Letting Your Child Choose New Toys

I decided to take little J for some new toys recently. He loves toys and he hasn't really had any new ones since his birthday in March. When we arrived at Smyths I told him that he could buy some new toys and he could pick them himself. He was really excited and kept saying 'new toys for me'

Just outside the store was a huge Lego figure so he climbed on and posed for a photo.




Inside there are child friendly shopping trolleys so we grabbed one of them and little J pulled it around the shop as he browsed for new toys. The shopping trolley / basket gave little J total control of the shopping and he oozed independence as he manoeuvred the trolley around the store. Letting your child choose new toys is a lovely way for them to feel independent and grown up.

He went up and down every aisle carefully looking at the options available. He was checking out all the 'try me' buttons and having a sneaky play before he decided what to pick.

I brought down a few toys that I thought he might like from the higher parts of the shelves.

The first toy he picked was LeapFrog Number Loving Oven. He loves playing with food and his little microwave had just broke so this was a perfect choice for him. The oven comes with lots of accessories and was reasonably priced.

When we came to the bottom of one of the aisles there was a huge pile of toys on the floor. They had all been reduced and because they were just scattered on the floor he sat down to take a closer look. First he saw a pack of Disney Cars. He loves cars and although big J has most of them from when he was younger I hadn't seen these two before. They were reduced to £5. He then found a Dusty plane which looked lots of fun again that was also reduced to £5. He then dug deep and found another Disney 'Cars' car, Chick Hicks. We already have Chick but this is a friction car so a little different. Again reduced to £5. Once he had finished looking in the pile of toys he walked up another aisle then said 'I pay the man' he had finished.

We paid for the toys and made our way home. He couldn't wait to get home to play with big J. He made him egg using his new oven and they played with the cars and plane together.

He had lots of fun choosing his toys and it was nice to give him the freedom to choose toys he wanted. He loved having control of the trolley / basket and it was a lovely morning together. Next time I would definitely give him the freedom again as he was so mature about it all even at just 2 years old.

Have you ever thought about letting your child choose new toys?