My younger son turned 3 not too long ago and between thinking of gift ideas for his birthday and making a wishlist for my mom for Christmas I’ve come up with some ideas in case you need them for a 3 year old in your life. Obviously some of these are ones that girls like too I just have boys so I make gift guides for boys since I have seen first hand what they love to play with.
Some of these are favorites of ours and others are ones that my son would like. I also have a 5 year old boy so some of these he really liked when he was about 3.
Our kids have a variety of toy musical instruments to play and experiment with. I like to expose them to a variety of music and being a former world language teacher I have several Putamayo CDs that most of my students and my kids enjoy.
Board games are great learning tools and just plain fun. Candyland is one of the first games our boys were able to really understand and play. We have most of the others and they are great for preschoolers. Hungry Hungry Hippos was a favorite of mine as a child and my mom got it for my 3 year old for Christmas. I can’t wait to hear all the giggles when we play this. And yes, that’s right, my mom already did her Christmas shopping.
I love nothing more than seeing my boys’ imaginations come to life and joining in on some great pretend play. We gave our boys a play kitchen 2 years ago and it still gets so much use. I recommend a kitchen for any kid. My boys also really love their little playsets, like Little People, Rescue Bots, and Imaginext.
These energy busters are great for exercise, sensory input, getting the wiggles out, and having fun. I included some indoor and some outdoor ones. We live in Ohio and having some indoor energy busters in the winter is a must.
We have a kid’s art table with supplies out so that they have tons of opportunity to create. These are some of our favorite supplies. The Melissa and Doug Water Wows are great to keep in the car for trips or in your purse for keeping kids busy while waiting for doctor’s appointments and the like.
We love to read. I could have filled this list about 10 times over with books that we enjoy. These are the ones that my son loves to read over and over. The Clifford books are from the early 1990s and there’s four of them I think. My mom found them at a garage sale BUT you can actually find them on Amazon and trust me, they are worth it. Both of my sons have loved them so much.
We love to build and create. Currently my son cannot get enough of playdoh. We got the Melissa and Doug playdoh tools and they get used so much they practically live on our dinning table.
Need more ideas for gifts? Check out my 2 year old gift guide. There’s many ideas on there that my 3 year old still loves.
Does your 3 year old have any favorites to add to the list? Share in the comments below!
Cat is a teacher turned stay-at-home mom of two boys. She shares crafts, DIY projects, kids’ activities, and a little bit about life in Ohio. Learn more about her and the blog on the About page.