32 Safe Stocking Stuffers for 2 Year Olds

Shopping tonight? These eight are safe and loved by most 2 year olds:

1. Egg-shaped or chunky crayons
2. A coloring book with thick lines and big pictures
3. A lift-the-flap board book
4. Bath crayons
5. A sheet of big puffy stickers
6. Bubbles with a no-spill tub
7. Non-slip socks or mittens
8. A clementine in the toe

For the coloring book, our Farm Friends Coloring Book is the one we'd pick for this age: cows, pigs, sheep and tractors, one big picture per page, thick lines.

What's inside the Farm Friends Coloring Book: 23 pages of barnyard animals: 15 big single animals with a word to trace, plus 5 full-page farm scenes, all in thick, simple lines for little hands. It's made for ages 3 to 6, so here's the honest fit for a 2 year old: they will scribble the big animals, name the cow and the hen, and dab with dot markers. The word to trace is for later. It's an instant PDF for US Letter or A4, and you can print favorite pages again and again. Want to see the style first? Try our free printable book.

Two year olds explore with their mouths, so the small things in a stocking carry more risk than the big gift under the tree. Run every item through these checks.

• The toilet paper tube test. If an item, or any part that could come off, fits through a cardboard toilet paper tube, treat it as a choking hazard. In the US, toys for children under 3 must pass a small-parts test, which is why so many toys say "not for children under 3" (CPSC – Toy Safety). Pull firmly on eyes, buttons, wheels and bows.
• Button batteries. Musical cards, light-up toys and key fobs often hide them. A swallowed button battery can cause serious internal burns within hours; if you suspect your child has swallowed one, go to the emergency room immediately (AAP – Button Battery Injuries in Children).
• Balloons. The AAP lists latex balloons among the top choking dangers for young children; keep uninflated and broken balloons away.
• High-powered magnets, water beads and marbles. Not for this age.
• Food. Hard candy, whole grapes, nuts, popcorn, marshmallows and chewing gum are on the AAP's list of choking-risk foods for young children (AAP – Choking Prevention). Cut the clementine into segments and halve any grapes.
• Cords and ribbons long enough to wrap around a neck, including the stocking's own.

Items marked (print at home) are printables: download and print tonight, nothing to ship.

Little hands and fine motor

1. Egg-shaped or chunky crayons. Hard to snap and shaped for a fist grip.
2. Washable dot markers. Dabbing is the first "coloring" most 2 year olds love.
3. Big puffy stickers. Large enough to peel and too big to swallow.
4. A chunky knob puzzle with three or four big pieces.
5. Stacking cups. Towers, nesting, pouring in the bath. Still the best value toy there is.
6. Jumbo pop beads that snap together, sized for toddlers.

Pretend play

7. A toy phone with no small parts and a secured battery cover, or an old handset with the battery removed.
8. A wooden spoon and a small pot. Soup for every teddy in the house.
9. A doll-size blanket. Tucking in babies is a favorite game at two.
10. A set of large play food. Two year olds now put toy food on a toy plate and "feed" you.
11. A small bag or purse to carry treasures from room to room.

Books and printables

12. A lift-the-flap board book. Christmas, animals or vehicles.
13. A touch-and-feel book.
14. A first-words board book with photos of real things.
15. A small photo album with family photos inside. Often the most-looked-at gift of the year.
16. Farm Friends Coloring Book (print at home). The big-animal pages above. See the book.
17. Things That Go! Coloring Book (print at home). Fire trucks, diggers, trains, planes and hot air balloons in big simple lines, 23 pages. See the book.
18. Toy Box Busy Book (print at home) for a 2 year old who is nearly 3: teddies, robots and rubber ducks. See the book.
19. Our free book (print at home). Coloring and a dot-to-dot to try before buying anything. Get the free book.

Outdoor and active

20. A soft ball, bigger than a fist. Kicking a ball is a 2-year-old milestone.
21. Bubbles with a no-spill tub.
22. Chunky sidewalk chalk.
23. A small watering can for spring, or for the bath meanwhile.
24. A bucket and spade for sand or snow.

Bath

25. Bath crayons.
26. A set of pouring cups or a funnel.
27. A large rubber duck or a foam bath book.

Practical and cozy

28. Non-slip socks in a favorite color.
29. Mittens and a hat for the first snow.
30. A character toothbrush. New brush, less fuss.
31. A straw cup or a bib for crafts.

Snack

32. A clementine in the toe, peeled and segmented when they eat it, or a banana with a smiley face drawn on the peel.

It helps to know what you're buying for. The CDC's milestones for 2 year olds include pointing to things in a book when you ask, playing with more than one toy at a time (putting toy food on a toy plate), trying switches, knobs and buttons on a toy, kicking a ball, eating with a spoon and holding something in one hand while using the other (CDC – milestones at 2 years).

In stocking terms, that means books you can point at together, pretend items that go with toys they already have, things to push, pour and stack, and a ball. It also explains why worksheets flop at two: holding a crayon well, tracing and following a maze come later. For more on what works right now, see our learning activities for toddlers and screen-free activities for toddlers, and for the sensory crowd, sensory bin ideas for toddlers.

Every idea above works for either. At two, children want what is familiar: the animals from the farm book, the digger they saw on the walk, the duck from the bath. Choose by what your child points at and names, not by the color of the packaging. If you want a theme, farm and vehicles are the two that nearly every 2 year old loves, which is why both coloring books are in this list.

Two-and-a-half to three is when a busy book starts to earn its place. Children begin to color inside a shape on purpose, match pictures and count to three or four out loud. If your 2 year old is heading that way, our Toy Box Busy Book grows with them.

What's inside the Toy Box Busy Book: 39 pages of teddies, robots, blocks and rubber ducks for ages 3 to 5: 4 big pictures to color and trace, coloring pages, 3 mazes, counting, dot-to-dots, tracing, matching, patterns, odd-one-out and cut-out word cards with a certificate at the end. Honest fit: a young 2 year old enjoys the big pictures and the coloring pages with you; the mazes, tracing and counting pages come into their own closer to three, so print those later. Instant PDF for US Letter or A4.

For the week between Christmas and New Year, the Merry & Bright Christmas Busy Book works the same way: start with the trees and snowmen to color and save the rest. And if you'd rather give one bigger thing, the Early Learning Mega Bundle for ages 2 to 4 is the only product here made for a 2 year old from day one: the Tiny Steps Toddler Curriculum plus the farm and toy box busy books, first counting and pre-writing tracing. It's a main gift rather than a stocking stuffer. Our toddler curriculum themes guide shows how the weeks run.

More ideas for ages 1 to 3 are in stocking stuffers for toddlers, and for the day itself, Christmas activities for toddlers.

Print at home, so there is nothing to ship and no delivery cut-off. Then give it a shape a toddler can open:

1. Tape-bound mini book. Print 6 to 10 pages, add a card cover with their name, and bind the left edge with a strip of wide tape. Skip staples, which poke.
2. Crayon roll. Roll the pages into a tube, slide two egg crayons inside and tie with a short ribbon.
3. Big envelope. Their name in large letters and a sticker seal. Opening it is half the gift.
4. Gifting a grandchild? Send any book from our gifts page on the date you choose; you get a printable gift certificate for the stocking.

The three above cover the range: the vehicle coloring book for this Christmas, the Christmas busy book for a nearly-3, and the mega bundle if you want a full year of toddler learning as the main gift. All are instant PDFs for US Letter or A4, and you can reprint favorite pages for siblings at home.

• CPSC – Toy Safety: the small-parts rule for toys intended for children under 3 and why age labels matter.
• HealthyChildren.org (AAP) – Choking Prevention: the AAP's list of choking-risk foods and objects (including balloons) for young children.
• HealthyChildren.org (AAP) – Button Battery Injuries in Children: A Growing Risk: why swallowed button batteries are an emergency and where they hide.
• CDC – Milestones by 2 Years: the 2-year skills referenced above: pointing in books, pretend play with toy food, using switches and knobs, kicking a ball.