What are the best toys for 3 year olds?

This easy-to-learn game is ideal for 3-year-olds because it involves no reading and no dice with numbers to count — instead, there’s a spinner to flick on a colored wheel and matching acorns to pick up. Yet it still fosters learning in a quick-paced setup, teaching kids about colors and improving their fine motor control. Games like this also “teach the skills of sharing, turn-taking, and handling frustration when losing,” says Dr. Sachs.

Jennifer Saxton, founder of Tot Squad, which connects parents to services like doulas, lactation consultants, and sleep experts, says her 3-year-old daughter loves this wooden calendar from Melissa & Doug because it helps her learn about the weather and the days of the week. “This calendar helps us practice and learn many of the basics,” she says. “My favorite features are also the emojis, as she learns about her emotions, and the way it helps us practice her routines at home which minimizes meltdowns.” The magnetized calendar also doubles as a dry-erase board and comes with 80 magnets.

The 100 blocks in this set from Melissa & Doug can be used in a plethora of ways, from building tall 3-D structures to arranging flat, puzzlelike creations and anything in between. The nine different shapes included, made of smooth, vibrantly painted wood, help kids lock in their knowledge of primary colors (plus green). And as one of the writers of this story (Steven John) has seen firsthand with his children, playing with the blocks helps with the development of spatial awareness, fine-motor control, and planning and executing.

“Plus-Plus pieces are designed in Denmark and can be used to create anything from simple towers to imaginative robots,” says Stirling Kelso, founder of Half Pint Travel. In addition to the creativity and fine-motor development involved in using them, “a tube of these repetitive shapes is a lifesaving distraction, especially in public, on an airplane, or at a restaurant, because they’re versatile and require some concentration to pull apart and put back together. In other words, they buy you at least 15 minutes of freedom.”

Note: This toy arrives on time with express shipping.

Lori Caplan-Colon, a speech and language pathologist at Montclair Speech Therapy, recommends this set of six emojilike wooden eggs that helps children express their emotions when words fail them. The eggs are stackable and come with a storybook. “It encourages the development of emotional maturity and communication skills,” she says.

Note: This toy-and-book set won’t arrive by Christmas.

Books are a welcome (and foolproof) gift at any age. Children’s fashion designer Grace Lim, a mom of two girls, says her now 4-year-old adores every book she encounters in the Little People, Big Dreams series. As Lim explains, the books help kids “learn about people’s different stories and backgrounds and how each person went through such different adventures to become who they are.” She adds that the content is particularly great for this age, telling us her daughter can relate to many of the books’ scenarios: “She often says, ‘Me, too!’ while reading along.” The books are available individually (Lim says her daughter’s favorite subjects include David Bowie and Mahatma Gandhi) or in sets like this one that includes stories about Maya Angelou, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks.

Note: This book set won’t arrive by Christmas.

This simple but remarkably effective STEM toy introduces the basics of block-based coding in the form of a kit that many 3-year-olds can use on their own (for the most part). The toy had a brush with fame when Danielle Busby of TLC’s OutDaughtered mentioned how she loved having the kids playing with their Coding Critters in the hall — “chasing the balls and the yarn, just like they do with our actual dog.” Except with this, they’re actually learning coding in the process.

Note: This toy won’t arrive by Christmas.

While it doesn’t project actual constellations, publicist and mom of two Sonya Li Casino says this LED star projector helps simulate the experience of a planetarium at home. Her son received it as a gift for his third birthday and it has been a hit since the day he unwrapped it. “We love turning it on before bed and just watching the light show,” she says. “It’s really mesmerizing and relaxing.” Even though it won’t help them recognize the Big Dipper, the gadget produces an aurora-like field of green stars against a blue nebula cloud that may get them even more interested in learning about the cosmos.

Note: This projector won’t arrive by Christmas.

When toy historians look back at this era, Magna-Tiles will all but surely rank among the ten or 20 best toys of the time. And they’ll probably still be popular a hundred years hence, when instead of erecting sprawling, multi-story shopping malls and parking garages, we’ll be fashioning … whatever life looks like on some other planet. Magna-Tiles improve fine motor skills, spatial reasoning, planning, and, when a structure collapses, resilience. Also they’re just great entertainment, even for adults. Maybe especially for adults.

Saxton also told us about the Osmo, an interactive toy that transforms your iPad into an early learning tool. “My 3-year-old loves to use this interactive toy that bridges the virtual world with the physical one,” she says. “She can use its small plastic sticks to make shapes and objects, and then the Osmo scans them into the game so she can see her creations on the iPad.” One of her daughter’s favorite features is the storytelling app. She uses the included costumes and props to dress a doll, which then gets uploaded into the program in real-time, allowing her to interact with it on the screen. Other games include letter recognition, “Squiggle Magic” for doodling, and “Costume Party” for character creation.

Note: This kit may arrive by Christmas with free one-day shipping, depending on when you order.

These toys, recommended by singer Sarah Gregory, a mom to twin boys and a girl, are basically magnetized manipulatives. As she explains, Clixo’s open-ended play system combines magnets, origami, and building blocks to let kids “get creative by turning the pieces into creatures or using them to play games, like seeing how many different ways they can stack or shape them.” Because they are magnetized, Gregory notes the pieces can conveniently “live on a fridge, so kids can just pass by and fiddle with them.” She says they’re “a good sit-in-the-kitchen-and-make-something-cool-while-I-cook toy,” noting that “they don’t look terrible on the fridge and don’t take up much space.”

Note: This toy won’t arrive by Christmas.

According to Hill, kids at this age love imaginary play and role-playing, especially when they can mimic the adults in their lives. That’s why she recommends “having toys to support that play,” because the closer a toy is to whatever real thing a child sees in their everyday life, the more engaging it is. For toys of this sort, she and Lockhart recommend products made by Kodo, a company that creates high-quality playthings to support early-childhood education. This set of 20 tins comes in four sizes and would be great for a number of activities, including pretend play, stacking, dumping, and sorting. The fact that they’re metal and not plastic allows for an even richer sensory experience.

Note: This toy won’t arrive by Christmas.

Photo: duck

A beautifully non-gender-specific dollhouse with much for grown-ups to admire: a solar panel, a wind turbine, and mini recycling bins, all made of sustainable wood. As for the kids: It fosters hours of open-ended imaginative play, whether solo or with others, parallel or collaborative. One Amazon reviewer who gifted this for a 2-and-a-half-year-old wrote that “when she saw this house on Christmas morning, all of her other presents didn’t exist anymore.” And: “It’s also fun to point out and talk about the solar panel and windpower parts.” And: “she will get many years of play out of it.”

Note: This dollhouse is currently sold out.

Zahra Kassam, founder of the at-home Montessori program Monti Kids says playing with this Kinetic sand set “is like bringing the beach to your home but less messy. It’s very sensory, creative, and peaceful.” Susie Allison, former teacher, mom, and creator of BusyToddler.com also recommends it for 3 year olds and their families. “It moves and molds, bends and cuts in a way that is completely different from other sensory bases. It has a velvety smooth texture — it isn’t gritty like sand. This isn’t going to get in your toddler’s eye like traditional sand will.” The set includes two pounds of red and blue sand along with ten tools and molds that kids can use to mix, marble, layer, or shape in endless ways.

If the idea of even kineticsand makes you nervous, here’s an artistic toy that’s virtually mess-free: a set of reusable coloring books and included paintbrush-like pen that, when filled with water, magically makes colors appear on the page. As pages dry, the colors disappear, so kids can paint them all over again. Gregory calls them “so good” and explains that kids learn to “feel a mastery over them, which they hardly ever feel with anything else in their life.” Perhaps more importantly, she adds there is “instant quiet in our house when they get going on them.” They are also easily portable, making them equally great for use during car trips and at restaurants.

“Don’t forget about playing outside,” says Dr. Roberta Golinkoff, a professor of child psychology at the University of Delaware and co-author of Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children. She stresses the benefit of cheap and easy outdoor games like hopscotch that adults can share with young children. Use this set of 64 crayon-shaped sidewalk chalks to draw your hopscotch court, or “just give it to them and let them go wild,” she says.

Note: This chalk set won’t arrive by Christmas, but you may be able to find it in store.

Leigh Plessner, the co-creative director of jewelry brand Catbird, told us she got this little family of tuxedo cats for her 3-year-old — and herself. “We play with them together,” she says, supporting the idea that talking — whether that’s pretend conversations between toys or with each other — is key to a 3-year-old’s language development. The set of four figurines includes a mother cat named Natalie, a father called Mason, and two sisters who go by Lily and Rose. Each has its own distinct (removable) outfit and moveable arms and legs and heads. There’s also a whole world of Calico Critter accessories, including houses, that you could add in with the figurines if you want to splurge. (The dollhouse on this list would also make for a fitting home, we think.)

Note: This cat family set won’t arrive by Christmas.

“Bouncing engages almost every muscle group in a child’s body, especially the legs and core,” says Lily Balsen, a New York City–based yoga teacher whose clients range in age from newborn to 80. Not only does it foster balance and a sense of spatial orientation, she says, but “rhythmic movement is organizing for the nervous system, so it’s a great self-soothing and self-regulating mechanism. Also, it’s just plain fun! I’m a big fan of the bouncy horse.”

Note: This toy won’t arrive by Christmas.

If you have an aspiring pop singer on your hands, Casino recommends this wireless mic that her son loves to perform with. When he asked for a real microphone, she got him this Bluetooth one that can connect to other devices. While fun, Casino does have a word of warning. “It’s also slightly obnoxious,” she says.

Note: This karaoke microphone won’t arrive by Christmas.

For the tot who’d rather be in the band than its lead singer, Casino recommends this toy violin. “It’s so fun if you have a kid who is obsessed with music,” she promises. The toy is programmed with seven demo songs that only “play” when your child moves the bow across its “strings,” she explains. “The violin is realistic-looking, the sound is good, and it even teaches my son how to hold a violin properly” — so it’ll give aspiring musicians a chance to practice their form before moving on to the real thing.

Note: This toy violin won’t arrive by Christmas.

“My kids loved Transformers” says Golinkoff. While the action figures of our 1980s dreams still hold up in their own right, this VTech version modernizes the concept a bit — pictured as a velociraptor that chomps and roars, it transforms into a rocket-launching rescue helicopter with a spinning propeller, searchlight, and an LCD screen.“Dinosaurs are good for girls and boys and great for make-believe,” notes Golinkoff.

Note: This toy won’t arrive by Christmas.

These plucky little RC cars are perfect for 3-year-olds for two reasons. First, they couldn’t be much easier to drive, what with their mere two functions, which are forward motion and left turns (good prep for a NASCAR career, as it happens). The second reason is their construction: The cars are sturdy enough to take plenty of damage and keep working, yet lightweight enough not to do damage as they inevitably smash into furniture all around the house. This two-car set comes with vehicles that run on different radio frequencies, so both cars can be used at the same time, making them perfect for siblings. (Although a Strategist editor who also owns the cars has found that using them individually is great solo entertainment, considering how they amused her 3-year-old on a daily basis throughout the pandemic).

Note: This toy won’t arrive by Christmas.

PlasmaCars promote plenty of outdoor fun, getting kids excited and getting them moving — without any batteries or even pedals needed. They are great for exercise and let youngsters burn off some of that famous/infamous energy. “We have carried this toy for years, and they always sell,” says Holly Magelof of the Dolphin Bookshop. And: “They’re durable enough to make great hand-me-downs.” As an Amazon reviewer who purchased one for a 3-year-old wrote, after giving the gift a personal pretest, “Super-smooth ride, easy to operate, and loads of fun for a 40-year-old woman! I can’t wait for my son to open this on Christmas morning so I can play with it again!”

Note: This toy won’t arrive by Christmas.

Lockhart says the train tracks at the preschool where she works are one of the most popular toys among 3-year-olds.Unlike so many STEM or STEM-adjacent toys, BRIO’s Smart Tech line is really is age appropriate for 3-year-olds; they can figure out how to play with this smart engine in a matter of minutes and might be inclined to integrate it with their other train sets. What stands out more than its educational value, though, is the sheer entertainment kids get out of setting up a train track where the engine will complete a route, turn around, and stop at the child’s prearranged transmitter arches.

Note: This toy won’t arrive by Christmas.

“This bounce house is a near permanent fixture in our backyard,” says Jamie Banks, a North Shore–based mother of three, who has hundreds upon hundreds of fellow fans in the product’s Amazon reviews. “It is so easy to set up, and it gets kids excited to be active and to play out in the fresh air. The bouncing area is fairly big, and when they’re done jumping, it folds up quickly and easily. Also, it pays for itself after two uses compared to the cost of renting one for a party.”

Note: This toy won’t arrive by Christmas.

According to Golinkoff, encouraging imaginative play and social interaction is a fabulous way to nurture any 3-year-old. She says parents should ask their children what they want to pretend to be, whether it’s a doctor, a princess, a flame-breathing dragon, or even a creative combo of all three. You can certainly buy specific dress-up costumes to help them channel the characters from their favorite books and movies or reuse old clothing instead of throwing it away. And this dress-up closet with a garment rod, four shelf-compartments, and a built-in shatter-proof safety mirror will delight burgeoning theater kids while keeping everything organized.

Note: This toy won’t arrive by Christmas.

If you’re looking for the ultimate big-ticket gift, consider this John Deere ride-on tractor toy that’s almost as good as the real thing. Casino got this for her 3-year-old, and while she admits adults might get an even bigger kick out of it than children, she says that her kid loves riding it around the backyard, and can imagine “almost every 3-year-old going nuts over it.” The tractor — complete with detachable trailer — has two speeds and even reverses, while its oversize wheels provide traction on grass, dirt, gravel, and pavement. It comes with automatic brakes, and parents can also control the speed if they want. Perhaps the best part is that it has a functioning FM radio, allowing your would-be farmer to cruise (or plow) to their favorite tunes.

Note: This toy won’t arrive by Christmas.