Toys for a two-year-old soon?
March 15, 2018 5:21 AM Subscribe
My 16-month-old loves his toys but is on the verge of being ready for the next big toy leap. Which will be what, exactly? We have some Toys R Us gift cards I want to spend while I can.
His current favourites are blocks, a large dump truck he enjoys putting the blocks into, little people farm and animals, and books. He’s not super interested in pushing around toy vehicles.
We have some Thomas trains and tracks, Duplo, wooden puzzles and schleich animals which were passed down to us but he’s not quite ready. He has mega blocks and a table for them but doesn’t quite get it yet.
What will be the next toy he’s ready for? I have about $150 in gift cards.
His current favourites are blocks, a large dump truck he enjoys putting the blocks into, little people farm and animals, and books. He’s not super interested in pushing around toy vehicles.
We have some Thomas trains and tracks, Duplo, wooden puzzles and schleich animals which were passed down to us but he’s not quite ready. He has mega blocks and a table for them but doesn’t quite get it yet.
What will be the next toy he’s ready for? I have about $150 in gift cards.
Our boys have been building with Trio snap-together blocks for ever. We tried mega blocks, but they aren't as satisfying as Trio. We still have a huge bucket of them that I would LOVE to get rid of (now that we've got like 25 pounds of Lego) but I'm certain that the boys would refuse and they're 9 and 11 now.
posted by turkeybrain at 6:09 AM on March 15, 2018
posted by turkeybrain at 6:09 AM on March 15, 2018
ok on second thought you said 16 months, and I was thinking 'almost three years' and they weren't building much of anything at yours' age.
At that age, I think I got one of them his own cheap universal remote from Radio Shack to chew as a decoy from the production model.
posted by turkeybrain at 6:13 AM on March 15, 2018
At that age, I think I got one of them his own cheap universal remote from Radio Shack to chew as a decoy from the production model.
posted by turkeybrain at 6:13 AM on March 15, 2018
I got the link to this publication from my pediatrician and it has been spot on for each developmental stage: Which Toy for Which Child
posted by erloteiel at 6:13 AM on March 15, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by erloteiel at 6:13 AM on March 15, 2018 [6 favorites]
The best “investment” toys in our household were magnetic tiles, like magformers or magnatiles, and a wooden train set, which I see you have. Also, kinetic sand is really expensive but nice to have on hand for bad-weather days.
posted by bighappyhairydog at 6:14 AM on March 15, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by bighappyhairydog at 6:14 AM on March 15, 2018 [3 favorites]
* I second the magnatiles - my 5-year-old still uses the set we got him and our 15 month old also loves them. They are a big upfront cost - but they grow with your child and can supplement imaginary play. (e.g., we created special tunnels for our Brio trains to go through, spaceships or bases for our action figures, "lasers" by putting them in front of flashlights.)
We've actually picked up some cookie sheets/baking trays at a yardsale to use with the magnetiles. The blocks will stick to the tray, making the structures sturdier and easier to move at the end of playtime. You can also get LED tea-lights to make magnetile torches or jack-o-lanterns.
* Bristle Blocks - Children can assemble them much easier than duplos/megablocks.
* Toy (or cheap real versions) of household tools - like brooms, dust pans, pans, plastic foods, spray bottles. At this age, kids will likely spend a lot of time watching what caregivers do and may want to copy that behavior. My first child loved the plastic cooking stuff, but my second appears to like cleaning stuff more. (We actually prefered to scour yard-sales for used versions of the cooking/cleaning tools - but you might prefer the play items)
* Nesting blocks - if you don't have some - were also big hits in our house.
posted by TofuGolem at 6:46 AM on March 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
We've actually picked up some cookie sheets/baking trays at a yardsale to use with the magnetiles. The blocks will stick to the tray, making the structures sturdier and easier to move at the end of playtime. You can also get LED tea-lights to make magnetile torches or jack-o-lanterns.
* Bristle Blocks - Children can assemble them much easier than duplos/megablocks.
* Toy (or cheap real versions) of household tools - like brooms, dust pans, pans, plastic foods, spray bottles. At this age, kids will likely spend a lot of time watching what caregivers do and may want to copy that behavior. My first child loved the plastic cooking stuff, but my second appears to like cleaning stuff more. (We actually prefered to scour yard-sales for used versions of the cooking/cleaning tools - but you might prefer the play items)
* Nesting blocks - if you don't have some - were also big hits in our house.
posted by TofuGolem at 6:46 AM on March 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
I work in Early Intervention and my professional recommendation is simple pretend play toys like a kitchen set and a few pieces of pretend food. Get two of each so you can play along with him.
posted by Ideal Impulse at 6:48 AM on March 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Ideal Impulse at 6:48 AM on March 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
We have had a toy kitchen in our actual kitchen since our son was 14 months old. He is 7 1/2 and still uses it occasionally, and our daughter still uses it a lot at 4 1/2. We got this one which is small and simple (so it fits in our small kitchen) and is a PERFECT size for a 2 year old. We supplemented it with this accessory set (pots and pans and a couple of plates). The plates and cutlery and spatulas hang neatly on the little top shelf of the kitchen.
As far as play food, we added that a little at a time. We got one set of velcro food that could be "cut" with the knife, got a few more odds and ends from consignment sales/freecycle, got some stuff from our second culture. It's a hodgepodge and that works fine.
It's been great for pretend play, concept development ("I'd like some yellow soup." "Now can you make me a soup with a meat and a vegetable?"), parent rest time (after they've doctored you, you can extend your time sprawled on the couch by declaring you need some food to help you feel better and then placing a series of complicated orders), and letting parent cook in kitchen while kid keeps parent company without being totally underfoot.
Also, if you don't have a doctor set, a doctor set is another classic pretend play thing. I can vouch for this one, but there's nothing magic about it. (The spring-loaded syringe is nice.)
posted by telepanda at 7:26 AM on March 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
As far as play food, we added that a little at a time. We got one set of velcro food that could be "cut" with the knife, got a few more odds and ends from consignment sales/freecycle, got some stuff from our second culture. It's a hodgepodge and that works fine.
It's been great for pretend play, concept development ("I'd like some yellow soup." "Now can you make me a soup with a meat and a vegetable?"), parent rest time (after they've doctored you, you can extend your time sprawled on the couch by declaring you need some food to help you feel better and then placing a series of complicated orders), and letting parent cook in kitchen while kid keeps parent company without being totally underfoot.
Also, if you don't have a doctor set, a doctor set is another classic pretend play thing. I can vouch for this one, but there's nothing magic about it. (The spring-loaded syringe is nice.)
posted by telepanda at 7:26 AM on March 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
I'm not being snarky when I say: GIANT CARDBOARD APPLIANCE BOX. Our boys had one that lasted for 3 years and was hands-down the favorite toy in the room. Zero dollars, fully (but tearfully when the time came) recyclable.
posted by SinAesthetic at 7:30 AM on March 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by SinAesthetic at 7:30 AM on March 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
I was just about to say kitchen (hmmm, this one is nicer than my actual kitchen). He might be a tiny bit young for it, but that won't last long ;) Both my boys looooved the toy kitchen. Melissa & Doug has some great food-themed toys. The Slice and Bake Cookies were a huge hit. I'd probably first get a few pots and pans and some pretend food. There will be recognizable things in there and he can make "soup," which is a classic kids favorite game :)
posted by LKWorking at 7:31 AM on March 15, 2018
posted by LKWorking at 7:31 AM on March 15, 2018
Magnatiles! At every preschool, school class, play places these are the toys kids are waiting for.
We also liked the giant cardboard bricks. Fun to build with and fun to build a wall and crash through.
posted by beccaj at 7:33 AM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
We also liked the giant cardboard bricks. Fun to build with and fun to build a wall and crash through.
posted by beccaj at 7:33 AM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
Giant cardboard box gave us hours and hours of crawling and coloring play - we turned it into a castle in our basement and kept a glue gun on a high shelf nearby so we could add broken Christmas ornaments and other small toys to it as decorations. Amazon Pantry boxes get one day of sitting-inside-with-a-crayon before getting broken down for recycling.
The duplo and train track days are imminent. I built tracks for my 14mo old and he spent ages driving trains on them. Magnatiles are the best. A box of old remotes is a treasure. My Bluetooth iPad keyboard was used twice for its intended purpose before disappearing into the toy box never to be returned to me.
Do you see this monstrosity? Grandma got it for my kids when they were babies and I was so furious (huge AND noisy) that I didn’t put it together for several months. It’s five years later and they call it “the contraption” and it remains the most played with toy from ages 9mos to 9 years.
posted by annathea at 7:36 AM on March 15, 2018
The duplo and train track days are imminent. I built tracks for my 14mo old and he spent ages driving trains on them. Magnatiles are the best. A box of old remotes is a treasure. My Bluetooth iPad keyboard was used twice for its intended purpose before disappearing into the toy box never to be returned to me.
Do you see this monstrosity? Grandma got it for my kids when they were babies and I was so furious (huge AND noisy) that I didn’t put it together for several months. It’s five years later and they call it “the contraption” and it remains the most played with toy from ages 9mos to 9 years.
posted by annathea at 7:36 AM on March 15, 2018
Definitely magnatiles! I wouldn't have expected what my 24 month old would like at 16 months, though, because it turned out to be puzzles. He went from smashing everything in sight to doing 30 piece puzzles by himself in the span of a couple months. All he wants is puzzles puzzles puzzles, so we have about 12 now that he works on on rotation.
We got him a wooden train set for Christmas and he loves that too, we got a Brio set that we keep adding pieces to (because the 4 year old also loves it, but really because it's now my thing to build super cool tracks across the living room).
posted by lydhre at 7:44 AM on March 15, 2018
We got him a wooden train set for Christmas and he loves that too, we got a Brio set that we keep adding pieces to (because the 4 year old also loves it, but really because it's now my thing to build super cool tracks across the living room).
posted by lydhre at 7:44 AM on March 15, 2018
Water/sand table. We have this one, and it's nice because it's deep enough that there can be enough weight in it to be steady for a new stander/walker, while still having plenty of sidewall left to help keep the materials contained. It would also integrate well with his current toys/hobbies, if you don't mind the stuff getting sandy/wet.
(FWIW: My kid has seen/worked with Magnatiles several times and just... doesn't care for them. I'd find somewhere to try some out before purchasing.)
posted by teremala at 7:57 AM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
(FWIW: My kid has seen/worked with Magnatiles several times and just... doesn't care for them. I'd find somewhere to try some out before purchasing.)
posted by teremala at 7:57 AM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
On the cleaning front, if you have a swiffer, you can 100% make it toddler sized by popping out two of the handle sections...
posted by telepanda at 9:04 AM on March 15, 2018
posted by telepanda at 9:04 AM on March 15, 2018
A sorting toy. It maximizes his current interest, which sounds like hand-eye and dexterity. Some foam puzzles, maybe not the huge one, but things he can manipulate. We had a US map foam puzzle that was a favorite.
Toys-r-us might have diapers, next size car seat or other useful items to use up the gift cert.
posted by theora55 at 10:06 AM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
Toys-r-us might have diapers, next size car seat or other useful items to use up the gift cert.
posted by theora55 at 10:06 AM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
Magnatiles are great. My nearly 9-year-old still plays with them.
IKEA nearby? They have some really fun, inexpensive toy cookware/food sets. Small versions of metal pots and pans, soft cloth food sets (think basket of cloth fruit, basket of cloth vegetables, and a nice cloth salmon fillet with dill set, because it's IKEA). The food sets have a few Velcro pull-apart bits (some fruit can be split in half, fish pulls apart into large sections, outer lettuce leaves tear off) but nothing so small to be a hazard to a toddler.
posted by caution live frogs at 11:05 AM on March 15, 2018
IKEA nearby? They have some really fun, inexpensive toy cookware/food sets. Small versions of metal pots and pans, soft cloth food sets (think basket of cloth fruit, basket of cloth vegetables, and a nice cloth salmon fillet with dill set, because it's IKEA). The food sets have a few Velcro pull-apart bits (some fruit can be split in half, fish pulls apart into large sections, outer lettuce leaves tear off) but nothing so small to be a hazard to a toddler.
posted by caution live frogs at 11:05 AM on March 15, 2018
Oh and also this: Playskool Explore & Grow busy ball popper
We got one from my brother when our son was very young. His kids had one, and they liked it - plus, amazingly, even though it made noise, the noise was ... dare I say it? Fun, rather than obnoxious? And even as a parent of a kid who played with it a lot, for years, the sound effects didn't get old or annoyingly repetitive. Which is a huge, huge plus.
posted by caution live frogs at 11:10 AM on March 15, 2018
We got one from my brother when our son was very young. His kids had one, and they liked it - plus, amazingly, even though it made noise, the noise was ... dare I say it? Fun, rather than obnoxious? And even as a parent of a kid who played with it a lot, for years, the sound effects didn't get old or annoyingly repetitive. Which is a huge, huge plus.
posted by caution live frogs at 11:10 AM on March 15, 2018
My 2.5-year-old loves:
- Magnatiles
- Imagination Magnets (he CANNOT get enough of these!)
- Bristle Blocks
- puzzles puzzles puzzles all the time puzzles
posted by Dr. Wu at 11:39 AM on March 15, 2018
- Magnatiles
- Imagination Magnets (he CANNOT get enough of these!)
- Bristle Blocks
- puzzles puzzles puzzles all the time puzzles
posted by Dr. Wu at 11:39 AM on March 15, 2018
My twin grandchildren got a lot of mileage out of a little play tent about 3ft by 3 ft.
posted by SemiSalt at 1:35 PM on March 15, 2018
posted by SemiSalt at 1:35 PM on March 15, 2018
Learning Tower? Not sure if they have those at Toys R Us but I got it for my son at 2, and he has loved helping me in the kitchen from 2 until now at 4.5, and my daughter is now 2.5 and loves it too. It makes cooking dinner a lot of fun since they can play with their bowl and spoon and "help" me cook.
posted by gatorae at 4:49 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by gatorae at 4:49 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
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posted by tchemgrrl at 6:09 AM on March 15, 2018 [2 favorites]