cars

hi i have a 2 year old who plays with nothing else apart from cars and lorries. tried bringing other toys in but he just looks at them and goes back to the cars. i'm finding it difficult to do planning as running out of ideas we have had the sand and water out and the paint for him to use didn't work as he doesn''t like getting messy. any ideas of how to get around this. also i have a 9 month old who gets bored very quickly with the toys cries if i walk away to find something else for her to play with and then takes ages to settle back down.

I saw on mister maker the other day using different size cars, trucks and tractors etc to make paintings. They would put the wheels in the paint and then make patterns on a piece of paper. Sorry only one idea but a guess it might help x

You will be amazed how much you can observe and plan for during the child's normal routine if you focus on that instead of his play for a while.

He will be eating, sleeping, talking, walking, washing hands etc etc and developing in many different ways.

Playing with cars covers just one area of his learning :D

Similar to Annalize... cartractor/train wheels in playdough - can he spot the difference? ... does it extend to trains/trailers... can you provide opportunity to fill/empty trailer (PSRN) links... depending on age.
HTH
9 month old... sounds like separation anxiety & should pass soon. fingers xx

It could be this child is going through a schema stage.

There are some ideas about schemas on this page. http://www.dorsetforyou.com/357248

my son learnt numbers, letters, colours, shapes, and quantities from playing with cars

he could tell you anything about cars by 6 and still can

My son is a bit like this- obsessed with vehicles, mainly motorbikes! (Although he will play with other things too.) All the other toy boxes rotate, the basket full of cars has been a firm favourite since he was tiny and first able to pick up a toy!
I've just incorporated cars in to everything else- counting cars, what colour are the cars, which car is biggest, which is smallest, painting and drawing pictures of cars, a car shaped cutter when baking, ride on vehicles in the garden....it's amazing what you can think of!

you could go for a walk, see how many cars you see (i.e colour), get him to sort his cars into colour, shape etc..
On your walk see if he can see the same numbers or letter( can't remember how old) road safety, sing the rainbow song, car stories
make a cardboard garage for his cars, or one with blocks may be
my ds was like this with thomas everything is thomas, play, tv, in the sandpit, in the bath everything. when it snowed last year he wanted snow on his track, so i got out the talc. (lovely mess but great fun) he acts out the stories he watches and makes his own up! he has learned letters, numbers and colours from this.
hope thats a little help:)