Our favourite 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 Hoops & 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 kitchen

Toddlers love to help, but most “grown-up” tasks are out of their reach. The Real Life Play Kitchen has a silverware drawer, accessories including a cutting board and chopper, and a functional sink with running water that can be used for everything from washing fruit to brushing teeth. Your 2-year-old can feel capable and helpful by working in their very own kitchen.

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 Researcher Play Kit

The Researcher 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. 

A Music Set

Channel your 2-year-old’s interest in music with real, toddler-friendly instruments.

Wood Tone Drum

Toddlers love to bang on almost anything—but it’s not always a lovely sound. This Wood Tone Drum with a mallet is designed to create a soft tone for (slightly) more harmonious drumming play 🙃