Best Toys And Gifts For 2-Year-Olds 2025

Few things captivated my 2-year-old’s attention like Lego Duplo bricks. There are all kinds of sets on the market—from trains to farm animals—but you can’t go wrong with an open-ended set that encourages unstructured building and play possibilities. It’s also a great pick if you’re giving a gift, because it doesn’t matter if it’s a duplicate—more bricks offer the ability to build bigger structures. My son uses his Duplo bricks to construct towers, houses for his other toys and objects that feature in imaginary play like “violins” and “jackhammers.” 

I personally think this set is adorable, but more importantly, 2-year-olds find it fun to put the gnomes in their mushroom-shaped houses and take them out again. When my son first got this set, he loved matching the colors, but over time he began to be more interested in seeing how the lids and gnomes of different sizes fit into the different cups. Toys like this are also great to encourage early vocabulary development if you encourage your child to talk about the different colors, numbers and sizes as they play. They work as bath toys, too. 

Johnson recommends climber sets to give little ones a place to be active inside. “You might spend a lot of the day saying, ‘No, get down from there. Oh, don’t jump on that, don’t climb that,’” she says. “But positive redirection is so important for toddlers, if they have this internal drive to move, if you’ve got a kid who’s a mover and groover, you need to have an area where it is safe and appropriate for them to be able to climb and crash.”
Available in three finishes, there are a few reasons I like this climbing set from Avenlur. First, it can be configured a few different ways, so you can keep it interesting for your toddler. You can set it up as a slide, bridge, rocker or simple ladder—and those are just a few of the possibilities. I also like that it’s made from wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which means the brand is supporting sustainable forestry practices.

Forbes Vetted deputy editor and mom of three Rose Gordon Sala says that the Swedish-founded Brio brand is always her recommendation when it comes to train sets given the high-quality craftsmanship. They are certainly a popular play item at my son’s daycare. “We’ve had my kids’ Brio train collection for nearly a decade, adding to it with each kid,” says Sala. “They’ve each taken a turn enjoying building and zooming their trains on it.” The My First Railway set is an ideal starter set, with enough track to build a loop and bridge with a tunnel, plus one of the train’s car makes a cute rattle as it rolls. 

Cuddle + Kind not only produces beautiful, handmade stuffed animals, but also helps feed children in need by donating meal for every stuffie sold. These fair trade dolls and toys are knit by artisans in Peru from natural cotton. This bunny is one of the brand’s most popular toys, but Cuddle + Kind sells many charming designs from puppies and bears to elephants and deer. Its baby animal collection is especially adorable. “The quality is really good and the dolls are so sweet and giftable,” says Sala. “This one would look so sweet in an Easter basket.”

“I always tell families you do not need a whole arsenal of battery-operated toys,” says Johnson. “Sometimes the good old-fashioned classics are the best for kids’ brains and bodies for developing.” A classic playground ball is a perfect example. It’s a toy that can encourage toddlers to work on their running, kicking and catching skills—but it can also introduce them to social concepts like passing and sharing.
We’ve had this mini Nerf soccer ball for about a year, and it’s held up to a lot of rough play. I like that it has a little bit of squish, so if your kiddo throws or kicks it a little too hard at someone, there’s a lower chance of boo-boos. 

This cute camper from Radio Flyer can be played with in several ways. First, it’s a ride-on car that kids up to 43 pounds can sit on and move with their feet, all while driving to their destination with a pretend steering wheel and horn. Second, the camper opens up to a fully-furnished interior and comes with two friends for imaginative road-trip inspired play. There’s also a side compartment on the outside of the camper where kids can stash more toys and treasures. My son adores this toy, and as a mom, I appreciate that he can use it to safely ride up and down the hall to get the wiggles out inside. 

When the weather isn’t great, I love to pull out this race car ramp. Several other parents of 2-year-olds tell me this set is popular with their kids, too. It comes with four small wooden cars that ride down the ramp. My son didn’t immediately master how to place the cars to make them roll down, but I actually think this increased his interest in the toy. Once he got the hang of it, he also likes to explore starting the cars at different levels and seeing how many cars he can get going at the same time. 

I know some parents will roll their eyes at this one—plenty have told me Play-Doh is banned from their homes. But 2-year-olds (and older kids as well) love it, will ask for it and it can keep them entertained for longer than plenty of other kinds of toys, especially if you throw in a few tools for them to roll and shape it.

“I think messy play is very important for sensory development and for development of creative, open-ended and artistic play,” says Johnson. Because messy play can be very uncomfortable for some caregivers, she says it’s good to find ways to do it that are within your comfort zone. Consider making Play-Doh an outdoor activity, or limit it to areas of the home where it’s easier to clean, like rooms with hard or tiled floors. I also try to involve my kiddo in the cleanup process. 

Micro Kickboard tops our list of the best scooters for kids and is by far the most popular brand at my neighborhood playground. The Mini Deluxe model is designed for kids between 2 and 5 years but it can hold children up to 110 pounds and the T-bar handlebar adjusts up to 25-inches tall from the base. The scooter also has lean-to-turn steering, which allowed my son to get the hang of turning quickly. It’s truly one of his favorite toys, and riding it home from the park helps us avoid many “time to say goodbye” meltdowns. 

It’s a durable scooter, too. Sala’s kids have cycled through four Micro Kickboard scooters over the years, and although they get dusty and dirty, she says they’re generally in good shape to hand down to the next kid after several years of use. She noted that one scooter needed new handlebar grips after more than five years of use, but they were easily swapped on.

This is one of my top toys to take on trips with us—it’s compact but it does a lot. Two-year-olds love pushing buttons and are likely very interested in the screens they see their grown-up using, so giving them a tablet of their own is a win. Not only does this toy have three levels of naming pictures and levels, but it also lights up and has a little game. It’s powered by three included AAA batteries, but I’ve never had to change them in over a year of frequent use.

Fisher-Price Little People are a classic toddler toy, and several parents of 2-year-olds recommended this farm set (my son also enjoyed playing with it at a friend’s house). It comes with five figurines, plus play hay and carrots, and the barn itself folds up for storage. This toy also talks, plays songs and makes animal sounds, which can keep some kids engaged for longer. But if you’re a parent who doesn’t love noisy toys, it’s still plenty of fun without the batteries, which come included. 

Mealtime makes up a big portion of a 2-year-old’s world, so play food is usually a big hit, too. My son loves to play “going to the grocery store” as well as making imaginary meals.  
Many toy kitchen and food sets come with a manufacturer’s recommended age range of 3 years and up, but this collection is suitable for little ones as young as 18 months. It comes with a nice mix of both healthy fruits and vegetables, as well as fun treats like cookies and pretzels—plus a produce bin and shopping basket. 

At age 2, many kids develop special attachments to certain stuffies. These little friends can help comfort them and help them process all kinds of big feelings. This teddy bear from Gund is another classic toy that’s just right for this age. It’s available in several colors and Gund also makes one of the biggest collections of different plush toys on the market. My son has several of the brand’s stuffed animals that he loves, and in our experience they’re quite good durable and hold up well with hand-washing. 

Play couches are another of Johnson’s favorites for 2-year-olds. “They’re very open-ended for creating climbing opportunities and obstacle courses,” she says. Kids use them to create all kinds of forts and structures, and of course you can actually sit on them as child-sized couches. 
The Nugget is one of the most popular brands of play couch, and parents recommend the brand for its versatility and color options. There are over a dozen fabric options, and the covers can be zipped off and popped into the washing machine. The whole thing is Greenguard Gold certified, and the cores are CertiPUR-US certified, so there’s less worry about off-gassing. 

Much like stuffies, dolls can take on new importance to 2-year-olds. These kinds of toys can really help children develop their social and emotional skills. “Dolls and stuffies really help them learn how to protect and create empathy,” says Shelly Qualtieri, a registered social worker. “They’re talking about their feelings, they are being engaging and they are interacting.”

These baby dolls from Corolle are another recommendation from Sala, who says both her daughters loved to hold them, carry them around and include them in all their games. The brand has several skin tones and outfits to pick from, as well as accessories like strollers or this bib and bottle set. 

Both Qualtieri and Johnson mentioned the importance of books at this age. Reading to 2-year-olds not only helps them expand their vocabularies and learn all kinds of things about the world, but it can give you an opportunity to bond with your child. 
Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh was one of my son’s most requested stories when he was 2. It’s a playful introduction on how to mix primary colors to make secondary colors.