Two Year Olds! They’re my favorite. I know they can be terrible, but as I’ve had more children, their terrible-ness has turned funnier. It doesn’t stress me out as much as it did with my first and is just cute. Plus, they’re so snugly…when they’re standing still. I rounded up some of my tried-and-true toys for 2 year olds…most of which have lasted through all three kiddos and have been favorites among them all. I skipped our educational toys and went for fun favorites, but let me know if you need additional suggestions and I can definitely help!
- Musical Instruments are great for this age! I happen to love B. Brand toys – especially their musical ones. You can find them all at Target if you want to see them in person, but we have (and love) this drum set that has shakers, etc. inside it, this mini/portable piano, and this guitar is a little-boy favorite.
- Cleaning Supplies are another staple at my house! It makes me giggle that the boys love their cleaning supplies so much…I’m not exactly the tidiest person you’ve ever met, but I pretend like they love cleaning because they see it…it makes me feel better 😉 Our hands-down favorite is our toy Dyson vacuum that looks like mine. Seriously, we have dueling vacuums A LOT – I’m not sure crashing into each others vacuum is great for the durability – but with boys, it adds to the thrill! We also have a stick vacuum that they like when I use mine, a mini broom, and a cleaning caddy (I’ve always thought that this broom set was adorable but honestly didn’t want to store it). I sound like a psycho but trust me, one walk into my house will show that it is very well lived in and no where near immaculate…although it apparently should be.
- I talked about this garbage truck in a previous post, but it really is a cute and engaging toy. It is expensive but there’s something so smart, yet so “toddler”, about it that I think it’s a really great option for this age…there’s always next year to get more realistic looking trucks – but none of them will be this fun 😉
- This running-water toy sink was a sold-out HIT at Christmas time last year. It was flying off the shelves of Walmart and was nowhere to be found. I even tried a similar Little Tikes option but the faucet didn’t continuously run and it wasn’t nearly as much fun. I’ve had this stored for Charlie forever and he (and my 4 year old) were completely enthralled with it. It’s just a fun time-filler when you need a minute. I do suggest a towel underneath them…and don’t expect to go anywhere without changing your babe into some dry clothes first…but it’s worth it 😉
- I love Little People toys for this age. Unfortunately our favorites are now “old” and sell for like $300 on Amazon, so that is supremely unhelpful. We have a zoo (that is the most similar to this) and a house from when I was little (but if I were looking to buy today, I would try this) and we shove all of our little people figures (how cute are these superheroes!?) and zoo animals into it and play forever! We also have this car garage/ramp and wheelies that I feel like all toddler boys love to play with. I think that a lot of the other smaller Little People sets are cute too…we have a school bus and this airplane.
- Sesame Street always seems to grab my kiddos attention when they’re 2. Elmo…man, he’s addictive for this age…all three of mine have liked him to some extent. I tend to stick to the Elmo book or occasional plush toy, but we have this set of Sesame Street Figures that we use to play with all of our other Little People sets mentioned above.
- If you’re looking for a bigger gift – in space and expense – I love toy kitchens at this age. I don’t care if you have a house full of boys…every preschool has a kitchen and for a reason. The kids all love it, it makes for an easy and fun imaginative play center, and the coordinating food items tend to help with fine motor skills. We have ours in our kitchen and I often throw the boys a colander and a utensil and tell them to cook me dinner while I’m cooking theirs. They love watching me pretend to eat their dinner and it keeps them occupied for a few minutes. My recommendation is stick with fewer food items to go with it or you’ll be picking them up off the floor all day long 🙂 We have this kitchen because I actually wanted a plastic kitchen and it seemed pretty gender neutral to me, but I also love this prettier wooden kitchen.
- Balls are a pretty staple toddler toy…especially for boys! This cute basketball hoop is a favorite of ours – it can be used indoor or out, and is one of the few pieces of sports equipment that most 2-year olds can use and enjoy – and “grows” with them a bit!
- Another toddler “classic” is the Cozy Coupe. Oh my…how my boys love this thing…still…like my 7 year old tries to climb in there. We have the police car but this firetruck is adorable too. Just try to reign in your husband from pushing this thing around your house at high speeds…my mama heart couldn’t handle it with my first, but he laughed hysterically and screamed “MO” as soon as the car stopped (my toddler…not my husband) 😉
If you already have a lot of these toys or are looking for additional suggestions, feedback about something not on this list, etc. please let me know! We’ve had a LOT of toys cycle through the house and I’m sure I could give you an opinion if you need one! Happy Shopping!
I was walking through the dollar spot (one of my many weaknesses) of Target the other day and saw some adorable camping-related activities and decorations. I SO wish these had been available last summer when my son’s oldest birthday party had a camping theme. They were cute and cheap and would have saved me time in DIY-ing some of the décor and activities at his party. I think a camping theme is such a cute, and still sweet theme, that is appropriately “boyish”. Given that my son’s birthday is in July, we brought our camping inside and had a cute semi-old-fashioned party at home.
Finally, we had cake and opened presents. I understand that parties are getting too big and too crazy these days to fit everything in. And, I LOVE that the whole class is invited to most parties with our little ones and that it usually doesn’t allow the time to open gifts. But, I also feel like children are missing out on that opportunity to learn graciousness and politeness in gift receiving. Plus, I know my boys always want to see their friend open the present we bring to parties and rarely get to. So, I kept it old school and made my kiddo sit on the fireplace to open his gifts. I think everyone enjoyed this too and it gave us an opportunity to calm down as all of the parents came back to retrieve their littles.
