Play Tips: Choosing the right toy for a 2 year old

How your 2 year old plays now:

• She hops, jumps and can travel stairs one foot at a time.
• He knows the difference between safe and dangerous.
• She's becoming more social with other kids.
• Good hand-eye coordination means he can build with blocks and tuck a stuffed animal into bed.
• She likes to roll and cut play dough.
• He announces what he's going to draw but may change his idea if the drawing begins looking like something else. When he completes his drawing, he likes you to display it.
• She enjoys mimicking the actions of those she knows.
• He understands what "inside," "under" and "on top" mean.
• She creates simple sentences and uses the words "I," "me" and "you."
• He can recall what to do when given simple instructions.

Ride - ons

Rock Roll & Ride Refresh

Why your child will enjoy this toy now:

A trike helps your child learn balance, steering and how to pedal forward and backward—all good for large motor control. Alternating right, left, right, left as they learn to pedal contributes to "whole brain" development.

What you can do to help your child learn more:

When your child first sees a ride-on, he may be very happy to just get on and off repeatedly by himself. Or, he may sit on it and push with his feet, forward and backward.

Ride-ons are designed so a child's feet reach the ground or the pedals, and so his body weight helps push the ride-on around. Often, children don't realize their feet should go around on pedals and they want to push back and forth; it may help if you show him how it's supposed to work. Put his feet on the pedals, hold your hands on top of them and push so he feels the motion of the pedals going down and around.

For many children, steering with handlebars seems to happen automatically—they just get it and follow their nose! Help him to learn directions by saying the words, "Now you're turning left," or, "Turn to the right."

Children love to make use of the ride-on's little storage compartments. If his toy has one, help your 2-year-old select a "friend" to take for a ride, or pack a little snack for him to enjoy on a break.

Children at 2 years are old enough to learn to "park" their ride-on. Give your child a "parking spot" in the shed or garage. Say, "This is your parking spot," using that term. "Just like Mommy has a parking spot for our car, this is where you park your ride-on when you're done with it."