I'm guessing it talks about more open ended toys that inspire imagination and creativity. Basically that is the bulk of what we have
Same here. And I do agree with limiting how much is available at once too.
Some things like a box of toy animals that don't 'do' anything (ie no electronics) started out here as purely fill and dump activity when he was younger, then names and sounds of animals, counting, and I can imagine them being used in the future in a more story telling, imaginative play way.
Re boredom - it is good for kids to be bored sometimes (of course, not all the time!) because it encourages creativity and imaginative thinking. I think the trick is to get the balance right.
For sure. I just ended up doing stuff I shouldn't have been doing from lack of challenging activities and age appropriate books etc (things like, 'what happens when I set fire to this at the kitchen hob whilst everyone else is asleep and I have hours before they are up' - scary when I think back!). For example we had hundreds of books in our house, but few/none for my age or I would have spent a lot more time reading.
I've had that book on my wish list for a while now. Think it will be my next purchase when I finish the one I'm reading.