We don't do much product pushing here, but I was trying to pack away the Thomas the Tank Engine set recently when our oldest screamed that, even though he doesn't play with it anymore, it was critical that the set remain in the house. Made me think about what were the absolute best toy investments we've ever made. In true, Nick Hornby fashion, I'll go with a top five list:
#1 Thomas the Tank Engine
Pound-for-pound our best buy ever. One smart move we made was buying the real Thomas trains and then buying most of the track, knock-off, through Target, etc. More good play out of Thomas than any other toy we've ever bought. Don't, however, expect the younger boys in the family to automatically follow in the footsteps of the oldest in the family. We found Boy Number 2 played with it some and Number 3 almost not at all.
#2 Lego
Most people would put this number one. It's true that as the kids get older, Lego moves ahead of Thomas, particularly the Star Wars variety. In fact, there is a huge community of people on YouTube who actually film Lego Star Wars scenes. Most are suitable for kids viewing.
#3 Playmobil
We have a bunch of these different sets. Some castle/knight-based and some other themes. Good stuff.
#4 Blocks
Giant baskets of all kinds of block shapes are awesome. I don't even know what brands exist since we've gotten them as gifts, but buy the big solid brick-type blocks.
#5
Hot Wheels/Matchbox
Not all of our boys play/played with them, but this was pretty damn reliable across the board. You need to get track at some point to ratchet up the playability, but for the most part, a box of Hot Wheels means you've bought yourself at least a half-hour of playtime.
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