What does your 2 year old love doing?

[thisbetheverse]

looking for tips on fun things to do with my almost 2 year old, what does/did your toddler really enjoy doing? Ideally free/at home stuff! Just want to make the most of my day at home with her, but struggling for ideas!

also is it normal that she seems to laugh and be more giddy around her dad than me? I try to play and dance with her but can never seem to get the same reaction as her dad! (I know it’s not a competition, just want to make sure she enjoys her time with me!)

Sorry for all the exclamation marks 🥲

With my 2 year old we go to the park and the library a lot. Our library is brilliant, it has a play area and they rotate the toys/crafts they have out for the kids.

At home he loves playing with his toy kitchen, trains and indoor bike. I’ll play along with him for a bit, but I also try to encourage him to solo play as well.

My dc1 loved paint, colouring, puzzles at 2. My dc2 loved climbing, trashing the house, mud kitchens

Reading and puzzles. Now a little bit older also loves cars

We do a lot of classes with my 2yo, but some free stuff she loves are libraries, playgrounds, children's centres, museums, galleries, city farms, traffic-free walks in parks or along the river. At home she likes finger painting, tuff trays with oats/rice/lentils, water play, tumbing with gymnastic mats.

My DS2 absolutely loves singing and dancing, especially when I get the disco light out.

Bubbles in any form.

Me building towers of blocks / boxes / stacking toys and then him knocking them down.

Riding his little motorbike around our house.

Wooden pull along toys.

Going to the garden centre to buy a cheap pack of bedding plants, and getting extremely muddy planting them up. And mud kitchen in the garden.

At home

• Nursery rhymes
• Role play things (dolls, kitchen, shopping)
• Puzzles
• Playdough, colouring
• Books
• Hide and seek (makes them hysterical)
• Bubbles
• Duplo
• When the weather's better- playhouse, slide and swing in the garden
• Anything involving climbing!

Out and about free

• Park and feeding ducks
• Some garden centres have free or very cheap soft play
• Library and children centres do free activities for children
• A local farm shop has pigs and sheep to look at
• Garden centre and see the fish
• Lidl have childrens trolleys so they can help with the shopping
• Swimming they love and at council pools in the day under 4s are free and adult cost isn't too much

Thanks everyone! Sorry I didn’t see the replies until now but some really good suggestions to keep us busy ☺️

My 2yo likes a lot of things but has a typically short attention span so it is a challenge keeping him entertained at home. I do find it easier to get out and about a lot. Free or low cost places we visit include parks (playgrounds/walks/bubbles/ball/feed ducks and birds and squirrels/collect leaves, twigs and whatnot), museums, art galleries, libraries, visiting family/friends. Also not free but free for the entertainment - food shopping (he likes sitting in the trolley seats!).

At home: drawing/colouring, collages, stickers/sticker books, stamps, magnets, role play with toy kitchen/food/teddies/babies/dolls house/doctors, watching TV, playing with cars/garage, setting up train track and playing with the train, reading loooooads of books, paint pens, rough and tumble play, singing nursery rhymes, dancing and playing shakey instruments etc, shape sorters, mega blocks, Mr potato head, stickle bricks...

Lots of things my toddler loves doing have already been mentioned, but one that hasn’t is Cosmic Yoga! My toddler (and older sibling!) absolutely love it and it gives me a few minutes of peace.

@thingsineverthoughtidsay wow just looked into cosmic yoga - will have to give this a try!!

@WeightoftheWorld ah sticker books and stamps sound great, definitely think I need to get more crafty!

Lots of the above.

My two year old's favourite thing to do with me is cooking/baking. Then eating the results. Measuring the ingredients. Mixing etc.

Similar to yours, op, DC gets a lot more giddy with dad but with me seems to want to do more sedate things. We both think we've been categorised into distinct roles by toddler DC, comfort v entertainer, eg. if DC got to pick high parent came to soft play they would pick their dad and for comfort after a nightmare they would pick me. Met with lots of resistance now only dad goes in in the night, but persevering. I'm hoping one day they'll find me as funny as they find him, and find him as comforting in the night as I am.

We always tried to get out to a local playgroup or library session. Even a trip to the garden centre. I think it tires them out more and then they nap!