My 2 year-old is into trains…Today. Tomorrow, he might be into farms or airplanes or who knows? We got him the The Great Toy Story Train Chase from Lego Duplo because when he outgrows trains, he can use the blocks to build something else. Since all of the sets work together, we have fun turning his barn into a train station and making his fire truck into an emergency milk delivery truck.

Duplo’s are great for building fine motor skills and absolutely fantastic for cognitive skills. My son can take apart the train and put it back together faster than I can. And, the sense of fulfillment he gets when he creates something new is great for his self esteem.

Hotwheels Color Shifters are a fantastic way to practice colors with toddlers. Dunk them in water and they change colors depending on the temperature. We keep a small bowl of water with ice in it next to the bath and our toddler is so engaged that he hardly notices when we wash his hair. Incidentally, they also will change color if you hold them in your warm hands. This has kept him occupied out of the tub too.

Along with entertaining our spirited toddler, the cars give us a great opportunity to practice colors. Such a silly toy, but we all love them.

The Classic Doodle Sketch is a modern day twist on the Etch A Sketch. My son happily entertains himself by drawing with the magnetic pen and shape stamps and then erasing his pictures with the little slider. (The slider alone makes this toy great for spirited toddlers.)

Most of the time, we use it together though. He likes to tell me what to draw and I do my best to make a cartoon representation of it. (Without a second’s notice, he wipes it clean and asks for something else.) Sometimes, we practice our letters and reading by writing the names of movies that he can choose from or places we are going or people we are going to see.

I absolutely love the Shapes Magnetic Book (Magnetic Play & Learn). It comes with a bunch of magnetic shapes that you can use to make pictures in the book. We use it during potty time because it is pretty self-contained and entertains him more than just a book. It is also good for long car trips and visiting relatives that believe that children should be seen and not heard.

The best part is that he doesn’t even realize that he is practicing his shapes and colors.

In case you are new to WildEdisons, I love alphabet puzzle mats. There are so many educational toddler activities you can do with them. For some ideas, check out my post Toddler Alphabet Puzzle Mat Activities.

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