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I bought Corelle for exactly the same reasons as Patrick. When I was teaching my daughter to drink from a cup instead of a bottle, I didn't want to use plastic and didn't want to risk glass, so the Corelle coffee cups were the answer. Also, their dishes are lightweight and stack much more compactly than the thick ceramic stuff. I bought the plain white set (Winter Frost I think) and I add the other pieces like the super small prep bowls every few months. Wal Mart sells them in sets or by the piece which is great since we use few large plates and many many bowls. Also, now I've been comfortable teaching my now 5 yr old how to wash dishes. Even if she drops them in the sink they don't break. My husband is the only one who has managed to break one and he dropped a bowl outside on the concrete.

ooh yeah, plus for those of us without microwaves you can re-heat leftovers in the oven since their dishes are oven proof

In my family, we have actually managed to break Corelle dishes, so they are only break-resistent...! My recommendation would be to get cheap dishes from trusty IKEA. That is what we do in our house (with an almost 4 year old and a 7 month old).

For years, I searched for the perfect white dishes that would go with anything; I finally found them -- 24hr by Iitala Arabia of Finland
http://www.finnishgifts.com/iittala-24h-dinnerware.html

Funny thing, IKEA knocked them off (sort of). And in better colours. So these are what we are using for now. We especially love the pasta bowls (in dark grey)
http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/IkeamsSearch?storeId=12&langId=-1&catalogId=11001&searchType=product&pageNumber=-1&orderBy=score&category=%23%7EProducts&query=dinera

I had no idea Corelle had such cool designs now. As an accident-prone adult this is perfect!

Corelle does not break as easily, but when it does, watch out! It breaks into tiny little dangerous shards! My job is to break plates, and it really is not as easy as you might think. When ceramic plates break, it is usually in large managable hunks instead of razor sharp pointed shards. Maybe invest in some plates at target that won't break you heart if they break. Kids break things - it's thier job! =)

I say get the plates you want and if one breaks - send it to me to make jewelry out of, then you have a cute memory of your kids clumbsy days! www.ibreakplates.com

About five years ago, Crate & Barrel outlet had some really cool plates which were white and had a border of red, orange and black polka dots. In the center, each plate read "Mother," "Father" or "Child" in a nice sans serif font. At the time, I didn't have kids but I thought they were so neat. (Yes, I said "neat" and I stand by my decision!)

They were on sale for about $4 each. I wish they would bring them back.

Thanks a lot for all the great ideas. I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I never thought of Ikea. We have plenty of Ikea furniture for our playroom, but I didn't think of them for dishes. Do you know if they are unbreakable (or break resistant)?

The Corelle stuff is much better looking than I remembered. We had it in the early 80's when I was a kid, and it wasn't all that attractive (I have a hazy memory of a Bicentennial-themed set that we got on sale, though I may be wrong).

Thanks again.

Patrick

We've been using IKEA dishes for the past 6 months or so with a 6 and 1 year old and haven't broken one yet! We got them to replace our Pottery Barn dishes of which 10 of 12 dinner plates had broken, 12 of 12 bowls, and 9 of 12 mugs.

Although I don't have much experience with IKEA dishes and children, a set of IKEA dishes has lasted me through three years of college (with two male roommates) and then some without a single broken piece. They aren't the most attractive option but I can certainly vouch for their durability.

Any sort of stoneware should survive pretty well. My parents' Pfalzgraff has lasted through upwards of 20 years of heavy use, including my younger sisters' entire childhoods.

I've broken a reasonable number of Ikea dishes, but perhaps it is the type of dishes I got. I like the Correl idea; an idea to make it less expensive is to look for a Corning outlet shop. They sell seconds cheaply.

http://www.corningwarestores.com/index.asp?pageID=91
this page lets you pop in your zip and find the closest store.

Fiestaware! It's actually porcelain, so it's virtually unbreakable. And it comes in so many delicious colors. We have three under five and have yet to break any!

Patrick -

The IKEA dinera series is very sturdy -- you would have to try really, really hard to break it. As it was posted earlier on, if it were to break, the pieces wouldn't be very dangerous. However, were the Corelle to break, since it is vitreous, it is pretty much the equivalent of breaking a glass -- it creates small, sharp shards. The beauty of the IKEA set, is that you can buy a lot of it for cheap, and not worry.

As an aside, our daughter's Montessori uses ceramic plates and real (very sturdy small bistro) glasses (which are similar to POKAL carried by IKEA) -- their point being that it is important to teach children how to handle them properly from early on. And after almost 4 years, our daughter has yet to break anything.