My house looks like the Hamleys bomb has exploded in it most days. Some days it’s hard to see the floor for toys. Some toys I don’t mind so much. There are others that give me a sinking feeling as soon as the girls start getting them out. Peppa Pig toys are high up on that list. I constantly have to put the house back together; some of the play pieces are flimsy and I know I’ll be finding Peppa, George and co down the back of the sofa forevermore. They would have all disappeared to the charity shop long ago but the girls love them too much.
Peppa Pig toys would be my first choice to be sent to Room 101. I asked some other parenting bloggers which toys are their least favourites. Here are ten children’s toys that parenting bloggers would send to Room 101:
1) Musical instruments
“Mine would be the whistle we have. It’s a character one where you blow and pull down the rod and back up. I hide it but then she’ll find it every few weeks and I’ll go to sleep with the noise ringing in my ears. Nightmare!” (Katie – Mummy in a Tutu)
“When my brother in law presented us with a mini drum kit my soul wept a little bit.” (Beth – Twinderelmo)
“My 9 month old has a portable drum. What 9 month old needs a drum? Or rather, what parent of a 9 month old wants a drum…” (Kirsty – Life with Boys)
“My daughter got a harmonica for her 6th birthday … a bloody harmonica!” (Family Travel with Ellie)
2) Jigsaw puzzles
“I love the idea of doing them but there is always a piece missing and they take so long for the girls to work out how to finish them. They are an endless source of frustration for both me and them.” (Kirsty – Winnettes)
“I find the bloody pieces all over the house constantly.” (Rachel – Coffee, Cake, Kids)
“The one that sticks out for me is the Giant Alphabet Floor Puzzle. It’s a great idea in theory, but the kids destroy it within minutes of it being assembled for the first time, and you never see it complete ever again. I even caught the inside of the ‘O’ in my cereal the other day!” (Daddilife)
3) VTech Toot Toot range
“Toot toot cars. The noisy songs and annoying voices meant I ended up hiding them away but they keep getting discovered again! I really must try harder to lose the fire engine though, his smug voice goes right through me!” (Katy – Hot Pink Wellingtons)
“Toot toot’s there’s not a single one of them that isn’t annoying! The pig is a particularly strange one!” (Amy – Mama Mighalls)
“The Toot Toot Garage. The sounds the cars’ make are broken up, clearly made of different records and in the weirdest voice imaginable. If you knock it, even slightly, the electronics in the whole thing go really flakey and the lift won’t go up when an adult tries to work it, so my toddler has absolutely no chance.” (Amy – The Might Duxburys)
4) Noisy toys
“Thankfully they are all long gone now but those musical baby toys that have no volume control on them. We seemed to be given so many of them back in the day.” (Mary – Over 40 and a Mum to One)
“This lion that Alice for given by a ‘friend’ it’s sings this song ‘I’m a little lion come and play with me’! It’s the most annoying voice and just randomly goes off!” (Laura – Dear Bear and Beany)
“Anything without an off switch or volume control! And anything that plays ‘Grandpa’s little train goes choo choo choo’. Dear God.” (Nicola – Mummy Wales)
“The Big Red Bus! I know it’s supposed to be educational but good god if I hear “let’s go to the zoo/school/station” one more time! My daughter has played with it since she was old enough to sit up by herself. I say play – she just bashes the buttons randomly so it’s just a mish mash of noise. It does occasionally go missing or the batteries run out and conveniently we don’t have new ones in the house.” (Kat – Confessions of a Working Mum)
“Any of those books with bits you press that make sounds. The batteries run out, leaving sad kids and pointlessly large books. And the cats walk over them and night and set them off at all hours (or maybe it’s the 3yo…)” (Mummy is a Gadget Geek)
5) Playdoh
“I hate the stuff. We have cats and their hairs always end up stuck in the doh and I find bits of it every where all the time. If my daughter doesn’t put it away I may ‘forget’ to remind her so that it unfortunately dries out…” (Leanne – A Slice of My Life Wales)
“My daughter loves the stuff but watching her mix the colours, it’s like nails on a chalkboard.” (Karina – Mums the Nerd)
6) Barbie dolls
“The shoes that always get lost, having to dress them as the 3 year old likes to take the clothes off but can never get them back on again and I just suck at imaginative play!” (Jessica – That Mummy Blog)
“Super skinny Barbie type dolls distress me!” (Awaybies)
7) Kinetic Sand
“I have a love/hate relationship with kinetic sand. Keeps them entertained for ages but I find bits of the stuff all over the house from their clothes and in the carpet.” (Alison – Five Little Stars)
8) Cuddly toys
“We have hundreds of them with three children and they are everywhere! I don’t have anywhere else to put them.” (Lindsay – Newcastle Family Life)
9) Surprise Egg Toys
“Such a rip off & the silly wee toys get everywhere & fall to bits.” (Susan – Susan K. Mann)
10) Ball pool
“The ball pool with the hundreds of balls that just get thrown around my house, in the cot, down the sofa, under the sofa, behind the TV. Mummy can’t cope!!! They would go in room 101!” (Susie – This is Me Now)
It’s interesting to see what different toys drive parents round the bend. Some of these are high on my ‘annoying’ list; others don’t bother me quite so much. One thing’s for sure though, my children love all of them even if Mummy doesn’t!
What toys would you send to Room 101?
Yes to all of these….I have found myself hiding noisy toys in the past. lol
I would add tablets and laptops to the list too….It’s the only thing my girls & I have argued about so far during the school holidays. x
Oh I can imagine the list of what goes in changes when they get older. We get arguments over tablets too but they are quite handy when I need to keep the children occupied for a while x
Lol quite a varied selection there. Thanks for including mine.
My pleasure! It’s so interesting to see what different toys drive parents crazy 🙂
Brilliant! I’m inspired to have a mass clear-out…
Lol, I keep being tempted to do the same!
Such a great range of toys. It’s funny to hear what drives one person nuts, another is ok with xx
I think some toys are a bit like Marmite! 🙂
Since this I’ve thought of so many more annoying toys too!! Thank you for including me x
My pleasure Laura. There are certainly lots of them aren’t there!
Yep, the silly egg toys with rubbish toys inside are very annoying. Peppa pig toys are equally annoying x
#SharingTheBlogLove
Surprise eggs and Peppa Pig toys are definitely both on my list but my children adore them x
Surprise eggs and Peppa Pig toys are definitely both on my list but my children adore them x
Thanks for including my contribution! I can’t believe I overlooked playdoh though – I can’t stand when all the colours get mixed, and the way I end up finding tiny bits of playdoh ground into the floor! I also recall a singing telephone that was broken and sang certain notes completely out of tune – hideous! Thanks for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLove
I’ve learned to ignore mixed up playdoh now but it still drives me potty when it’s ground into the floor. The singing telephone sounds awful – definitely a candidate for Room 101!
For me, any noisy toy that doesnt have an off switch can do one! If it gets knocked it just doesnt shut up and it drives me insane!!! #sharingthebloglove
No off switch drives me mad too – especially when they just start going off for no apparent reason!
Popping back to say Thank you for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLove
Aw thanks for including ours. And yes like Katy can’t believe I forgot play doh! I can’t stand the mixed colours either. Or the fact that my daughter won’t yet play with it without me!! #SharingtheBlogLove
Mixed colours bother me less now. The girls just get mixed play doh next time they play with it. Thankfully they can mostly play with it by themselves now too
Thank you for including mine, I agree with every single toy on this list x