What toys does/did your 2-3 year old love & play with?

[HowManyDucks]

DD has outgrown her baby toys and I'm looking for some inspiration for her birthday and Christmas. We aren't a big "toy" household and I honestly can't stand plastic crap. I've got her few little things already hidden in the wardrobe for now and she has a micro scooter. (We have enough books to fill a children's library)

She has loved every one of her toys so far and I'm keen to only buy stuff that she will use and play with.

What were big hits in your family? I can't remember my toys from the toddler years!

My 3yo DD is really into imaginative/small world play and with a new baby we're encouraging independent play as well... big hits we've had:

• mini kitchen (we got a small wooden one from a charity shop for 99p), there are some lovely wooden food sets you can buy to go with it. And cake/tea set etc
• train set
• canal system for the garden
• character toys where she can make up stories - she has loads of 2nd hand peppa pig stuff given to us by a friend who has older kids. You can also buy busy books which is basically a box with a few figures in, a board book attached and a playmat. These are quite cheap but good to independent play and quite compact. She also has some dinosaurs/cuddly toys to act out stories with
• yoto player
• jigsaw puzzles
• activity books - usbourne do some good wipe clean ones

Hope this helps!

I bought a massive box for Duplo on eBay and my youngest occasionally still plays with it at 7 years old.

Thank you! I did just get a little wooden train set! She isn't quite there with imaginative play yet but I think they could be toys she will grow into and that is exactly what I'm looking for.
I was thinking about a dolls house but actually I love your idea of a play mat.

Brio, magnetic tiles, duplo, stickle bricks, car garage and cars, play kitchen, mud kitchen, playmobil. Dressing up clothes, baby doll and pushchair, simple dolls house (sylvanians, Maileg mice and Lego came later).

Things that I’m less keen on but that have been popular are paw patrol toys and noisy musical toys like electric drums, recordable microphone,

My three are older now but looking back. A red full size bucket. A tea set. Pretend food. Balls. All the bath toys.

Oh yes jigsaws and orchards games - shopping list and tummy ache are classics!

We also have something called plus plus which now seems to be everywhere but it was passed on by a friend who bought it in France. It’s brilliant for travelling!

Could be something you already have? But for my daughter’s 2nd birthday we got her a desk with built in storage and easel. She loves painting and drawing.

Mine Is 2 years 8 months and is just transitioning on her play. She is starting to pretend play more. We have a mini kitchen and stuff already.

indoor trampoline

she enjoys threading toys. I’ve recently seen one advertised where it looks a bit like crochet but it’s not!! It’s hard to explain but it looks great!

pram and baby doll?

play dough

water painting mat

To be honest I’m stuck at what to get her for her birthday. So far I have a cot for her babies! We definitely got a bit excited at Christmas and the toys were a bit too old for her.

Leapfrog ice cream cart. My eldest got it for his 2nd birthday. He's now 7 and he and my youngest still regularly play with it!
The big tubs of animals/dinosaurs/sea creatures are popular here too.

Magnetic tiles have been big hit in our house and dont take up to much space. 2 year old loves them, 4 year old loves them

Magnetic tiles keeps them busy! My 3 yr old loves pretending to build nursery’s, houses and cars 😂
shop
doctors kit
dentist kit
hair dressers kit
dressing up rail
jig saws
dolls

they love role play toys at this age

Mine love-

• Dolls
• Play kitchen
• Duplo
• Drawing and colouring and painting (water painting is a mess free version)
• Jigsaws
• Magnetic tiles
• Tonie box settles to sleep
• Dressing up
• Outdoor toys- play house, Trampoline, slide, mud kitchen, water play

The play kitchen is probably the one used the most in our house, and the mud kitchen in the garden. You can find some of many sizes, it doesn't have to be a full standing kitchen.

We have loads of second hands playmobils too, animals, people, trees... I find them easier than Duplos as that age because they can play independently.

We have Duplos too but my 3.5 to is just starting to be able to put them together on his own. With my 2yo I spend my day putting the wheels back on or building the rocket that fell apart etc. They also take more space.

I’ve two roughly in that window, they love soft toys, toy prams, little figurines, the dollhouse, magnatiles, cars and the kitchen.

I found children don't tend play with a dolls house at that age...they need to be Abit older. They bring the furniture and dolls out of the house and play on the floor or a house mat would be good idea.

Playmobil 123
Peppa pig toy
Bath toys
Scooter
Paper and pencils
A football
Dressing up
Pram and doll
A little trolly which they can put things in and move around the house
If a garden a small children sized gardening set
Bubbles
Watermat...this is a must...I donated dd to the school after finished with it and they never seen on before...it was huge and rainbow coloured when wet... basically you write on the white water mat or make patterns with the tools with water and whatever you write is rainbow coloured. When finish dry outside or anywhere and it returns to white. Amazing to encourage mark making.
I'm sure there's a lot more.....

Thanks for all the suggestions! We are tight for space and no garden which makes it a bit trickier. She has a bucket and garden tools we take to the park/sandpit and plays on the mud kitchen at forest school.

Her favourite things at the moment are books, rag doll, colouring crayons & notebook, football, hula hoop and wooden cars.

Some miniature figures are a great idea. Are Sylvanian families still around?

DD got the Ikea flisat house for a first birthday present on the basis that it could be storage until she grew into it. She started enjoying it as a doll’s house at about 18 months (although at 2.5 she can definitely grow into it more). We bought some second hand duplo home bits for it and it’s the right sort of size. She loves the duplo people!

yy to a kitchen, magnatiles, pram and doll, and ice cream cart as well. We also have the Tomy Toomies bath barista coffee set in the bath and that’s super popular still. They grow up so quickly at this age, it’s really hard to imagine them being old enough doing things like imaginary play but it sneaks up on you!

DGD is 2yrs 9 months.
Favourites are duplo, soft toys in a dolls pushchair, play dough, pretend food and a shopping basket, garage and cars, painting (IKEA paints are great), chunky chalks for outside.

Big hits:

-Wooden train set
-Duplo
-Ikea play kitchen and felt fruit, pans, teaset etc.
-Magnatiles
-Easel
-Big crayons/chubby pencils
-Outdoor playhouse
-Indoor tent/teepee
-Playsets of Clangers, Octonauts, Sarah & Duck figures
-Toy buggy, soft toys and bags to put things in and carry around

DD wasn’t into:
-Dolls or Barbies
-Electronic toys or pretend laptops
-Particularly gender-specific items
-Doll’s house (we got one but she never played with it)

She also had some Sylvanians (yes they are still around!) but was keener on putting the animals into houses made from magnatiles and Duplo than she was on the actual houses they came in.

My 3 year old loves playing with magnetic tiles, kinetic sand, and play doh.

At that age (under 3) mine wasn't ready for things like board games and jigsaws, those started to come in after he was 3. He liked his dressing up box, play tent, and balance bike. He also used to carry around Sylvanian Families figures like he was a labrador.

Musical instruments - sets of shakers/xylophone/tambourine etc. I don't love them but they have been a HUGE hit!

Play kitchen (we got a lovely wooden one from Asda) and play food
Wooden train set
Car garage
Duplo (obviously plastic but I wouldn't call it 'crap')
Happyland sets (as above, not really 'crap')

Edited to add:

play tent (remided by poster above!) there's loads of lovely ones around. Can get cushions, fairy lights, bunting etc to decorate if indoors.

Mine loved Duplo. They played with it for years and years.

Mine are older now but play-doh, duplo (just a big bucket not the sets), happy land, play kitchen and food from Ikea.

Duplo
Brio train set
Vehicles that did stuff - truck bed lifts, crane on the back, doors open to put something inside
Craft stuff (paint, crayons , beads for threading)
Playdoh
Toy kitchen/shop/shopping trolley etc
Toy tea set/play food
Balance bike & scooter
Magnatiles
Playhouse/playtent - or a laundry airer + blankets!
Musical toys
Kinetic sand

Friends kids loved Paw Patrol and all the figures and vehicles but that's probably in the category of "plastic crap" - it's what got played with most though, youngest is 5.5yo and still plays with them.

Play food was very popular, they had an Ikea play kitchen, lots of things like plastic plates and cups and saucepans and the play food and would act out cafes or tea parties. A wooden birthday cake with candles was particularly good as could roleplay parties. A wooden ice cream set as well.

Duplo, Hot Wheels, wooden train set, Playdoh but they mostly liked the bigger items rather than just squishing and cutting out dough - had an ice cream set and a dinosaur that pooped out dough.