Two to three Years
Around age two, children can really move and spend their time climbing, running, jumping, and walking. Most two year olds now have enough language to convey what they are thinking and feeling in broad terms, and begin to explore their methods of communication. This is also the time when your child’s personality really begins to develop and unfold, and for the first time, she starts to understand she is a separate being.
Two and three year olds still love to mimic adult behaviors and can be a great help around the home. Look for toys and tools that mimic reality. A play kitchen, store, or farm are excellent for acting out stories. Gifts that allow children to actively participate in real life activities are the best. This includes child-sized tools, cleaning supplies, cookware, and furniture.
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REUSABLE Sticker Pads
These reusable window cling stickers are just challenging enough for most 2 year olds to remove and position, building their fine motor skills. We suggest removing the white background if you need to make things a little easier. This is a particularly captivating, self-contained, quiet activity, and the town scene pad allows for exploration of jobs and social roles. We also like the vehicles and habitat pads, and suggest playing with one scene and sticker set at a time, rotating every week or so for interest.
These sticker pads from For Small Hands with animals are also a good choice.
Nature Fact Cards
You may have seen similar photo vocabulary cards in your child’s Montessori classroom. We like these cards on a ring for home use. Look at one photo at a time, and ask questions like: “Tell me about this animal”, or “What do you think it eats?'“ As part of your conversation, you can share the facts on the back, or any of your own! These are another set we’d recommend
Lovevery Play Kit
These play kits from LOVEVERY offer an all-in-one solution for parents and gift ideas! For age 2-3 years, there are eight kits available. In each kit you’ll find a small collection of developmentally challenging and engaging toys, a how-to booklet, and books to read together. These kits are designed by Montessori and Early Childhood experts, and promote not just fun, but learning as well. See the kits by clicking the buttons below.
Quality Art Supplies
While there are many art materials available for young children, few are actually quality materials. This means rich colors, easy and pleasant to use, and durable. Quality art tools do their job well with minimal effort, which creates accurate muscle memory and promotes safe use. Some two to three years olds can handle more responsibility than others, keep this in mind when offering advanced materials like markers, scissors, needles, and large quantities of paint or oil pastels. Lyra makes our favorite colored pencils for young children, and Faber-Castell is a close second. These scissors from Fiskers are a real tool and fit well in a small child’s hand. Find excellent art and craft kits for this age at For Small Hands.
Child's Harmonica
Simple music instruments are lots of fun at this age, and this harmonica from Small Fish is perfect. It’s smaller than a normal harmonica, but otherwise similar in tone, quality, and ease of use.
Child-Sized Table and Chairs
As your child gets older, it’s important to offer her own place to work, play and eat that is her size. A child-sized table encourages proper posture and muscle development needed for handwriting. Also, children feel included, valued, and more independent with a table and chair they can manage on their own. A smaller wood table like this one from Melissa and Doug is perfect, but I also suggest looking at IKEA and other children’s furniture stores. Look for one that is made from thicker wood and is sturdy.
Lacing Cards
These cards offer an excellent introduction to basic sewing skills, and also promote fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. There are quite a few styles available, look for a set made from wood, plastic, or very thick cardboard and minimal print design (which can make it difficult to see the stitches and holes). You can make your own if you are feeling crafty with a sturdy or laminated card and hole punch.
Simple Cooperative Board Games
As this is the age where children begin to play WITH others, a cooperative board game is perfect for the whole family. Start with a easy one like Count your Chickens or Monkey Around if your child is 2, and The Orchard if your children are a bit older.
See all the cooperative games from For Small hands here.
Puzzles
Puzzles are a classic toy for good reasons; they build critical thinking skills, fine motor skills, and mathematical groundwork. For a child age 2 to 3 years, look for puzzles with knobs and around 5-10 pieces. Puzzles that have one-to-one matching are easier than a jigsaw type. There are many, many excellent puzzles available, we suggest looking at Melissa and Doug’s collection to start.
Image from Twig and Thicket
Vehicle Toys
Another classic toy that is Montessori-friendly! Look for a vehicle toy that is human-powered (no batteries, sounds, lights), and in a basic shapes, which encourages more open-ended, creative play at this age. Wooden toys are nice, but not necessary. This set from Twig and Thicket on Etsy is handmade in Canada.
Building Blocks
Another classic toy makes for an excellent Montessori-friendly gift: blocks. For ages 2 to 3 years, look for large, interlocking blocks like this Duplo set. Some children may need less blocks to start (to not feel overwhelmed and manage clean-up), and it would be easy to adjust as they grow. I like this set because it is gender neutral, has a variety of shapes, and a few scenes can be built (or not). We started with just the small cubes in a stacked tower with a two-year old, and then progressed to more complicated blocks.
Image from For Small Hands
Picture Dominos
These thicker domino cards offer an opportunity to match by shape and are a simple two-part puzzle. Use just a handful of these as a matching activity to start, or play a simple domino game with the whole family.
Child Sized Cleaning Tools
If you haven’t already purchased child-sized cleaning tools for your young child, this is an excellent basic set. While I feel there are better versions of a broom, dustpan, dust mop, and duster available, this set from Melissa and Doug are real tools and come with a storage tower. Young children are inclined to help if you encourage and offer the right tools. This builds confidence, independence and real-life skills.