I have a wonderful little boy who is turning 2 yrs old and am not sure what to get him. Since he was a baby he has adored gadget type things and likes seeing how things work. He has always loved the toy where you press a button or turn a key and a different door opens and an animal pops up, he loves to mess with screws and screw drivers, light switches, turning door knobs to watch the latch go in and out, even at the park we saw an old fasioned water pump and he just about had a fit trying to get to it and examine how it worked.

He has been like this since he could crawl he wasnt an early talker or walker or really in to numbers or letters early like some of his siblings. I dont know if hes gifted or not but im stumped on what to buy him for his 2nd birthday.
He already has all his brothers old dinos and cars and such which he loves also. He has no interest in the baby/toddler toys i bought him for christmas.
He likes the kids electronic games and plays well on his 3yr old sisters leapster explorer so i might get him one of those but i really want to find something that will help fill his love of gadgets...

Any help is much much appreciated!!!!

My son LOVED the Leapfrog Word Whammer - not the little fridge version but the bigger one. It plays music and is very engaging and the letters are easy for toddler hands to grasp. My kids are 19 months apart and his intense, persistent older sister kept me very busy, so I needed toys that would keep him amused. He got the word whammer at one yr (can't remember how many months old he was) and loved it. By the time he turned 2, he had learned all the letters. It was such a cool toy because a) he loved it, and b) he learned the alphabet from it (score! lol).

My son sounds like yours... fascinated by how things work. I was reading his baby book the other day and one of the entries said: "he loved to take things apart to see how they work!" He went through a phase where he was constantly breaking things... sigh. He's much more careful now (he's 8) Phew, lol

Cricket - my son LOVES Play Doh too

What about Duplo blocks, or puzzles? (Ohhh... my son loved puzzles as a toddler! Memories...) He also adored Thomas the tank engine and would spend hours on the floor building tracks and bridges, etc. He liked to connect the tracks together so they'd go all the way down the hall - he thought that was pretty funny.

Duplo blocks are great for kids who like to build and take things apart.

Wooden train track set?

You can also get mini handy man sets with a proper workbench and some real tools - screwdrivers, pliers etc in a real tool box, and he can use that to work at. From age 2, these kinda kids really do take off in every aspect and you may find that having a designated space for him to work at gives everyone some peace of mind. Then you can just give him your old things to take apart (old small appliances for example)

My son LOVED this at that age:
Battat take apart airplane toy

I'll second the take apart Battat toys - I think we had a different brand, but same concept.

Duplos are great if he doesn't have those yet. And you can never have enough Duplos/Legos. My eldest was in a day care that has one big room for infants 6 weeks old to kids 3 years old. At 10 months, she started taking apart Duplo creations, leaving a number of 2 year olds very upset. Fortunately, she learned to put them together at 12 months. Later, we bought some old large Lego collections that we found on Craigslist or Ebay. My girls (16, 14 & 7) still build stuff while they watch movies.

My middle one was really into the Fisher Price Little People toys, but my eldest had no interest. I'd test those out at a friend's house before buying those.

Duplo depends on the child. DS never liked Duplo but at 2 went straight to lego (he had the fine motor skills to manage it though). DS also got given a small screwdriver and used to take apart all his matchbox cars/trains (the magnetic plate to put the screws on helped too!).

DS got "magna-tiles" for his 2nd birthday and has loved them ever since. (He is now 4.)

They are a bit pricey...but definitely worth it.

Kathie

Here are some suggestions:

http://www.amazon.com/International...Set/dp/B003H7QSFE/ref=dp_cp_ob_t_title_0

http://www.amazon.com/Tomy-TY3950-Constructables/dp/B000ID311Y/ref=pd_sim_t_4

http://www.amazon.com/Quercetti-Georello-Kaleido-Gears-pieces/dp/B00000J048/ref=pd_sim_t_11

http://www.amazon.com/International...ti-Tubation/dp/B0002VZ0ZC/ref=pd_sim_t_3


http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Deluxe-Wooden-Doorbell/dp/B00021HB9U/ref=pd_sim_t_2

Hope this helps!

My kid loved this. It's like erector for little kids.
http://www.discoverytoys.com/PUBLICSTORE/stores/homeoffice/product/Motor-Works,637,180.aspx

He also loved Thomas and imaginarium track sets which were way cheaper.