It's fun to buy a gift for busy, blossoming 3-year-olds because there are so many ways they can play at this stage, and more ways for adults to take part, too. Three-year-olds are deeply invested in pretend play and crave toys that give it realism. They also love ride-on toys that help with balance and coordination, and creative tools that allow them to build their own worlds. Here are the best gifts for 3-year-olds, according to BabyCenter editors and Community members.
Promotes: Fine motor skills, problem-solving skills, sensory development
That tower of blocks may look haphazard to you, but to your preschooler who created it, it's something formidable … a skyscraper, a castle. Natural wood blocks are perennial favorites, but these colorful tiles bring a big dose of pizzazz to kids' building projects. Magna-Tiles have magnetized edges that click together easily, offering variety and a bit more stability for flat shapes or mesmerizing translucent towers.
Promotes: Fine motor skills, balance, sensory development
Dedicating a space for art makes it happen more often, and an easel collects everything your child needs to make a masterpiece – without taking up a lot of floor space. One side of this sturdy wooden Melissa & Doug standing easel is a dry-erase board and the other is a chalkboard. A roll of paper sits on top and can be fastened to either side, while big plastic trays hold all the markers, paint, chalk, and crayons. It folds up flat for easy storage.
Promotes: Imagination, fine motor skills
Three-year-olds love to plunge themselves into the world of pretend, and a play kitchen is the perfect outlet for their imagination. You'll be eating pretend plates of eggs or pancakes in no time, as your 3-year-old happily imagines himself as a grown-up cook. This particular model has enchantingly realistic features including a working paper-towel rack, an ice maker that dispenses plastic "ice," knobs that turn and click, doors that open and close, and a microwave that dings when your little chef's dish is done.
Promotes: Fine motor skills, sensory development
You can't have a play kitchen without an array of mouthwatering play food, and this beautiful set of 21 wooden hand-painted staples sets your small chef up perfectly. Thoughtful bonus: The colorful items on the menu come in cute crates separated by food group for some early education, and the selection, including fruits and vegetables, cheese, and fish, gently encourages a whole-food diet.
Promotes: Imagination, fine motor skills, social skills
By now, a 3-year-old is a pro at doctors' visits. Let her show you exactly what happens there with her own doctor's kit. This seven-piece kit comes with a thermometer, a stethoscope, a syringe, and more, with a snappy carrying case. Volunteer as a patient and you'll make playtime even more enjoyable, and – hot tip – it's also a great way to play with your child while lying down. Little doctors enjoy the button on this kit's thermometer that you can press to go from "sick" to "well."
Promotes: Counting, prereading skills, social skills
Stimulate a 3-year-old's brain power by helping him learn numbers with the Ladybug Game, a counting game that understands the magic of a child's budding imagination. This bug's story features a cast of insect characters including ants and aphids, all along the path to the rose garden. He'll have fun trying to match things that are alike or learning to count backward; you are likely to hear squeals of delight whenever he's successful.
Promotes: Gross motor skills, balance, coordination
As a 3-year-old's motor skills improve, he can operate a wider range of toys. Easy-to-ride scooters help develop balance and coordination as a natural prelude to pedal bikes. This scooter rolls smoothly over surfaces like sidewalks and pavement, has a nice low deck that little ones find easy to climb onto, and comes in a rainbow of colors so your 3-year-old can pick her favorite.
From puzzles to puppets, board games to riding toys, the best gifts for 3-year-olds are good toys, since playing is a 3-year-old's favorite activity. But though it may look like a 3-year-old is merely entertaining herself while playing, she's also building the necessary social, creative, and problem-solving skills she needs as she gets older, enters school, and her experience continues to expand.
Three-year-olds have extraordinarily vivid imaginations and often work out their feelings through pretend play. Whereas toddlers are generally content to imitate adult activities like vacuuming or driving, 3-year-olds use toys in complex and immersive scenarios, fluidly pretending to be everything from a parent to an astronaut. Thus toys that give them a stage or tools for pretend play are key: play dishes and food, a miniature kitchen, a kid-sized tool bench, dress-up clothes, a toy doctor's kit, playsets that help her imagine she's running a farm or a classroom.
Gross motor skills are improving by leaps and bounds now. Your child can probably run with ease, and may be able to perform complex tasks like kicking a ball when running or catching a ball that's thrown from some distance. Many children at this age have or will soon master the coordination they need to ride a tricycle, though they won't be ready for a two-wheeler until closer to kindergarten. In the meantime, ride-on toys and scooters are a great bridge between tricycles and bikes.
Children at this age are also quickly gaining fine motor skills – for example, advancing beyond their toddler scribbles to produce images that actually look like something. They probably won't be able to write their names until age 4 or 5 or even later, but while they're revving up to reading and writing, art and construction supplies are crucial, and will fascinate them: things like blocks, bricks, magnetic tiles, crayons, and modeling clay, and an easel or table at which to produce their masterpieces.
Here are our favorite gifts for 3-year-olds.