gift for 2 year old
 

I have a lot of different ideas on what to get my daughter this year in a few months. She really does love everything but electronics (like computer, a real cell phone, real camera) best. I am wondering what gifts your child, nephew, niece, cousin, friend, etc. has received that they have loved and not used for just a few days.

I recently got her some new bath toys a group of penguins with little floating circles, that have different colors shapes to match up that she loves and uses every day. Great toy if you have a little one.

That's a tough one, Xazy. Not only is there boys vs. girls (speaking generally), but there's the taste of the child in question. If you gave the 3 year-old down the street anything on dinosaurs, he'd go apeshit. My guys would glance at it and toss it into the pile. My boys have lots of toy cooking and cleaning stuff, but it's primarily used as loads for trucks or weapons.

The best gift that we can give or receive (at least at my house) are museum memberships. We belong to the Childrens, Aquarium, Lincoln Park Zoo, Nature, Science and Industry and (maybe) the Field in Chicago. My kids love going to all these places and ask to go there all the time. There's constantly something new and there's always the old standards (I've spent hours in the butterfly room at the Nature Museum here).

We are members to the zoo here in NYC, it is bronx, prospect park zoo, queens zoo, aquarium, and central park zoo. Big fan of the zoo, we are off on Sunday to see the new tiger cubs they have 4 cubs now.

My daughter does the dainty doll thing, then she plays with blocks legos, cars, sits down in her Baltimore Ravens jersey and watchs football on Sunday with me.

I'd say join the American Museum, but I've got a personal beef with them right now over the way they treated one of my best friends.

I'm not really up on toys specifically designed for girls, but given the number of girls that play with my boys, I know for sure that trucks are genderless. As are trains. If you don't have a Thomas or Brio layout, it's a good investment, especially if you get the wooden track (it's easier to manipulate by little hands since it's more forgiving and less brittle). My soon-to-be-3-year-old will build train layouts for an hour if uninterrupted. And he wants an adult to help. It's fun.

On of the other big hits in my house are the dress-up outfits. "Astronaut" is the current favorite, but the firefighter, jet pilot and construction worker are all big hits as well. We've also got some battery operated toy landscaping tools that all the kids love to the point where I'm changing batteries once a month. It's a set with a Toro logo.

Wooden realistic food toys have always been a hit with both my son and daughter. Melissa and Doug make some great stuff, such as an ice cream set with hidden magnets embedded in the scoop, ice-cream and cones so you can stack them easily.

Also, a good quality tempura paint set with quality painting paper (i.e. not newsprint).

I was really hoping I'd be able to come up with some ideas for you, since I have a girl. But she is 13 yrs old now, and I cannot remember what she liked when she was 2. That seems like eons ago!

If your daughter likes to build with LEGO blocks, you could get her more of those. You can never have enough LEGOs! I know that from my son.

If, by some chance, I can remember what my daughter liked at age 2, I will let you know.

I second the Thomas the Train wooden train sets. We have purchased over half of our collection at garage sales where they are about 10 cents on the dollar. Plus, the videos have an emphasis on values - usefulness, bravery, honesty, etc. So, you watch the videos while building tracks. It's pretty much the only toy my son has that I LOVE to play with too.

Cimarron, while I like the video, my wife doesn't because the engines use words like "stupid" and other insults. If that's not a problem in your house, no big deal, but it is in mine.

Also, the cardboard building blocks. They're bigger than the wooden ones and easier for little hands to stack sometimes. They also don't hurt when they get knocked over. They are, however, a pain to assemble (the Melissa and Doug ones anyway) when you have 75 of them to do.

Jazz,

We only have a couple of videos, and I haven't heard that in any of ours - but there are a lot of videos available. Maybe, we have been lucky so far. I agree that would not be something we would expose at this young of age. He's in daycare, though, and most parents don't care. He picks up all sorts of bad behavior at daycare which we squash. Internally, it's amusing to watch him try some new behavior and then look at you like, "Is this going to fly here? Nope? Okay."

I have some of those big cardboard blocks too, they are a pain to build but awesome to play with. It sounds like we are similar in that we try to focus on non-electric toys and very limited TV.

Puzzles are also big at our house. Melissa and Doug do good puzzles for two year olds.

We've got a Melissa and Doug easle (sp?) that was, again, a giant pain to assemble but has been an absolute hit. One side is a chalk board and the other is a white board, but it also comes with a spindle of butcher block paper that can be pinned down on one side or the other for other drawing projects.

However, it is primarily used as a fort or garage for trucks since a blanket draped over it makes for lots of fun.

Dude my daughters are now 27 & 29. The best gift , still to this day, that they give to thier kids is a cardboard box and a pack of flashlights. The imagination in thier heads at this age is so wonderfull that we have forgotten ourselves that simple,cool,(and cheap) stuff is the best thing you could ever get.

Bathtub crayons and paints are really fun, if you have non-stain-able surfaces.
An easel is an awesome idea, Jazz.
There were these really cool brick-printed boxes, around the size of shoe boxes
that we used to build wonderful houses with when we were younger.
I like to give gifts that are really versatile and inspire creativity.
I actually gave one family a box of shaving cream, pudding mix, and finger paints
along with play-doh recipes and the ingredients for a three-year-old.
Musical instruments are also fun, as long as you're able to stand one of the ones
that is chosen... on a daily basis. ;)
I also like cause-and-effect toys... e.g. do this and that happens.
Have fun with it!

I work with 2-year-olds almost every day; as such, I also get to play with their toys and see what they do and don't like. There are a few toys that almost all kids enjoy, regardless of sex. There are also some toys I find enjoyable too.

Little People playsets. I love them. They're ageless. My in-laws have a barn Little People playset from the early 1980s that my husband's little cousins still play with. At the church I work at, the Little People are the most popular. At the child care center I work at, the Little People animals, people, and farm sets are always a favorite toy to take out. I especially like them because they are designed with toddlers in mind, so no small pieces, but have the imaginative play element that a 4-year-old will like as well. When we take the Little People out for church childcare, children up into elementary school will be found playing with them alongside our itty bitties.

The Brio trainsets are also a really popular toy with our child care kiddos. I don't have a trainset for the church kids. I'd like to get one. Maybe with next year's toy budget. Our girls like building train layouts as much as the boys do, it seems. I know when I was their age, my Brio set was one of my favorite toys (next to my Little People parking garage).

In general, I really like Melissa and Doug toys (they make a set of the cardboard bricks noodle described). They LAST. We have some in both of my workplaces and they definitely take the beating of multiple kids handling them--puzzles, wooden toys, the cardboard bricks.

Let me get this straight: You're troubled over your decision on a gift for a toddler.

Really?

Unless you've given birth to Stephen Hawking, which you haven't so stop acting like you have, electronics shouldn't even be on the list. There's quite a large step between a rubber ducky and a cellular phone; I'm blown away by the fact you would even consider it. Get back to me in 10 years when this thread might actually be of use.

Wow, dude, I don't remeber reading anything about stress in the OP, just more curiosity and seeking suggestions. And there are plenty of toys geared towards two year olds (and people who buy them) that are essentially cameras, cell phones and electronics. There are also exceptional electronic learning toys geared towards that age, if you have the money.
And I don't believe Xazy ever said anything about his kid being brilliant, though I'm sure she is.
Sorry about your cornflakes, I'm not sure who pissed in them, but it wasn't this thread.

Was in Barnes and Nobles recently to find a gift for a young child. They have age specific toys. Some really wonderful learning type books/toys. Was very impressed. You might want to check this out.

A couple of years ago I gave my nephew a bug-collecting kit designed for young children. It included an exceptionally sturdy but small net, some plastic tweezers/forceps designed for kids' clumsy fingers, and a rough-and-tumble plastic jar with a magnifying glass built into its lid. I also gave him a children's field guide to invertebrates called "What's that bug?" which was fully color-illustrated. He had SO MUCH fun with this gift, he loved catching anything and everything, then observing their captive behavior. His excitement over bugs has continued long after the toys were beaten to a pulp.

Another gift that was a hit:

An exploration trip to the tidepools. I checked the charts and found a day near Christmas with an exceptionally low tide. I then put together a child-friendly, colorful field guide to the most apparent and colorful marine life we were likely to encounter (starfish, snails, anemones, etc), included basic large-print descriptions about their colors, habits, and geographical range, then laminated the pages so they would be sturdy enough to survive the trip. They opened packages on Christmas morning with the field guides and a certificate saying they are entitled to one trip to the tidepools. We drove out there on the special day and had a blast, climbing all over the rocks, poking anemones, caressing starfish, taking photographs, etc. It was a relatively simple way to introduce them to a fascinating ecosystem, learning about the marine life in a hands-on way, far more personal and real-life than the usual museum experience.

I was just asking for ideas, most of the regular type of toys I know of, we happen to have a huge playroom for kids in the building we live in. And if you know kids they sometimes just play with a gift for 1 day, so different ideas are always good. If you don't have any ideas for anyone with an IQ below stephen hawkign thank you anyway, and in 10 years I will G-d willing post a thread for your ideas.

And to everyone else thank you for the ideas, I do have a little people set, a bunch of lego, the playroom does have the train sets, I am currently looking at Melissa and Doug store, and will narrow down wht to get. I definitely like different paint sets.

Leapfrog letter factory refrigerator magnet toy. Freakin' amazing. My 2YO loves it.

LINCOLN LOGS!


....wait, do they still make Lincoln logs? If they do, I may buy some for myself.

Ahem. thinkgeek has a nifty little kiddie section with some cool toys. Maybe she'd like some of those?

The one problem of stainless steal refrigerator, magnets do not work.
Yep they still have lincoln logs, and I can not wait to get them for me err her I mean :)

I now have to check out thinkgeek, later on today.

Magnets aren't good for kids that are still orally fixated. And one just turning 2 might still be popping things into his mouth. I've got an almost-3-year-old that still does. Magnets (especially more than 1) can do terrible things to little intestines. But the Leapfrog ones, as big as they are, are the kind that are fine.

You might want to think about hitting one of those temporary Halloween stores to see if they have any clearance sales. They have all sorts of good dress-up outfits - fireman, princess, etc. And you can get them cheap now.