BLOCKS!! My child will play with blocks for, literally, hours. Definitely worth the small cost!

perfect timing for the shoe box gift! jump rope, yo yo,slinky and jax ! the basic toys of "yesteryear" are toys that ALL kid still love.

Lego/Duplos, of course. Also, anything with "people" play. As a kid, all I played with were dollhouse people. My 18 month old is a Sesame Street fanatic. Because she's limited in how much TV I let her watch, she spends much of her time playing with a small set of Sesame Street figurines.

A doll. Or a stuffed animal. Those are hit or miss - but when they're a hit, they're years of great imaginative play for not much money.

Those are all great but you need some animals and people to the mix.

Train tracks

We also have a LOT of love for Lego duplo, especially buying big lots of castle walls, people, trees off ebay. They are great for longer than people think because they are a faster build and seem more independent than the instructions driven version.

I also think my kids will have a long time love affair with playmobil.

The formula above is a good start but doesn't take into the healthy and safety issues of many toys nor does it factor in the ethical, moral, and healthy and safety issues of country of origin.

Puppets!

In our house, we never go without a full "working" set of washable markers and a selection of dollar store paints/brushes along with a $5 roll of IKEA MALA paper. The trick is to NOT tear off their masterpieces. Simply roll their artwork back up and store as one-of-a-kind wrapping paper. Then when our kids are invited to parties, we reuse the paper. It is always a hit.

I also use this paper (or brown paper) as a table runner during the holiday seasons by taping it under the end of the table and have the kids decorate it before we entertain. Then their artwork becomes a conversation piece which is always a good ice breaker. Or if I want a cleaner look, I ask them to decorate the runner the day after we have entertained while I am recovering from the night before!

I never as much with the kid sized kitchen, the jungle gym, etc. But when I had items in a handheld version, I played for HOURS. I loved taking my little people around the house, creating different "worlds" for them to visit. (The MOUNTAIN in the closet, etc).

my kid (2) is obsessed with mr. potato head. OBSESSED. he thinks it's such fun to put all the parts on him. Hubby had a set from when he was a kid and loves playing with that at Grandma and Grandpa's. Extra pieces are cheap and add to more fun.

Yes! How did blocks not make the list? My son played with a set of blocks almost daily for (not kidding) years.
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Old-school-blocks-prove-best-for-brains-1251240.php

@el_swan wooden blocks did make the list that richard's readers came up with. they definitely get tons of play in my house, too.

My brother and I shared a playroom as children. We had an old wood kitchen set (that is getting repainted for my niece) full of plastic food and dishes.

We also had a nice collection of cabbage patch dolls that we found at garage sales.

Another huge favorite was our laundry basket filled with play clothes (interesting hand-me-downs and second-hand clothes) and wigs.

We spent hours playing house and putting on plays with the kitchen, dolls and clothes.

Over the years, our other favorites for inside were books (which we would often act out), board games, lego, playdoh, craft supplies, and barbies. For outside, we had bicycles, sports equipment, jumping ropes, tonka trucks, and assorted plastic containers to fill with water and "collections."

Musical instruments of all kinds! My almost 4-year old son and his friends love playing "band" or "music class." In addition to a drum, shakers, kazoo, etc, we have a ukulele and a 1/2 size guitar that weren't cheap (but not too pricey either) and have held up beautifully - they're the toys kids at our house gravitate to first (well, after the train table).

Along the lines of dress-up, I fondly remember a set of capes that a neighbor friend had. HOURS of fun with open-ended possibilities. It is my go-to gift for the 3-7 year olds in my life.

It really bothers me that you would add "apps" to a list of things with play value. But everything else people have listed is wonderful and very much popular with the children I know!

The box a toy comes in.
A ball!
Mom & Dad's "big clothes"
Pots & pans
Sand--in a box, in a hill, on a beach

Another vote for wooden trains/tracks. My 2.5 year old son has played with his almost every day for the past year and my younger son (nine months) is also playing with them. Altogether we should get at least 3-4 years out of the trains.

Large floor puzzles also get a lot of use around here.

We have a bunch of the M&D play food sets, felt play food, pots/pans, and a kitchen.. lots and lots of replay value with that one.

And Michelle, apps are akin to books these days. My sons uses his iPad apps most days and it isn't somehow worse than an ordinary book. I don't quite follow how a toddler board book has some inherent value that a toddler board book app doesn't.

Remember cardboard boxes. Free/low cost, lots of fun & use of imagination. Awesome for sitting on/in, stacking, pretending you have a boat/train/plane/car, zoos, desks, doll beds, cat castles ... possibilities are endless. My mother even made me a playhouse out of a huge box a refrigerator came in.

I had lots of nice toys growing up, but what I played with most were a few favorite dolls (especially the little Strawberry Shortcake dolls), My Little Ponies, empty boxes, Play-Doh, a tea set, Legos, a 72-color crayon set (still have it - not with the original crayons, of course), and a train set with tracks that snapped together in tons of different combinations.

I love this post. At our house, I would love to get rid of everything but the Legos/Duplos, blocks, marbles/marble tower, dolls, dress-ups, train tracks, and art supplies. Potato head could stay, too.

Alas, I'm not in charge of that (my husband would die), so in the meantime I just keep most of the rest of it locked up ;-)

One more comment though: when my oldest was a baby, I lovingly developed a collection of musical toys. I found a set of pretty hand bells, an accordion, a recorder, some drums, a tambourine, etc. Now, they live on a very, very high shelf until my kids show a little volume control or some type of musical inclination. What results is always an AMAZING cacophony of sound...which drives me absolutely bonkers. I wish it weren't so, but it sure is!

Yet...I'm still longingly drawn to the xylophones...and have to tell myself to step.away.now.

@honeyhaze - I have to disagree with you. Apps are not akin to books. There is not an electronic device out there that can replicate the tactile advantages to holding an actual book in hand. I am amazed that one can even liken the experience of reading and being read to from a book to playing an "educational" app on an ipad. Even ereader enthusiasts would agree that screen time and book time are not even close to the same.

Stacking cups have already bought me hours and hours of time for showers, cooking, etc and she is only 8 mths old

My daughter is another block-loving kid. She has a set of large, quality wood ones. Also some quirky alphabet blocks, lincoln logs, and wooden train tracks (cheap ones from Ikea). She also has a basket of plastic Schleich animals. She is 6 now and still "builds set-ups" daily.

We love this formula - how true it is, durability is critical, how often we were disappointed with toys that just were not up to the job. Quality not quantity is what counts! Buying something that might cost a little bit more is worth it if you know its going to last and bring joy not only to your kids but to your grandchildren too. When we started Ptolemy Toys this formula was at the heart of what we wanted to deliver, and we have discovered some great brands. One of our favourites that our customers rave about is the Holztiger wooden animals - animals from all over the world, made in strong but durable maple wood and beautifully handpainted https://www.ptolemytoys.co.uk/Article/09/holztiger-Toys-in-the-uk.html

The longest lasting toys in my house have been Lego and a wooden train track, both "imagination" toys

Blocks and Legos. Small plastic animals. Next to these things, the The Fisher Price plastic castle I bought from a neighbor's garage sale is the most played with toy in our house. It came into our lives when my eldest son was probably about 4 years old and he's 9 now. It has been played with using the characters that came with it, small plastic animals, action figures, LEGO minifigs, fairy figurines and Barbies. Boys and girls are both drawn to it and it's the best $5 I've ever spent!

- legos
- bristle blocks
- wood blocks
- trains and tracks
- cars
- art table: crayons, markers, scrap paper, stickers
- balls
- books

Apps are not akin to a book at all. An app is screen time, pure and simple. It is no different than watching t.v. and all research ALL confirms that screen time is grossly inferior to every other kind of play time or activity.

Apps might have a place in your lives but value them for what they are.

I bought my friend's son a set of Schleich farm animals for his 5th birthday and he would carry them everywhere and spend hours making up stories about the animals.

My little brother used to also make up a lot of stories so my dad gave him an old tape recorder. My dad still has several hours worth of tapes somewhere and they're pretty hilarious. Hours of entertainment and mementos to boot.

For slightly older children, hula hoops. My day campers played with the camp's dollar store hula hoops for as long as we would let them.

@kerrimorgan, the book reading experience on a tablet is remarkably similar to reading a paper book. Tablets are highly tactile devices, which is why they're so popular. There are also a lot of excellent children's books for tablets, classics like Horton Hears a Who. I'm an avid reader and have switched almost entirely to using the Kindle app on my iPad; I find it easier to read on the iPad because I no longer need to keep track of my bookmark, put batteries in my booklight, or deal with the wrist strain that heavy books cause when I read in bed.

I used to be very turned off to electronic devices for children. I remember once scoffing when one of my little cousins took out her Nintendo DS at the dinner table. Since having children of my own I've come to appreciate how nifty and engaging things like the iPad can be. I sometimes read books to my son on his iPad and there are some cool advantages: built-in book light for bedtime reading (very handy), narration if I'm too exhausted to read but still want to enjoy a book with my son, images when touched usually show/say the word. And it's still a book. It has pictures and words and a story. A book doesn't have to be made out of paper to be a book..

I'm all for highly tactile, naturalistic play. But let's not disregard electronic engagement simply because it's electronic. Some people used to think the radio was the work of the devil and would turn children away from enjoying making music with their families. They were right, families making music together became less common, but perhaps sitting around while grandpa plays the banjo night after night isn't quite as quaint when you have no alternatives.

These days there is a legitimate place for "apps" on the list of classic toys. A good app expands a child's imagination in a similar way as a good book, an easel, or a bunch of rubber bands.

I understand the resistance to these devices. Digging in the dirt with a stick seems like the best thing in the world after staring at a computer screen for hours. But the key is balance, not diminishing the benefits of toys like the iPad. My two year old creates really cool artwork on his iPad that he wouldn't yet be able to do even if let him use every last thing in our craft closet.