What Toys Should My 2 Year Old Be Playing With?
Toddlers love playing with their hands, so select toys that allow them to rip, pull, tear and push; as well as push, turn and crank. Puzzles designed to develop their logical thinking abilities as well as games designed to teach letters, numbers and shapes are also excellent ways to keep toddlers busy!
Pretend play using dress-up clothes, toy cars and trucks and large cardboard boxes encourages creativity in children. Children also find great delight in toys that mimic their parent’s professions such as cash registers or mini workstations.
1. Building Toys
Two-year-olds are at an important developmental milestone both physically and cognitively. Being on the move requires toys that promote movement while at the same time they’re building skills in problem-solving and discovering what life has in store through exploration.
Toddlers enjoy mimicking adults by playing with miniature versions of things they see them do – such as a toy kitchen or workstation equipped with tools. This type of pretend play helps toddlers understand and emulate adult roles while developing their fine motor skills by grasping, stacking, and dropping objects.
At this age, an excellent toy for children would be one that teaches about shapes and colors – like this rolling block set or dinosaur-shaped sorter. Additionally, toys which teach math or language skills such as numbers or letters could help strengthen these skills – like an interactive box where shapes fit inside of it or building blocks with drawings, symbols and letters printed directly on each piece are all excellent educational toys for this age range.
Or try something that combines building blocks and magnetic origami like this set of flexible “clixos.” These reusable plastic pieces snap together endlessly in various configurations to form jewelry, robots, helicopters and snakes – you are limited only by your toddler’s creativity! Plus they help teach sharing and turn-taking when playing together with friends or siblings!
2. Blocks
At this age, toddlers become fully immersed in construction and building with blocks, becoming totally immersed in their creations for extended periods. Block play not only fosters hand-eye coordination and visual spatial awareness but can also develop handwriting, spatial awareness, logical thinking skills as well as imaginative play (they might pretend they’re another person like King Alexander!) but can also take on roles like King or use their imagination by pretending something else (like blocks!) is actually another object like cake; such pretend play provides valuable language-literacy skills development as well as social-emotional development!
Toddlers can strengthen their fine motor skills by sorting and placing items into order. A toy sorter allows children to place cars into one bin while balls go into another; or use a shape-sorting puzzle to match shapes or colors. Or try incorporating name puzzles to both reinforce letter learning AND develop fine motor skills!
Complex toys can limit a child’s creative potential. This is especially true of talking dolls and stuffed animals that provide dialogue during play. Instead, choose toys that allow your child to have control over his or her play session.
Consider Koala Crate for monthly toy subscription that delivers creative activity kits directly to their door, such as hands-on projects designed to aid children’s learning while offering fun educational components. Perfect for building enthusiasts or simply those wanting some creative fun!
3. Puzzles
At age 2, toddlers begin to use their hands more intuitively, becoming adept at holding puzzle pieces and assembling them together with ease. This teaches fine motor skills and muscle control which is necessary to grasping larger toys such as blocks, dolls, cars and trains that encourage imaginative and cognitively stimulating play.
Puzzles offer children the opportunity to develop problem-solving and spatial relations skills, particularly when they create jigsaw puzzles containing images of shapes, numbers and letters. As children assemble these pieces and determine how they fit together, they gain an appreciation that each part serves a specific purpose and their actions contribute to creating the final picture.
Build Jigsaw Puzzles to Enhance Visual Perception and Hand-Eye Coordination: Jigsaw puzzles can help children develop visual perception and hand-eye coordination as they manipulate, turn, flip, slide and wiggle the pieces around. As they play they will notice visual similarities and differences which translates to other activities such as reading and writing.
Puzzles that require players to sort, match and classify objects can help develop pre-reading and pre-writing skills, while board games that encourage strategic thinking such as sports equipment, arts & crafts materials, rollerblades or Disney dolls also promote this development.
4. Ride-On Toys
At this age, children are beginning to explore the world around them and become curious about how adults solve problems, leading them to copy those skills while playing.
At this age, toys that allow children to explore their environment will be especially appreciated, particularly those that engage movement and sensory elements. A simple floor-safe cardboard box is often enjoyed by toddlers as shelter, transportation or infrastructure; outdoors toddlers might appreciate having access to ride-on toys that foster balance coordination and motor development.
From self-propelled toys to electric, children will love zipping around on any toy that makes them feel like they’re traveling – which can help improve both physical and mental wellbeing. Neuropsychologist Sanam Hafeez describes ride-on toys as an engaging way for children to practice balance, regulate movement and develop motor skills as well as learn about cause and effect relationships.
Baghera offers an action-packed ride-on to give toddlers more adventure in their play, featuring a built-in music player to promote imaginative play. Easy to clean and designed with more durable yet soft material than many models on the market, this toy comes in different sizes to make sure it suits every child (recommended for children 18 months or older).
5. Dolls
Toddlers aged two are at an age when they begin to think they’re little grownups and want to emulate adults during play time. Role-play toys such as play kitchens and doctor kits allow toddlers to understand how their world operates by simulating adult actions such as preparing pretend soup, brushing teeth or “bedtime” with their favorite stuffed animal. Toddlers also tend to enjoy toys that make realistic sounds.
The ideal educational toys for 2-year-olds should be flexible, durable and entertaining – toys that provide essential developmental opportunities while remaining engaging for toddlers to use over and over again. Of course, all toys must also be safe to use without posing choking hazards.
Good Housekeeping Institute testers carefully research high-quality, safe toys that toddlers love playing with and have withstood plenty of wear and tear. In addition, these tests target toys which have been shown to boost certain developmental skills like fine motor control, sensory exploration, language acquisition and social-emotional development.
Toddler-friendly dolls for toddlers tend to be soft and small. Diversity in body types and skin tones helps children build empathy and acceptance of others; look for dolls with big eyes that reflect your child’s own eye color, such as this cute pink teddy bear that can be personalized free of charge with their name!
Kids who enjoy building will enjoy this toddler-friendly set of Legos, featuring a building tower and shape-forming Play-Doh pieces. Your little architect will enjoy using their building pieces to construct, then dismantle their masterpiece before rebuilding anew for another masterpiece design!
