Dear readers,
We are excited to feature a guest blog today from Nostalgic in Maine. She writes about how Goodwill is a great resources for toys that encourage kids to engage in creative play and use their imagination.
Creative Play: Secondhand Toys that Inspire Imagination
Raising kids is hard enough without having to constantly fight back against all the ”must-have” gadgets and toys marketed to children. There are advertisements for shiny toys on TV, in our mail 
and in every Sunday newspaper. Despite my best attempts, my kids are not immune to the epidemic of toy hoarding and wanting every plastic thing that flashes and makes noise. However, we have pretty strict rules in this house. Almost every toy is second hand, and we encourage play that involves no batteries or that does not make more mess than the kids know how to clean up. Also, we believe that kids should drive the play, not watch a toy perform. I know it sounds lofty, and we don’t always succeed, but it is worth trying. I have no idea how many discarded Dancing Elmos I have seen. How exactly is the kid supposed to play with such a thing after he or she has watched its performance 20 times?
However, by emphasizing (yes, often pushing) creative play, our kids have definitely gravitated towards toys that we all agree are fun. My son loves Legos and can build cars, spaceships, and castles for hours. My daughter loves her play kitchen, which is not stocked with any commercial plastic playfood, but rather odds and ends from my kitchen and little things she has found at the thrift store. They also enjoy getting dressed up in silly costumes, and almost everything in the dress-up trunk has come via Goodwill as well.
Last weekend, my son and I went to the Goodwill in South Portland by the mall. He had $5 in his pocket, and he has already learned that he can get a lot more for his money at Goodwill than any other shiny toy store. And guess who was lucky? He came across two fabulous finds, both marked $1.99. It is that not often we come across large bins of Legos, but this time my son spotted the box right away.
The box was full of all kinds of Lego pieces, from several sets, and my son immediately identified exactly the kinds of connector pieces he has wanted for his spaceships. Major score! I have no idea how much a similar batch of Legos would have set us back at Toys R Us, but I can tell you that $1.99 does not buy much Legos there.
He also came across this large sorting box in the crafts aisle – perfect for organizing his smaller Lego parts that are so easily misplaced.
As I have mentioned in an earlier post, my son likes to be very organized when he builds his creations, and we have used various Goodwill sorting systems from picnic plates to muffin tins. He is still using those, but this box will keep his small building parts nicely organized when everything is packed away too.
Sorting boxes like this are common at thrift stores and can be used for organizing lots of kids stuff. Just be sure to look for a quality one (Made in America), where the dividers actually do divide the compartments properly and do not let stuff slip around on the bottom like many cheaper versions do.
Finally, here are a couple of pictures of my son’s recent Lego creations using his ”new” Legos. A Harry Potter House and a helicopter spaceship sit on his display shelf today.
So, basically kids and thrift stores can go really well together. Start them early and you will have many fun times ahead – both browsing the shelves for interesting projects and playing with the rescued treasures later. Best of all, you will not break the bank, and at the same time you will give your kids some sound economic lessons. And isn’t that one of the best things you can teach your kids during these rough economic times?
What kinds of toys do you and your kids look for at Goodwill?
Our guest blogger today writes about the great toys she finds at Goodwill that inspire her kids’ imaginations -… http://t.co/nW5sjjX