Gifting a 2-year-old and not sure where to start? We're here to help you find the best gifts to entertain any toddler. While they may have a “terrible” reputation, toddlers are also full of fun and curiosity. Sometimes, the most unique gifts for 2-year-old boys and girls aren't the hottest toys, but everyday items like kitchen tools or dustpans and brooms.
“I always encourage families to buy everyday materials,” says Marie Conti, the head of The Wetherill School in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, and a board member of the American Montessori Society.
We’ve found more than enough gift options to surprise your 2-year-old during this holiday season.
What should I look for in a gift for 2-year-olds?
Now that they’ve mastered walking, they love pulling wagons and other things behind them. And as they learn to speak in full sentences, 2-year-olds are also figuring out how to interact and engage with others.
“Two-year-olds are entering pretend play and figuring out who they are. Kitchen items, cars, trucks and baby dolls allow them to pretend to be in the adult world in their play,” says Tovah Klein, director of the Barnard College Center for Toddler Development and author of “How Toddlers Thrive.”
Best developmental and educational gifts for 2-year-olds
Even though your toddler is more than a decade away from taking the wheel, this turn and learn drive toy from VTech will allow them to channel their imagination and learn the rules of the road.
They may be too young to tend to an actual garden, but they can hone their budding green thumb while learning about numbers and colors with this greenhouse-inspired playset. For the sustainably-minded parent, each element is made with recycled materials and it comes with a fully functioning watering can that can be used long-term!
“Due to a heightened sense of curiosity, imagination and discovery, 2-year-olds will appreciate drawing tools and chalkboards,” says educational toys expert Lauren Leisk. This gel tablet from Crayola — currently one of the most gifted musical toys on Amazon — is a fun, multi-sensory option that features bright colors and songs perfect for bopping along to.
Teach them letter as they color with these beautiful, personalized crayons that could double as art. Two-year-olds will appreciate the larger size of these crayons that makes them easy to grip.
“I loved these much more than traditional crayons,” says Shop TODAY editor Rebecca Brown. “My daughter kept these intact and wasn’t compelled to break them apart the way she did with her Crayolas.”
Child development experts agree that puzzle-solving is integral for developing fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. This adorable option from Mudpuppy features sweet woodland critters and extra-large pieces perfect for growing hands.
Their imagination will be put to work as they whip up all kinds of tasty combinations with this bestselling pretend toaster. They can play with the levers and settings to learn about numbers, counting and colors.
Unlock your child’s inner musician with this kid-friendly piano. The color-coded music notes will help your child develop motor skills as they can follow the notepad or compose an original score (if you can call it that).
Hitting the road, rails or skies anytime soon? They’ll be kept plenty busy with this bestselling, Montessori-inspired portable sensory board that’s equally fun and educational.
Encourage your little one to express their artistic side with this water doodle mat that has over 20,000 five-star ratings on Amazon. This educational toy features a reusable mat plus pens, drawing mold and drawing template for hours of fun.
At age two, toddlers love mimicking household chores. These pint-size versions of a mop and broom are perfect for playing house. They might even clean the floor.
Help your child improve their motor skills and counting abilities as they try to stick each cookie correctly into the jar. Each cookie is numbered, so they can practice counting from 1 to 10 as they go.
Made by teachers, these building blocks use magnetic foam that's easy for little hands to grasp and put together. It even floats in the tub! Plus, the brand says these pieces are even dishwasher-safe, making them easy to clean.
With three different buttons that teach children colors, numbers, the alphabet and opposites, this bouncing musical toy does so with over 75 songs and phrases, sure to keep them entertained for hours on end. One reviewer wrote, “Two year old loved this present. His sister will be one next month, and by the end of the day she was trying hard to play with it, too.”
Best cars, trucks and vehicles for 2-year-olds
Wheeled toys are fun for 2-year-olds to push around. Older toddlers will start to create stories with them, too. This sturdy fire truck inspires imagination while being easy to grip and rounded for extra gentleness.
This wooden train set is perfect for pushing, pulling and taking apart — all favorite things for 2-year-olds. This set includes classic characters from the iconic Eric Carle book including a bear, caterpillar and a lion.
They'll spend hours playing with all of the parts this seemingly simple ride-on car has to offer. According to the brand, it'll help them strengthen their legs and improve balance.
This ride-on toy promotes coordination as they motor along, and the beginnings of pretend play as they imitate cars and other vehicles. According to the brand, the ergonomic seat helps them remain comfortable while riding and a working steering wheel makes navigation easier.
Best play set gifts for 2-year-olds
If they’ve shown interest in helping in the kitchen, consider getting them a child-safe cooking set. Brown introduced her 2-year-old to simple baking tools and found it was a great way to spend time with her daughter. “Around the age of two my daughter was ready to use the whisk. I gave her a plastic mixing bowl and the whisk and let her be in charge of mixing up easy things like cookie batter. I held onto the knife until she was older and ready.”
If they always seem to cling towards the wooden activity cube at the doctor’s office, gift them with one of their own. This LeapFrog one (toted as one of The Toy Insider’s hottest holiday toys back in 2023) includes four sides and a top that feature interactive toys to slide, push, pull and flip. They also help to introduce infants to shapes, colors, animals, music and more.
They can now mimic your mornings with their own coffee maker that comes with three different pretend pods, milk, ice cubes, mugs and more. Reviewers love the fact that this Melissa & Doug play set is made out of wood, helping it to remain durable no matter how many cups of coffee they make.
These expert-designed play kits come in three-month increments to find the just-right toy for your toddler. Buy a subscription for $120 per box, or shop a la carte from their Montessori-inspired offerings.
These rearrangeable foam pieces can be a couch, a slide, a ramp, a fort or whatever your growing 2-year-old imagines. It comes with two triangle pieces, a cushion and a base with covers that can be removed and thrown in the washing machine for easy cleaning.
Best blocks and building toy gifts for 2-year-olds
This bag of blocks is one of the best toys on the market. With 80 pieces in different shapes, colors and sizes, the set will give your two-year-old the tools to create without boundaries. It even comes in a large storage bag for easy cleanup.
Associate editor Kamari Stewart gifted this to her nephew and he was immediately enthralled with the set. "I was surprised that something actually managed to capture his attention for more than five minutes," she says.
Let the Lego-mania begin. Kids will be enthralled by Legos for years to come. Conti suggests sticking with a big bucket of them, not a specific kit. This one comes with 65 rainbow-colored pieces in a variety of shapes and a step-by-step booklet with ideas they can pull inspiration from.
These soft-to-the-touch foam building blocks are perfect to ensure they’ll be safe during playtime and save you the pain from accidentally stepping on a hard block (it’s truly a pain like no other).
Best active toys and gifts for 2-year-olds
Backyard play just got a whole lot more fun! Your 2-year-old will enjoy making bubbles with this bestselling pretend push mower that features realistic sounds.
Buzz around the living room with pop-a-balls or take a break with musical push buttons — this bestselling bulldozer will keep your toddler busy for hours. They can also pull the handle up and down to control where the “blade” is situated.
This set includes one front loader, one dump truck and one mixer, so they’ll have a whole fleet of construction vehicles! Included with each truck? A bulldog construction worker to man the vehicle.
This bouncy toy is an eye-catching invitation to active play indoors and out. They’ll use their strength and balance to bounce around and coordinate their movement. According to the brand, its sturdy legs and short stature help protects against falls and promote muscle strengthening.
Even as a toddler, your little one may still have an appetite for thrill. Little Tikes’ toddler slide will be the perfect exposure to these thrills. At just three feet long, the slide is small enough to be placed in the backyard or living room. “Having a slide in the backyard has been great for those days when we can’t make it to the park but still want to spend time outside,” says Brown.
Scooters, tricycles and balance bikes all encourage coordination. According to the brand, this one has a two-year warranty and can hold kids up to 110 pounds, meaning it will stay with them as they grow.
Best books for 2-year-olds
This counting book features nine hilarious dancing dogs, one very grumpy cat and all manners of transportation — including jet packs. It’s newly available as a board book, too.
Nina Lindsay, president of the Association for Library Service to Children, loves Herve Tullet’s classic “Press Here” for 2-year-olds who are learning about the excitement of turning pages and making things happen: “The idea that you can interact with a book in that way is really exciting,” she says.
This interactive board book includes buttons for children to pop and push as they flip through, count and name ocean creatures.
Lou is a fire hydrant who also happens to be the toilet for neighborhood dogs. But deep down, he knows he’s meant for greater things.
If you’re looking to teach your two-year-old about the value of inner beauty and friendship, stop right here. “The Rainbow Fish,” by Marcus Pfister centers around “the most beautiful fish in the entire ocean” who learns how to share his beauty with the rest of the sea.
“If you were a city, how would you be?” This exploration of different types of cities features rhyming text, lush illustrations and plenty of room for imagination to take flight.
How we chose
The Shop TODAY team works hard to find the best products and coolest gifts out there for two-year-olds. We use our own personal experiences with brands and shopping to find the most unique gifts on the market that are sure to be a hit.
Meet the experts
- Marie Conti is Director of Regional Community Relations for American Montessori Society. She was the former head of The Wetherill School in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania.
- Tovah P. Klein, Ph.D., is Director of the Barnard College Center for Toddler Development in New York, as well as the author of “How Toddlers Thrive." She focuses on young children's social and emotional development, as well as parents' experiences raising them.
Don’t forget to check out Shop TODAY’s other gift guides to find the perfect present for every kid on your list including babies, 1-year-olds, 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds, 5-year-olds, 6-year-olds, 7-year-olds, 8-year-olds, 9-year-olds and 10-year-olds.
- Our top picks
- What should I look for in a gift for 2-year-olds?
- Best developmental and educational gifts for 2-year-olds
- Best cars, trucks and vehicles for 2-year-olds
- Best play set gifts for 2-year-olds
- Best blocks and building toy gifts for 2-year-olds
- Best active toys and gifts for 2-year-olds
- Best books for 2-year-olds
- How we chose
- Meet the experts