2 year old presents!

[solania]

I have a DS who will be 2 just after Christmas, he’s very vehicle oriented and loves building toys (megablox, duplo and wooden blocks, rings ect) and drawing/painting crafty things.

I’m trying to think of things that will encourage his nurturing, caring side (he is very compassionate but currently not showing a lot of interest in soft toys, dolls ect) and his imagination. He’s just starting to get into pretend people like Playmobil so I think this sort of thing might be a new avenue of play for him.

I’ve thought of a dolls house but not sure, but I’m a bit in a rut of buying him cars, tractor puzzles, bus/digger games ect as it’s his main interest, so can anyone inspire me with some non duplo, non vehicle ideas for helping his development and imagination please? Thanks!

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My DS is 2.5 and is getting a wooden fire station for Christmas as his main gift and we also got him bits to encourage his imagination like a doctors set (Aldi), small doll and a Melissa and Doug tool box.

Some nice sets of Playmobil 123 for his age. The Noah's ark is great as it can go in the bath too. Normal Playmobil is a good choice too as long as you remove the tiny parts until he's bigger.

A castle playset might interest him. Tbh my nearly 3 year old is the same vehicle obsessed and I've given up trying him with playsets, had to sell all the happyland as he wasn't interested at all!

Play kitchen is a great idea though and can be added to.

I know you’ve sort of dismissed the idea, but I would look at Nins - grapats - they’re lovely opened ended wooden peg people, brilliant for imaginative play, and not super expensive when you think your child’s children could conceivably play with them because they’re great quality and sustainable. If he doesn’t get on with them you’d also have no problem selling them on. My boys are 18 months and they love carrying them about the place and putting them in cars to drive along.

Another hit with us is a tuff tray type thing for messy play or small work play, you’ll get an off brand one for £10 and we dye rice and crush cereal to play with on it, maybe good for a fan of construction vehicles to make world scenes