Its just a toy, after all

Just read this piece by Lenore Skenazy in the WSJ called Parents take the fun out of toys

You could sell a bucket of water with a few Chinese takeout containers floating around and say its a "multi-sensory aid" which "promotes cause and effect awareness" and "introduces basic physics tenets" and it would be totally true, but still just a bucket of water.

The bottom line: let your kids play with mud, build forts out of the couch cushions, throw a ball against a brick wall four hundred times in a row. Not only it is good for them, its free.