How to buy a toy your child will still use in six months

The toys still in use six months after they arrive tend to share four things.

They can be played with badly. A set with one correct outcome is finished the moment that outcome is reached. A set that can be stacked wrong, rebuilt, and repurposed as something else entirely keeps going.

They match what the child can do today, not next year. Buying a size up works for shoes and fails for toys. A puzzle that is too hard is not aspirational; it is a puzzle that gets pushed under the sofa.

They survive the floor. Look at the joints. Glued magnets come loose, riveted ones do not. Veneered MDF chips at the corner, solid wood does not.

They store in one action. A toy that needs sorting into compartments before it can be put away is a toy that stops being taken out. A bag or a box with a lid is worth more than an extra accessory.

None of these is about price. Some of the longest-serving toys we sell cost under ₹800.