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Buying a gift for a 2-year-old requires balancing a bit of knowledge about the skills they are developing with careful study of their personality. According to Jeannette Corey, director of the Bank Street Family Center, 2-year-olds are “seeking independence, so their play often focuses on ways they can have an impact, accomplish a goal, and solve problems.” They are also able to maintain focus for longer periods of time to complete a task like stacking blocks or assembling simple puzzles, she says. And because 2 is the age when children begin to engage in pretend play, Corey recommends toys that let them imagine themselves in the roles of adults and other important people in their lives — from a play kitchen where they can bake a make-believe cake to a miniature lawn mower they can push through the yard.
To find the best toys that fit that bill, I talked to professionals like Corey, as well as stylish and picky parents, toy buyers, and teachers about the toys they recommend for 2-year-olds. I’ve also been keeping tabs on the toys that my toddler son, who will be 2 in December, enjoys playing with most, as well as the ones that are popular among his friends. I’ve organized the list below by price, so if you have a specific budget in mind, you can use the table of contents to jump to that section — or read all the way through to get an idea of what 2-year-olds are into, according to the people who know them best.
Meanwhile, if you’re also shopping for kids in other age groups, we have gift guides for 1-year-olds, 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds, 5-year-olds, 6-year-olds, 7-year-olds, 8-year-olds, 9-year-olds, 10-year-olds, 11-year-olds, and 12-year-olds — plus the meticulously curated Strategist Toy Store, filled with all our greatest hits.
Update on December 15, 2024: Replaced the sold-out Jellycat cauliflower plush with the eggplant; noted products that won’t arrive in time for Christmas; checked stock and updated prices on all products.
Under $25
I recently had to take my son to the emergency room because of a very high fever (he’s fine) and was surprised to find that he has developed a fear of doctors. So to help him get more comfortable ahead of his next checkup, his grandparents bought him this Fisher-Price medical kit. We have been practicing giving each other medicine and taking each other’s temperature. He is fascinated with the syringe that has a real working plunger and loves pushing the button on the “digital” thermometer. And the little doctor’s tote bag it comes with lets him practice putting all his tools away. But if you’re looking for more of a doctor dress-up toy, Kelly Harris Smith, founder of the Minni art space for kids in Boston, recommends this simple coat-and-stethoscope set from Learning Resources. “My kids loved to pretend to take care of their toys and stuffed animals,” she says adding that this type of imaginative play encourages toddlers’ empathy and imagination.
Multiple Strategist editors own copies of this 48-piece miniature New York puzzle, which also comes in Chicago, San Francisco, London, Paris, and Tokyo versions. Former senior editor Kayleen Schaefer bought a few different editions for her son when he was 2 years old; he loved them just as much as bigger puzzles, but they take up a fraction of the space and cost just $5.
Very few toddlers are good at entertaining themselves for long periods of time, especially in a car or on an airplane. So for car trips to see family this summer, I started packing an activity tote bag with some of my son’s favorite books — anything by Byron Barton — as well as crayons, little notebooks, and lots of stickers. This little house-shaped activity book is a perfect car-ride companion that combines adorable pet-themed coloring pages with over 100 animal stickers in one travel-friendly package. The brand also makes similar books about mermaids, wild animals, and outer space.
According to Corey, toys that allow children to practice social-emotional skills are important at this age. Dolls provide ample opportunity for nurturing play and talking through big feelings, and this one, recommended by Strategist senior editor Winnie Yang, can be lulled to sleep in its pea-pod-shaped sleep sack.
Corey also recommends giving bouncy balls to 2-year-olds because they will “grow” along with them. “Balls are wonderful for 2-year-olds who can roll them and chase them. At around age 3, children can practice throwing and catching, while at 4 they might create a game with rules that involve a ball,” she says. My son is drawn to balls of all kinds, but his favorites are small enough for him to hold in one hand. These flashing sensory balls have an added layer of fun — plus the soft spikes make them easier to catch and grasp.
DUPLOs — LEGO’s larger blocks designed with tiny hands (and mouths) in mind — are great for this age. Trains and cars are already beloved by 2-year-olds, and the brand’s set mixes the magic of a freight train with a cheery color scheme and your basic 123s. The result is a gift that is playful, educational, and not hideous for parents to look at, says Strategist writer Lauren Ro, whose son Augie received it for his second birthday. As he got older, Augie loved combining his train set with other DUPLO sets — including this classic box that includes two characters and a little car — to create a mega-train that he dragged all over the house. Like all LEGO products, these are virtually indestructible.
Corey says the best gifts for young kids are open-ended toys, like building blocks or the DUPLOs above, that can evolve with a child as their skills and interests develop. This set of wooden forest animals is designed to be stacked, teaching toddlers about balance and cause and effect. But the pieces can also spark imaginative play and be used in conjunction with a dollhouse or other toys.
Every afternoon, our neighborhood playground’s sandbox is teeming with toddlers digging, sifting, and driving their favorite toy vehicles across the four-foot-square plot of sand. But at this age most of the children’s grabbing skills are much more developed than their sharing skills. So, because my son is obsessed with anything that has wheels, I decided to get him his own rolling sandbox kit. We took it to the beach whenever we got the chance this summer and packed it in our stroller for playground days. I like that the pieces — a shovel, sieve, car mold, and bucket on wheels — nest to save space and that it looks different from most of the shovel and bucket sets I have seen, which makes it harder to lose.
I heard about this set of nontoxic washable bath crayons from mom of two and wellness entrepreneur Liv Lo Golding. The chunky beeswax crayons combine the fun of a bath toy and the developmental benefits of drawing and coloring. Plus, they are fragrance-free, easy to hold, and contain only food-grade ingredients, making them a suitable (and safe) choice for young kids and toddlers, who may also use them to draw on themselves.
For regular drawing and scribbling on paper, Emily Motayed Lancaster, co-founder of Nurture& and mom of two, recommends a classic set of washable Crayola markers, which she says are “key for my sanity.”
Here’s a bath toy that has a little science built into it. It’s a favorite of Strategist contributor Regan Stephens and her three girls, the eldest of whom received it as a gift when she was 2 years old and eventually passed it down to her younger sisters. “You fill the toy with water from the tub, then use your finger to plug the little hole on top; when you release your finger, water rains down from tiny holes in the bottom of the cloud,” writes Stephens. “Simple physics, lots of fun.”
Every day-care classroom has its own “It” toys — the ones that all the kids fight over, for whatever reason, some of them seemingly very random (e.g., the blue ice-cream cone in the pretend food bin, the red squares among the Magna-Tiles). But an especially big hit for the 2-year-olds at Tribeca Kindercare, according to teacher Ms. Kelsey, are the finger puppets. Figueras-Daniel also recommends finger-puppet toys for this age group, specifically citing the realistic and very detailed ones from Folkmanis, like this colorful lizard, because of how realistic they are. In addition to helping kids work on their fine motor skills, puppets can “inspire lots of language, as children can speak through the role of the puppet,” Figueras-Daniel explains. You can also use the puppets to start teaching 2-year-olds about specific animals.
For a no-mess creative toy that’s (somewhat) magical, consider this twist on the classic Magna Doodle drawing board, which Golding says is fun for 2-year-olds to draw on, erase, and repeat. There are lots of different iterations available, including miniature ones that Ro says make excellent birthday-party favors. But my favorite is this nature-themed drawing board from Target’s in-house toy line Gigglescape, mostly because of how nice it looks but also because the drawing area is big. It comes with five stamps — apple, star, flower, triangle, and circle — that kids can also use as pens, and the eraser is shaped like a little caterpillar. Despite its large size, the handle makes it easy for small hands to carry it into a car, onto an airplane, or just to another room.
Teresa An, design director at Wrangler and mom to 2-year-old Isaac, cites bubbles as one of her son’s favorite toys and therefore one of the gifts she gives most often to other 2-year-olds. “We gift things that Isaac has loved to play with throughout his different stages,” she says. These nontoxic bubbles come in recyclable aluminum bottles with sturdy wands attached to the underside of the lid, so you don’t have to fish them out of the solution. The bottles can be reused and refilled with the brand’s boxed-wine-esque containers of bubbles.
Playing with Play-Doh at this early age is similar to drawing; while they may not make especially impressive “art,” 2-year-olds are excited by the simple fact that they can manipulate the materials. And it’s a good workout too. “Play-Doh builds dexterity in their hands and finger muscles,” explains Dr. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a professor of psychology at Temple University and co-author of Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children.
This Ikea kids’ easel was praised as the best affordable option in our guide to the best art easels. It comes with a built-in storage tray and a dowel to add a roll of paper. The large surface area and short legs makes it easy for 2-year-olds to reach while experimenting with colors and textures. Rebeca Raney, an artist and arts educator, says “every nursery school has multiples of this one,” noting that “Ikea does a super job with their art products.” When you’re not using paper with it for painting and drawing, kids can get used to the feeling of drawing with dry-erase markers on one side and chalk on the other.
[Editor’s note: Delivery date depends on your area code, so enter your address at checkout to confirm that the easel will arrive before Christmas.]
Under $50
I haven’t introduced my son to any kind of real screen time, but he adores playing with his Story Dream Machine, a retro-looking projector and audio player that we got as a baby step toward letting him watch TV. It’s basically a mini slide projector that plays read-aloud books, from Elmo’s Trip to the Dentist to Eric Carle classics to my son’s current favorite, GO, GO, Trucks! It has a convenient carry handle, a focus adjuster, and can be used as a nightlight and sound machine come bedtime. There are hundreds of titles you can get for it, too, but this bundle comes with a trio featuring characters from Sesame Street.
As with all Melissa & Doug toys, you can count on this set of cleaning tools to be engaging, well made, and safe for toddlers. It’s a perennial Strategist best seller that I have seen entertain children for years — even if they stop sweeping and start using the broom as a sword or the mast of a cardboard-box pirate ship. Dr. Roberta Golinkoff, a professor of child psychology at the University of Delaware and co-author of Becoming Brilliant (with Hirsch-Pasek), says, “Kids always want to be like big people. So if they see you using something, they’re going to want to do it too.” Toys like this “require children to be active and can spur the development of the imagination.” When used with another child, Golinkoff adds, “they can increase social interaction.”
Full-size dollhouses take up a lot of space and aren’t ideal for families with small apartments. Instead, Alexis Swerdloff, New York deputy editor and mom of two, suggests giving a more portable dollhouse like this that closes up when it’s not in use. It comes in a few different designs, including this wooden barn, a horse stable, and a pink cottage.
“My girls love anything that twirls,” says Natalie Ebel, co-founder of Backdrop and mom of two. Ebel recommends collecting a wide range of tutus, crowns, wands, capes, and other costumes and dress-up clothes to cultivate a whole universe of pretend play. This Tinkerbell outfit is available in sizes that will fit children from ages 1 to 9 years old.
Here’s a slightly more open-ended dress-up accessory that Ro gave to her younger son on his second birthday. The star-speckled cape from Sarah’s Silks can be worn, of course, but it can also be used as a doll blanket, or fabric for fort building.
[Editor’s note: This cape is currently sold out, but you can sign up to be notified when it’s back in stock.]
If you’re looking to give a unique stuffy rather than the typical teddy bear or unicorn, Jellycat plush toys should be No. 1 on your list. The brand’s plush broccoli and later cauliflower were a hit with my niece when she had just turned 2. She loved to “eat” the vegetables and offer bites to my brother. Not only is it lots of fun to pretend with the toys, but they’re also adorable, super soft, and just the right size for toddler hands. There’s also a sandwich, a burger, and multiple different hard-boiled eggs to choose from.
VTech’s toy lawn mower proves how much kids love emulating adults, or at least — if you’re a city kid whose parents aren’t doing a lot of yard work — emulating the idea of adult things. “Toddlers and preschoolers love to copy their parents’ activities,” says child psychologist Dr. Nicole Beurkens, “which makes ‘mowing’ the lawn with their very own mower an exciting activity for them.” Not only that, says Beurkens, the mower helps with “gross-motor, balance, and visual-perceptual skills.” When you pull the cord, the mower plays mowing sounds, and when you push it, the pretend blade spins and the multicolored beads pop.
Under $100
Active toys often require extra space, but Strategist senior editor Ailbhe Malone says a wobble board is just as engaging and much easier to store, plus it can double as a bed for stuffed animals, a slide, a ramp for toy cars, and a chair.
Many 2-year-olds are coming to terms with the prospect — or the recent arrival — of a new baby brother or sister and could use a little help with adjusting to life with a sibling. So when she found out she was pregnant again, Motayed Lancaster got her daughter an American Girl Bitty Baby. “We love watching her practice feeding her doll with her play baby bottles and a baby spoon and food set,” she says. As with the original full-size American Girl dolls, there is an entire universe of accessories you can buy for the Bitty Baby, including clothing, a car seat, a baby carrier, and even a a cup of peas and a snack pouch.
Like Lancaster, preschool teacher Kathleen Cann got a baby doll and a toy stroller for her 2-year-old daughter as a way to prepare for the arrival of a new sibling. “She’s obsessed and takes really sweet care of the doll,” says Cann. For a stroller, Strategist senior editor Winnie Yang recommends this one, which she got for her own daughter as an upgrade to the more common umbrella-style doll strollers. It comes with a tote bag on the handle, a storage basket underneath, a sun shade, and rugged wheels for smooth pushing. It also folds flat for easy storage.
A first train set is a powerful memory for every generation, notes Carey Reilly, a Today show contributor. And the Brio model is the gold standard. “I love that the set is wooden, and it’s easy for a child’s little hands to use,” Reilly says. As with all Brio sets, it can be endlessly expanded with accessories and integrated into play with other kits, even many from other brands.
[Editor’s note: This set will arrive after Christmas.]
In the last few months, my son has started sitting down on anything around the same height as his butt. He loves backing up into a bottom step, his Nugget play couch, or a step stool and then proudly looking up at me once seated. So for his upcoming birthday, I’m planning to buy him a set of these multipurpose Bentwood Cube Chairs. I first read about them in 2019 when Strategist contributor Laura Perciasepe wrote about the chairs and matching table she bought for her baby daughter, who was just starting to pull up at the time. I love the Herman Miller–esque design and the way they go from chair to step stool to activity table.
This elaborate Melissa & Doug ice-cream-counter set combines fine-motor-skills development with elements of pretend play. Motayed Lancaster received a version of the set for her daughter long before she turned 2; at first, her daughter just loved mouthing the ice-cream scoops, but as she aged, she began to stack them one by one and now she pretends to be an ice-cream-shop owner, asking what flavor ice cream her parents want and then serving it to them. “I love toys like that — where it can graduate from one type of play to another over time,” Motayed Lancaster says.
Bouncing engages almost every muscle group in a child’s body, especially the legs and core, says Lily Balsen, a New York City–based yoga teacher whose clients range in age from newborn to 80. So a classic toy like Rody the bouncy horse will foster balance and a sense of spatial orientation, she says, adding that rhythmic movement is a great self-soothing and self-regulating mechanism. Also, it’s just plain fun.
[Editor’s note: This toy may arrive after Christmas.]
$100 and up
For a bigger thrill, Strategist contributor Steven John recommends this toddler-size ride-on roller coaster. He has watched kids line up one behind the other for the better part of an hour to take turns zooming down the track. That alone says enough about it: Toddlers actually wait for a turn; they love it that much. And as long as a parent is nearby with a watchful eye, it’s perfectly safe for most 2-year-olds to use. Steps on either side of the platform let kids get on the car all by themselves — and the toy is just as fun to ride on level ground for youngsters who aren’t ready for the roller-coaster experience. This model, as its name suggests, packs down compactly when the time comes to hide it away.
Balance bikes are a critical step between the trike and the bicycle, helping kids master their balance before worrying about pedaling. “My older son learned how to ride a bike using a balance bike. It allows you to skip training wheels and build their balance naturally,” says Zahra Kassam, founder of the at-home Montessori program Monti Kids. The Strider’s seat can be lowered enough for a kid as young as 18 months or raised high enough to accommodate most 4-year-olds, with age 2 being the sweet spot. Strategist senior editor Jen Trolio’s two kids are now 6 and 9 years old, and both started riding a Strider at age 2, passing it down from older to younger. Each one ultimately graduated straight to a pedal bike without a single training wheel in between.
Corey looks for toys that offer lots of “opportunities for creativity, curiosity, problem-solving, and cooperation,” and specifically mentioned the importance of toys that support cooking play. Play kitchens come in all shapes and sizes, but this stylish wooden “home kitchen” from Tender Leaf Toys has just the right amount of complexity for a 2-year-old.
“I love gifting the Tender Leaf Toy kitchens,” says Motayed Lancaster, who bought one when her daughter when around one year old. Motayed Lancaster loves the muted colors and how it has helped her daughter begin to role-play; now, at age two, her daughter is verbalizing what kind of dishes she makes with the accessories: “Here mama, some fish!” And then putting them on a plate and handing it to her. The kitchen can also be combined with other appliances like a refrigerator or stand mixer to build a more complete set.
As they begin to seek some independence, 2-year-olds will benefit from a private play space where they can find quiet refuge with their books and stuffed animals. Lalo’s natural canvas play tent is spacious enough for several toddlers and their toys, is easy to set up (the tent can be purchased on its own or as an add-on to the Lalo play gym), and won’t add to the visual clutter of a playroom. I love the look of it in my son’s room and that it will grow with him over time. The canvas is heavy-duty and the wooden frame feels sturdy without weighing a lot or taking up loads of space. If needed, it also folds down flat enough to slide under a couch or bed.
Additional reporting by Lauren Ro.
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