Best Construction & Building Toys For 2-3 Year Olds

By: Mary

Toddlers love building things.

So what better way to encourage their creativity and imagination than giving them one of the best building toys for 2-3 year olds to inspire them and help them grow.

From a very young age, kids try to stack different objects which is their way of trying to build something.

If you give them a number of similar objects, they will undoubtedly try to place some of them on top of each other and then knock them down again in fits of laughter!

Playing with kids building sets could be the foundation for your child to explore engineering, mechanics, gravity and so much more!

With that in mind, we’ve carefully selected the top building toys for 2-3 year old boys and girls that meet our strict criteria and that parents and children love.

By Mary.

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Top 3 Picks

Our top pick: LEGO DUPLO My First Cars and Trucks 10816 – lovely first LEGO set.

Second place: Mega Bloks First Builders Build ‘n Learn Table – when you’re looking for something that is not a LEGO. 

Third place: SmartMax My First Dinosaurs STEM Magnetic Discovery Building Set with Soft Animals – build your own dinosaurs!

A Word from a Psychologist

Written By: Psychologist Natasha Tanic

  • Building toys spark imagination and creativity
  • Building blocks enhance hand-eye coordination

The Importance of Manipulative Play

Building blocks are great manipulative toys that can benefit your toddler’s development on so many levels.

By playing with building toys, two year olds develop fine motor skills and practice their hand-eye coordination, which is necessary for a great variety of everyday movements.

Gaining control of their fine motor skills is essential for a child’s independence, emotional and cognitive development, and the ability to explore and learn. 

Moreover, independent play with building toys is a fun pretend-play activity that promotes confidence, persistence, and self-regulation.

Best Toys For Building For 2-3 Year Olds

LEGO DUPLO Town Big Construction Site 10813

If you are looking for a cool toy for your 2 year old builder, then the LEGO DUPLO Town Big Construction Site 10813 Set could be the perfect choice!

This wonderful LEGO Duplo building toy comes with a dump truck, a crane, a bulldozer and lots of building blocks for your child to enjoy.

The dump truck has a tipping bucket and the crane has a moveable arm, rotating cabin and a working claw, making this a very engaging and interactive toy for your toddler.

Your toddlers will love operating the crane to pick up the bricks and place them in the dump truck to bring them to their imaginary building site or some place else!

They also get 3 construction worker figures with safety helmets in this 67 piece Duplo set which is perfect for pretend and imaginary play.

In addition, they will get a jackhammer, traffic cones, a wheelbarrow, and special bricks, all of which allow them to create their own building scenarios while playing on their own or with toddler friends.

Parents shared that they like that this LEGO Duplo Construction Set can be used with other Duplo sets to expand the number of things your child can build and create.

One of the things parents said they really love about this building toy is that it’s perfect for any two year old who loves trucks and LEGO.

Why We Recommend The LEGO DUPLO Town Big Construction Site 10813

  • Kids love the fact that they get to build things with the LEGO and get to play with the vehicles too!
  • Interactive and engaging as your child can use the crane to pick up bricks and place them in the truck
  • Encourages your child to be creative and engage in role playing and pretend play
  • Pieces are perfect size for tiny hands
  • Helps to improve your child’s fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination through manipulating the bricks
  • Ideal for your child to play with on their own or for even more fun, to play with toddler friends or siblings
  • Keeps your toddler engaged for hours
  • Compatible with other LEGO Duplo sets for added fun!
  • Perfect gift idea for birthday, Christmas or any occasion really

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Battat Bristle Blocks 112-Piece Basic Building Set

The Battat Bristle Blocks 112 Pc Basic Building Set will provide your two year old toddler with tons of fun as well as imaginary and creative play.

What makes it interesting is that the blocks interlock and can be connected together at any angle making for some awesome building creations by your toddler!

Each of the 112 blocks is soft, making them safe for your child to use and manipulate and they come in nice bright eye-catching colors and shapes.

When they want to dismantle their creation, all they have to do is squeeze the blocks together and they will come apart easily.

Your toddler will also get 8 wheels that work so that they can create items that move, which makes for even more fun!

You can use these blocks in conjunction with Battat Spinaroo and Stackadoo Blocks, or any other Bristle block sets for even more imaginary and creative fun!

Several parents shared that this building toy is really cool and their two year old loved it! They found it was a great starter set for their child.

Why We Recommend The Battat Bristle Blocks 112 Pc Basic Building Set

  • Colorful, fun building toy that toddlers love playing with!
  • Easy for your child to put together when building and easy to take apart when dismantling their creation
  • Helps to improve your child’s fine motor skills and dexterity
  • Blocks stay in place when locked which encourages your child to continue building
  • As wheels are included, your child can build moving objects too
  • Great toy for imaginative and creative play
  • Works well with other Battat Bristle Blocks selts and also Spinaroo and Stackadoo Blocks
  • Your child can play with them independently or for more fun, can play with toddler friends or siblings

Do you know which toys we picked as the best ones for 2 year olds?

B Bristle Block Stackadoos

This colorful assortment of B Bristle Block Stackadoos are an ideal starter or add-on set for all your toddler’s building projects!

The 68 blocks come in a variety of shapes and sizes including circles, squares, triangles and rectangles. The soft, chunky pieces that make up this fun set of blocks are the perfect size for your child’s small hands to hold and build with.

For even more creative building fun, these Stackadoos can be combined with other Bristle Block building sets. They come in a convenient storage jar and an idea booklet is also included.

Although this set of Stackadoos isn’t really designed for building moving vehicles, your toddler will still be able to use these blocks for hours of creative possibilities!

Ideal for boys and girls 2 years and up, any toddler on your shopping list would be thrilled to get these enjoyable Stackadoos

Why We Recommend The B Bristle Block Stackadoos

  • Kids really enjoy the texture of the blocks
  • They encourage independent play
  • Stackadoo blocks are easy for small hands to hold and manipulate
  • These colorful blocks allow your child to create all sorts of things, from animals to buildings and lots more
  • The blocks are well made and stay attached to one another
  • Helps your child improve their hand-eye coordination
  • Encourages pretend play
  • Helps your toddler develop their fine motor skills
  • Great for encouraging sharing and cooperative play in your child when they play with siblings and friends
  • Stackadoo Blocks come in a screw top jar for easy and convenient storage

LEGO DUPLO My First Cars and Trucks 10816 Building Toy

If you’re looking for a great building toy for your 2 year old boy or girl, then this LEGO DUPLO My First Cars and Trucks 10816 Building Toy could be the perfect choice!

This set comes with 3 wheelbases, a crane and vehicle themed LEGO DUPLO blocks to allow your toddlers to create and build their own vehicle combinations.

Some of the vehicle themed LEGO bricks have different graphics on them, such as windows with drivers and passengers, a traffic light and more, so that your child can role play and create different scenarios.

Your toddler can build a car, a dump truck, a fire truck, a cement truck and more using the bricks in various combinations limited only by their imagination!

Using the wheelbases allows them to push and ‘drive’ the vehicles they create for more realistic fun and engagement.

This is a wonderful 36-piece LEGO DUPLO set for any toddler who loves playing with vehicles and building things as it gives them the best of both worlds.

Several parents shared that this makes a great gift for two year old boys and girls and is a wonderful starter building toy for them

Why We Recommend The LEGO DUPLO My First Cars and Trucks 10816 Building Toy

  • Fun, interactive building toy for young toddlers who love playing with cars and trucks!
  • Pieces are perfect size for little hands to manipulate, put together and pull apart
  • With 3 wheelbases included, your child can create vehicles that actually will move
  • Allows your child to create their own car, fire truck, dump truck and more as they can mix and match the pieces
  • Graphics of people on some of the pieces help your child to role play and create their own stories
  • Building vehicles will help fine tune your child’s motor skills and hand-eye coordination
  • Great STEM toy for your toddler
  • 36 eye-catching pieces will keep your toddler engaged for hours
  • Solidly made and quite durable so should last quite a few years
  • Comes with drawstring bag for handy storage and travel

LEGO DUPLO Town Truck & Tracked Excavator 10812

Two year olds love to build things and what better way to inspire and encourage their creativity than giving them the LEGO DUPLO Town Truck & Tracked Excavator 10812 building toy!

This 26 piece building set comes with a truck, a tracked excavator, 2 construction workmen figures, roadwork sign, a shovel and some extra bricks.

Your toddler will love that the truck has a tipping bed and that the excavator has movable tracks, a big bucket shovel for scooping bricks, and a cabin they can rotate!

To keep things real, the construction worker figures are wearing safety helmets.

The tracked excavator measures over 4″ x 9″ x 2″ and the truck measures 4″ x 7″ x 2″ –  so really decent size toys for your child to play with.

Suitable for boys and girls age 2 and up, this is a very interactive and engaging building set that your toddler will enjoy, as they create their own adventures and stories.

A number of parents shared that this LEGO DUPLO Truck And Excavator toy is very age appropriate and the perfect gift for any young toddlers who loves both trucks and building things.

Why We Recommend The LEGO DUPLO Town Truck & Tracked Excavator 10812

  • Kids just love the truck and excavator, the workmen, loading and unloading the bricks and more!
  • Keeps your toddler engaged in imaginative play for long periods of time
  • Your child will love all the moving parts which make the set feel more realistic
  • With 26 pieces, it’s the perfect size set for any two year old to manipulate and play with
  • Encourages your child to role play which aids their development
  • Great for developing your child’s problem solving skills as they work out how to fit the pieces together
  • Helps to develop your child’s dexterity, motor skills and hand-eye coordination
  • Can add other LEGO DUPLO sets for even more fun as it’s all very compatible
  • High quality set and very well made so should last a long time

LEGO DUPLO Town Backhoe Loader 10811 Construction Toy

The LEGO DUPLO Town Backhoe Loader 10811 Construction Toy is the idea gift for your two year old builder because it gives them the best of both worlds – a vehicle to play with and a toy to build with!

This is a 19 piece set which includes a buildable Backhoe Loader that has 2 big shoves on movable arms, a wheelbarrow, a drill, a construction worker, and a number of bricks for loading and unloading.

The Loader measures 5″ x 11″ x 2″ and the construction worker figures wears a safety helmet.

Included are 2 decorated bricks, one with a worm graphic on it and one with a skeleton graphic on it, designed to encourage your child to engage in imaginative and storytelling play.

A number for parents shared that they got this LEGO DUPLO Backhoe Loader set for their child’s second birthday and it was a big hit. They shared that it was the perfect toy for any toddler who loves building blocks and machinery

Why We Recommend The LEGO DUPLO Town Backhoe Loader 10811 Construction Toy

  • Toddlers love this construction set with building blocks and have a great fun playing with it!
  • Parts fit well together and are the right size for 2 year olds to build with
  • Accessories and decorated bricks encourage imaginative and storytelling play
  • Movable arms on Loader make play more realistic
  • Helps your child to fine tune their motor skills and increase their dexterity
  • Can add other LEGO DUPLO sets as your child gets older so it grows with your child
  • Good quality pieces built to last
  • Can be built in many different ways to keep your child engaged

FAQs About Building Toys For Toddlers

What Else Is Available

Construction Toys

Fatbraintoys.com

Once-kids.com

Magnetic Tiles

Toysrus.com

Magnatiles.com

How Building Blocks and Construction Toys Help Children Learn?

Building blocks and construction toys are excellent manipulative toys (according to parentingscience.com), that can be used as powerful learning tools.

Construction and building toys promote a child’s motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

Also, toy blocks can improve cognitive flexibility, spatial reasoning, and creative thinking.

What Age Can Children Play with Construction and Building Toys?

By their first birthday, most children show interest in building in construction.

Your six month old baby should be able to pick up and examine blocks.

One year olds can place one block on top of another.

Small Construction and Building Toys Safe for 2 and 3 Year Olds?

While infants benefit from larger blocks, two and three year olds can safely play with smaller construction sets and building blocks, as long as adults supervise their play.

Also, make sure to put the toys out of your toddler’s reach once they are done playing. 

What are the benefits of playing with construction toys?

Some of the benefits of playing with construction toys include higher academic performance, better social skills, greater imagination and problem solving skills.

Others include better focus, patience and persistence as well as fine motor skills that come with manipulative play.

What factors should I consider when buying building blocks for kids?

Always consider the safety aspect.

Wooden blocks are safer than light plastic ones because they don’t break easily, meaning the risk of choking from small shattered pieces is lower.

Age – Building blocks for a child aged 6-7 should be smaller and able to make specific things (such as cars, ships).

For babies and toddlers, bigger, light, soft blocks are more preferred.

Resources On Construction Toys

Phys.org – Spatial skills higher among those who played with construction-based toys and video games in childhood: study

Fulcherlab.academic.wlu.edu – Building a pink dinosaur: the effects of gendered construction toys on girls’ and boys’ play (PDF)

Sciencedaily.com – Building a future in science with construction-based toys

Parentingscience.com – Why toy blocks rock: The science of construction play

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