Castle or fort for a 2yr old?

[JuniperTisane]

Actually its for his 2nd birthday in early January but Christmas is likely to get the right people looking

DS2 has been known to throw a strop at DS1's preschool picking up time when I have to extricate him from the imaginext lions den thingy he's playing with while i get ds1's bag etc together.

It says age 3 upwards on the box, as do all the fort/castle things on the market. Is there a good one for a younger toddler, maybe that doesn't have too much building or pre-play fiddling to do? But has some nice easy to use features. That might do well a year from now too?

Asking for the moon or does one exist?

Usually the 3+ means there are small bits a child might swallow, and under threes need to be kept and eye on. To be honest I'd get whichever one looks really good and ignore the sign. (I think it just means manufacturer takes no liability if your child chokes).

I thought that, but I know some are big and complicated and I want him to be able to have fun without a huge amount of adult input opening and shutting stuff, little figures falling off or apart etc.

DS2 already plays with lots of DS1's stuff so i'm not too worried about him eating bits, I just want him to be able to operate it.

I would get him the imaginext castle or bat cave as they will be well loved for a long time and the figures are fine for a 2 year old and his brother might want to play with them too.

thank you both. Very useful. Off to look at Imaginext now...

I'd go for Imaginext too - DS has the batcave and the castle and they're pretty robust and not too fiddly

Another vote for Imaginext, my 3 year old and 2 year old love theirs. They are getting the lions den set this year.
I recommend getting the dragon too if you can. Other mumsnetters persuaded me to get it last year and I am glad as it is brilliant.

ELC tower of doom,the wooden slot together thing/ DS has it he is 6 nd his 8 yr old brotherstill plays with it!

Or, go nuts and get THIS!!!

We have this: www.gusgusdesigns.co.uk/bigjigs-king-arthurs-wooden-toy-castle-1668-p.asp

It's awesome. My 3 year old loves it.

might get that for myself.

The Tower of doom and the imaginext lions den are both contenders although the elc one is out of stock everywhere. Not looking to buy until after Christmas anyway.

If you got the elc one, my dcs love the scooby doo figure set to go with it, they have much better monsters than the els range!

That's a nice one lucidlady I'll add it to the list.

A good monster is essential.

www.spottygreenfrog.co.uk/My-First-Wooden-Castle---Red/p--2035/?source=froogle&gclid=CJXOMOM0NSICFSJLTAOD-XSAGW We have one very similar to this one that Ds1 (now 13) got for his 4th birthday it's still in good condition now which is amazing seeing as he played with it loads and is still being played with now.... 5 more dcs later!

www.amazon.co.uk/Melissa-Doug-Folding-Medieval-Castle/dp/B0028RBIQS

We have the batcave and the m&D folding castle. Both big hits and they play with them together. You can usually get the castle for under £50 somewhere.

If you click on the 'castles and knights' tab to the left of my link you can see all the other castles they have (on closer look ours is more like the left toy van lionheart one). I'm going to order some of the extra little bits (prison cart, trebuchet and siege tower as well as some of the figures on page 6+7) for my youngest 3 dc for Christmas. Thanks for starting this thread..... I was wondering what to get them for little extras and never would have thought about adding to the castle until I saw this!

You are all so lovely. I have a nice list of castles to look at now. I'm really torn between the Imaginext Lion or a traditional wooden one. Space isn't an issue, just useability.

His birthday isn't til 5th Jan so I will see what looks a good price after christmas.

Your DS might be completely different to mine, but mine really wasn't fussed by the beautiful wooden toys he hadn't that age. The imaginext one we have has noises and interacts with some of the accessories we have - that would have appealed a lot more at 2.

Yeah. I agree with that. It is the Imaginext one he goes for.

DH (80's child that he is) has just emailed me to say he has Castle Greyskull up in his parents loft and would that do?!