We had Cuisenaire rods when my eg ds was small - and he used them to build things out of
My personal philosophy at 2 is to follow your child's lead - have lots of things available for them to explore, take them lots of different places, spend lots of time just interacting with them - but don't over obsess about learning tools etc. If your child is going to be extraordinarily gifted at math, they most likely don't need a tool like the rods. Or they might enjoy it. Or they might enjoy it even if they aren't gifted at math. Whoever they are or whoever they eventually become, I would choose things like this at this stage based on what you'd like to do with your child and then be ok with however they decided to use (or not use) it
Enjoy them - the early years pass by so quickly!
Best wishes,
polarbear
