Toddlers are naturally curious and love to explore their surroundings. They are also very active, often running, climbing, and moving around. Two-year-olds can learn important skills with educational toys that are designed specifically for their developmental stage. These toys can help them develop STEM skills, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, critical thinking, and knowledge of letters, colors, and numbers.
Finding toys that are both entertaining and engaging for your 2-year-old can be a challenge. You want to find something that will keep them engaged and cognitively stimulated, but it can be tough to find something that ticks all those boxes. Fortunately, we’ve looked into the best toys for your child, taking into account the suggested age, safety measures, durability, and educational value of each.
Our Top Picks
- Best For Imaginative Play: Green Toys Doctor’s Kit
- Best For Fine Motor Skills: Learning Resources Spike The Fine Motor Hedgehog
- Best STEM Toy: Aitey Wooden Magnetic Fishing Game
- Best Puzzle Toy: SKYFIELD Wooden Vehicle Puzzle
- Best Montessori Toy: KIDWILL Tool Kit
- Best Sorting Toy: Carrot Harvest Game Sorting Toy
- Best Musical Toy: VTech Musical Rhymes Book
- Best Building Toy: Bristle Blocks by Battat
- Best Matching Toy: J-hong Matching Eggs
- Best Stacking Toy: FFTROC Wooden Stacking Dinosaur Toys
In This Article
HappyBabyHub’s Best Educational Toys For 2-Year-Olds Picks
Green Toys Doctor’s Kit – Best For Imaginative Play
- Durable
- Safe for toddlers
- The stickers are a nice touch
- No chemical smells
- The sheets for doctor notes might be good for older kids who are reading
The Green Toys Doctor Kit has everything your little doctor needs to provide top-notch healthcare. Who doesn’t love a bandaid sticker? This set, made from 100% recycled plastic in the USA, promotes motor skill development, imaginative play, and pro-social behavior. It also helps reduce anxiety associated with doctor visits by making check-up elements familiar and enjoyable.
The kit includes a stethoscope, reflex hammer, syringe, forceps, thermometer, and otoscope, as well as two sheets of random stickers and a doctor’s notepad for tracking symptoms and treatment plans. Plus, it’s phthalate, BPA, and PVC-free, safe for dishwashers, printed with soy ink, and packaged with recyclable and recycled materials.
Learning Resources Spike The Fine Motor Hedgehog – Best For Fine Motor Skills
- Very well made
- Wonderful manipulative toy
- The pieces are shaped to encourage an effective grip for getting the round end into the little holes
- Great to learn motor skills
- A little hard to open the case
This adorable toy features chunky peg-shaped “quills” that 2-year-olds can insert into the holes on the hedgehog’s back to enhance their fine motor skills and hand strength. But that’s not all – Spike’s colorful quills also offer a fantastic opportunity for teaching counting, color recognition, and sorting concepts.
Toddlers can group the quills by warm or cool colors, practice sequencing by alternating colors, or use the printed numbers to count the quills. When playtime is over, cleaning up is a breeze – simply wipe down each piece with a damp cloth and tuck the quills inside the hedgehog’s body.
Aitey Wooden Magnetic Fishing Game – Best STEM Toy
- Multiple avenues of play
- Very well made
- This game is great to work on counting, colors, matching, sorting, and fine motor skills
- Nicely painted wooden pieces
- Only comes with 1 fishing rod
Made from sturdy rubber wood and colored with safe, water-based paint, this game is perfect for little hands. With four magnetic wooden toys, your child can play alone or with friends, fishing for fish and beads to see who can catch the most.
But the learning doesn’t stop there! This game is an excellent way to teach hand-eye coordination, counting, and even social skills as your child interacts with others. And for an extra challenge, try stacking the wooden game pieces as high as you can, competing against your little one for the highest tower.
With no sharp edges or rough spots, this game is safe for even the youngest children to play with, building confidence and creativity with every catch!
SKYFIELD Wooden Vehicle Puzzle – Best Puzzle Toy
- Cute
- Bright colors
- Sturdy
- The size of the puzzle pieces is just the right size for toddlers’ hands
- Some pieces are small and can get lost
These car-shaped puzzles are sure to catch your little one’s eye with their bright colors and appealing shapes. With six different designs including a truck, airplane, rocket, steamship, and train, your child can build their very own vehicle by piecing together the matching puzzle pieces. The wooden pieces are smooth and polished with rounded edges to ensure safe playtime for small hands.
Each puzzle is perfectly sized for your child’s little hands, promoting dexterity and fine motor skills. As they match the pieces together, they’ll learn about shapes, colors, and objects, all while having fun!
KIDWILL Tool Kit – Best Montessori Toy
- It comes with a piece of paper that shows examples of things you can build
- Great toy for both girls and boys
- Comes with a case
- Blank canvas outside the case for kids to customize
- The pieces need to be in specific places or else the box won’t close
Your young ones can use the large, polished wooden blocks to construct an array of fun structures (1). With eight safe and appropriately sized tools, your 2-year-old can easily grip them and create to their heart’s content. The adorable faces on the tools will help your child feel at ease while learning to use new equipment.
Once the work is done, the set can be neatly stored in a sturdy wooden box, which can also double as a robust toolbox. It’s lightweight and convenient to take on the go, making it perfect for travel.
Carrot Harvest Game Sorting Toy – Best Sorting Toy
- Cute
- Colorful
- Sturdy pieces
- Smooth wooden edges
- There are some small pieces
With a five-sided cart, one adorable rabbit, eight wiggly worms, and twelve fruit blocks in two different sizes, there are endless possibilities for sorting and imaginative play. And the best part? All pieces are made of natural wood, painted with non-toxic, water-based paint that’s gentle on your child’s delicate skin and safe for the environment.
Your 2-year-old will love the bright colors and realistic shapes of the wooden carrots and fruit blocks, which are perfectly sized for small hands. The cute cartoon design and variety of fruit shapes will keep them engaged and encourage their creativity. And when playtime is over, simply put all the blocks in the wooden cart for easy storage and transport.
VTech Musical Rhymes Book – Best Musical Toy
- There are 4 to 5 rhymes that are connected to each of those plastic pages
- Very easy to turn
- The moving parts are sturdy
- Big enough for babies and toddlers to manipulate
- Can use more pages
This fun and interactive toy is not only entertaining, but it also helps your little one develop their fine motor skills. Each flip of the page reveals playful pieces that slide and twist, providing endless fun for your child. The five colorful piano keys introduce them to different colors and instruments, letting them create their own music.
With two exciting modes to choose from, your child can learn language, music, and instrument sounds in a fun and engaging way. Flip through the brilliantly colored pages to discover classic nursery rhymes like Old MacDonald Had a Farm and A-Tisket, A-Tasket. And in music mode, your child can listen to fun sounds and songs, while the light-up star adds an extra element of excitement with flashing lights that match the music.
Bristle Blocks by Battat – Best Building Toy
- Flexible and durable
- They are easy for little hands to manipulate
- They are unable to be swallowed
- They are bright colors and educational for color recognition
- Cubes aren’t exactly cubic and the larger the project, the more off it will be.
The bristle blocks are a colorful and dynamic construction toys that interlock in any direction. The set comes with 80 sizeable pieces, including wheels, spheres, and more to inspire imaginative building and rebuilding. The blocks feature vibrant colors and contrasting textures that will capture your child’s attention.
Your little one’s fingers will love exploring the soft, springy bristles, rounded edges, bumps, wheels, and pyramids. Once your child is finished creating, you can easily store everything in the provided container. This construction toy is safe for newborns and toddlers, with a smooth finish, soft edges, and bendable blocks. Plus, the blocks are free of phthalates and BPA, making them a safe and fun option for your child.
J-hong Matching Eggs – Best Matching Toy
- Easy to put together
- The carton is plastic and durable
- Teaches coordination, shapes, and colors
- They are easy to hold and have no choking hazard
- A couple of the shapes are a bit strange
This is a set of twelve playful plastic toy eggs that come in a bright and cheerful yellow container, making it easy for your little ones to store and carry around. These eggs are sure to tickle your 2-year-old’s curiosity as they try to figure out how to take them apart and put them back together.
With their perfect size and shape, these eggs are easy to grip and handle for small hands, making them a great tool to develop your child’s hand-eye coordination, shape recognition skills, color recognition, and fine motor skills.
Each egg is made of top-notch non-toxic plastic, and the edges are smooth to the touch, ensuring your child’s safety. And don’t be fooled, they look so real that they might even fool you at first glance!
FFTROC Wooden Stacking Dinosaur Toys – Best Stacking Toy
- Different ways to play with which keep the child engaged
- Durable
- Colorful pieces
- The paint doesn’t chip
- Not the best packaging
With this delightful stacking game, your little ones can journey back in time with their favorite prehistoric creatures! The set includes nine brightly colored wooden dinosaur pieces that are not only fun to play with but also make for charming room decorations. Your child can learn about colors and different types of dinosaurs as they stack the pieces on top of the black base.
The blocks are crafted from eco-friendly wood and painted with non-toxic, water-based paint, ensuring that they are both safe and sustainable. With smooth edges and no BPA, this game is perfect for little hands to grip and explore. The base is cleverly designed as a ship with raised ends, adding an extra level of challenge and excitement to the game.
How To Choose Educational Toys for 2-Year-Olds?
- Interest: Consider what type of learning your child is interested in. Do they like to sing and dance? Or are they more into arts and crafts? There are educational toys available for all sorts of learners.
- Skill: Some toys like blocks are designed to help with fine motor skills, while others focus on language and communication (2). There are also toys that promote creativity and imagination.
- Personality: Some children are more active and need toys that will keep them moving. Others are more gentle and need toys that they can cuddle with and feel comforted by.
- Safety: Toddlers who are two years old are frequently still unsteady on their feet, putting items in their mouths, and oblivious to many hazards while they are engaged in exploratory play. Toys with small pieces, sharp edges or corners, and/or those created with materials that cannot be put in their mouth should be avoided because of this.
- Milestone: Toddlers continue to be highly active and inquisitive, both of which are excellent for their further growth (3). They may enhance the abilities they have previously mastered and continue to master their milestones via play.
- Material: To avoid any issues and ensure safety, use toys manufactured from soft, smooth, and non-toxic materials (4).
What Should A 2-Year-Old Know Academically?
At 2 years old, most children are just beginning to learn basic academic concepts. They may be able to recognize some letters and numbers, but they are still mostly learning through exploration and play. Some things that a 2-year-old should know academically include:
- Basic colors (5)
- Shapes
- Counting to 10
- Recognizing some letters and numbers
What Toys Can Help A Child’s Development?
There are many types of toys that can help a child’s development. Toys that can help with gross motor skills include riding a bike or playing catch. Toys that can help with fine motor skills include building blocks or puzzles. And toys that can help with cognitive skills include memory games or word puzzles.
How Do You Mentally Stimulate A Two-Year-Old?
- Encourage them to use their imagination through pretend play (6). This can involve using toys, props, and everyday objects to create new worlds and scenarios.
- Play memory games with them. This can be done with cards, matching games, or even simple guessing games.
- Ask them questions about the world around them. This can help them to develop critical thinking skills and to expand their knowledge.
- Read with them on a daily basis. This can help to develop their language skills and to improve their overall comprehension.
Do All Toys Have An Educational Benefit?
Some toys seem to have an obvious educational benefit, such as puzzles or building blocks, while others seem to be purely for entertainment. However, even toys that are primarily for fun can have some educational value. For example, playing with stuffed animals can help a child develop empathy and communication skills.
Should I Buy An Advanced Educational Toy For My Toddler?
When shopping for toys for your toddler, it is important to choose items that will help them learn and develop new skills. Baby toys that are safe and appropriate for your child’s current stage of development are crucial.
Instead of spending money on a toy that your child won’t be able to use effectively just yet, look for toys that will help your child practice milestones they are working on right now, such as grasping and holding objects, pulling up to stand, or cruising and walking. Choose toys that are developmentally appropriate and that your child will enjoy playing with to help them reach their full potential!
