the under 5's, the one they really enjoy playing with?
mine like the wooden train set and the popoids, we also have duplo which dosent really get played with so what else could I have?

[loocyloo]

mine aren't really into the duplo either :( neither do they like stickle bricks. i got rid of mine, i love them, but have never had a child who liked them! mine are all 2 1/2 or younger, i'm hoping they will grow into the duplo!

they like the wooden blocks and train set.

equally a HUGE box full of old boxes ( cereal, shoe, etc ) and build loads with that.

[Wheelybug]

Mine love the plain wooden blocks. I picked up some on ebay that are the ones of the nursery education catalogues (a bit bigger and chunkier than the wooden blocks from the Early Learning Centre). The children love them and already building some great constructions.
I also have tree cookies which they like - bonus that you can make these for free!

[sarah707]

Mine like blocks - we have different types and shapes which they combine. They struggle with too many out at a time so we give them a few and add more if they are making something complicated.

I gave my stickle bricks away they just got thrown round the room - and invested in more lego which they love too.

I have a house full of boys just now and the blocks and lego are definitely their favourites :D

[The Juggler]

blocks! any kind of blocks - the geometric ones are fab but just colour wooden blocks are ace.

my also like octons.

None of mine have ever really played with the large lego or duplo

[mushpea]

outside mine love the big wooden blocks we cut for them,
Maybe I have enough building stuff then but I was asking as curious to know what others like to play with.
I have been looking at polydrons on ebay, does anyone have these?

[jumpinjen]

My duplo is really popular!!! It's one of the few toys that is never cycled around as it is always in use!!! Stickle bricks popular too at times although not right now! Hollow wood blocks and driftwood used a lot too x I have tree blocks but they aren't used much.

Jen x

[singingcactus]

I have a big box of mixed materials. Blocks, duplo, mega blocks, lincoln logs, dominoes, milk carton caps, jar lids, peekaboo blocks, stickle blocks, star blocks, a few balls, small boxes, etc. They have always seemed to prefer to have a bunch of different media and material to work with rather than just one type. I tend to keep my block box next to the car box.

As a side note, my BIG box of blocks has currently been downsized due to having 3 dumpers right now.

[samb]

I have so many different types of construction and looked at scaling down at the beginning of the year so did loads of deliberate obs on this area - I tried putting out particular construction with other things out and they would play with any of the construction I put out, I tried adding different construction to other areas (eg diggers with wooden blocks/duplo) and they played with whatever was there. I tried putting every construction item I had out - and mapped the 3 children I had at the time for an hour to see which child played with what and for how long.

Basically I came to the conclusion that I had to keep it all! lol!

I have - Duplo, Mega Bloks, Peek-a-blocks, small (about an inch) wooden blocks, kidi k'nex, clipo (mainly used for babies to chew on and bigger ones like the car), junk modelling, marble run, train sets, even large baby lego (I don't even know its proper name - was given some - they are about 6inch cubes with fronts that open and have a shape on top and on door that you post the soft shape in and they stack).

I am surprised so many don't like duplo - this is so popular with mine I had to buy more - great as we have farm animals, people, cars and lots of different bricks.