[KimOH]

As a side-note to Aphi's thread about toys. What were the best toys you brought with you on your trip? What did your child enjoy most? (Please indicate the age/gender of the child.)

I'll start:

My DS (12m) enjoyed anything that would spin (rattles with spinners, car wheels, etc) or anything he could knock down (stacking cups, blocks).

My DD (16m) enjoyed things that had buttons that made noise (toy phone, toy radio) and anything you could put something inside of (stacking cups, cereal bowls, etc).

The biggest hit with both kids, however, was an inflatable beach ball. It takes practically no room in your luggage. But when you blow it up it's good for kicking, rolling, throwing, carrying, leaning on, etc. Our DD would giggle every time DH would toss it into the air. We did that for a long time -- toss, giggle, toss, giggle, toss...

[jimpol]

You know a lot of people bring bubbles for the kids. We didn't but when we were at the Radisson there was a couple that was adopting and were blowing bubbles for all of the little kids. It was too cute.

My son loved the few books we took. He was 17 months old when we adopted him. We took "The Little Engine that Could" and some Sesame Street books. We also brought a rubber duck for the bathtub. He had fun throwing that and making us get it for him.

I think the favorite toy we brought was from Discovery Toys. It is that box that has different shapes and textures. It is soft like a stuffed animal so we crushed it up in the suitcase. Andrew loved to play with the moon that had dots all over it and made a squishy noise. Sorry I don't remember the name of it.

[doozer22boys]

What a great thread! I am trying to gather all the toys now for trip 2. We were told the call could be any day now.

The adoptive parents in our region on trip one (their trip 2) told us that all their kids loved any musical toys and/or books. So I have those on my list. I plan on buying that Leapfrog stuffed animal that says the alphabet or numbers.

Bubbles were the biggest hit on trip one for us! And the travel size magnadoodle.

[sands]

Sam was 17 mos. & Artie was 13 mos. when we had them in the hotel in Russia.

They loved these Peek-A-Block sensory balls we brought. They loved empty water bottles (they could knock them down or hit them together to make sounds) and Kleenex boxes. They also got a kick out of finger puppets. Big NO on stuffed animals.

To this day, they prefer board books over any toys. Their fav toys are play cell phones.

[Wendrew]

This is a great idea for a thread!

DS was very young when we adopted him (almost three years ago), so he basically just loved stuffed animals.

DD came home just shy of 1, and loved any small toys she could hold by herself and shake, like rattles, blocks and teething toys. She also loved to flip through books with colorful pictures. On our visits, she really enjoyed having the opportunity to crawl around and walk holding our hands, since she probably did not have much space to do that normally. She has been home one month today, and with all the toys she has, probably her favorite thing to do is flip through and rip apart magazines.

[kryslm]

Russian boys come out of the womb with an obsession for cars. Our boys loved toy cars--and anything related to cars, or "machinas" as they say there.

Mike

[VinSue99]

Stacking cups! He loved them, and still does, but now he puts them on his head and "wears" them around the house!

He also liked the car that we bought when we were in Russia - the doors opened. He loved that, open, close, open, close.......we still have it, and I've put it away in his memory box.

We also bought a ball while we were in Russia, and took it to the orphanage each time we went. He loved it....and I cant tell you how many balls he has now.

[pwnort64]

Henry was 15 months two days after Gotcha.

I took a handful of board books and he looked at these for HOURS. I got a couple fo cheap and small board, lift-the-flap books at the dollar store and we also had Brown Bear which we read over and over and over. He also enjoyed looking through the photo albums I had brought for court and listening to me explain who or what was in each picture.

Stacking cups were a big hit, as was a little push car that had balls that popped when you rolled it. I also had soft-sided stacking cups and ball that fit perfectly inside one of the stacking cups. He spent more hours putting in and taking that ball out of the stacking cup.

We did not have our 10-days waived so spent about 2 weeks in the hotel. In order to keep things 'fresh', I divided his toys in half and switched them out each day.

Also, I agree with picking up a few toys while you are there. At the toy store, the stacking rings seemed to be a big thing, so I got Henry a set and saved it to be new on the airplane. I also got a little frog that played music when you pushed a button on the back.

Just a word of advice, the kids may love the toys that make noise, but be careful about taking these for airplane entertainment. Those sitting around you may not appreciate it.

[waitinginnj]

Beach Ball - the best thing I brought.

Stacking cups were great too - in the tub and just playing.

My two year old had little to no interest in stuffed animals. She like noisy toys, but if they were too loud they scared her.

We bought a toy cell phone in Russia that she loved (it spoke in english) She still loves her cell phones from the Disney store.

[drazil65]

Adrian was 20 months old at the time and his favorites were:

little hot wheels cars

books

toy cell phone (played different music)

anything in my purse and of course his all time favorite, the hotel tv remote !!!!

[waitinginnj]

We found lots of toys in the hotel room. During our time in Moscow she would find some little item each morning and hold on to it for the whole day. It might be a spoon or a brochure. She held on to a sight seeing brochure for two days, before replacing it. It is funny in the pictures.

We started calling it C's treasure. Even the other folks staying at the hotel would ask, "What is C's treasure today?" She loved showing people what she had and wouldn't let go for dear life.

We held onto a bowel and spoon and she would make a drum, she loved the remote or the brochures. Little things went a long way.

[tchr_678]

Our boys loved cars that we took. We also took a puzzle, to check their development (they were 2.5 and 4.5). We took a dump truck that had a shape sorter in it, the oldest LOVED to put things in that. We took crayons and a coloring book. And BUBBLES!! They LOVED the bubbles. We also ended up going to a toy store over there to buy toys to play outside with. The toys the orphanage had were PATHETIC, so we went and bought some balls and dump trucks. THose were big hits. Then, we just left them there. We took the boys to a toy store before we left and let them pick out a few toys too, which really entertained them. Oh, and I had made a small photo album for the judge to look at, with pictures of our house and us w/ the boys on the first trip -- The both LOVED that and wanted to play w/ it all the time!!

[Butabzig]

Bubbles were the biggest hit for Ana (one month shy of four when we brought her home). She still talks about when we came and played bubbles with her. Putting beads on a string was amazing to her. We finally had to take it away from her so we could play. (The doctor suggested this to test eye/hand coordination.) She still sits for long periods of time with the beads.


Small plastic farm animals were another big hit. She didn't do much interactive play with them until we showed her but she played with them for several hours on the plane ride home. She would line them up on her seat tray. We had TONS of these. The frog collection is hours of entertainment now and we frequently find them lining the stairs or using the wood down the side of the stairs as a slide.

[ddahl]

Mason loved rolls and stacking cups. I swear he carried a roll around the hotel room the entire time we were in Moscow. he also loved this musical book, the itsy bitsy spider. It had a handle so he could carry it around. If you are taking a hip hammock, its nice to take a toy to hook to the strap like a flip book of some type. Again, I took several makeup bags filled with little goodies for the ride home. When Mason tired of one kit, I would swap for the next. He was 18 months at the time he came home.

[momm2be]

BALLOONS!


We played soccer with them in the detsky dom. And it was very entertaining on the plane.

Nice thing, is they take up virtually no room.