apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We use one made by Melissa & Doug in the enrichment program where I work. It's very well-made and pretty durable. Has a drawbridge. It's on sale for $70 at kidsurplus.com

So we have this wooden castle: http://www.amazon.com/Lights-Camera-Interaction-1198-Folding/dp/B0010WDLO4/ref=pd_sbs_t_1 by Lights Camera Action, and it is $100. We've had it for about 5 years and it has seen a ton of action from children of all ages, and both genders. It has been inhabited by schleich knights, lego knights, robots, bears, mermaids, jungle animals... Basically it's been an indispensable toy. I like that it folds out because it allows for more than one kid to play at it at a time. It has a drawbridge that you raise and lower by turning a wooden knob, and a sliding door (for a jail) inside. Since buying that, I have now also seen one by Melissa and Doug for $67 on amazon that looks good too, and has a working trapdoor. Can't vouch for it but it is a bit cheaper and also looks promising. Good luck! I was worried about spending the $ on ours when I did, but I've never once regretted it.

As my children have gotten older, I am more and more in favor of toys that offer open-ended play. I might suggest a castle block set. I recently bought a set of plain wooden blocks for my youngest and was happy to see how both children work and play together with them. They use them to build houses and shops for the train to go between and for making cities and towns for the dolls and cars. I saw these two that looked nice (and you'll be able to add on to the sets).

http://www.oompa.com/baby-toys/item/HA1077/Haba-Basic-Building-Blocks---FREE-SHIPPING.html?oompaItem=Haba_Basic%20Building%20Blocks%20-%20FREE%20SHIPPING

http://www.finewoodentoys.com/pro508020.html

That said, my daughter played with a cheap plastic castle that came with 4 mini Disney princesses everyday for over year plus.

I bought the castle in the picture from Back to Basics Toys for my 3 and a half year old for Christmas, and must say I'm very disappointed with the quality. It is extremely rickety and wobbly, and too big to really put away at the end of the day. In hindsight, I really wish I had just purchased a set of castle blocks to go with his existing wooden block set.

something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Guidecraft-Table-Top-Blocks-castle-Blocks/dp/B000K7G5U2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1235162157&sr=1-3

The figures that came with the Back to Basics castle are great and I think you can order those separately.

I don't have a recommendation but do want to add to the list of ones not to buy. Plan Toys Castle http://www.amazon.com/Plan-Toys-61110-Adventurous-Castle/dp/B0007W5SF8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1235164531&sr=1-1 described itself as wood and I thought it would be great as most of their toys are. I was extremely dissapointed to open the box to find that half of it was foam, seriously, the gray walls are actually foam not wood, the pieces do not fit together well and topple over so easily as to make play near impossible. Normally I'm a huge plan toys fan but this castle is terrible.