36 Open Ended Toys Kids Will Play with for Years

Erin P. said:  This toy is such a hit during the summer months! We usually set ours up next to the kiddie pool and the kids enjoy hours of outdoor fun!

Lisa R said:  Every week my daughter attends an under 2 playgroup, and every week this is the hot item that all the babies are eyeing. Sure there are plenty of other push toys available, but you just can't beat having something that looks exactly like the real thing. We had other types of push carts at home, but they tipped over or slid forward too quickly when my daughter was just learning to walk, and then she quickly lost interest once she mastered them. Not so with this shopping cart, which is stable, easy to steer, and offers years of imaginative play.

Tim Ponisciak said:  These magnet tiles are endless fun for kids. Kids can try to make what they see pictured on the box, or they can let their imaginations run wild and build anything they can dream! This set comes with a lot of pieces so it is a good toy that can be shared by multiple kids.

Erin P. said:  This toy is an oldie, but is hours of fun as no two marble runs are ever the same. The children enjoy the challenge of putting the marble run together and then the satisfaction of seeing the marbles go all the way down the contraption!

Erin P. said:  This is a great pretend play toy with lots of fun pieces that may be familiar to your little one from visits to his or her doctor's office! It is so fun to see what they remember and imitate when you return home. This toy has the added benefit of possibly relieving some of the stress and fear that may surround visits to the doctor!

Erin P. said:  Melissa & Doug makes a lot of great costumes which come in handy on many a rainy or snowy day. It is great fun to see just how observant children truly are once they start playing doctor, police officer, fire chief or construction worker. These costumes are great gifts for 4 year olds with a big imagination.

Kelly R. said:  A set of high-quality building blocks will last a child for years, inspiring a whole variety of open-ended creative play and learning. We love this set of 60 natural-finished wooden blocks from Melissa & Doug, and it comes with a wooden tray for storage.

Kelly R. said:  This open-ended toy set includes a cutting board, knife, and veggies that can be sliced and reassembled over and over again. My kids loved this at age 2 and it still gets played with a few years later. Great for developing fine motor skills.

Chrissy OGorman said:  Perfect for the budding engineer in your family! Your child can create endless combinations of moving structures.

This block set is equipped with built in magnets which means they won't fall down as easily and are perfect for little curious hands. The blocks allow for pattern recognition, problem-solving, and imaginative play as your little one grows.

Alexandra F. said:  What I love most about this magnetic building toy is how it inspires kids to be creative by building - and testing, and improving - structures they can actually play with once they’re done. Unlike other magnetic building toys, Squaregles actually hold together well without randomly collapsing, and the set comes with fun pieces like ramps and towers for making things like castles or racetracks. It takes a little practice to master putting the pieces together, but even my three year old loves building with them, and my older kids (and me!) get a kick out of trying out new creations every time we play.

Kelly R. said:  Six is the age where my son really got into LEGOs. Find a set with a theme that will appeal to the kid you're buying for, or choose a classic kit, like this one, that will let them use their imagination and add on to the sets they already have.

Erin P. said:  2-year-olds love to mimic what they see their grown-ups doing, and while I wish that I could say that my two-year old witnessed me using my grown-up versions of these a bit more often for household chores, these toys are a hit with her and with her older brother! ;)

Tracy Snyder Molina said:  When my boys were younger, our train table was the highlight of their playroom. One of the best things about the table is it keeps all the tracks and accessories off your floor and higher up at the kids' eye level. This train table comes with 120 colorful pieces that are also compatible with Thomas & Friends and Brio wooden train sets. Here's an extra tip: as your kids get older you can convert the table into a LEGO table. There are lots of how-to videos available online about how to make one!

Erynn said:  These sticky blocks make for hours of open-ended play in our house, and first attracted the attention of our then-three-year-old who is now seven and still takes these out from time to time. For our current three-year-old, these blocks have created everything from a car to a castle to a robot, making them a seriously fun toy that never loses its appeal.

Jennie Utsinger said:  This gorgeous hand-carved rainbow offers endless play possibilities. It's one of those perfect versatile toys for 4 year olds, but delights kids of all ages - and grownups too! Balance the pieces on top of each other, create bridges for cars, rock your dolls, or practice your colors.

A perfect first tea set! The Green Toys set is made out of recycled materials, it is non-toxic (does not contain BPA, phthalates, or lead paint), meets FDA food contact standards and is dishwasher friendly.

Kristy Pepping said:  My seven-year-old and her friends are really into playing American Girl dolls these days. However, there are so many 18-inch dolls on the market, a doll purchase does not have to break the bank.

Erin P. said:  This easel is such a hit in our house! It has a chalkboard on one side and a dry erase board on the other side. It also has a paper roll holder for painting. My four-year old especially loves painting with it! The family portrait that he painted the other day in which the baby floats like a giant marshmallow over the rest of us brought smiles to all of our faces. :)

Kelly R. said:  My kids both loved having a little tool set at age 3, and still played with it years later. Whenever my husband or I would fix something around the house, my son would grab the toolbox and come running to help.

Jennie Utsinger said:  We love everything made by Green Toys, but the helicopter is one of my son's favorites! Made from 100% recycled plastic milk jugs, it withstands crashes and is a great size for flying around. It's also dishwasher safe, so easy to clean.

Jaclyn Keifer said:  The little climber/Pikler triangle is a beautiful open-ended toy to promote self confidence, gross motor skills, balance control, muscle growth, and expand creativity. Our children are 18m and 5YO and love climbing around on this. Accessories: rock climbing wall and slide.

Jaclyn Keifer said:  Inspired by Waldorf Toys, play silks allow children to use their imaginations. Use them for capes, dress up, doll blankets, costumes and accessories, and more! Bundle comes with 6 bright colors; red, blue, yellow, green, purple, and pink. Loved by both boys and girls. Your children will love to dance, move, and dress up with these scarves.

Alexandra F. said:  Waldorf play stands are the ultimate open-ended toy, and I wish I had known about them when my first was born so we could have gotten a couple of decades of use out of them! The simple, versatile design inspires imaginative, open-ended play, serving as a play kitchen, market, fort, reading nook - whatever your kids can imagine! Plus, they are functional AND beautiful. This is the set I’m planning to get, but I've seen other beautiful play stands on Etsy. Though pricey, they are one of those toys that will get used over and over again over the years, and can replace other possible toy purchases (like a play kitchen). Some stands can also be purchased individually.

Alexandra F. said:  My toddler will spend HOURS outside digging in the dirt or sandbox with his construction truck toys, and this excavator is definitely the favorite. I love how sturdy and well-made all Bruder trucks are, and my truck-loving kids love that they are so realistic.

Sarah Calamita said:  A train set is the perfect gift! Your 2 year old will spend hours connecting trains, putting pieces together, learning colors and shapes and just amazed at everything that comes with a train set!

Kelly R. said:  Baby Stella was the perfect first baby doll for my daughter, and I love that Manhattan Toy offers both sizes of its Baby Stella dolls in a range of skin tones. The doll and its accessories are completely plush and huggable, and my daughter got a kick out of the magnetic pacifier that attaches to baby's mouth.

Sarah Calamita said:  If you have a 1-5 year old, this is the best gift! Pair with some fun fake food (Melissa and Doug has great produce, boxed goods, pizza pie, ice cream scoops and cupcakes). Hours of entertainment!

Jaclyn Keifer said:  The classic Waldorf balance rocker reimagined! The Wobble stimulates balance and poise. It invites movement for young and old—and for everyone in between. Get fit while playing together! But it's so much more: a bridge; a shop; a fort; a seat; an elephant's back; a slide; and so much more!

Alexandra F. said:  We got this tool bench for my 2-year-old because he and his 4-year-old brother love playing with their toy tool sets so much, and it has been THE biggest hit. It will honestly keep them (and their older siblings and cousins!) entertained for so much longer than most toys, and the set is really well made and super easy to put together.

Kelly R. said:  This high-quality set features cool trick pieces that kids can use to build an endless assortment of domino races.

Kelly R. said:  All of the Schleich animal figurines make the best toys for 4 year olds, and will see many hours of imaginative play over at least the next couple of years. They are so much more durable, realistic and beautiful than other brands, and our trusty T Rex still looks pretty cool in our tween's room years later!

Alexandra F. said:  These chunky bricks have been been used pretty much constantly in our home for the last 15 years, and are one of my favorite open ended toys because they can be used from such a young age and still be fun to play with even when kids are ready for the smaller LEGO sets. A couple of building plates, a set or two of classic bricks, and a few DUPLO figurines have been some of our most played with toys these last couple of decades.

Alexandra F. said:   Stuffed animals are a classic open-ended toy, and all four of my kids have used theirs in some of their most creative, elaborate and imaginative games over the years. I don't love how they tend to accumulate, but I’ve found there are a select few that get used over and over, so I just do a purge of the others every once in a while! My kids especially love having “moms” and “babies” for their games, and animal toys over any branded characters. Jellycat makes some of the softest, cuddliest stuffed animals I’ve found, but my kids also love the Wild Republic stuffed animals they always seem to sell in zoo gift shops.

Alexandra F. said:  Little fairy and gnome dolls are classic Waldorf open ended toys made to inspire imaginative play! In the Waldorf tradition, they also encourage kids to play outside, create their own fairy homes, and act out stories from their imagination. Their small size makes them great Easter egg or advent calendar fillers, too!

Alexandra F. said:  Dollhouses are made for open-ended play, and this heirloom quality dollhouse is one that will be cherished for years by any child who likes playing with miniatures. My daughter had both a Barbie Dreamhouse and a smaller wooden dollhouse when she was young, and while she liked both, it was the wooden dollhouse (and its accompanying wooden dolls) that really captured her imagination, and that she and her brother played with most often.