Toy Favorites for 2/3 Year Olds

Updated on October 20, 2006
A.L. asks from Minneapolis, MN
17 answers

My daughther is 27 months old--we haven't invested a ton of money into toys because she has been in daycare full-time. With a new baby in the house (8 weeks), we would like to buy some new things that would potentially keep her attention a bit longer for independent playtime (or playing while mom/dad are just hanging out). What are some of the favorites out there you can suggest?

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L.

answers from Minneapolis on

Mine love the kitchen set we got for them. They started playing with it around 2years old and still love it today! Also, the fisher price Little People series is great for imanginative play--lots of time spent there too!

1 mom found this helpful
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J.

answers from Minneapolis on

My daughter has had a kitchen set since her 1st birthday and no toy has had such staying power! They are a bit pricey and bulky, but they are great! Also, the only time you can really get the plastic food for the kitchen is at the holidays. Toyrus sells sets of food marketed from Dairy Queen (ie play with a Blizzard) etc, but the most retailers only carry the real looking food stuff at the holidays so buy it then!

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T.

answers from Minneapolis on

We recently got our kids the Ryan's Room TeePee Maze Craze set, they love it (3 y.o. and 20 months) It has a TeePee, tent and two tunnels made of nylon. It all breaks down and packs up very nicely. It was only $29 at Costco. They now keep the tent set up in their room and sleep in from time to time.

1 mom found this helpful
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C.A.

answers from Milwaukee on

I have a daughter that is 2 and she loves her beauty salon, kitchen set, vaccum,sidewalk chalk, her art easel(painting and drawing) I think the more realistic something is the more they want to take part in it. She also loves to trace and color in her coloring books. Crayola has wonderful crayons out that are cased in plastic and just have twist bottoms when they have used the tip up, therefore no more broken crayons laying around the house:) Well, hope this helps.

A little about me: Also a late 30s mom, with a 2 year old daughter and a five month old son. A very happy family of four including Daddy of course:)

1 mom found this helpful
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P.

answers from Minneapolis on

I have 3 daughters, 3, 2, and 6 mos. My girls love any kind of dress up, especially the dress up shoes. Also, the kitchen that others mentioned is a huge hit. Other things they love: dollies and accessories (stroller, wagon, baby carrier, etc.), lego table, coupe car (the red one from Little Tikes - they LOVE it), any type of craft materials, dancing Dora and the dancing Elmo dolls. Hope this helps, there are a lot of fun things to buy!

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C.O.

answers from Minneapolis on

My son loves ride on toys, like a tricycle, little tykes coupe. Also you can get a play kitchen, basketball hoop and playhouse. We have a lot of room in our basement and we keep a lot of these toys indoors so he can play with them.

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L.E.

answers from Minneapolis on

My boys are so good about playing on their own now and I know that it is because we allowed them to explore with toys and holdhold things that were safe. They LOVE BLOCKS! They are so basic and cheap. They still play with them doing all sorts of things. Sorting the colors, stacking them, making them into rows, driving a toy car through them and more. Now my 4 year old like to try and spell his name and do copy-cat shapes (one of us does a pattern and the other copies!). Really think that blocks is a great thing.

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A.V.

answers from Minneapolis on

I run an in home daycare and have 2 kids I would sugest anything by leapfrog most of the kids fight over them we have the drum, basketball hoop, rolling ball, activity table, activity gym and lots more also little tykes small plastic slide I bring our in the house durring the winter months and put it in the living room and they love to play on it, we also have the pop up tents thet are in the shape of thomas, a fire truck, a princess castle, and just a plain square one that you can attach tunnels to everyone plays with them when they are set up from my 8 month old who loves to crawl thru them all the way upto my 8 year old daughter who plays house or reads in them good investment and the 23 month old has figured out how to set it up (twisty metal frames that twist into a circle). I hope these ideas have helped you also we have a big kitchen set and when I am feeding the babies the 17 month and 23 month olds (girls) even the 4 year old boys play with the kitchen stuff they go and get baby dolls and bottles and feed or change them what ever I am doing with the babies.

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A.S.

answers from Minneapolis on

My daughter is about the same age as yours and she LOVESSSS her Dora the Explorer house and figures. She plays with it everyday and can spend a good amount of time just playing with the figures and having them hug & talk back and forth and take naps, etc. If you don't already have this-it's sooooo cute! Not only does our 2 1/2 year old play with it but our 4 year old & our almost 6 year old nephew! This toy has staying power!

Good luck!
A.

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S.S.

answers from Rochester on

I agree with the leap pad music table. My 3 year old still loves to play with it and so does my 10 month old. Little people and weebles are some other ones that he loves. He even has the Little people doll house(my cousin grew out of it and passed it to us) He love playing with that too.

A.B.

answers from Minneapolis on

I have a 2 year old little girl and we just got her a doll called Snap and Style. She has different outfits that snap on and long hair to comb. She just loves changing her clothes. I got it at Kohls and it was $14.99 with extra clothes for $7.99. And of course at Kohls things are usually on sale. I got ours for 40% off.

Good Luck!

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A.A.

answers from Minneapolis on

We have the Leap Frog Music Table. It cost about $40 when I got mine, but I've seen them as low as $29, lately. It has detatchable legs so it can go directly on the floor and your younger baby may be interested in it too, by about 4-8 months old. My oldest is 4 1/2 and still plays with it. Older cousins and friends have fun with it too and I've even caught my husband's friends playing with it when the kids weren't around!

The other toys that have been mentioned are all great and my girls love those too.

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J.S.

answers from Wausau on

Dress up clothes! My daughter loves to play dress up. High heels and tiaras, and feather boas!

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K.

answers from Minneapolis on

My son is 2&1/2 and I also run a daycare from my home :) www.dreamfamilychildcare.com
Here is some of his favorites and the other daycare children who are 2 and 3.

-magna doodle
-train table(Thomas trains)
-kitchen Play set(dishes, food) kids seem to like real containers I wash out a lot milk, juice containers.....
-mega blocks
-little people play sets
-puzzles
-wooden lock box
-ball pit

hope this helps!
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T.W.

answers from Milwaukee on

Playdough, crayons, markers, and little crafts help alot. We have six children they play together alot but I know Big sis has to wait a while before she can play with little baby I know they like to be creative, even the big legos tell them to make me a house and they are so proud when they are done then I send them to make something else keeps them busy.

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B.H.

answers from Minneapolis on

My daughter has played with her kitchen set since age 2 and hasn't stopped and is now 5. She could play kitchen and babies all day.

I keep her toys organized in rubber maid totes. Barbies are in one tote, polly pockets in another tote. Keeps them organized and picked up and I pull one tote out at a time and we can rotate toys and bring new stuff out so she isn't getting so bored.

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A.A.

answers from Minneapolis on

One of our alltime favorites is our pop up playhouse(we have thomas but they come in many styles/characters) both my boys love to play in it. they bring other toys in it to play with and sometimes I let them eat lunch in it too.
also the little people abc zoo set is used all the time here too. The animals are regular little people(so no small part worry) and the mat has letters that make the animals sounds so its also helping a child learn too. my mom went and bought one for her house because they like it so much.

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