3 Types of Essential Educational Toys for 2-Year-Olds

Are you on the lookout for new educational toys for 2-year-olds?

The sheer number of toys calling themselves “educational” or “learning” is overwhelming. And, don’t get us wrong, many of them actually are. But, in order to help you properly identify the right ones, we have categorized them into three groups. Each category prioritizes a different set of skills.

If a toy you’re looking at meets these standards, then you’re in luck. You’ve found yourself a perfect toy for your toddler who is bursting with energy and is 100% ready to learn new stuff.

Social and Language Skills Toys

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Promote interaction with parents/peers
Encourage communication
Help social and emotional learning
Inspire storytelling

Problem-Solving Toys

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Boost independence
Inspire creativity and imagination
Improve focus and attention span
Create a sense of achievement

Fine Motor Skills Toys

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Build small muscles strength
Improve precision
Develop hand-eye coordination
Teach practical-life skills

TIP - A toy should be challenging enough but not too demanding. If it’s too simple, your 2-year-old will play with it only for a while. If it’s too complex, maybe even less than that, as they might get frustrated. Your job is to find that sweet spot.

And how do you do that?

It’s quite simple. The first thing you should do is check out what are some expected developmental milestones for 2-year-olds. Once you see where your little one’s at, you can go from there and look for toys that target those specific skills your child might not have acquired yet.

1. Social and Language Skills Toys

Social and emotional learning and language development go hand in hand. Children improve them both by interacting with other people, whether it’s bonding and learning new words with parents or playing with peers and siblings. Toys that are designed to help these processes create opportunities for such learning and interaction.

How Do Toys Help with Social and Emotional Learning?

By encouraging interaction with others, toys can help your 2-year-old learn how to express themselves or acknowledge other people’s emotions. Such toys can promote sharing, taking turns, working together, and pretend play. The more a child spends time playing with others, the more they’ll learn how to pick social cues and respond to them.

How Can Toys Improve Language Skills?

If a toy can inspire conversation or any type of storytelling, it’s a good start. That’s how your 2-year-old learns new words and phrases. A toy should promote interaction through play, meaning a child gets to describe what they see, ask questions about it, or narrate their own playing scenario.

What Are Some Examples of Toys that Improve Social and Language Skills?

Montessori Story Book

What's it for:

It will invite you to spend time together and bond. You will also use it to teach your child new words and improve their language skills.

How to enjoy it:

Whether it’s a field trip to the park, the backseat of your car during a road trip, or a bedtime story, you’ll enjoy it the same.

Materials:

Felt

Best thing about it:

It’s filled with colorful images, gadgets, and bits and pieces that explain various life scenarios.

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Montessori Christmas Tree

What's it for:

It’s made to boost your child’s creativity and imagination. They’ll have 25 ornaments at their disposal to place them anywhere they like.

How to enjoy it:

Place it on a wall and use it both as a learning toy and a decoration.

Materials:

Felt

Best thing about it:

Your kids can decorate it over and over again and never do it the same twice. This means it’ll be fun for years to come.

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2. Problem-Solving Toys

Solving problems is a huge part of our everyday lives, children’s included. It takes some initiative and confidence. But to get there, we need to start small. And toys are one of the best ways to encourage children to become more adventurous in tackling their daily tasks.

How Do Toys Help with Problem-Solving Skills?

First, toys can set up a challenge that a child needs to identify (“What is the goal of this game?”). Once they figure out what needs to be done, they’re halfway there. But then comes the best part of it - testing ideas, experimenting, and using different approaches to complete a task.

This sort of playtime can boost creativity, improve logical thinking, and help children understand cause and effect. The goal of these toys is to teach children how to think analytically and apply the same thinking process in real-life situations.

What Are Some Good Problem-Solving Toys for 2-Year-Olds?

Montessori Magnetic Maze

What's it for:

It’s designed to improve children’s focus, as well as their problem-solving and fine motor skills.

How to enjoy it:

There are numerous colorful balls inside this toy, and your kid’s job is to guide them from one whole to another.

Materials:

High-quality wood with plastic cover

Best thing about it:

You can pack it in your child’s backpack and use it as an excellent alternative to video games on your phone when you’re waiting in line or at a doctor's appointment.

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Montessori Double-Sided Puzzles (5 Pack)

What's it for:

Puzzles help children’s development in lots of ways - from expanding attention span to increasing short-term memory.

How to enjoy it:

Depending on how difficult your child wants it to be, you can start with a single puzzle or mash all five of them together.

Materials:

High-quality wood

Best thing about it:

Each puzzle has two sides, which means you get 10 different puzzles in one package.

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3. Fine Motor Skills Toys

These are toys with plenty of fiddly parts that require precise hand and finger movement. They can also be about stacking or sorting and require patience and focus to play with (you know, when your child sticks their tongue out trying to do something). Moreover, they help children learn how to use everyday items such as utensils or tools.

How Do Toys Improve Fine Motor Skills?

Fine motor skills help us control small muscles in our bodies. To improve our small muscle coordination, we need to use them as much as possible. That’s why toys are such great tools for this exercise. Kids find them engaging and spend hours every day playing with them. Now, if a toy is designed to encourage these precise movements, it will help with fine motor development.

Read more about fine motor skills toys and how they help children’s development.

What Toys Help with Fine Motor Skills?

Montessori Busy Board

What's it for:

It helps children improve hand-eye coordination and build up finger strength and teaches them how to use dressing accessories.

How to enjoy it:

Sit down with your 2-year-old, open up the busy board, and let them explore it. Try not to interfere as long as they’re trying to figure out what’s what. Kids learn better by exploring stuff themselves.

Materials:

Felt with some plastic parts

Best thing about it:

All bits and pieces are safely attached to the board, and the board itself can be closed with a zipper. It’s like a mini suitcase.

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Montessori Wooden Stones

What's it for:

These stacking stones help children improve their hand-eye coordination, balancing skills, focus, and attention span while also teaching the cause-and-effect principle.

How to enjoy it:

Stack, sort, or balance them. However your child chooses to play with them is the right way. This is an open-ended toy designed to boost their creativity.

Materials:

High-quality wood

Best thing about it:

It’s not only a great educational toy, but it can also serve as garden decoration once your kid grows out of it.

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Why Should You Choose Montessori Educational Toys for 2-Year-Olds?

Because the Montessori way of educating kids, either through lessons, learning materials, or toys, has been one of the best and most popular teaching methods for more than a century. Montessori toys encourage hands-on learning experiences and child-led play with the idea of helping kids become independent and self-sufficient. Read more about Montessori-aligned toys.

Montessori toys, apart from helping develop skills, also teach practical-life skills which will help your child along their educational journey. If you are interested in more educational toys for 2-year-olds, make sure you check our rich selection of Montessori toys for 2 year olds.