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I believe you need to have a balance between fun toys and educational/creative toys. If you push so many creative toys on your child then they will become bored they need something for fun to get that energy out of there system.

My son has so much stuff but it varies between music, sounds helping him learn to walk to soft toys. Musical books which stimulate the stories more than just words. Bricks, Spinning toys, Were getting him a huge brick table which he can stand and play with for christmas. We have cubes soft toys which does noises each side, a jumperoo which he plays and jumps around in, balls, building stacks, bathtime toys etc and he loves them all he has a hour of cartoons usually something his sister is watching then play and then a hour educational stuff like numbers or at the moment spanish to educate him and he is 1 years old.

My daughter had similar stuff as a baby but she had a walker which she sat in and moved around rather than a jumperoo. She had mainly the same as a lot of the stuff my son has was unisex and hers before leaving us free to buy the jumperoo for him and new walker else it would have been too expensive.

Now for this year were getting them generally

For him

big brick lego table
thomas tank engine toy chest
4 musical books
a truck and big cars
sweets
a mickey singing musical toy
a spinning night light

and other bits

for her

big slyvanian dolls house and bits for it
minnie mouse toy chest
books
craft stuff
painting stuff
a game tablet
disney bedspread, pjs, canopy and curtains
sweet shop toys
dvds
clothes

and some other bits

but she is getting more this time because a lot of her toys have gone to her brother so best to balance it out before she gets jealous.

You just need to balance it out if your too strict on there toys and what they watch they will rebel a little bit later.

I agree with you. I personally believe that a child should be engaged in the world around them and in creative activities. Legos and such are great for kids. They should be outside running and playing and discovering the world that they live in. Not glued to a TV screen watching other peoples lives or playing as a fictional character in a world that doesn't exist. When I was old enough my family and I played Scattergories (sp?), Scrabble, Boggle, Monopoly, Mancala, etc. They were mind engaging games. I actually prefer those kinds of games because they require thought. I spent a lot of time outside looking at bugs and birds and being physically active. It's far more healthy for a child mentally, emotionally, and physically to be engaging in creative activities. It's good for a child to skin their knee once in a while. It builds strength and teaches them, in a way, to stand steady on their own two feet. I don't think it's bad for a child to watch some TV once in a while, or play Mario or pac-man once in a while. But I strongly believe that their day should be filled with more mentally and physically engaging activities than in the flashy, mind numbing activities.