What are some of the best gifts for 3 year old boys? Well, you could go with toys or not-toys. For example, pretend play toys, STEM toys, art and craft materials, books, etc. This carefully crafted guide will help to ignore myriads of meaningless toys and navigate you to the best gifts for your 3-year-old boy. So keep reading!
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Pretend play
After the child turns 3, begins the wonderful time when things get alive, dreams come true, and play gradually moves from the manipulation with objects to an imaginative world. That is why pretend play is one of the essential activities for 3-year-olds. Even if your child attends preschool or childcare, he needs time for free play at home afterward. Therefore, to promote pretend play in such little kids, better start with realistic toys, like toy food, kitchen, dollhouse, and construction tools. Usually, the play is more extended when the prop is realistic and supports a particular role. When the child feels more confident in pretend play, the play becomes more mature. Mature pretend play develops self-control and regulation – two skills fundamental for later success in school and work.
Nevertheless, it is also possible to simultaneously introduce open-ended and realistic toys in the child's play. The only condition is that you will spend some time teaching your child how to play.
Independent toddler play
Even though many family bloggers preach the idea of independent child's play, 3-year-old children do not have a rich life experience, imagination, and self-control to develop a truly mature pretend play. Adult help is always required at the beginning to set a play scenario and teach a child new vocabulary and ideas. Also, an adult can easily show a child multiple ways to use the object. Many people think that children are much more creative than adults, which is not entirely true. Without an adult's help, a child's play will not develop and remain poor in scenarios and vocabulary.
This doesn't mean that parents should constantly play with their children, but they should find some short time every day to do this. As a reward, the child will thrive emotionally and cognitively. Below is a list of the best pretend play gifts for 3-year-old boys.
RELATED: What are the benefits of pretend play for your child?
Imaginative play: puppets and puppet stage
Puppets are an excellent way to play, understand, and remember stories. They are also suitable for discussing important questions with children. You might want to start with characters that the child knows, like the Gruffalo or a simple animal set.
Children can play with characters they know, tell new stories about them, or think of different endings to encourage imagination. They can also introduce new characters in old stories.
1.The Gruffalo's Child Finger Puppets
2.Zoo Friends Hand Puppets
3.Palace Pals Hand Puppets
4.Puppet Theater
5.Shadow Theater
Pretend play clothes for toddlers
After the puppet theater, costumes can be another way to enrich pretend play. But instead of buying a costume, buy clothes on a particular topic. Kids love to play everywhere, so it is better for them to wear clothes than to wear a costume.
1. Dinosaur Pajamas
2. Lightning McQueen T-shirt
3. Fire Chief Rain Boots
4. Spiderman Hoodie
5. Paw Patrol Hoodie
6. Dinosaur Backpack
Pretend play ideas
Three-year-olds love to play with objects they see in everyday life. They would appreciate own kitchen or store, where a child can integrate all the experience he receives in real world when watching their parents and participating in the family life.
1. Kids wooden kitchen set
2. Construction workbench
3. Kids wooden grocery store
4. Pretend play ice cream stand
Best pretend play toys for toddlers
Doll's house is handy in creating in-depth and focused play in an engaging environment. Boys would love the unconventional dollhouse with firefighters! Or the castle with soldiers. And, of course, every animal fan should have a barn to keep the animals.
The classic toy train might enrich every pretend play, and usually, three-year-old children love them. What is more important, a toy railway induces a sense of directionality and spatial thinking in children, both important for understanding math in school.
Three-year-olds will be thrilled with toy cars like Tonka truck or Bruder crane. Moreover, these cars can be used for construction play both in- and outdoor. Both make perfect gifts for 3-year-old boys.
1. Dollhouse with firefighters
2. Toy castle
3. Wooden Barn
4. Train set
5. Tonka Truck
6. Crane with lights and sounds
Open-ended toys
Blocks are the number one open-ended toy for a three-year-old. Block play is multidimensional, and it teaches the child math skills, spatial thinking, creativity; its boosts the child’s cognitive development. Not all blocks are equally engaging for a three-year-old. We carefully chose several types of blocks that are truly interesting for children. All the following blocks are of decent quality, inviting, and easy-to-handle. For example, Grimm‘s products have rough surfaces making it easier for a little child to build. The large ECR4Kids blocks are perfect for building roads for big cars or construction site play. Magnetic tiles are probably the most loved toy by many kids. It makes an ideal gift for both boys and girls.
1. Oversized building blocks
2. Rainbow stacker
3. Magnetic tiles
4. Classic Building blocks
5. Curved play blocks
6. Stepped pyramid building blocks
7. Magnetic wooden building blocks
STEM toys for 3-year-olds
What does stem toys mean?
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) toys are supposed to teach your child the basics of all these disciplines from a young age. The idea is excellent, but sometimes, companies label their products as STEM toys to put a premium price on them, especially if a high-tech element is incorporated into the toy. Nevertheless, even traditional toys such as Legos or wooden blocks are STEM toys as a child can also develop building, engineering, or math skills while playing with these simple and inexpensive toys. Moreover, he can learn the basic science rules by pouring water or other materials from one jar to another or throwing a ball in the backyard.
The most important part of STEM toys at the age of three is engineering (building), whereas the technological STEM toys are more relevant for older kids, which are mature enough to process such information.
Engineering toys for toddlers
1. Lego Classic. At the age of three is the right time to switch your child from Lego Duplo to classic small Lego bricks. They are much better for fine motor skills and leave an endless number of play possibilities.
2. Brain Flakes. Brain flakes are long-lasting toys that grow with your child, starting with clicking together the flakes at the age of three, then creating stakes and shapes to building objects when he gets older.
3. Construction building blocks - toy that encourages children to build and create, improve their motor and problem-solving skills, boys love it!
4. Squigz are super fun to play with. They stick to almost every surface, including the face, and each other. Children of all ages, and even some adults, love playing with these and build incredible structures. They are especially entertaining in water, so fun bath time is guaranteed.
5. Magnetic building blocks grab a child’s attention for a long time. With these tiles, children learn geometrical shapes and how to transform them into 3d structures. Such play boosts a child’s spatial thinking and awareness.
6.
Plus Plus puzzle blocks. Children can play with them for hours. Perfect fidget toy. These blocks can be a sanity-saver in the restaurant or at the doctor’s office.
Science toys for toddlers
1. Mineral science set. Rock & Mineral Collection – science set that can be used in so many ways with kids of different ages. It is excellent to look through the minerals with three years old, discuss their names and colors, experience their texture, compare their size, add these stones to a sensory box, or use them for pretend play. When the child gets older, he can study each mineral more thoroughly using a mineral guide and learn basic geology lessons.
2. Mini garden in a jar is an exciting toy for 3-year-olds, but it requires parent participation. Excellent for biology lessons at home, especially in the winter.
3. Anatomy set is useful for simple lessons on how our body works
4. Outdoor explorer kit with a bug catcher is an extensive way to explore the world around. Nevertheless, such world exploration is better to be done under adult supervision to exclude possible bug bites and violence towards bugs.
5. Chemistry set
6. Dino egg dig kit – a great addition to the encyclopedia about dinosaurs. Combine with the dinosaur museum field trip, and you get an excited 3-year-old with a steady interest in dinosaurs! (Depending on a child's finger strength, he might need some help with breaking eggs, but it is an excellent motor skills activity).
7. Soap lab
Math toys for a 3-year-old
1. Pattern blocks
2. Pattern blocks
3. Geometric board
4. Rainbow pebbles
5. Knobbed cylinders
6. Monkey balance
Gifts for a 3-year-old boy (not toys)
Montessori toys for a 3-year-old
In case your child doesn't attend a Montessori preschool, and you do not intend to homeschool and live a Montessori philosophy-based lifestyle, buying a few expensive Montessori toys will not make any sense. These toys nicely work in a prepared environment with other Montessori materials, but alone, they will not be attractive to a child who isn't used to these types of toys. For example, the pink tower will never be used by a child with more entertaining toys around, e.g., cars or magnetic tiles, or rainbow building blocks.
On the other hand, if you would like to introduce some of the Montessori activities at home, there are a few great suggestions for you. Practical life child-sized props are the best way to encourage a child's natural development, his sense of order, and competence.
1. 30 piece caddy set
2. Fruit and veggie prep set
3. Fruit chopper
4. Squeegee
5. Mop and broom set
6. Mini brush
7. Mini glass pitcher
8. Serving tray
Arts and crafts for 3-year-olds
At the age of three, children naturally tend to create. Below are art supplies and craft sets that truly embrace this sensitive period and enrich the creative experience.
Art ideas for toddlers
1. Scented markers
2. Dot markers
3. Washable crayons
4. Mess-free tempera paint sticks
5. Washable paint set
6. Play foam
7. Jovi modeling clay
Crafts for 3-year-olds
1. Sticker book
2. Mosaic pictures
3. Fuse beads and peg boards for fuse beads with patterns
4. Superhero stickers
5. Felt creative set
6. Paper plate art
7. Punch out dinosaurs
Activities for a 3-year-old boy
1. Coloring book
2. Big Preschool Workbook
3. Are you ready for kindergarten
4. Play Smart Early Learning
5. First Steps Workbooks
Look-and-find books for 3-year-olds
Usually, three-year-olds enjoy listening to stories and looking through books. Every child may have his favorite storybook according to his emotional state and interests. Here we recommend more multipurpose books that fit all children. These are so-called wimmelbooks (picture books). They do not have text but a lot of very detailed pictures. These books have many benefits, are multifunctional, and grow with the child. For example, first, your child can find various objects on the page, then he can tell a story about people in the book, then create his own stories. Picture books can become a real language-booster when the child goes through the book together with the parent and discusses pictures.
1. Animals Around The World
2. Cars Things That Go
3. Winter Book
4. All Around Bustletown Spring
5. All Around Bustletown Summer
6. All Around Bustletown Fall
Smart books for kids
Another type of book that fits all children is an encyclopedia. These books expand the understanding of the world and intellectual thinking. Choose single-topic encyclopedias with lots of pictures and short and clear text for little kids.
