Vincent and Luca's Favorite Toys

Our hope is that each of you will use The Vincent Babiarz Toy Drive as an opportunity to not only teach your children about the community in which we live in, but allow each of us to remember the Babiarz family in a tangible way to benefit the many underserved youth in our community.

Below is a list of some of Vincent and Luca's most cherished toys and books.  Feel free to use this list as a guide, and a way to remember Vincent's spirit, as you purchase your gifts for the event. You can also check out our Amazon wish list for inspiration!

Favorite Toys:

• Anything Star Wars, Batman or Indian Jones themed
  These toys always became “community property” and I can’t even remember who got what for what occasion.  I do know that the Batman House, submarine, lightsabers and Indiana Jones action figures were in constant use; sometimes simultaneously.
• Mighty Beanz
  These were a relatively new addition to Vincent’s favorites list.  He liked to take them to school and roll them down the slides in the Southport playlot.  We almost lost one once and had to form a search party.  Fortunately, it was bright blue and one of the kids found it.
• Bendaroos Normal
  Vincent saw these on T.V. and had to have them.  I figured they’d be good for fine motor coordination.  I don’t know if they actually achieved this goal, but he was fascinated with their ability to stick together.
• Magnetiz
  This toy is addictive.  You can build amazing structures using little magnetized tubes and steel spheres.  Also a good way to demonstrate attraction and repulsion.  I spent way too much time playing with them myself when I should have been doing laundry, dishes, cleaning the oven, etc.
• Building Blocks, Duplo or Legos
  Vincent loved all these toys.  The only problem was that once he had built something, he never wanted to take it apart.  We finally started taking pictures of  his creations and he was happy with that compromise.
• Magnadoodle
  Both boys liked to practice writing letters and numbers with these toys….and they’re “green” since they save reams of paper!
• "Draw with Light" glow board
• Disney Memory Game
• Talking Laptops
  We have several of these including a “Diego” animal habitat one and a V-Tech letter-learner.  Since babyhood, Vincent loved to press buttons and he never outgrew it.  They typically come with several different games so they’re good for parent/child interaction as well.
• Simulated Steering Wheel
  This one was Luca’s favorite from ages one to three.  He got it as a Secret Santa gift at Day Care and would not go anywhere without it.  When he was about 18 months, he used to flip the Exer-saucer on its side and crawl in with his steering wheel creating a makeshift (and oddly shaped) car.
• Talking Globe
  Vincent loved maps of any kind and enjoyed just looking at the globe.  He always wanted to find Myanmar for some reason.
• Play Dough
• Moon Sand

Favorite Books:

• "Footprints in the Snow" by Cynthia Benjamin
• Any Dr. Seuss book including "Green Eggs and Ham", "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?" and "Hop on Pop"
• The Froggy Series by Jonathan London including "Froggy's First Christmas", "Froggy Gets Dressed", "Froggy Plays T-Ball", "Froggy Goes to T-Ball"
• "I Love You More" by Laura Duksta
• "Where the Wild Things Are"
• "Corduroy's Easter" and "Corduroy Goes to the Beach"
• "Raggedy Ann and Andy; All That We Love" by Patricia Hall
• "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and "If You Give a Pig a Pancake"
• "My First Dinosaur" by DK Books
• "Elmo's Get Up and Go Songs"
• A boxed set of Christmas books including "Deck The Halls", "Jingle Bells" and "The Twelve Days of Christmas"
• Any Activity Book
• Leap Frog Learn to Write Workbooks
• I Spy Books
• Atlases​