Favorite Things

Grace's favorite toy of the moment is a hot pink, large button calculator from the Dollar Tree Store. She carries it around with her everywhere and laughs hysterically when I enter crazy number combinations. It's really good practice to reinforce her numbers, and we can even work on simple addition and subtraction.

Many of our favorite toys come from local dollar stores. It's nice that at this age, she is just as entertained with a sheet of stickers as she would be with an expensive electronic toy. While we have a few electonic toys, she usually prefers to play with the cheap hands-on things like: Play-Dough, letter blocks, tea sets, dolls, and art supplies. If I really want to make her day, I blow up a balloon and watch her play with it for hours. Or, get out the bubble blower. That's always a hit!

Her favorite "expensive" toy is a Mickey Mouse cash register from The Disney Store. She loves to go shopping "at Wal-Mart" and scan all her items, pretend to add them up, then swipe the credit card. Todd has even taught her to speak into the microphone and say "Attention Wal-Mart shoppers! There is a sale today on ______!" It's the cutest thing.

I guess the point of this post is to say that at this age, imaginative and creative play is very important. They really don't need the latest and most expensive electronic gadget in order to have fun. (That's what teenagers want). So, I'll enjoy shopping for toys at the Dollar Store as long as I can!