Our Minimal Toy Box: The Toys My Kids Actually Play With
- Aug 14
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 14
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My kids love their toys, and let me tell you — family and friends love to buy them. 😂 But mom and dad can only take so many giant toy explosions before realizing that less really is more.
Over time, I’ve been able to pinpoint the things my kids actually reach for again and again. And if I’m being 100% honest, put them outside with some dirt, rocks and a shovel and they’re golden for a long time. Mother Nature is still one of the best toys out there.
Aside from that, these are the few things that have earned a permanent place in our toy rotation.
1. Magnatiles
These things are gold.
There are endless ways to build with them, so they never really feel like a one-purpose toy. There are also so many different sets you can add over time, which keeps them interesting without needing an entirely new toy category.
And possibly my favorite part: they stick together. 😂 Cleanup is so quick and easy compared to a million tiny loose pieces, and they’re also easy to wipe down when they start looking a little too loved.
2. Hot Wheels Cars & Tracks
My husband originally bought Hot Wheels for the kids partly out of nostalgia, but they ended up becoming one of the toys they genuinely love.
They’ll play with the cars on their own, build tracks, launch them across the room, race them, and come up with completely different ways to use them.
I also love that you can fit a surprisingly big collection into one bin, which means lots of play without taking over the entire house.
3. Books, Board Games & Art Supplies
I’m grouping these together because they’re less about “toys” and more about activities my kids genuinely enjoy and can spend a lot of time with.
Books are always in rotation in our house. I love having them easy for the kids to grab so they can flip through them on their own or bring one over for us to read together. My favorite is Don't Eat Bees: Life Lessons From Chip the Dog by Dev Petty.
Some of their favorite board games are the fishing game, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Candy Land, and a few simple matching and measuring games.
And apparently 52-card pickup is also considered a game in our house, although I personally do not recommend that one. 😂
As far as art supplies go, I keep plenty of the basics — sketch pads, construction paper, glue sticks, paint brushes, colored pencils, crayons, paint and more.
The best organization system I’ve found is a big three-ring binder filled with pencil pouches. The pouches clip right into the binder, and I group coordinating supplies together inside each one. It gives everything an actual home and makes cleanup so much easier.
4. Little Ride-On Trikes
My kids love their little trikes that they can whirl around the house on.
They’re small enough that they don’t take up a ton of space, but they get so much use out of them. They’re active, fun, and one of those simple toys they can come back to over and over again.
Shop the little ride-on balance bike and trike here
5. Make-A-Fort Kits
We also have a hand-me-down Make-A-Fort kit that the kids love. The pieces are cardboard, so I don’t have to worry about them hurting themselves with anything heavy or sharp, and they’re simple enough to put together without turning it into a full construction project.
They can make little hideouts, tunnels, forts, and whatever else they come up with, and then we can take everything down and rearrange it into something completely different the next time. I love toys like this because they give them something to build and imagine without taking up a permanent corner of the house.
Less Really Is More
I’ve definitely learned that my kids don’t need a giant playroom full of toys to be entertained.
They seem to play longer and more creatively when they have a smaller number of things they genuinely enjoy. I’d much rather have a few toys with lots of different ways to play than bins and bins of things they forget they even own.
And honestly, some of their best “toys” aren’t toys at all. Pillows become forts, blankets become tents, couch cushions become obstacle courses, cardboard boxes become houses, and random household items somehow become the most exciting thing in the room. 😂
That’s probably been one of my biggest lessons as a mom — kids are incredibly good at turning ordinary things into play when we give them the space to do it.
And when all else fails, there’s always dirt, rocks and a shovel. 😂
