Now that his 2nd birthday is just 1 month away, I'm back to thinking about gifts again and trying to decide what exactly to buy for him.
So I thought I'd do a little breakdown on exactly which of his toys he seems to get the most use and enjoyment out of, and what I've decided to buy him for his birthday.
Current Toddler Favourites
Trains & Vehicles
Tyne is very much into "actively" playing with his toys now and really enjoys anything that involves imagination and role playing - he loves to push his trains and cars around while making appropriate noises for them, and he always asks for toys to "talk" to him (meaning myself or Jon pick up the toy and give it a voice, engaging in a pretend conversation with Tyne on behalf of the toy!).
His go-to toys are ALWAYS his trains and vehicles - he has a Happyland box which stores all of them (just!) and it folds out to become a road play mat, he also has a lot of wooden track and bridges which he loves putting together.
He spends ages just pushing around the cars and tractors, and mostly playing with his various Thomas engines....which are without doubt his favorite toys!
Play Kitchen
We gave Tyne a play kitchen at Christmas and we keep it in the living room with all of his play food and his shopping trolley. He plays with it a few times each day, and likes to pretend to make coffee or lunch for me and Jon. He also pretends to wash the dishes afterwards, and seems to really enjoy deciding where he's going to put things away afterwards and of course deciding what he's going to "cook" for dinner!
Ride On Toys
Tyne's ride-on Thomas train is still very much a firm favorite and has been ever since he first got it at 9 months old! I don't think theres been more than a few days that have passed since when he hasn't played on it, he adores it and it's by far the best toy purchase I've ever made! Dress Up
Tyne has recently shown a real interest in dress-up costumes. Every time we go to the supermarket he runs straight over to look through them, and he recently got his first ever one in the form of a Spiderman costume!
He was absolutely delighted with it, and wore it for an entire day telling everyone he met that his name was Spiderman!
Ideas For His Birthday
Based on the things that we know he loves, we've decided that the following will be what we buy for his 2nd birthday...
A Play House
Whenever we visit soft play centres, Tyne always heads straight for the Little Tikes plastic play houses and just loves pretending they're his house - going in and out of the door, waving to us from the windows and so on.
I think an outdoor play house will be lovely for him when the weather starts to get a bit nicer, so we're definitely going to be being one for his birthday! It's just a matter of deciding on which one!
BMW Ride On
This is something we've had put to one side for him for quite a while, he already has his cozy coupe which he really enjoys but now that he's really started to show an interest in cars we think he'll appreciate this more "realistic" one!
More Trains
He already has far too many but they are his absolute favorite thing, we just couldn't possibly let his birthday go by without buying more Thomas trains! He keeps requesting "Talking Henry" and "Talking Spencer" so those are the ones I think we'll need to look out for! His grandparents are going to be buying an amazing wooden train table that Tyne plays with every time we visit a nearby toy store, so I can't wait to see his reaction when he opens that gift!!
A sandpit
Tyne absolutely ADORES the sand and would quite happily spend every minute of every day digging at the Beach if we'd let him! We're very lucky to only live a few minutes walk away from the beach which is great, but it's not something we can fit in to doing every day so I think a nice sandpit out in the garden will be great for him! We've bought this wooden one from Plum which I actually got on sale for an amazing £12!!
More Dress Up
Now that he's starting to really get in to dress up, I'm going to buy him a few little dress up costumes and make him a little Dress Up box - I'm thinking the standard offerings like a Police outfit and Doctors coat to begin with, and of course a Train driver costume is a must for our Thomas fan!
So that's what we'll be buying Tyne for his second birthday at the end of March!
What are your little ones favorite toys to play with?
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