What was your 2-year old's favourite toy? Inspiration needed.

[Issy42]

Mumsnetters were brilliant at suggesting presents for me last year, so I thought I'd try again. DD will be 2 this month and has a swing/slide set for her birthday. I also bought her a trike for Christmas, but my mother has asked if she can give that to dd for her birthday instead, so now I'm stuck for a Christmas present from me.

So many toys are aimed at under 1 and over 3, any ideas for a 2-year old? She was prem so is behind in her physical development and not quite walking yet, but mentally about right for her corrected age (which will be 23 months on Christmas day).

brio train set.

my DD (2yr 3m) is getting a painting easel, a balance bike and an etch a sketch from various people for christmas. she got a play kitchen for her birthday which she absolutely loves so that might be an idea too

Thanks both.

PandaG - she has a bigjigs name train in her Christmas stocking but it says 3+ on the box, so I was going to leave it as decoration for another year.

iwanttomarryjimsturgess - you're braver than me, I leave painting for nursery

Aquadoodle? Mess-free alternative to painting..

DS's birthday is december, when he was 1 DParents bought him Brio for in the future as he had enough age 1 type stuff. He started playing with it at about 18 months, and continued to play with it for at least another 5 years very frequently, and then less frequently until he was about 9. DD played with it too for years.

DS got Brio and duplo for his 2nd birthday this year and he plays with one or other or both everyday.. And happily now can add to it for Christmas!

Duplo. Happyland and aquadraw have all been used to death here over the last year. It sounds like you have a similar situation to me, birthday and xmas close together. My dd is 3 at the end of nov and i've always bought her presents older than her development as it's a long time til she gets anything again. Balance bike has also been great, she started quite tentative but now at almost 3 she can hurtle down hills balancing.

I'd forgotten about aquadoodle, that's a great idea.

That's interesting PandaG - I wish the age guides would say whether something was unsafe for younger children or just whether it is aimed at the development level of the age.

MrsD and Doctor'sWife - is duplo better than megabloks? I picked up some megabloks the other day as was half price, but I suspect that mum will want to give dd that for Christmas.

Yes, birthday is less than a month before Christmas. Everyone else I know seemed to get trikes for 1st birthdays but I decided to wait until summer and then didn't get round to getting one, so have gone for outdoor toys for her birthday this year. Will use the Megabloks as back-up if it's raining :) or even snowing again.

Ive got megablocks and duplo and duplo is way way better. Its harder to pull apart so not great at say 18 months but from 2.5 onwards duplo wins hands down. Its far more rigid so better for building with i think. Dd's favourite game is building a tower taller than herself. Weirdly she only likes to use the bricks with 4 knobbles on. Ive asked my mum to add to the duplo for birthday in two weeks as it truly does get soooo much use here.

More votes for duplo, brio/bigjigs train sets and happyland here too. All hugely popular from about 18-24 months and still played with from now at 3 1/2.

Play kitchen and easel fab too.

DH was very fussy and insisted on duplo and takes great pains to point out how flimsy megablocks seem in comparison to duplo! Duplo does seem to fit together more easily and built more stable structures than megablocks. However the real sway for me was that most of our duplo is second hand and 30 years old but you could never tell, it really looks brand new when scrubbed up!

I think there is nothing unsafe for a 2yo with Brio, is just a bit difficut to put a track together. We tended to help him make a track, then he spent ages pushing trains round and round it. He could make his own tracks by 3, but they didn't ne4cessarily always join up. By 6ish he was making enormous layouts that went across the landing from one bedroom to another. That was the beauty of the present - lasted ages and you could always buy a bit more track. or some bends or a station or some junctions as teh next present - or suggest it to others. Whole lot is in boxes in my parents' garage, waiting to be lent out to niece and nephew. (will not give it away as hope it will go to grandchildren in the future!)

Thanks all - may take the Megabloks back and get Duplo instead. Should have mentioned that my house is very small so no room for any more big toys that can't be put away.

What about a baby doll? If she's anything like my DD, the minute she turned 2 she was obsessed. You can get some really nice dolls for around 18month olds - smaller the better. Im getting my DD a baby doll for the bath and a pram for xmas.

Issy42 - if you're looking for a big box of Duplo bricks, I spotted that Toysrus had a big box of basic bricks for £34.99 - it's normally about £40 elsewhere, plus it came with almost half as many bricks again free (145 in all). A great starter set to add some of the other small sets to e.g. baby farm animals.

2.8yo DS inherited his cousins' big set of Duplo for his 2nd birthday and it is played with almost daily (not just by us ).

My First Baby Annabell. A toy keyboard. Cutters etc for playdough (bought the first lot and made the rest). Duplo house.

My first baby annabell is a great doll. I can't fault it. The noises are not annoying, she turns herself off and we've never changed the batteries in two years.

i am planning to gift a RC tou car to my little boy on this Christmas eve,he love playing with the racing cars,want to become a car driver,Rc Toy Car
Go for it man!!!

Play kitchen, tea set, pots & pans and play food really popular in our house. Ikea do some good stuff at a decent price.

Also Duplo, Brio, Happyland and a baby doll as above.

You can get a great tea set at Bambino Green , there is also lots of other really beautiful stuff, I can normally find something there.

DD was two in October and loves her doctors set, jigsaws and baby dolls.

Thanks all. I got the duplo and she loves it so far, also got a travel aquadoodle which has gone down well. My parents got her a brio train set. By far her fave though is the £3.50 doll from Tesco, could have saved myself a fortune :)