I use many open ended items in my home. As mentioned before there are scarves, then we have art supplies like paints, pencils, crayons, we have clay. We also have several types of blocks. We have a play kitchen area with food and cooking utensils. There are also clothing for dress-up. The dress-up area is changed often to encourage different play( we have community helpers,Halloween costumes, restaurant theme(they love pretending to be in a diner and taking orders) I believe the most important thing is that most of these things are out in the open and available to the children when ever they choose