Toys to Make for a 2 Year Old

Toys for the Memory

• Make cards for playing matching games. Print out or draw pictures of animals and stick them onto paperboard to make cards. Print duplicate pictures for your child to match in pairs or pictures of adult and baby animals for him to pair up. Make up a small photo album of all the people in his life for him to look through and name. Try to have close-up face shots so they are easy to identify, and include pictures of him.

Toys for Motor Skills

• Turn a cardboard box into a posting box by cutting slits and holes in the side for your child to post bits of paper and small toys into. She will enjoy retrieving the contents afterwards. Make a game of sensory skittles using empty soda bottles. Decorate the bottles with stickers or acrylic paint and fill each one with a different material until it is about one quarter full. Materials that work well are water colored with food dye, sand, grains of rice, buttons and dried peas or beans. Put glue on the inside of the lids before securing them tightly. Use a soft ball to play skittles or just shake the bottles.

Toys for Imaginative Play

• Make a hand puppet from a sock by sewing buttons on the toe end for eyes. For extra decoration, use a piece of felt to make a tongue and sew on pieces of wool for hair. Use small boxes from food packaging to make buildings for small world play. The boxes can be farm buildings for small plastic animals or shops and houses for little people. Clean and dry empty food boxes and plastic containers to make a shop. Cut circles out of paperboard to use for coins.

Creative Toys

• Play dough is easy to make and there are many different recipes. The simplest version is a quarter of a cup of salt, one cup of flour and a quarter of a cup of water. Mix the ingredients together and add food coloring or glitter to decorate. Fill a box, basket or bag with different but safe items from around the home or garden to create a sensory box. Items that work well are pine cones, bits of material such as ribbon or velvet, anti-slip soap suckers, feathers, pieces of tree bark, and pieces of sandpaper.