Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

Original poster

2.5 year old gifts? New baby on the way!

35 replies

RedBrick24 · 06/10/2023 12:01

DS will be 2 and a half at Christmas. All being well, he'll have a new sibling by mid February so I'm looking for toys that may help to keep him occupied during the newborn madness!
I'm currently thinking of a Tonies/Yoto player and a bike/scooter. Any thoughts? He's active, loves to be outside and is currently obsessed with animals so anything related to this would be perfect too.

OP posts:
Forgottenmyphone · 06/10/2023 12:19

Unless you have the space for him to ride his bike or scooter without being supervised, then a bike or scooter won’t be helpful in keeping him occupied during the newborn madness. My DS independently played with his Aquaplay lock box, aquadoodle mat, sandpit, Duplo train set and toot toot drivers.

NuffSaidSam · 06/10/2023 12:25

Things that 2.5 year olds can/will play with on their own or with little input from you:

Duplo (they have a farm and zoo set I think).

Small world stuff like HappyLand or cars/animals etc.

Simple puzzles

Toy kitchen and food (you'll have to eat plastic food all day long, but easy enough to do with one hand while bf!)

Colouring pens and paper, stickers, aquadraw, pavement chalk.

WeirdPookah · 06/10/2023 12:35

Another vote for an Aquadraw mat, it was a surprise hit from an Auntie to my child and she loved it. No mess, no need to help with fiddly bits.

Original poster
RedBrick24 · 06/10/2023 13:10

Thanks for the suggestions so far everyone. We do have a garden but I'm thinking the bike/scooter might be good for park visits. DS slept so well in his pram in fresh air so I'm hoping this little one might be similar (famous last words).

Any experience of Tonies/Yoto?

OP posts:
ChocHotolate · 06/10/2023 14:16

We have a tonie box, my nearly 3 yr old hardly uses it. She will put on songs if we are all together but wont listen to stories.
She will easily play for 40 mins with her dolls, I know yours is a DS but there's often not much difference at this age

Favouritefruits · 06/10/2023 14:41

Play doh and lots of it, you can sit on the sofa whiles your child makes you different meals!

DuploTrain · 06/10/2023 14:45

My DS is 2.5 and loves Happyland. We have people, a house, a few shops.
We also have the London bus and he puts people in and out and drives them to the cafe for hours.

You can get loads secondhand, which I would recommend, especially if you’re not sure he’ll like them, as they’re obscenely expensive new.

Backagain23 · 06/10/2023 16:39

I got my eldest DS a Tonie when he was 2.5, he loves it still and 1 year old DS is currently happily playing with in in his playpen and "singing" along 😂 Stocking fillers for both sorted this year!
I am thinking of getting eldest a Yoto for his 5th birthday next year as it's a bit more grown up content/easier to travel etc but the Tonie has been great for little hands and the figures are quite tough!

SpadeAndBucket · 06/10/2023 20:42

I got a Yoto for my DD at about 2y4 months and we've used it every single day since and she'll listen to a whole Yoto card with very little input from me while doing something else like playdoh/drawing/small world play. She loves the Laurie Berkner songs, Mog the Forgetful Cat, Percy the Park Keeper and Topsy and Tim but there's loads of great ones. Would absolutely recommend (and it's better for my DD than a Toniebox would have been, her little friend has one and she won't leave the little figurines alone as she wants to play with them and the stories are a lot more expensive too).

Sjh15 · 07/10/2023 12:40

My nearly 2 year old is obsessed with toy cars atm.
also I have got him a load of happyland for Xmas :-)

SiouxsieSiouxStiletto · 07/10/2023 12:52

We had an aqua draw mat and an ELC train set. Not sure if they do them anymore but if you can get hold of one second hand they are brilliant.

PEARLJAM123 · 07/10/2023 13:46

Definitely aquadraw and Cranium hullabaloo for something active.

ReadRum · 07/10/2023 13:51

If he doesn’t have them, doll buggy and sling so that he can copy you when you are doing things for the new baby. They don’t have to be used with a doll, my kids often put stuffed animals in theirs. A cuddly baby monkey, for example.

ZXZ · 07/10/2023 13:52

weve just had a baby and have a 2 year old. He already had a balance bike and we have quite an open plan house so he does go it inside 🙈 He’s quite into his toot toot drivers just now, the monster truck one with the big ramps. He’s got back into mega blocks recently too. He’s always into tractors with trailers as well. He’s also got some toys that he needs supervised with - playdough and colouring (the kits where the pen doesn’t draw unless it’s on those colouring sheets are good).

Going to try to get him a toddler camera and bigger bike for Christmas

LeticiaDejeuner · 07/10/2023 14:07

Mine got a Playmobil Noah's Ark with a pile of Playmobil animals for his 2nd birthday, just before his baby brother was born. He played with it endlessly, unassisted, and it is still in the game now as a bath toy (he is now nearly 7 and his brother is nearly 5) albeit some of the animals are missing legs/ears.

Abbyant · 07/10/2023 14:09

Tbh I know a few people that got the tones and their children don’t bother with them that’s why i havnt got them for my children. My ds is not yet 2 but he plays with mega blocks and a wooden Noah’s ark that my mum got him it has little wooden animals and he spend hours loading the animals in and pushing the boat around.

NameChange30 · 07/10/2023 14:13

We have Yoto and Tonies, the Yoto players are used daily by both children (now 6 and 3) but the Toniebox was never used much by either of them. They love the Yotos, my 3yo in particular is obsessed. I definitely recommend Yoto, probably the Yoto mini as it's so portable and you can even get them a lanyard so they can carry it around with them Grin I like the range of content including Yoto daily (which my 6yo loves) and the option to listen to radio, use toothbrush/tidy up timers, do "make your own" cards.

I have a referral code if you'd like one for a discount, OP.

NameChange30 · 07/10/2023 14:15

Oh and definitely a scooter if he doesn't have one yet. You can put baby in the sling or pram and take him out to the park easily if he likes the scooter. Only thing is it'll be difficult to chase after him with a baby in tow so you have to teach him to stop and wait at corners and roads.

FTMbg · 07/10/2023 14:30

It's jigsaws, dolls and play kitchen here that occupy the most time independently.

Mew2 · 07/10/2023 16:30

So mine uses her tonie box everyday- however she loves books and telling stories. Hers is in her room and is used at bedtime, when she wakes in the night and she will lie in bed in the morning listening to 2 or 3 tonies before she gets up in the morning... if she needs quiet time it gets used then too (but not normally downstairs)... in terms of toys she plays loads with her thomas train set and her tuff tray mainly with playdoh and her dolls house and play kitchen... she also loves duplo and playmobil.. basically anything that she can role play with she loves...

Soph1995xx · 07/10/2023 16:38

I think maybe saving a few Christmas presents for when the baby comes will be helpful. A present from the new baby and some presents from you. This will help any jealousy of people bringing presents for the baby. They will also be new and more of a novelty to keep child occupied when you are busy with newborn.

suggestions for 2.5 would be play dough, duplo, fisher price little people play sets (they do animal ones) or happy land, drawing/crafts activities, magnetic fishing game and some books. Maybe also baby related items like a doll/pushchair

Overtiredmam · 07/10/2023 17:25

My lil boy was just 20mths when I'd my little girl just after Christmas last year we did a very low key Christmas but got a few little wooden puzzles and games from the toy sale in Lidl and Aldi before Christmas and kept them to produce in a day of need when he was having toddler tantrums and baby was being needy etc the novelty of something new would mean he'd play for longer with it and I started rotating toys more often so put away his toot toots for awhile and with would set Duplo or mega blocks building table up and felt he'd play with these for much longer then cos it was like they were new also some toy baby stuff is a nice idea he used to feed his teddy when I was feeding the baby and tried to get him involved in passing wipes nappies etc

Luckyduc · 07/10/2023 17:36

Train set, brio etc
Duplo bricks
Wooden bricks
Farm set
Playmobil
You could buy small world wooden stuff ...smyths have a wooden rainbow that's used for bridges and bits for their imagination.
Cars....hotwheels/garage
Tractors

This is basically what my kid played with and spent hiurs and hours in his own world.

Katiebaby3009 · 07/10/2023 17:40

Definitely a scooter if he doesn’t have one. Also would suggest something that will keep him occupied if you are busy with baby- mine loves his train set.

Businessflake · 07/10/2023 17:41

Brio. Definitely brio. DC got one at the same age and still plays with it now (7). Provides ideas for future gifts too, they loved getting stations, new trains.

For that age I would go for a Tomie. We have one for our youngest and they love it, fall asleep to it most night.

If you have the space a decent toy kitchen. We’re not short of space but weirdly don’t have a spare wall to put one against so bought a tiny table top thing that still gets loads of use.