Well, my two and a half year old grandaughter and her cousin, who is ten months younger, spent ages playing with a large cardboard box. The older one spent some time painting it, then she pretended it was a boat and pushed the soft toys round in it. My grandson sat in it and pretended to row using wooden spoons as oars. It has also been a doll’s bed, a car, a table for a shop, and a base for building castles. I buy lots of toys and jigsaws from charity shops too. They both enjoy playing with play doh, and I give them bamboo knives and forks to cut it with and to make patterns. (Bamboo cutlery left over from a party.) I also have a box of “treasures”- unwanted bead necklaces, shiny paper, small jewellery boxes, ribbons, scraps of fabric and wool, corks etc. that they like to empty and sort. The two and a half year old likes painting, drawing and sticking scraps onto paper and paper plates- you could help him make an animal mask with scraps of paper, wool, buttons etc. However, 20 mins is the longest either of them spend doing anything- normal for their ages.