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For more 3 year old gift ideas including technology and educational ideas see our Ultimate Gift list for a 3 Year Old Girl!
In celebration of my little man’s BIG 3rd birthday this week I thought I would put together a list of great age appropriate gift ideas for a 3 year old boy. These range in price and there is a smattering of options from educational, to creative to just fun! Just to clarify, this is not what our son is getting (there is no way he would get this much stuff!) but a list of things that he would be in love with receiving to hopefully help you have amazing success for buying birthday, Christmas, or anytime gifts for the 3 year old in your life! *** You can click on any image to get more info and details on the product.
****To see one of my ALL TIME favorite gifts I have gotten for my kids click here! I have had tons of birthdays and christmas gifts between all 3 kids, but this one takes the cake! (pun intended!)****
One of Micah’s favorite things to do lately is dress up in costume. And these days dressing up isn’t just for girls! We have a pirate costume and a Fire Chief costume and both are worn almost daily in our house. I love the creative outlet this gives him. He is imaginative with story lines accompanying the costume of the moment and flexing his creative bone finding new ways to use things around the house so that they are transformed into what he needs for his story. A jump rope becomes a fire hose and the laundry basket is now his pirate ship. The toys scattered on the floor are definitely not a mess… they are pirate treasure! It is so much fun to accompany him on these adventures and a much desirable alternative to another hour of TV! Melissa & Doug make great costumes for boys. They are durable and come with fun accessories! These are some of our favorites:
Super heroes are always welcome to save the day at our house too!
Micah has always enjoyed puzzles and thanks to Grandma, we have been supplied with A LOT of nice wooden ones. As Micah has neared his third birthday he has pretty much mastered the beginner puzzles we have currently. I was able to find some great next step up puzzles for him.
This one is a giant floor puzzle. He would love this big fire truck.
This is a 12 piece jigsaw type puzzle in the wooden format that he is already familiar with so I think it would be a great next step for him
Another thing that Micah has been obsessed with lately is board games! Also, very educational we have been able to find a few that work exceptionally well at this age. We have tried other classics like Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders but we aren’t quite there yet with cognition and attention span!
With Mama being quite crafty and Daddy being a great DIYer and handy man it has been no surprise to us that Micah also likes to exercise his artistic side. I have tried a few projects with him but our favorites are water colors for painting, twistable crayons for drawing, and play doh for sculpting. These are relatively mess free and all hold up pretty well to the abuse a 3 year old can give them.
We are now at the stage where Micah both has the attention span and enjoyment of watching a movie! It isn’t something we do all day everyday but it is great when mommy needs a little break. We are building our DVD library now and these are tested and approved by Micah and would all make great gifts for a 3 year old!
We are enjoying and learning at record speed these days. Leap Frog has some great products. One thing I love about them is that they not only teach letters but also phonics, which is a proven building block for reading.
A love of music has already started for my little Beethoven. At any given time (such as right now while he is supposed to be napping) he can be heard singing a favorite song or his own made up tunes. He loves to drum and play the piano. I have thought for awhile that it would be really fun to introduce him to the guitar, and since I don’t want a drum set in my house, I figured for under $15 this would be the ultimate musical toy for my aspiring musician.
Things that move have been and continue to be a favorite in our house. The great thing about many of the cars we have are that they are small and portable so we can take them for entertainment in the car or at a restaurant. I also love this dump truck by CAT because it comes apart and is put back together with the working power drill it comes with. That is some great fine motor skill development!
I don’t think you can keep a three year old boy inside. Mine is constantly asking to go out and play so having fun and age appropriate outdoor toys is a must for us! This looks like the coolest tee ball set! When Micah practices his baseball I never cease to be amazed at how his hand/eye coordination improves so vastly each time! The sandbox… well that is just a boy thing. They love dirt and what better gift than a big box of it just for them? My kid would be in hog heaven!
Sometimes you (or grandma, or aunts and uncles) just want to get your kid a toy. Something relevant and fun. Here are some superhero toys that would be great for a little boy turning 3!
Now…. the ultimate little boy toy. A train set. We were so blessed and lucky to receive an amazing hand me down GeoTrax set. We probably would have not found these for awhile longer, but I am glad we got them when we did because Micah is pretty much in love with them. GeoTrax are basically a plastic snap together train (or car or airplane, bus etc) set that has motorized cars with very simple remote controls to operate. They also have less expensive push car varieties but let’s be honest… the remote control one’s are the one’s that make my little man giddy! All GeoTrax branded sets will work together and the expansion options are nearly limitless. I highly recommend these train sets!
If you want something that takes up a little less space or is more portable then take a look at these folding Thomas sets
And if the classic train set is more your cup of tea there are great wooden sets in name brand and off brand varieties.
It seems like lately we have also really been enjoying motorized toys a lot more. Especially at bathtime. This fun wind up submarine would be a favorite for Micah.
Last but not least we can’t forget books! Micah has a serious love of them which I absolutely encourage in every way. We probably read 5-10 books a day so we are always looking for something new and great to read!
Last but not least THE ULTIMATE 3 year old gift! What every kids dreams about… their own bike!!! We just got this balance bike for our little guy for Christmas ( a few months shy of 3) and he would be on it day and night if we would let him. A balance bike is basically a bike without the pedals. The theroy is that the hard part of learning to ride a bike is balance not pedaling so if you take the pedaling away they can learn much easier and once they have that down it is easy to move over to a big kid bike with pedals. The friends I have had with these say thier kids ride bikes by 4-5 years old and never use training wheels. Seeing my little guy zoom around so fast and confident already I totally believe it! Balance bikes range in price from about $40-$140. We stayed on the low side and it seems to be working out just fine but if you want something fancier, the options are definitely there! Oh and safety first! Don’t forget a helmet!
And just to prove it to you… here is a video of my little guy riding his bike down what Mom thought was a HUGE hill! He has only been using it sporadically for about a month.
I hope this gives you some great ideas and inspiration for gift buying for the wonderful 3 year old in your life! ****You can click on any of these pictures to get more information and details!
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For more gift inspiration make sure to see our other gift list posts!
The Best Gifts for a 3 Year Old Girl!
The Best Gifts for a 4 Year Old Boy!
The Best Gifts for a 1 Year Old Girl!
The Best Gifts for a 1 Year Old BOY!
The Best Gift Ideas for a Two Year Old Girl!
veronica lee says
Hi! Stopping by from Mom Bloggers Club. Great blog!
Have a nice day!
Lauren says
I have a few of these for my little that turns three soon! We love them!!
Claire says
There are some great ideas here that my little man will love, thank you!
Maria says
Hi, Thanks so much for you list – based on your recommendations, I ordered the T-ball/baseball Fisher Price set for my soon-to-be 3 year old nephew in the USA (I’m in Australia) + I also ordered the book “I just forgot”.. and another book not on your list “Giraffe’s can’t dance”. I appreciate you taking the time to compile this list and provide links too 🙂
Maria 🙂
Kimber says
No problem! I love sharing what works for us! I am so glad it was helpful. My little guy is turning 4 this week so I need to put together a new list!