My boys also liked the parents brand cars it was a set of four and they were this squishy soft plastic and you would pull them back and they would shoot forward. No batteries but lots of fun

Little radio flyer tricycle. I got one for Adelee for her birthday….she rides it around on our wood floors inside the house. IT is not to big and bulky but helps get some energy out. Tires won’t scratch floor either they are rubber.

Any kind of gun or sword (even if you don’t believe in weapon play they will soon turn everything into that) Lego has these foam swords that are great they sound like they wouldn’t hold up but they do. We have the Disney version of them. My boys also loved this plastic knight costume with shield and sword from target.

Playdough

Superhero capes (course couch jumping usually occurs with these) I just shot some photos for a company that sells ones with cool magnet clasps so that they just come off instead of choke on them

A big bag of plastic floating pool balls or bounce house balls. we don’t have room for a bounce house or pool so we just play with them….some have made it in the bathtub but otherwise……We throw them all over the house and hit each other with them…they are really light don’t hurt. Hours of fun around here. Big mess but a fun mess.

I got one of their puzzles in a box for Natalia this year. There are 4 12-piece puzzles included and they have firetruck, construction, zoo and farm themes. I think Target sells them for about $12.

Do your guys like to draw? Natalia really enjoys her Aquadoodle mat. And you can make some extra shapes out of a sponge so that there is more than the one water pen to share.

My guys are a bit older (4 and 8 — the 8-year-old has grown out of this kind of project now, but the 4-year-old still loves it), but I do think this tissue paper art would be fine for 2.5 or 3 year olds. You basically just crinkle up a slips of tissue and stick them onto the adhesive part of the design. A good project for a cold winter’s day.

Oh well.

Things my boys are into…
Matchbox cars fold and go sets…they actually fold up and store nicely into basket and they get HOURS of fun out of these. They are about $10. You can get them almost anywhere.

they are overpriced at Amazon…you can buy them at Kohls, Target, Wal-Mart, TJ Maxx even if you are lucky.

Crayola paint brush pens. {$5}
Rock my socks too. They LOVE these things and they are NOT MESSY AT ALL!

The other thing my boys LOVE is stickers. THey LOVE stickers and they are cheap!

I was going to say skip the mega blocks at this age and go straight to Duplos…but I see you’re already on top of that–funny how kids are SO different. Elijah plays with his blocks more than almost anything else.

have you ever heard of a Bilibo? I’ve not seen one in person, but I’ve heard they’re a great toy for fostering imagination…was thinking of putting that on Elijah’s list, wondering if it really is that great and/or if he’s too young for it yet.

the other suggestion I have is a bean table, if you’ve got the space and if you think there’s any chance they could play with it neatly. I bought about 10-15 lbs worth of various kinds of dry beans, and Steve built a table for them. I never imagined how many hours of enjoyment E would get out of that thing. it’s mind-boggling. he has various containers in there, and shovels, and puts other toys/blocks in it…sort of like a non-messy sandbox. for the most part, he’s really good about keeping them in the table (and they’re not that hard to clean up if he doesn’t), but with some kids that might be harder. anyway, I can take pics of ours and send them to you if you want. it’s really simple.

We have a mini trampoline, actually, but I never thought of cleaning it up and bringing it inside. That’s a good idea!

I like the idea of play food. I’ve got budding foodies, so that could be neat! Thanks for tall the ideas and links, guys! I’ll check them out!