Can anyone recommend some cool toys for a 2.5 yr old?

[Genesis]

DS really needs some new toys, and I'm just not sure what to buy for him. Ideally, I'd like items that are educational and/or requiring creativity, and I am also looking for stuff that is entertaining enough to keep him interested in what he's playing with, and things that he won't get sick of right away.

I don't have a ton of money to spend on toys/games, but we don't buy plastic toys so realistically, I know I'll be spending a bit more than if I were shopping at ToysRUs.

Any suggestions/links? Thanks.

[kirstenb]

What types of toys do you have now? Do you have a kitchen set with play food? Do you have larger style blocks for building bigger things? How about outside toys? Do you have a bike, etc? Do you have a lot of different materials for arts and crafts?

[lach]

Some ideas for summer: a sand and/or water table. Toddlers LOVE these, and they're very easy to make if you don't want to buy one (basically, you just need a container of sand, or a container of water). Used ones are also usually available on Craigslist for not much money.

I'm super impressed with my ingenuity this year in buying my DD (who is younger than your son) a bunch of sports equipment from a school gym supply company. I got a 12 pack of hula hoops, and a 6 pack of rubber cones, and a bunch of bouncy balls, and some wands with ribbons on the end. The opportunities for imagination with these sorts of things are endless: already my daughter has figured out how to lay out all the hoops and then she walks through them, or tries to jump from one to the next. As she gets older, I'm hoping she'll think up lots more ideas (and if she doesn't, I already have a ton of ideas). I got all this stuff at a mail order company called Palo Sports.

Of course, the above suggestions all presuppose you have a yard. Stiil, you might find some stuff. Palo Sports has some cool bean bag sets I want to get to play games with.

For indoor games, I enjoy perusing school supply catalogs online and looking at the toddler sections. They have some pretty snappy blocks, puzzles, games and activities that I've never seen anywhere else. I've bought stuff at k12schoolsupply.com: the best purchase so far has been one of those little magnification stands with 3 legs. My DD carries it around the house going "Woah! Coo!" at things She also likes watching ants outside with it.

[ldsmom06]

My 2.5 yr ds loves these-
building type sticks/logs:
http://www.palumba.com/product/147 we have the set of 40 and 80. He plays with them a ton and makes towers, roads etc...

He also plays with his tools every day and will "fix" any household item with them, even daddy car LOL
http://www.palumba.com/product/87

He wants a waldorf doll but we haven't gotten him one. This is the ones he wanted when we went to Palumba:
http://www.palumba.com/product/127

He also plays with his kitchen a lot and "fixes it with his tools:
http://www.palumba.com/product/31

I hope that helps

[mumkimum]

My dd is 2.5 also, some of our favorite things lately are:

watercolor painting (just the dinky 79 cent set)

her stacking game (we've had for awhile, but it's been immensely entertaining and gets used a lot)

wipe off marker books (the ones we've got are meant for tracing the alphabet, but get used for all kinds of stuff, we use them daily around bedtime)

sewing stuff - either lacing types of boards or things with the large beads have been pretty fun too

puppets

[Whistler]

My 2.5 DS's favs right now are Lincoln Logs, wooden blocks, play food, trains and cars, beanie baby bears, blankets and pillows for playing "night-night game", markers and paper, big ball and hula hoop outside.

[RoundAbout]

My DS loves his Automoblox minis, wooden trains, and animal figures.

The peg stacker thing that someone mentioned is on our wishlist. I think we'll be getting it soon.

[_betsy_]

A cardboard box big enough to sit in is either her car or her boat, depending on her mood. Add a paper towel cardboard tube and she's got a telescope. These have been keeping her quite busy for a while now.

She's always a huge fan of coloring.

We have a Discovery Toys (plastic) peg board set. She likes to stack them all up and go "whooooaaaaaa!" when they get all wobbly. Mostly she just likes to knock stuff down. Wooden blocks, too.

Bath toys have gotten renewed interest lately, too.

[Hoopin' Mama]

For outside a sand and water table. For inside a starter train set.

[Hoopin' Mama]

Or that bouncy horse, Rudy is the name I think?

[jbie]

DS is 27mo, and loveslovesloves his painting table. it's butchers paper, small brushes, a pot of water, and 6 wells of poster paint colours. also pencils/crayons/pens.

also, a playdough table; homemade and commercial play-doh. plastic knives, biscuit cutters, toys which make cool imprints.

he can do either of these by himself for ages.
he's got a ton of plastic toys and battery operated toys, but ignores all of them, they only provide limited interest for a short while.

he also loves books, musical intruments (a ukelele is the perfect kids guitar; shakers, recorder/toy flute, small harmonica, bongo drums), flash cards (he plays these by himself). at some point he was into trains, but not so much now.

expensive toys are rarely the best ones. the classics are the old favourites for a reason..

[Bell]

You can buy him toys to play outdoors like sand pit or to play indoors. I'd recommend http://webkinzjr.com . He has the toy and can play on their website. Learning and daily activities can be chosen to meet his needs. He can learn at home and have a daily progress report if you want and it's very affordable. My dd loves it and I'm comfortable with that because she's always learning and having fun.

[Redheaded_Momma]

Blocks of all shapes and sizes. Tools to "fix" things and now some of them are guns to shoot the bad guys (we don't have any actual play guns in the house so he invented them himself.)

I know you said no plastic but Legos are a huge hit at our house. Ds will build for hours with them especailly is Dad is helping him.

A 3-wheeled scooter is also popular at our house.

[tomasko]

Our 2.5 yr olds favorites:

TRAINS TRAINS TRAINS
Look on Craigslist for used thomas or brio sets...

you would be suprised but you can learn a ton from trains and toddlers LOVE trains...motor skills, organization, memory, matching, planning...you would be amazed with how complex a train track can be..plus the story telling and imaginative play is priceless

GO TRAINS wwoooo wwoooo chugga chugga chuggaa

or contruction toys we LOVE:

BRUDER trucks - made in germany, huge, realistic and last forever!! I buy mine on ebay to save $$ ethir cement truck actually mixes cement (rice in our case) and he pretends to build roads, fix stuff

[Boot]

Do you have an Ikea near you?

They have lots of cool inexpensive toys.

[Flower of Bliss]

My 2.5 year old DD is very into:

Her play kitchen (a favorite of kids of all ages that come to our house) - we have a nice Waldorf style kitchen and lots of accesories. Her favorite accessories are a pizza (like the one by Melissa and Doug), a sushi set (by Melissa and Doug), plates, bowls, and cups for serving everyone (ours are mostly by Plan Toys), and the pots and pans we got for nothing at Ikea (that are nice stainless steel ones much like my pots only tiny).

Her doll house - It's a nice Waldorf style one full of wooden furniture (mostly the Guidecraft set which was very reasonably priced and rather well made) and nice Evi dolls. It's amazing the stories she makes up with it. At play groups there are often 2-4 boys about her age playing with it. We've had several older kids more like 8-12 years old sit and play with this for a LONG time too.

Her basket of musical instruments (probably the most popular item at play groups) - Drums, maracas, sand blocks, rhythm sticks, zylophone, a triangle, etc. This was a great starter set that we got for her first birthday. She loves her treeblocks music wand that makes a nice ring when you tap it against anything. It gets so much play that I've considered ordering a collection of shapes.

Blocks - we have some basic cube blocks (an alphabet set and a nursery rhyme set), but the favorites are the more unusual one. We the Speil and Holz nesting sets (we have all of the elements as well as the flower and both color sets of nesting bowls). We also have a few other Speil and Holz block type items that are stacking (a double rainbow, a pyramid, and a flame). All of this gets plenty of play. The little set of bowls is probably her favorite.

Puzzles - Her current favorites are the beginner pattern blocks by Melissa and Doug and a puzzle with multiple faces/bodies/legs like this.

Small animals and dolls - Schleich animals (plastic, but awesome detailing), the 5 Monkey finger puppets that go with the book "5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed", little gnomes like these, etc. These take on all sorts of roles all over the house, get carried around, put to bed, fed in her kitchen, act out stories, and on and on. It's also very easy to stick a few in the diaper bag or the car seat when we're out and about.

Dolls and stuffed animals - Once again for lots of roll playing - putting them to bed, reading them stories, pushing them in her doll stroller, wearing them in slings, etc.

Dress up stuff and BAGS - sunglasses, play silks, necklaces, headbands (with bunny ears, etc), purses, bags, bucket, backpacks (anything she can pack up and carry around).

Books - She's currently very into nursery rhymes and we're checking out a new Mother Goose book each time we go to the library. We do lots of reading.

Outside she absolutely loves her swing set (ladder, slide, rock wall, swings, etc) and her "rock box" (a sandbox filled with pea gravel). She's very into climbing and I think for her third birthday we're going to get her a dome climber type thing.

[Genesis]

Wow, thanks everyone!

[xhming]

u can try this, maybe it's can help u Remote Controlled Toys, RC Toys Catalog

[A-time-to-live]

You have aready gotten a ton of good ideas but I just wanted to throw in a few made/found object ideas as well. My DD for example loves playing doctor but doesn't have a dr's kit. We made her a 'stethoscope' out of paper cups and yarn and she uses another cup to 'dispense medicine,' a washcloth as an 'ice pack,' and scarves as 'bandages.' Despite the fact that she has plenty of dolls, stuffed animals, etc she will use 'puppets' that she has made from paper as additional characters in her play. She builds forts, vehicles, baseball stadiums, playgrounds, etc out of furniture, pillows, cushions, and blankets. We give her empty containers to help stck her kitchen, use as blocks, etc. She keeps tickets, shells, receipts, take-out menus, all kinds of 'souvenirs' from daily life to incorporate into her play. As you might imagine, our house looks a bit cluttered but it's much less expensive than buying toys and she is developing quite the imagination.

[AKislandgirl]

My daughter gets a lot of use out of play silks. She uses them for everything!

She also loves cars that you pull back to make them go. We have a VW bus and VW bug.

Puzzles are a big hit as well as wedgits and duplo legos. She spends a lot of time building with these.

Water color and finger paints are really fun for her too.

She also LOVES schleich animals. We've been collecting them a few at a time for a while and she has a pretty good collection of them now. They go a lot of places with us!