Ok, this is sooooo stupid, but I saw it in one of the parenting magazines & decided to give it a try...dixie cups. We don't keep them around, so I'm sure those of you who do already knew this. Great kids toy...the 20 month old stacks them, puts them inside each other, the 4 yo builds things & makes stuff for the trucks to crash into...they both like to play dino stomp and stomp on them. 200 of the silly things for just over $2, will start looking for them on clearance at Target. Stores nicely too, unlike all the other blocks we have! Just had to share....

My chldren loved to do exactly as you said. We saved the stomping until the cups looked pretty beat up and them we stomped on them.

A great B-day present. Put a card with ideas on it for them to use or do!

All the money we spend on toys, and it's the cardboard boxes and dixie cups that do the trick! LOL

Thanks for the great tip!! Wish I'd seen it before I went shopping tonight!! It's on the list!

my mom used to always save the empty cereal boxes, oatmeal containers and paper towel tubes and stuff...to her they were cheap lincoln logs or tinker toys...I would come in from work and her and the kids would have built all kinds of stuff with the "kitchen garbage" and glue sticks.

Now that you mention it, I did have my class build a really cool castle one year with kitchen trash...