Your Gift Guide (2 - 3 years old)
Focusing on a variety of different developmental areas, these toys are sure to be a hit for many years to come!
Great for fine motor and cognitive development...
HAUTTON Magic Water Mat with Accessories RRP $27.99
Drawing is the ultimate food for the brain.
- Drawing helps your child build on their imagination and creativity.
- It's great for fine motor development, as your toddler learns how to hold a pen (which will come in very handy later in life, when they are preparing for school).
- The use of different colours (on the mat and then also with the accessories) is a great way to work on colour recognition with your toddler.
- The accessories in this set are brilliant! The stencil included will further promote their fine motor development and provide the opportunity to practice tracing.
From a parent's perspective, anything 'mess-free' is a HUGE winner. The fact that this mat can also be attached to a wall (using the suction cups included), means that even with limited floor space, you could get heaps of use of this by attaching it to a window.
Great for social, speech and language development...
HAPE Children's Medical Kit RRP $44.90
This is a great age to start focussing on more advanced symbolic play with your toddler.
- This medical kit is a fantastic option for building your child's confidence with occasional visits to the doctor. Play a role-playing game with your toddler, where they are the doctor (so are in control) and you are the patient. While they are using the toys within the kit, talk about different parts of the body so they can practice identifying their tummy, neck and knees!
We have this exact kit and we LOVE it! The majority of the pieces within this kit are wooden, so very easy to clean and to have one less toy that is all-plastic is a huge win.
For an added cognitive development bonus...
KIDWILL Tool Kit RRP $45.99
For very similar reasons to the medical kit above, there are so many opportunities to role-play using this tool-kit.
In addition, this kit is fantastic because you can so easily build on their understanding of number concepts while also expanding their creativity using this toy.
Not only that! By building objects out of the pieces, will help their fine motor skills and their hand-eye coordination.
Great for balance, coordination, muscle and cognitive development...
M SANMERSEN Musical Piano Mat RRP $49.99
This mat is fantastic for building on your child's ability to balance, as they step from one key to another.
An important skill that starts to develop is your child's ability to cross their limbs over the mid-line (basically, bring their left limb over to the right side of their body and visa-versa). This is a skill that allows both sides of their brain to work at the same time - and will be vital for skills in the future such as tying their shoe laces. This mat (and music) should go a long way to help your child to develop this skill.
Not only that, the ability to make their tunes on the mat will foster/enhance their creativity and imagination, while also building their leg strength as they move from one part of the mat to another.
