My favorite toys (and I consider myself a connoisseur of toys!) are ones that a child can do several things with!
For years my favorite gifts are a Melissa/Doug Alphabet Train Floor Puzzle (you may already have this) paired with miniature animals.
By the way, low piece count floor puzzles are quite low $$ and make a great gift.
About the animals, I like the full size animals but you can buy baby or tubes of minis to get more or to keep costs down.
They sort and arrange them into a farm or a zoo or the ocean on the hearth.
When my child works the puzzle:
1. We walk over the train loosely counting the pieces as we step. (loosely-learning to count aloud is the goal-not so much being tedious to catch each piece-we even end up running for fun as we count aloud)
2. Then we match the Safari animals to the puzzle pieces. Safari has most to match. We are creative placing any bird on the vulture piece and such for ones they do not have.
So many other uses for the animals: My kids say the grands play with these in the swimming pool. Very versatile and tons of indoor fun.
I am hoping this will cause you to look at their toys now to think of different things to do with them as well. To keep a child busy, reset "centers" around the play or living room where you have the toys in a way they have not seen--combining 2 as we talk about here.
Or add a sheet over a table with toy housewares underneath as an easy tent. If it is different, it will catch their attention.
