What toys does your 2-3 year old play with? (sort of long)

sistrkate · January 2010

I was thinking this morning about ways to clean up all the clutter in our family room, and it dawned on me that Justin does not really play with toys. I know that sounds weird, but he really doesn't.

We have a toybox with lots of toys in it, plus we have a shelf unit from Ikea that has 4 big drawers on the bottom with toys in them. He has a bin full of the Thomas trains. But, he never opens any of these things. He would rather watch TV (which I'm really starting to HATE) or read books. I have no issue with him reading books at all and I'm actually really happy about that, but surely he needs some other things to occupy his interests.

He got a couple of Thomas DVDs for Christmas and now he is all about holding "my movies", taking apart the DVD cases and holding the discs. He wants to switch discs in the player when we're 5 minutes (or less) into one. Even if we leave it on, he doesn't sit and pay attention -- he goes and gets books, or he beats on his brother. Last week I'd had it with the freaking television and we went and got all matter of coloring books, crayons, plain paper, stickers, and even some paint pens and special paper to use with them. He would rather watch me color in his coloring books than do it himself.

I'm concerned about how to keep him entertained in a healthy way. Any suggestions for fun toys to keep him interested, or other activities we can do together? Tyler is always along for the ride, so it makes it difficult sometimes to find things I can do with both of them. Should I be worried that he doesn't want to do anything besides have that idiot box on all the freaking time?

JLPT830 · January 2010

I can tell you what Caleb is into now, don't know if that will help. His attention span with crafty type things is short lived, but I try to encourage him to do something each day even if it's just for a few minutes. He has color wonders, play doh, crayons, and he just discovered water colors. We tried finger paints, but he's not too keen on getting his hands messy.

As far as toys, Caleb is really into his play kitchen and fake food and his workbench. Kevin gave him some wood to use with his tools and I have equipped him with some of my kitchen utensils so I think that helps it seem more real to him. Honestly though, both things only occupy his attention for so long and then he's onto something else. I have tried to pay attention to the TV shows he likes and try to encourage play similar to the shows. He loves Super Why. So he has a Super Why doll and we fly it around the house and look for letters or he makes super why a snack in his kitchen, stuff like that. I also bought a pouch of magnet letters yesterday....best $5 I've spent in a LONG time. He also likes Dinosaur Train, so we make a train out of his Ikea chairs and bring along his dino and go for train rides. He's a very active kid and if all else fails we end up shooting hoops, kicking a ball, or now he's obssessed with pretending his screw driver or my comb is a bat and he wants to play baseball. It can be exhausting because he isn't too good at alone play. If I need to get something done, that's usually when the TV is on. I don't love it, but at least he watches half way educational stuff so I try not to worry about it. We also try to use all his blocks in ways other than just building....like for his cars to drive on or his dino to climb up or to build "pins" so he can knock them over with his bowling ball!

Does Justin play with Melissa and Doug stuff? Caleb was really into the pizza set at my neighbors house and actually played by himself with it for quite a while. My parents have the cutting food set at their house and he really likes that too.....you just have to pretend like the carrot and cucumber don't look like body parts!!!! :-) TRU had a crappy selection of the food sets, but there are tons of them on the M&D website.

Rose.9.6.03 · January 2010

My girls tend to like girly stuff to play with (dolls, kitchen stuff, little people, princess dress-up clothes - although all but the clothes would work for at least some boys) - but what they LOVE is puzzles. They are obsessed and will always ask to play with them any chance we get. They've also started getting into games (Memory, Chutes and Ladders, etc.) - although sometimes they would just rather play with the pieces than play the game.

Also, maybe try giving him something mechanical to play with because he likes the DVDs and switching them. Maybe some sort of CD player where he can dance between switching CDs.

kel716 · January 2010

At about Justin's age, my nephew got seriously into play-doh. Have you tried that yet? Other crafty things didn't interest him... but the process of making stuff, tearing it apart, etc... did hold his interest for 20-30 minutes. GL.. I wish I had more ideas for you!

sistrkate · January 2010

kel716:
At about Justin's age, my nephew got seriously into play-doh. Have you tried that yet? Other crafty things didn't interest him... but the process of making stuff, tearing it apart, etc... did hold his interest for 20-30 minutes. GL.. I wish I had more ideas for you!

I wish play-doh held his interest more, but he really doesn't care about it. Part of my biggest problem right now is that he is insanely jealous of his brother and will do anything to take my attention off of Tyler. It's frustrating to figure out how to do justice to them both.

kel716 · January 2010

sistrkate:

kel716:
At about Justin's age, my nephew got seriously into play-doh. Have you tried that yet? Other crafty things didn't interest him... but the process of making stuff, tearing it apart, etc... did hold his interest for 20-30 minutes. GL.. I wish I had more ideas for you!

I wish play-doh held his interest more, but he really doesn't care about it. Part of my biggest problem right now is that he is insanely jealous of his brother and will do anything to take my attention off of Tyler. It's frustrating to figure out how to do justice to them both.

Hmm...

The other thing that occurred to me was that at this point, my nephew also really liked monster trucks. Not trains, but monster trucks because he could line them up, have them 'jump' each other, etc... He got some RC ones too, and he liked that. Maybe finding a play group or something where he can be around kids his age? And it's more about him instead of Tyler?

I took B to Eastgate Mall today just to play in that area by JC Penney. That's free, and it allowed me to get some other shopping done...

MelissaMc22 · January 2010

AHHH Katie! I feel your pain!

I was actually going to write a port about "playing" because I am starting to get worried about Jack. He doesn't play with his toys either. It;s so strange to watch, he just sortof bounces around them, picking up parts, playing for .2 seconds, then moving on.He also parades around the house alot, rolling on the couch, pushing off the cushions, kicking the floor. NOTHING keeps him occupied and I feel like he is at our feet absolutely all the time- literally hanging on my feet. All the toys and I swear he would rather pretend tags from shirts are tickets than play with them.

Anyways, I guess I am not offering much help because we are having trouble with this too.....

The only suggestion I have had that has brought some amusement is building a fort. He likes that alot and plays in there all weekend. He takes books in there and we crawl in and read with a flashlight.... he also takes his stuffed animals inside.

Not much else is working right now, I am hoping he will grow into his toys because this is making me nuts!

Soon2BHiker · January 2010

The little girl I babysit every week is 3, and we play with a lot of puzzles. She also is really into animals, "cooking," and LOVES books. Also has started to really enjoy matching items. She matches colors and shapes very well.

doodlebug914 · January 2010

Ethan's fave is his train table and he plays with that a ton independently. Ikea has a train rug if a train table isn't a possibility, or reasonable train tracks that are compatible with Thomas (we checked today). He also loves his play kitchen and the blender especially that he got for it. He got the Tag Jr for Christmas and is getting into that, and loves reading/looking at books as well. We also have a bunch of the Circo puzzles from Target with a rack and the Melissa & Doug letters and numbers puzzles, so we have been working on learning those and colors. He also really loves this little wooden peg hammering toy (M&D has one, my mom got one at Homegoods) and a Thomas handheld tool box with wooden hammers, screws, screwdrivers etc - I think she got that at Homegoods as well. HTH!

ETA: He also loves the Leapfrog Fridge Farms and Letters, and his Little People Farm.

mrs.george2be04 · January 2010

Logan is younger than Justin, but he is WAY into his play kitchen and fake food these days. He loves to set everything out on his little play table and pretend to eat and drink. He also likes puzzles and his Leap Frog fridge phonics and fridge DJ. He played with this puzzle at Stride Rite when we were getting his feet measured and I think he could have sat there and played with it for hours. He also loves his "peoples."

KristenBtobe · January 2010

Our nephew is like this, he's 7 now. He just doesn't like toys. Makes Christmas and birthday shopping really fun. Tongue Tied

He is and always will be obsessed with sports, so he played with a ton of balls. He liked a Nerf hoop and ball hung off the back of a dining room chair so he could put the ball in the hoop. I think about 3 he liked a soft bat and ball and a bowling pin set. Active stuff. Then he got into imagining sports games, we did and still do a lot of that.

AgathiP04 · January 2010

Like Melissa's son, Jack, Niko is really into building forts and tents lately. He also likes his Tag Jr. He really doesn't play with a ton of toys either. We recently got him a tool belt, which he's been playing with a lot. He also likes his exercise trampoline. Oh yeah, and he's been loving laying all our throws/blankets on the living room floor and pretending its a beach, haha. The fort and "beach" could be things you could include Tyler in, too.

curlypie1 · January 2010

Nora is really big into games right now. We play her matching game at least 10 times a day. It doesn't help your issue of wanting him to play independently but it at least occupies her attention for awhile. She REALLY wants us to play with her all day long now. She loves imaginative play with her dolls and such but she wants us to make her dolls talk while she talks back to them. Maybe this age is hard for independent play. That would be hard with another little one needing your attention.

Denise2005 · January 2010

Evan is really into trains and construction type trucks. He does independent play pretty well with them but if he starts to wonder I usually get his Melissa & Doug bricks and build a wall for him to knock down or make something out of his legos for him to drive his trucks around.

He is also into play-doh a lot lately. He loves to pretend he is making a pizza. I will tell him different foods to make or animals.

He loves puzzles as well and I got him a magnetic puzzle from michaels for $5 that was probably his favorite xmas present.

I wish you lived closer I would tell you to come over and have them play together.

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What toys does your 2-3 year old play with? (sort of long)

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