To think this is enough toys for a 2 year old?

[teddybeartown]

Had my social worker around and she asked to see my 2 year old's bedroom.
She looked around asked if his toys were in the cupboards but she was surprised when I said that no, they were all displayed where she could see.

I really thought it was more than enough for him. What do you think? Is it enough? Are they age appropriate? Does he need more? If so, what?

Thank you

• Wooden train set
• 3x small lego duplo sets
• Lego/activity table
• Toniebox with 6 tonies
• Books
• Mega bloks building bag
• Rocking caterpillar
• Toy kitchen and a few pretend food (vegetable bag from Ikea, wooden pizza, a few bits and bops and frying pan/wok) - (albeit since then the toy kitchen broke so I had to bin it)
• A few plastic farm animals
• A few small and medium (2/3 I think) plastic cars + one remote controlled car
• one play dough dinosaur set
• Play pretend tool box
• basic plastic shape sorter
• two basic whack a mole type toy (not the fancy electronic one), a wooden one and a plastic one
• wooden fishing toy
• egg shape sorter
• stacking cups
• 3 x puzzles
• scooter
• balance bike
• small tent with tunnel and ball pit
• wooden building blocks
• cuddly toys
• one buzz light year action figure
• one basket ball
• a colour sorting board game
• Art and craft supplies (different types of paper, paint, paintbrushes, felt pen, crayons, black board with chalk, white board with magnets and washable markers, paper plates, googly eyes and pompom kit)

Totally fine and in traditional probably too much. It's been well known that children play better with fewer toys and less toys also has an I.lact on cog itinerary development. Concentration spans, creativity (as they learn to use the same toy in manybdifferent ways) amd I think potentially they may even look after their toys better if they only have a few. I think what you have sounds fine OP.

@teddybeartown Can I pm you please? Or you could pm me if you’re happy to talk? It is about your partner (ex) as this is something similar to what has happened within my close circle recently… I’d appreciate your input if you are happy to discuss? Thank you

Sounds like plenty of toys!

Sounds like a lovely number of toys to me.......it is strange that they're all kept in his bedroom tho. For a child that age I'd expect at least some to be downstairs where they're a lot more accessible.

Very much agree with @Journeyintomelody. Ignore the posters saying to buy more. Studies show that less is better when it comes to toys, and staying away from a large amount of plastic toys is the correct move for a number of reasons. When it comes to books, though, more is better. There are a lot of studies backing this up. However, you don't need hundreds of books in your house. What you need is for your child to go to the library at least once per week, check out many books, see what your child likes and then books that they want to read or check out over and over again are the ones that you can purchase for your home.

What I would do is have a small basket of books in your sitting room/the area that you both spend the most time, that you can rotate. These can be books you own or books that you check out, and then have more books in your DC bedroom for bedtime. But you want some of their books in a main living location so that they can sit and read when you are going about your day/bring books to you to read. I tend to keep seasonal books in the living room basket, right now we have books that have autumnal themes. For library books I utalise the various list out there put out by libraries, Charlotte Mason, etc about "Best books for a 2 year old," etc. and then combine those with what my child gravitates to in the library.

For toys, you have a great foundation and what is nice is that you have some room to expand their collection for holidays, birthdays without the worry that you are going to overwhelm them with too many toys. Things I would consider for the future would be wool/felt animals, grapat pieces, my DC love Grimms (expensive but I pay attention to sales). Puzzles will be a great gift but you can also check these out at libraries too.

Sounds like he has plenty of great toys and activities OP 😊

Please do not take the SW’s comment to heart and please ignore all the posters that are saying it sounds like there isn’t enough.

What matters most is - what does he enjoy doing and playing with? If he isn’t bothered about his little toy cars there’s no point going out and buying masses of hot wheels etc.

Are all the toys in his room? I think this could be why she made the comment. It sounds like he has plenty of toys but it could be concerning if they are all in his room/ on shelves and he doesn’t have access to some toys at all times.

We were not poor and I thinks that's more than ours had though maybe we had more books to read to them. My kids loved lift the flap type books. Christmas and birthdays were not huge toy fests for us. If your two year old is happy and engaged I think you're fine as you are.

Do you think perhaps she’s used to seeing houses with multiple children so yours looks a bit stark in comparison? I definitely had less (and my house was tidier!) when I just had one two year old. The volume of stuff just exploded by the time eldest was going to parties and the youngest had come along.

Oh god op I’m sorry that your kids dad is probably nasty piece of work, I imagine that’s very unsettling to discover. I’m sure you’re doing a brilliant job of picking up the pieces on the home front in all aspects.
Sounds like a nice mix of toys. Please don’t feel under any pressure that you need to rush out and buy a load more ‘things’ to add to an already nice collection of toys. Christmas is around the corner, you can buy books/puzzles etc for that but the SW was happy you are doing well so please put your mind at rest.

I think they are too small, I don't like from a safety standpoint. My toddler really likes the Grimms cars. They are expensive but hold up really well and they make a great Christmas gift. The Brio larger cars are good for a toddler too.

Sounds plenty to me. Could it be that she was asking if that was all the toys because she was surprised they were all in his bedroom? I thought most two year olds would have most, if not all of their toys in the living room?

We have a 5 and 3 year old and they don’t have any toys in their rooms except teddies and lots of books (and a few prized items the 5 year old likes to keep on his shelf e.g. shells, little things he has crafted himself). Perhaps she was surprised that all of his toys were in his room which suggests he doesn’t have access to them all that much, or that he is left to play alone in his room?

Perhaps we are odd that we don’t keep toys in bedrooms though, as not many other posters have picked up on that. Please don’t feel I am suggesting you ought to change how you do things, I’m just wondering if this could have been why the SW made the comment she did.

It sounds absolutely fine and like a silly comment. Maybe she comes from a family where kids have an entire toy shop at home and that influences her POV but, although there may be wrong ways to raise children (which I guess is why we need social services), there certainty isn't one right one.

If this was a thread asking for Christmas present ideas, I would suggest the following:

• Magnetic tiles.
• Some bath books and crayons (the crayons are messy and don't last very long, but it's a good time to get some reading and scribbling practice in as kids are usually so relaxed in the bath).
• Some Happyland/Little people small world stuff. You can get cars with this that the people go in and a foldable mat with roads to push them around. I always buy stuff like this second hand (both for environment reasons and as it's expensive new).
• Some magnetic tiles.
• A ball drop toy of some kind (not marble run until a bit older).
• Some threading beads.
• A pop up den/play tent of some kind. We have a fire engine one and it is such a hit with the DC and visiting children.

That’s loads! What a weird comment.

That's loads, does she hate the planet? Sounds lovely OP.

I don’t think considering some of your list are outdoor toys/arts and crafts and a tonies box and books it’s loads of toys he can play inside with. Also some of your toys sound a bit babyish for a two year old? I know mine wouldn’t be interested much in a shape sorter now because that’s easy and limited for imaginative play. I don’t think you need masses of toys everywhere - mine are organised in boxes and rotated but it does seem like a few updated bits might be good if you can afford to at all.

I would look on Vinted and Facebook marketplace for some things like these secondhand:

• magnetic tiles
• Little people sets - farm, house, garage
• car garage, car mat, a few more cars
• fire engines/police cars/helicopters
• doctors set/vet set
• figurines of anything he’s interested in eg Spider-Man etc
• some more puzzles
• some games like an orchard toy game

Also less than 20 books is such a small amount but you don’t need to buy them at an expensive price. The works, charity shops or rotate your books from the library.

@thehourwaslate most of my DDs toys are in the living room including one of her cardboard boxes.

If you want to add for Christmas, look on Facebook marketplace for a child’s drum, xylophone, maracas

I did come across someone once who kept their toddler in their room all day. You wouldn't have known from the rest of the flat that a toddler lived there. Maybe that was where this comment came from. Not that I'm suggesting for a minute the OP is doing this. And as the case was closed, clearly the SW didn't either.