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The above looks very much like our climber, with a few differences. Ours has one rung less heightwise, so it’s a little bit shorter. You see the platform at the top of the picture? That’s two separate pieces that can be adjusted. We have four pieces, so we put two on the lowest rung for the floor, and the other two get changed from time to time depending on their interest. Instead of a ladder and a slide, we had two slides but gave one of them away with the second climber we got, figuring we’d be unlikely to use both. I don’t leave the slide out all the time, but once or twice a day we take it out and let them play with it. They realized if they put the ladder on the second rung up, they also have a great track to play with their trains- they zoom down the slide and across the living room floor! And any animals on it get an exciting ride, too. 🙂
We’ve moved cross country and from overseas, and each time most of the toys didn’t accompany us, which is why some of the great toys we had in the past aren’t around for the littles now. We’ve had two different mini kitchens, a FP (Fisher Price) dollhouse, LT (Little Tykes) playground for little people, FP barn, push toys (including a shopping cart), and riding cars. These companies have nice quality toys, even if they aren’t made of wood. As far as smaller toys, I like the ones that you create or build with – bristle blocks, legos/mega blocks, gears, lacing cards – there are so many great toys! I stay away from anything faddy based on movies or tv shows. I find that educational stores or catalogs carry the kind of thing I like more than typical toy stores.
Whatever you buy, look for things that are made to withstand a lot of use! For example, we got the LT musical set (tamborine, maracas, xylophone) years ago and it is still in great shape. The other tamborines and maracas we had that were cheaply made cracked and found a new home in the garbage can. 
When getting puzzles, I look for ones that have sturdy pieces – I’m biased towards Ravensburger puzzles (and games) but I’m sure there are other great companies. I stay away from the ones with flimsy pieces that don’t fit together, or the pieces are so generic that many have similar shapes and can all fit into the same spots.
Do any of you have toy recommendations to recommend for the 2 – 4 age group?
Avivah
PS – edited to add that I don’t like most electronic toys because I have a low tolerance for toys that make noise, and I like when the kids are the actively creating their fun with the toy, not being passively entertained by it. There’s enough noise that the kids make that I don’t welcome more of the artificial sort! This is where I draw the line for gifts that we receive. When a grandparent once gave us a toy that made an obnoxious amount of noise (already knowing that I really don’t like these toys), I kind of jokingly but not jokingly said we’d keep it at their house for the kids to play with there. And it went back home with them.
We love building toys. Tinkertoys are great for kids that are no longer putting in the mouth. A kid can build some basic shapes at 3 years old and at later ages, start building structures.
We were gifted a neat magnetic set (NOT for babies) which is fantastic for understanding geometrics. It is from Brainwear I believe.
We also have the ever expanding train set. Again, a 3 year old can build a small track, an older kid (or his/her uncle, aunt, father, mother) can help build an entire city.
Games and puzzles are great. We have a good number of games, from the classic to more advanced level games. It is interesting to watch my littlest start to develop a winning strategy.
I’ve found most of our great toys and games in thrift stores and garage sales. The stuff in the stores is mostly junk that will get cast aside in seconds because it simply isn’t interesting for very long. Building sets and train sets can be interesting for many years to come as the mind develops.
I got a Melissa and Doug cutting food set for my oldest when he turned 2 for $10 (regularly priced at $20) — it’s one of our most loved and well used toys.
It’s good for pretend shabbos meals (cutting board, knife, loaf of bread, and take a challah cover and you have hamotzi there :)); copying Mommy cutting up veggies, and they make soup with it (cucumber becomes zucchini ;))…teaches about fractions and simple math naturally, etc…
Officially for 3 and up, but I see no problem giving it to younger kids.
3 years old loves lacing cards as you said, building toys (kids knex is a favorite — got from goodwill :)), my mother just got a Trio set from FP for building, but I’m not as thrilled with it.
I like simple, well made toys that serve many purposes, as their imagination is so creative at this stage! A mini toy kitchen, a bowl, a towel, a spoon and they’re all set to make cholent with whatever they find around…
Puzzles are very big at this age. I got from Goodwill for $1 this book: http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-First-ABC-Book/dp/B00006JZCM which is great when they want a book read, or just to do puzzles by themselves, or to use the magnets on the fridge…even my 17 month old loves to try the magnetic pieces!
Gamewise, 3 years old is perfect for starting…dominoes are great for building as well as for matching and keeps my kids entertained. At 3 or so, they can play simple board games with older siblings or parents…2 is a bit young, though my 2 year old last year did sort of play along until his patience wore out.
And dolls. Despite my 2 oldest being boys, mothering like Mommy is very fun for them. I don’t have a toy stroller or the like (no room!!), but they can still swaddle their baby, wear their baby (I wrap a toddler sheet like a sling or wrap around them or even put on a mini backpack), and put the baby in the rocking chair, etc…
We also like simple household items like the grown ups. I do have a toy vacuum (Dirt Devil for under $5 used :)), a mini broom/dustpan set I got from a store (it’s not a toy, but used to sweep tables I guess?), a duster (again, real ones work fine)…and they clean along with me. Sometimes for real (with the duster), sometimes for pretend (with the vacuum)…
My kids, both genders, have had countless hours of satisfaction taking care of their baby dolls. At this point, each baby practically has its own personality and is part of the family.
My mother owns a toy store! Here’s the stuff that we find hold up really well and is well-liked.
-Anything Melissa and Doug makes. That is very nice quality, durable stuff.
-KidKraft makes nice stuff. Anything they make is good, but their wooden Jewish holiday playsets are extremely cute. There aren’t enough Jews in my area to make selling them in our store worthwhile, but I love them. The people I know who have them love the quality.
-Also, for your older kids, Bananagrams is a great, educational game–like Scrabble on speed.
Bananagrams is good for kids also just learning how to read. Manipulating letters is a fantastic exercise and the nice thing about banagrams is that each player is working independently. So while Mommy or Daddy is trying to form a big work, a 5 year old can be spelling at, ar, and ig words.
Pretend play items are definitely the ones that keep my kids interest for the longest…play kitchen, dolls, strollers, vaccuums etc. Train sets, tinker-toys and legos would be next on the list.
For the littler ones, maybe ages 1 – 2 …this has been my kids all time favorite. I bought when my oldest was 1 and it is still great, in fact, for my youngest’s first birthday recently, we put new batteries in and voila! She absolutely loves it. It does make noise but its not obnoxious (its one of the few toys that make noise that I don’t mind) http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3526297 !
(And how can I forget coloring items? My boys color almost every single day…)
Avivah, what is your policy on toys with small parts? I’m starting to think about baby-proofing. In the past, I used to just put away anything that had small parts, but now the kids are a little older. When can they be trusted to put things away?
Thank you all for your responses!
Yehudis, the only small parts I worry about are marbles. Otherwise, I supervise my infants when they are at the mouthing stage – when they’re very young, I keep the smallest stuff away, as they get older I let things stay out but watch carefully. My babies learn pretty quickly what food is and what isn’t by being able to explore these things in a safe way.
There is one thing I love to buy at dollar stores that goes so well with the Tinkertoys/Lego/other building toys — plastic animals (which we also use at the Seder for the plagues)!! We have whole menageries of them and my kids make zoos, homes, farms and whatnot for their animals.
I agree with everything said, wood toys, legos, babies, etc.
My kids adore the kidkraft Shabbos set and pretend they are making Shabbos all week long!
We just got a game from the Thinkfun called Zingo and we are having the best time with it.