What to buy 2yo DS for Birthday/Christmas?

[lecach]

My DS will be 2 on Dec. 7. So we need to buy birthday and Christmas presents. I just don't know WHAT to get him so I thought I would ask the DIS experts what THEIR 2yo likes/liked. DS likes to ride on things (even tries to ride on toys that aren't made to ride on like a small toy tractor ). But I think a tricycle would be too advanced...maybe? Can anyone give me ideas?

Right now all I have is a small table and chairs to place in our breakfast nook (DS loves to sit at kid sized tables when we go places that have them) and some small toy cars. I MAY not get a lot more since he'll get so much from the grandparents. But even if I dont the grandparents want ideas too. Can anyone help?

 

[Precious1971]

I got my DD 2 a tricycle last year and she loved it. It was hard at first but she learn to use it without pedaling and as the year went on she started to use the pedals. You can also get him a right-on toy, those are always fun.

 

[drivencrazy]

We bought our daughter a plastic (Barbie) 3 wheeler bike when she was 18 months... she is turning 2 on Dec. 21! But she does great on it and loves to ride her bike. She doesn't use the peddles yet, but is almost able to reach them.

For her birthday she is getting... a Dora hat and glove set. Some clothes. And then some Dora and Elmo toys, that is what she likes right now!

I would say get him a "bike" of some sort, something that is short enough that he can get on and off himself, but still is more than just a car... also if you are getting a 12in bike, don't get the one that the peddles are attached to the front wheel... these are always to far for little ones to reach and by the time their feet can reach the wheel, their legs are to long......

Also, my son just loves "Hot Wheels" and has since he was about 1 (turning 4 in Jan) he can tell you which ones he has and what ones he wants... can't really go wrong with cars and boys!

 

[katerkat]

I'm pretty sure my parents mentioned getting Russ a tricycle for either his second birthday or Christmas. He loves to ride things, too - he actually has two airplane ride on toys.

If he likes cars, have you thought about a train set? Russ is still a bit destructive with his, but he does like to run the trains along individual track pieces, and I have hopes that someday he'll let me put together the whole track without going Russ-zilla on it. Ikea sells some cheaper wooden tracks that are compatible with Brio and *some* Thomas sets, so you can supplement the more expensive track systems with that.

ETA: I just thought of something Russ would *love* but we have no room for - a ride in car like this. He is obsessed with the car-carts at the grocery store and whenever we go to a play place at the mall, he spend the entire time in one of these cars. He's not too good at moving it yet - just backwards and forwards - but he just loves them.

 

[PA Princess]

We also have a little darling who will be turning 2 in December - the 20th. She is our 4th child, so coming up with ideas that we do not already own is our challenge

We follow the three gift rule for our kids for Christmas and birthdays, so that at least limits what I buy. DD for her 2nd birthday is getting a ball pit (blow up from little tikes), a new baby doll and stroller (not much help with a son), and a princess castle (she loves princess thanks to her big sis). For Christmas she is getting a trike (the kind we can push and converts to one she can pedal alone), a piano, and Dusty the Talking vacuum by Playskool.

We own the Cozy Coupe mentioned above and it has been a favorite and lasted for all 4 kids. Other things they have loved at 2 include shopping cart, play food, and the kitchen (both my boys and my girls love the kitchen). My boys were also in love with trains (my 11 year old still plays with his wood trains believe it or not) and fire trucks (all Tonka trucks, actually, were a hit).

 

[MousekaMaddi]

defiately a cozy coupe car!

 

[marcyinPA]

I teach 2 year olds (I have 12 of them, and an assistant teacher)...I love those kids!! 2's are so much fun!
Anyway, they LOVE play-doh!! LOVE IT!!! I have a few who will sit for a good hour playing with it and the tools.

Also, the Little Tykes kitchen and tool bench are hits, for both boys and girls. Puzzles (the wooden ones with the knobs), books, and large legos (the big ones, bigger than duplo). We have a train table in our classroom and they love that as well. The ride-on toys that they push with their feet are a hit. Most of my 2's can not peddle a tricycle yet. We have one ride-on at school, and they all fight for it (we need to get a couple more of those!). Painting at an easel is a hit....they LOVE it!! (I think Little Tykes makes an easel). They also love all of the Fisher Price "Little People" sets...the garage, the house, the farm, etc.

I have a plastic track that you can take apart and put together, with chunky cars. They also like this alot!!

HTH's!
Marcy

 

[nelson84]

Have you seen the little tikes black pickup truck? They brought it back and it is only available online. So very cute!!

http://www.kbtoys.com/genProduct.html/PID/1023536/ctid/17?cpncode=11-17828493-2&srccode=cii_5784816

Otherwise you get another vote to the cozy coupe. My 14 month old son loves it as much as my 3 year old daughter.

 

[FayeW]

Frankly, when our kids were that age we took advantage of the fact that they knew virtually nothing about what the occasion was all about, and didn't spend a whole heck of a lot. The table and chairs sounds like a fine birthday gift, no need to add more.

For Christmas, may I recommend starting him on Thomas the Tank Engine? We got our son the starter set (about $50) for his second birthday. That was the only gift.

As they have gotten older, and their tastes more expensive, we have certainly made up for not spending as much in the first few years. Enjoy it while you can, there is no need to go overboard for either event at age 2.

 

[LisaNJ25]

This is cool:

http://www5.jcpenney.com/jcp/Products.aspx?DeptID=446&CatID=44360&CatTyp=LFS&ItemTyp=G&GrpTyp=STY&ItemID=0fb1538&ProdSeq=13&Cat=ride-ons&Dep=Toys&PCat=Toy+Sale!&PCatID=38404&RefPage=ProductList&Sale=&ProdCount=18&RecPtr=&ShowMenu=&TTYP=&ShopBy=0&RefPageName=CategoryAll.aspx&RefCatID=38404&RefDeptID=446&Page=2&CmCatId=HomePage|38404|44360

I go the atv version for my 1 and 2yo over the summer.

Since they are young and really don't know yet.. I do doing gifts the can play with together since they are so close it age. (I might as well take advantage of it while they are small lol)

I ma getting them that ride on zebra toy, a large activity cube like you see at the drs office, some cars and trucks for my son and a doll and stroller for my daughter.

I do have red tricycles for both of them from an amazon deal months ago but I will probably hold off until the spring.

Oh, and I got my 2yo high school musical concert tickets

 

[lizally]

For my girls' recent 2nd birthday, we got the Little Tikes "Easy Store Slide Jr." for them to use in the house. It has been a huge hit! Well worth the money.

We also got them the Little People Garage...they love driving the cars up and down the ramps. The crazy coupe looks like something my girls would love...I am going to look into that. Thay also love to push things, like their plastic lawnmower, little shopping cats, thier strollers.

2 yr olds are so hard to buy for...they play with something for 1 minute and move on...marcyinPA, I'm going to try some of your suggestions over the weekend...I just hope they don't eat the playdoh!

 

[marcyinPA]

For my girls' recent 2nd birthday, we got the Little Tikes "Easy Store Slide Jr." for them to use in the house. It has been a huge hit! Well worth the money.

We also got them the Little People Garage...they love driving the cars up and down the ramps. The crazy coupe looks like something my girls would love...I am going to look into that. Thay also love to push things, like their plastic lawnmower, little shopping cats, thier strollers.

2 yr olds are so hard to buy for...they play with something for 1 minute and move on...marcyinPA, I'm going to try some of your suggestions over the weekend...I just hope they don't eat the playdoh!

Lizally,
We make our own playdoh...you can google for playdoh recipes. It's easy and lasts a long time if you store it in an airtight container. And it's non-toxic (so is the store bought stuff...) We've had a few who have tried to eat it, but we just give them gentle reminders "not in your mouth". It won't hurt them, but it doesn't taste very good!

If you get really brave, you can also purchase a large storage tub (we have two that we put on our school tables). We fill it about 1/3 full with macaroni, shredded paper, water, sand....and use measuring cups, spoons, scoops, funnels, small plastic animals (farm animals, zoo animals, jungle animals, dinosaurs...you can buy these in the junky toy aisle at Walmart). My children love burying the animals and then digging them out, measuring and pouring, dumping and scooping. It can get a little messy, but one or two 2's would be better than 6 at a time! LOL They need to be reminded often to keep the cups over the tubs, but they are good about cleaning up the macaroni/paper/etc. that they spill...we just remind them to look on the floor.

They also like to water color paint, and "dot" paint. We have special paint bottles with dabbers that they use to paint cut-outs of different shapes (our school has one of those die-cut machines). You can use bingo markers if you can't find the paint (although a parent/teacher store may have the paints).

Another hit is magnetic letters, numbers and shapes on cookie sheets.

Oh, and one really cool idea I found (but I haven't used yet) is to cut different lengths and colors of yarn, and let your child stick them to a square sheet of sandpaper. The yarn will stick and they can make designs and pictures. You can store it in a ziploc bag and use it to keep them busy wherever you are....

Have fun with those little ones! I love this age....I miss my own being young!

Marcy

 

[lizally]

Wow, marcyinPA, thanks for the great ideas!

I just saw that Walmart.com has the cozy coupe for $42.87 with .97 cent shipping. Pretty good deal, I think!