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The Best Toys for 3-Year-Olds 2021
Pet Vet Play Set by Melissa & Doug
Going to the doctor can be scary. And this set puts kids in charge, empowering them to treat their four-legged patient, and understand that medical care is a good thing. The set includes a stethoscope, thermometer, syringe, ear scope, tweezers, clamp, cast, bandages, and ointments.
Buy Now $23.99
Play Medical Kit by PlanToys
Normalize pediatrician visits by giving your preschooler this lovely medical kit. It promotes imaginary play, as kids pretend to be doctors, with a wooden stethoscope, blood pressure monitor, thermometer, syringe and reflex hammer.
Buy Now $30.00
Wooden Magnetic Fishing Game by Coogam
The goal: Catch the fish by attaching it to the magnetic pole. The challenge: To concentrate and stay focused, while using those motor skills. Best of all, two kids can play together.
Buy Now $22.99
Math Monster Scale by Hape
Speaking of scales, this one introduces kids to the concept of numbers and greater than/less than. Plus, preschoolers work on their fine motor skills as they place nine larger weights and 11 small soft weights on the kooky scale.
Buy Now $28.07
Butterfly Wings by Dreamy Dress-Ups
Dress-up is something 3-year-olds absolutely adore, and these butterfly wings with elastic straps are so simple yet so mesmerizing when it comes to fantasy play. Kids run and soar and flap them around.
Buy Now $24.99
Monster Plush Bowling Game by Melissa & Doug
The goal: Knock the crazy monsters down by hurling a soft ball at them. The result: Total engagement of those developing motor skills.
Buy Now $28.50
Mini Chef Chopping Board by Tender Leaf Toys
Chopping up food takes skill and concentration. Kids work on both with this smart set, which includes a wooden knife, carrot divided into three parts, a beet cut in half, a tomato cut in half, an onion that is four parts, and a scallion that's in three parts. Everything is held together with Velcro.
Buy Now $19.99
Wooden Scale by Small Foot Toys
Yes, folks, this is a working scale. It has an integrated spring mechanism on the display board that shows the weight of the product on it. Not only is this great for pretend play at the supermarket, but it also teaches kids numbers, and cause and effect.
Buy Now $14.60
Pikler Triangle Wood Climber by Lily & River
A classic and beautiful climbing toy, this one is great for building motor skill development, developing balance control, and promoting muscle development and encouraging physical activity. The frame and rungs are made from bamboo; it folds flat for storage. The weight limit is 90 pounds.
BUY NOW $400.00
Grocery Store Companion Set by Melissa & Doug
Kids work on their social-emotional skills as they cooperatively run a grocery store. As for the counting skills, they're put to the test when they hand out change. Thjs 70-piece set includes grocery store items, as well as an apron, a conveyor belt divider bar, a shopping bag, play money, cards, and even coupons.
Buy Now $29.99
Builder Set by BRIO
There's absolutely no prescriptive way to play with this set. No stringent directions to follow. No way to do the wrong thing. And that's absolutely perfect. Kids build whatever they want, using nuts, bolts, a hammer, and a screwdriver. The set is ideal for boosting fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, logical thinking, and task completion.
Buy Now $33.00 My First Animal Jumble by Magformers
Kids learn about shapes as they use magnetic pieces to build elephants or rhinos or dogs or cats. They work with 43 magnetic geometric shapes, including triangles, squares, pentagons, and trapezoids, as well as 17 clip-in animal accessories.
Buy Now $45.89 Blues Harmonica by Hape
Maybe your kid is the next Springsteen. Find out with this sturdy yet fully functional harmonica, which has numbered notes to help beginners out.
Buy Now $14.99
Magnetic Wooden Block Set by Tegu
The key to open-ended toys is that there's no one way to play with them. These magnetic blocks can be anything that kids dream up.
Buy Now $35.00
Wooden Balance Board by Kinderfeets
The thoughtfully-crafted balance board is a boon for pretend play, as it becomes everything from a see-saw to a boat. Each of these beauties is handmade, but above and beyond that, the balance board help kids find their center of gravity and work their muscles.
Buy Now $89.00
Magnetic Foam Building Blocks by Blockaroo
It's magic! Actually, it's not, but it sure will seem like it to your 3 year old. These soft foam blocks are magnetic and rotate 360 degrees, allowing kids to engage in truly open-ended pretend play. Plus, they learn about shapes and colors, as they build weird buildings or bring bizarre creatures to life.
Buy Now $29.99
Animal Upon Animal Wooden Stacking Game by Haba
Like Jenga for little kids, this game has kids racing one another to stack a variety of animals on top of one another. The game fosters hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, and kids can play solo or together.
Buy Now $24.99
Junior Little Kick Scooter by Razor
Scooters are a great way for kids to be active and develop their motor skills. This one is stable, and has a padded T-bar that's extra-supportive. It's for beginners and supports riders up to 45 pounds.
Buy Now $34.99
Eco-Bricks 90 Piece Bamboo Wood Block Set by Eco Kids
These cool bricks are precision-carved from bamboo; they're interlocking, so they're sort of like Legos, but much more manageable for little hands. They can build houses or cars or rockets, or or or.
Buy Now $73.99
Dust! Sweep! Mop! Set by Melissa & Doug
Kids this age mimic what they see their parents doing, and chances are, they see you cleaning. So put them to 'work' with this child-sized set, which includes a play broom, mop, duster, brush, and organizing stand.
Buy Now $23.99
Cubebot by Areaware
This ingenious Cubebot is a puzzle, an action figure, a robot and a transformer that really puts kids' problem-solving skills to the test.
Buy Now $19.99
Little Steps by Lily & River
You know the timeless game, the floor is lava? The goal is to hop around without ever touching the ground. These six wood steps up the ante, while also helping kids work on their gross motor skills.
BUY NOW $100.00
My Weather Station by Moon Picnic
You don't need a lab to learn about science. Just take your kids outdoors. Talk to them about sun and rain, wind and slush, humidity and cloudiness, and document weather changes on this station. It gives them a stake in what's happening in the natural world around them.
BUY NOW $57.00
Foldable Rocking Horse by PlanToys
Not only is this funky wood rocking horse a childhood staple that helps kids hone their sense of balance, but it also folds flat for easy storage.
BUY NOW $160.00
Toddler Play Kitchen Set by Hape
This six-piece kitchen set is perfect for anyone short on space. It comes with one pot lid, one frying pan, one spoon and one spatula. The knobs on the stove make clicking sounds, so kids feel like they're making breakfast, for real.
Buy Now $21.00
Play Food Set by Hape
With gorgeous pretend foods like this set, kids act out the same things they see their parents doing. Like serving dinner. Or making lunch. It's pretend play that helps them understand the adult world around them.
Buy Now $19.99
Compact Nordic Workbench by Small Foot Toys
A workbench perfectly sized for 3 year olds, this wooden one has five tools and 16 accessories, as kids embark on fixer-upper projects around the house.
Buy Now $59.99
Meal Maker Dough Set Activity by Green Toys
This set helps your child be part of the food prep process, and it's made from 100 percent recycled plastic. This 18-piece meal set inspires young chefs to whip up succulent pretend meals using a cheese stamp, a sauce cutter, dough tubs, and myriad other necessities. Fantasy play at its best.
Buy Now $17.67
Rock Blocks Valencia
These are blocks in name only — a set of 16 beautiful stacking shapes, with complex edges and multiple faces, giving kids a renewable challenge and bringing something beautiful into the playroom. And because every block manufactured is unique, you can rest assured no one will have a set quite like yours.
Buy Now $58.00
Glow-in-The-Dark Jumbo Magnatab by Kid O
Using this open-ended magnetic tablet, children draw pictures, shapes, letters and numbers, and lo and behold, the tablet glows in the dark! It's erasable and endlessly reusable.
Buy Now $29.91
Red Cape by Great Pretenders
Dressing up feeds into fantasy play. A gorgeous cape that's fully washable, and lets kids be a princess, a superhero, a dinosaur, or perhaps just an oddball but awesome butterfly.
Buy Now $35.08
Puppet Theater by Melissa & Doug
Increasingly verbal kids imagine and act out storylines that are increasingly detailed and vivid with this vibrant puppet theater; it comes with two sets of hand puppets for endless creativity and a ton of fun collaborative play.
Buy Now $28.99
Farmers Market Color Sorting Set by Learning Resources
Kids sort the products by color and put the veggies into the corresponding baskets. The set includes 25 foods, five baskets, and stickers to label them. The foods look like what actual people eat for actual meals, and it's one great real-world toy to help kids understand what they see in their kitchen at home.
Buy Now $22.49
Doll House by Hape
This non-genderized dollhouse is tailor-made for collaborative play, as kids create their families and act out scenarios like making beds and walking the dog. It is also a perfect birthdy gift for a 3-year-old.
Buy Now $139.00
Clear Colors Magnetic Block Set by Magna-Tiles
Truly, this is among the best open-ended play set you can buy. There's no limit to what kids can build, from castles to flowers to cars to whatever they think up.
Buy Now $119.97
Croc Music Band Set by Haba
This beautiful set includes a drum, metallophone (or xylopnone), guiro wooden block, and bell, as well as two mallets for playtime duets. Kids learn the basics of rhythm while honing their motor skills and learning to express themselves through music.
Buy Now $39.99
Wonder Makers Schoolyard Wooden Track Play Set by Fisher-Price
Holding a toy train and learning how to push it around a track or along the floor requires hand and finger coordination, both crucial for kids this age to master.
Buy Now $28.83
Mud Pie Kitchen by Plum
If you're looking for that wow toy, the one that absolutely blows your kids away, this is it. Because there is nothing more fun than playing outdoors, in the mud, and using said mud to make pies. This wooden kitchen includes shelves for ample storage, as well as planters, metal kitchen utensils, pots and pans.
BUY NOW $399.00
Shopping Cart by Little Tikes
One of those ridiculously simple yet insanely beloved toys: This shopping cart is unbreakable and lets kids do what they love. Which is fill it up, push it around, and empty it back out. And it teaches them about spatial reasoning, as they figure out what three-dimensional object fits where and how.
Buy Now $24.99
Every product on Fatherly is independently selected by our editors, writers, and experts. If you click a link on our site and buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Related Articles: The Best PBS Kids Shows That Deal With Autism — A Parent's Guide The Best Last-Minute Gift Ideas for Dads The Best Last-Minute Gifts for Moms Should I Buy Bitcoin? 5 Things to Consider Before Investing
The post The Best Gifts for 3-Year-Olds, According to Child-Development Experts appeared first on Fatherly.
#Gear
The Best Toys for 3-Year-Olds 2021
Pet Vet Play Set by Melissa & Doug
Going to the doctor can be scary. And this set puts kids in charge, empowering them to treat their four-legged patient, and understand that medical care is a good thing. The set includes a stethoscope, thermometer, syringe, ear scope, tweezers, clamp, cast, bandages, and ointments.
Buy Now $23.99
Play Medical Kit by PlanToys
Normalize pediatrician visits by giving your preschooler this lovely medical kit. It promotes imaginary play, as kids pretend to be doctors, with a wooden stethoscope, blood pressure monitor, thermometer, syringe and reflex hammer.
Buy Now $30.00
Wooden Magnetic Fishing Game by Coogam
The goal: Catch the fish by attaching it to the magnetic pole. The challenge: To concentrate and stay focused, while using those motor skills. Best of all, two kids can play together.
Buy Now $22.99
Math Monster Scale by Hape
Speaking of scales, this one introduces kids to the concept of numbers and greater than/less than. Plus, preschoolers work on their fine motor skills as they place nine larger weights and 11 small soft weights on the kooky scale.
Buy Now $28.07
Butterfly Wings by Dreamy Dress-Ups
Dress-up is something 3-year-olds absolutely adore, and these butterfly wings with elastic straps are so simple yet so mesmerizing when it comes to fantasy play. Kids run and soar and flap them around.
Buy Now $24.99
Monster Plush Bowling Game by Melissa & Doug
The goal: Knock the crazy monsters down by hurling a soft ball at them. The result: Total engagement of those developing motor skills.
Buy Now $28.50
Mini Chef Chopping Board by Tender Leaf Toys
Chopping up food takes skill and concentration. Kids work on both with this smart set, which includes a wooden knife, carrot divided into three parts, a beet cut in half, a tomato cut in half, an onion that is four parts, and a scallion that's in three parts. Everything is held together with Velcro.
Buy Now $19.99
Wooden Scale by Small Foot Toys
Yes, folks, this is a working scale. It has an integrated spring mechanism on the display board that shows the weight of the product on it. Not only is this great for pretend play at the supermarket, but it also teaches kids numbers, and cause and effect.
Buy Now $14.60
Pikler Triangle Wood Climber by Lily & River
A classic and beautiful climbing toy, this one is great for building motor skill development, developing balance control, and promoting muscle development and encouraging physical activity. The frame and rungs are made from bamboo; it folds flat for storage. The weight limit is 90 pounds.
BUY NOW $400.00
Grocery Store Companion Set by Melissa & Doug
Kids work on their social-emotional skills as they cooperatively run a grocery store. As for the counting skills, they're put to the test when they hand out change. Thjs 70-piece set includes grocery store items, as well as an apron, a conveyor belt divider bar, a shopping bag, play money, cards, and even coupons.
Buy Now $29.99
Builder Set by BRIO
There's absolutely no prescriptive way to play with this set. No stringent directions to follow. No way to do the wrong thing. And that's absolutely perfect. Kids build whatever they want, using nuts, bolts, a hammer, and a screwdriver. The set is ideal for boosting fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, logical thinking, and task completion.
Buy Now $33.00 My First Animal Jumble by Magformers
Kids learn about shapes as they use magnetic pieces to build elephants or rhinos or dogs or cats. They work with 43 magnetic geometric shapes, including triangles, squares, pentagons, and trapezoids, as well as 17 clip-in animal accessories.
Buy Now $45.89 Blues Harmonica by Hape
Maybe your kid is the next Springsteen. Find out with this sturdy yet fully functional harmonica, which has numbered notes to help beginners out.
Buy Now $14.99
Magnetic Wooden Block Set by Tegu
The key to open-ended toys is that there's no one way to play with them. These magnetic blocks can be anything that kids dream up.
Buy Now $35.00
Wooden Balance Board by Kinderfeets
The thoughtfully-crafted balance board is a boon for pretend play, as it becomes everything from a see-saw to a boat. Each of these beauties is handmade, but above and beyond that, the balance board help kids find their center of gravity and work their muscles.
Buy Now $89.00
Magnetic Foam Building Blocks by Blockaroo
It's magic! Actually, it's not, but it sure will seem like it to your 3 year old. These soft foam blocks are magnetic and rotate 360 degrees, allowing kids to engage in truly open-ended pretend play. Plus, they learn about shapes and colors, as they build weird buildings or bring bizarre creatures to life.
Buy Now $29.99
Animal Upon Animal Wooden Stacking Game by Haba
Like Jenga for little kids, this game has kids racing one another to stack a variety of animals on top of one another. The game fosters hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, and kids can play solo or together.
Buy Now $24.99
Junior Little Kick Scooter by Razor
Scooters are a great way for kids to be active and develop their motor skills. This one is stable, and has a padded T-bar that's extra-supportive. It's for beginners and supports riders up to 45 pounds.
Buy Now $34.99
Eco-Bricks 90 Piece Bamboo Wood Block Set by Eco Kids
These cool bricks are precision-carved from bamboo; they're interlocking, so they're sort of like Legos, but much more manageable for little hands. They can build houses or cars or rockets, or or or.
Buy Now $73.99
Dust! Sweep! Mop! Set by Melissa & Doug
Kids this age mimic what they see their parents doing, and chances are, they see you cleaning. So put them to 'work' with this child-sized set, which includes a play broom, mop, duster, brush, and organizing stand.
Buy Now $23.99
Cubebot by Areaware
This ingenious Cubebot is a puzzle, an action figure, a robot and a transformer that really puts kids' problem-solving skills to the test.
Buy Now $19.99
Little Steps by Lily & River
You know the timeless game, the floor is lava? The goal is to hop around without ever touching the ground. These six wood steps up the ante, while also helping kids work on their gross motor skills.
BUY NOW $100.00
My Weather Station by Moon Picnic
You don't need a lab to learn about science. Just take your kids outdoors. Talk to them about sun and rain, wind and slush, humidity and cloudiness, and document weather changes on this station. It gives them a stake in what's happening in the natural world around them.
BUY NOW $57.00
Foldable Rocking Horse by PlanToys
Not only is this funky wood rocking horse a childhood staple that helps kids hone their sense of balance, but it also folds flat for easy storage.
BUY NOW $160.00
Toddler Play Kitchen Set by Hape
This six-piece kitchen set is perfect for anyone short on space. It comes with one pot lid, one frying pan, one spoon and one spatula. The knobs on the stove make clicking sounds, so kids feel like they're making breakfast, for real.
Buy Now $21.00
Play Food Set by Hape
With gorgeous pretend foods like this set, kids act out the same things they see their parents doing. Like serving dinner. Or making lunch. It's pretend play that helps them understand the adult world around them.
Buy Now $19.99
Compact Nordic Workbench by Small Foot Toys
A workbench perfectly sized for 3 year olds, this wooden one has five tools and 16 accessories, as kids embark on fixer-upper projects around the house.
Buy Now $59.99
Meal Maker Dough Set Activity by Green Toys
This set helps your child be part of the food prep process, and it's made from 100 percent recycled plastic. This 18-piece meal set inspires young chefs to whip up succulent pretend meals using a cheese stamp, a sauce cutter, dough tubs, and myriad other necessities. Fantasy play at its best.
Buy Now $17.67
Rock Blocks Valencia
These are blocks in name only — a set of 16 beautiful stacking shapes, with complex edges and multiple faces, giving kids a renewable challenge and bringing something beautiful into the playroom. And because every block manufactured is unique, you can rest assured no one will have a set quite like yours.
Buy Now $58.00
Glow-in-The-Dark Jumbo Magnatab by Kid O
Using this open-ended magnetic tablet, children draw pictures, shapes, letters and numbers, and lo and behold, the tablet glows in the dark! It's erasable and endlessly reusable.
Buy Now $29.91
Red Cape by Great Pretenders
Dressing up feeds into fantasy play. A gorgeous cape that's fully washable, and lets kids be a princess, a superhero, a dinosaur, or perhaps just an oddball but awesome butterfly.
Buy Now $35.08
Puppet Theater by Melissa & Doug
Increasingly verbal kids imagine and act out storylines that are increasingly detailed and vivid with this vibrant puppet theater; it comes with two sets of hand puppets for endless creativity and a ton of fun collaborative play.
Buy Now $28.99
Farmers Market Color Sorting Set by Learning Resources
Kids sort the products by color and put the veggies into the corresponding baskets. The set includes 25 foods, five baskets, and stickers to label them. The foods look like what actual people eat for actual meals, and it's one great real-world toy to help kids understand what they see in their kitchen at home.
Buy Now $22.49
Doll House by Hape
This non-genderized dollhouse is tailor-made for collaborative play, as kids create their families and act out scenarios like making beds and walking the dog. It is also a perfect birthdy gift for a 3-year-old.
Buy Now $139.00
Clear Colors Magnetic Block Set by Magna-Tiles
Truly, this is among the best open-ended play set you can buy. There's no limit to what kids can build, from castles to flowers to cars to whatever they think up.
Buy Now $119.97
Croc Music Band Set by Haba
This beautiful set includes a drum, metallophone (or xylopnone), guiro wooden block, and bell, as well as two mallets for playtime duets. Kids learn the basics of rhythm while honing their motor skills and learning to express themselves through music.
Buy Now $39.99
Wonder Makers Schoolyard Wooden Track Play Set by Fisher-Price
Holding a toy train and learning how to push it around a track or along the floor requires hand and finger coordination, both crucial for kids this age to master.
Buy Now $28.83
Mud Pie Kitchen by Plum
If you're looking for that wow toy, the one that absolutely blows your kids away, this is it. Because there is nothing more fun than playing outdoors, in the mud, and using said mud to make pies. This wooden kitchen includes shelves for ample storage, as well as planters, metal kitchen utensils, pots and pans.
BUY NOW $399.00
Shopping Cart by Little Tikes
One of those ridiculously simple yet insanely beloved toys: This shopping cart is unbreakable and lets kids do what they love. Which is fill it up, push it around, and empty it back out. And it teaches them about spatial reasoning, as they figure out what three-dimensional object fits where and how.
Buy Now $24.99
Every product on Fatherly is independently selected by our editors, writers, and experts. If you click a link on our site and buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Related Articles: The Best PBS Kids Shows That Deal With Autism — A Parent's Guide The Best Last-Minute Gift Ideas for Dads The Best Last-Minute Gifts for Moms Should I Buy Bitcoin? 5 Things to Consider Before Investing
The post The Best Gifts for 3-Year-Olds, According to Child-Development Experts appeared first on Fatherly.
#Gear