I need some birthday gift ideas for my soon to be 2 year old. I’m looking for something educational.
My child just turned two, and I really wanted something educational as well!
A couple of the things I did—she LOVES the mail, so I found a couple of children’s magazine-style subscriptions that will come in the mail just for her! She got a junior Highlights subscription, one called Ladybug that is for her age (literature, rhymes, games, ALL educational–done by age group, so eventually she can just transition to one at the next age bracket, called Cricket), a National Geographic Kids, and one other that I can’t think of right now…They are all staggered so that she will receive on per month minimum. I wanted her to have something to unwrap, so I purchased copies of each, then printed out a gift card for the subscription…
My kid also loves birds, eggs,etc, so we bought a couple of books with this theme, some bird seed, a feeder, and a lifecycle poster to hang next to the window. Also I printed out a few pictures of local birds, made a Bit-style book with a few facts for each, and we store it on the table next to the window, through which she can see the new bird feeder. It has actually become fun for the family…
If your LO isn’t into birds, you could always adapt it to ants, worms, whatever…
Hope it helps, and Happy Birthday to your LO!
Kerileanne99,
Excellent ideas, love them!
When my daughter was turning two she was really into Geography and Bible Stories ( she still is!)
So she got a big floor World Map mat from a friend of our family ( which was a big hit and we used it almost every day) and different books, flash cards, activities to compliment it from us. She always loved talking about different countries and she loves books. So we got her Child’s Atlas of the World Book and variety of geography/astronomy kids books, as well as video “All around the world”. As well as a set of flash cards with different animals, – the fun part about these flashcards was that there is a little map in the corner of each which shows where is that particular animal’s habitat. First she would just love going through the flashcards, but now she takes a bunch and places them in different places around her map.
And then we also got her own Children’s Bible for her 2nd Birthday ( We red through it 3 times in the last year!), along with Bible Flannel graph, Children Bible Flashcards set (I think it has close to 300 cards), Wooden shape sorter Noah’s Ark and a small set of assorted Bible Books.
Another thing we had for her 2nd Birthday is a Zoo Membership. We do not live close to the zoo, but we make a point of going there once every couple of weeks and combining it with some educational activities, it was really worth it. Plus, as a part of membership she is getting her own Zoo magazine and she loves it ( That is why I really loved Kerileanne99’ suggestion about magazine subscription, and thinking about it for her 3rd Birthday!)
That is what we did, hope this gives you some ideas… I guess you can see what is your child main interest and make it a theme, capitalize on it, etc
Gifts dont have to be fancy or expensive to make them special. Our friends gave our daughter an expensive toy, that she looked briefly at and never had any interest in it since. But then animal cards set that I got at Library swap market, she is playing with over and over again for a few months…
Thanks Anne and skylark. For his 1st birthday I got ‘Animal baby’ magazine subscription from National wildlife Federation. I will look into other magazines that you have mentioned. Zoo membership is also an excellent idea.
I’m also considering bambino luk http://www.beyond123.com/bam/bam.html
Birth day gift should be decided purely basis of child"s love and interest.
my Lil s favorite was colors,crayons,animals and tricycle.
I tried to collect these and i purchased Puzzle sets for her,which are colorful,animal featured,mathematical puzzles,fruits,vegetables along with shapes and size.
hope you gift him including his interest. 
Thanks iwini for your suggestion. We buy every month something that interests him. He loves anything with wheels and magnets. Needless to say we have lots of toy vehicles and recently we bought a magnetic building set with wheels. He plays with them for hours together everyday. He also loves music. I have bought all kinds of toy music instruments, full size keyboard, soft mozart and to top it all a violin for future use. But now I am trying to find some new things/areas that would pique his interest.
My little boy is “obsessed” with cars, trucks, and anything that goes! We tried to steer his interest away from them with no luck at all…so the presents he got so far are about those car things… lol
Have you looked at Playmobile? They have plenty stuff for kids his age. They are not pure educational but really good for pretend play and he can even help build his playmobile sets. We just bought a mining set as a Christmas present for our son…and he loves it!
They are various sets - from hotels, zoo, priates, space, schools, trucks, farms…you name it! The sets are of excellent quality too!
Hi arvi, thanks for starting this thread. I am always looking for interesting gift ideas.
My son for Christmas got a Steve Green CD “Hide 'em in your heart”. It’s bible verses set to music & great to have on in the background in order that my son or anyone else in the house at the time commits them to memory. (I find myself singing along unconsciously & my 15 month old literally holds his tongue when he hears the appropriate words.) Even if you don’t use the bible there are some great morals in the songs such as “not complaining”, “overcoming evil with good”, “be kind one to another”, “obeying your parents”.
Maybe a bit young for a 2 year old but he also got a water drawing board. It’s a double sided fabric board on which you draw with water filled “crayons”. Drys quickly in order to be reused. I had never heard of them before but it’s a great gift idea; no mess, lots of fun, encourages fine motor skills, ideal for car journeys etc.
Similar to this one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001V63YI2/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2/188-5242663-6505054?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_r=1ZF3GVV4CBVMZS88AXD2&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_i=B003VX42ZC
I think you have to buy birthday gift according to your child likes and dislikes. There are many of good things available in the market that you can use as gift for you child like toys, colour pencils, video games, educational game etc. If you are looking of some of educational games and CD than you have to use online option to find it.