Our favorite birthday and holiday gift ideas for 2-year-olds
By the time your child is 2 years old, you’ve seen them grow and develop in fascinating ways. Now, they’re refining their gross and fine motor skills, learning new words, and beginning to show signs of independence ❤️
What is the best gift for a 2-year-old?
We’ve grouped this collection of fun, engaging gift ideas for 2-year-olds by developmental benefit, with a range of ideas in each category from big to small.
Gifts to encourage gross motor skills
Anyone who loves a 2-year-old is amazed by their boundless energy. Your 2-year-old is learning to coordinate their movements as they climb, run, jump, and balance. These gift ideas support your constantly-moving 2-year-old’s motor skill development.
Indoor climber and slide
If your toddler wants to climb on all your furniture, an indoor climber and slide—also known as a Pikler triangle—makes a smart gift. Used indoors or outdoors, it’s a safe way for young children to practice climbing, sliding, and balancing. The angle of the slide can be adjusted as their skills progress.
Hoop set
Help your toddler harness their energy in a fun way with a set of Jump-In Eco Hoops & Organic Cotton Bean Bags. There are almost endless ways to play with this set—use it for a hula hoop, play bean bag toss, or let them jump into the hoops.
Balance beam
Your 2-year-old is still working on their balance, so a low, safe balance beam can be a great way for them to practice. This wooden balance beam can be easily disassembled and moved to create new challenges both indoors and out.
Gifts to foster independence and helpfulness
Encourage your 2-year-old’s natural curiosity and eagerness to help with gifts that teach practical life skills and build confidence.
Child-size sink
Children of all ages love playing with water. Give your 2-year-old a safe and sustainable way to explore water’s properties with the Super Sustainable Sink, which recirculates water for less waste during playtime. With the small plates and cups, your toddler can also gain real practice pouring, cleaning, and drying.
Child-size cleaning tools
Does your 2-year-old love to participate in everyday activities like cleaning and cooking? At this age, child-size versions of adult household tools such as the Squeaky Clean Squeegee Set let children practice basic skills and feel independent.
Expert-curated play kits for your child’s exact stage
The Helper Play Kit
The Helper Play Kit for months 25 to 27 supports your child’s budding independence with playthings that help them find security in routine, practice fine motor precision, and build resilience and problem-solving skills. The kit includes a chunky wooden puzzle, an engaging color matching game, art supplies, and our popular Super Sustainable Sink.
The Enthusiast Play Kit
The Enthusiast Play Kit for months 28 to 30 helps build your 2-year-old’s social emotional skills while introducing key STEM concepts. It includes a full picnic set, a sorting puzzle, a real working scale, and activities for learning to name and understand emotions.
The Investigator Play Kit
The Investigator Play Kit for months 31 to 33 supports your toddler’s natural curiosity and emerging executive function skills with playthings that offer just the right amount of challenge. The kit includes a 3D puzzle, a hammer box activity that teaches colors and patterns, a real working timer, and their first science lab.
The Free Spirit Play Kit
The Free Spirit Play Kit for months 34 to 36 includes play essentials to support your about-to-be-3-year-old’s growing skills. Introduce numbers and shapes, explore a stacking toy that adds a new challenge, and head out on an adventure with a play camping set and a wooden camper with doors that really lock.
Learn more about Lovevery’s learning and development toys for 2-year-olds.
Gifts for hands-on exploration
These gift ideas encourage sensory exploration and early STEM learning as your 2-year-old explores their first basic structures and simple machines.
Block set
Blocks are the original STEM toy. A high-quality block set with a variety of sizes and shapes is a gift your child will use for years. Through open-ended block play, your toddler learns problem-solving, math, creativity, and persistence.
First train set
If your child loves anything on wheels, a train set may be the perfect gift. A simple train set lets your child learn about problem-solving and spatial relationships. They can change the orientation of the train to test out different paths—and find out what happens when a vehicle in motion meets an immovable object 🙃
Gifts that encourage fine motor skills
As your 2-year-old refines their grasp and learns to coordinate both hands, their interest in fine motor play will grow. These gifts let your child practice fine motor skills, setting a foundation for later writing and creativity.
Chunky crayons
Your toddler may be beginning to show an interest in art materials like crayons. Looks for chunky crayons and art sticks that are easier for little hands to hold, like the Washable Tempera Paintsticks in the Anywhere Art Kit. Crayons made of natural materials like beeswax are non-toxic and sustainable and have an intriguing texture for added sensory stimulation.
Screw block
Activities like this screw block appeal to your toddler’s interest in exploring with their hands. They love to touch everything and discover how simple machines work. This type of toy also develops eye-hand coordination and color recognition.
Stacking boulders
At 2, your child is refining their stacking skills, and stacking boulders offer a new challenge. Your toddler will have to experiment to discover which facets of the boulder will stack well with the next one—problem-solving and fine motor skills at work.
Gifts to introduce music
Your toddler probably loves exploring sound. Make the most of musical play with playthings that work like real instruments.
The Lovevery Music Set
Channel your 2-year-old’s interest in music with real, toddler-friendly instruments. This Music Set is based on the pentatonic scale so all the notes sound great together in any combination. The included Play Guide makes it easy for musical beginners to play with confidence.
Wood Tone Drum
Toddlers love to bang on almost anything—but it’s not always a lovely sound. This Wood Tone Drum with a rubber mallet is designed to create a soft tone for (slightly) more harmonious drumming play 🙃
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The Play Kits by Lovevery are thoroughly tested, baby safe, eco-friendly and Montessori inspired. Give your child the best start with our stage-based play toy subscription boxes.
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