OT - What is your 3 year old's favorite toy?

[Malibustyle23]

My DS got a large Mr Potato head set about that age that he's still playing with almost 3 years later.

 

[DMickey28]

My DS is going to be 3 in April. His current favorite toys are his Imaginext Pirate Ship and the dragon, his Train table which has a mixture of generic track and Thomas track with about 10 Thomas trains, his collection of Cars cars and the Leap Frog My First Computer which attaches to the TV. He loves to plays the Cars game on it and can do it completely by himself.

He got a Discovery Kids digital camera for Christmas and while he LOVES to play with my DSLR, he realizes this isn't as good and doesn't care for it after a few minutes!!

We also got him a Radio Flyer Trike that he loves and rides it around the family room now until it gets warmer out!

 

[Munchkin'sMommy]

Three words: Thomas the Train and that is about it right now. He received all Thomas stuff for Xmas, including dvd's, clothes, and toys. Really into everything Thomas. Right now we are working on buying the different stations, etc to build the Island of Sodor but it is very expensive. He has just about all the metal trains that are out right now and a few I have found online. No wooden ones though, too expensive. Other than that, its Elmo and a few Fisher Price toys like a cash register, an etch a sketch type thing that he practices writing his letters and numbers and a few Leap Frog toys that he still plays with. He also has Elmo's Restaurant that he really loves playing with. Its cute watching him pretend to "serve" my DH and I.

He is not really into sports yet but my dad got him a tball set to practice with but it's been so cold here lately that he can't play outside with yet. And he has a tricycle that he is learning to ride.

 

[labdogs42]

My son was really into tools and dinosaurs at 3. Does your DS have a Little Tikes tool bench? They make one that comes with a car engine to work on, so he might like that if he's into cars.

Another vote for anything Imaginext and Lego Duplo has some awesome sets out now. My son is almost 5 and I wish they had those sets when he was 3!

 

[r4blessings]

My youngest son turned 4 in August, and for Christmas Santa brought him the Melissa and Doug wooden castle. He loves it! He uses his Imaginext knights and pirates (many of them are older figures that my olders sons had when they were his age) his playmobil figures, his dinosaurs and dragons and even his zhu zhu's like to play in the castle. LOL!

He also got a radio flyer scooter last August when he turned 4 that he loves! Now he has older siblings that he is trying to keep up with, but he gets a lot of use out of that scooter, and its really easy to ride. Also, we have the Step2 sandbox/water table with an umbrella. We got that for dd when she turned 2 (january birthday, but we used it inside with packing peanuts until we could move it out on the deck in the warmer weathre.). The sandbox is one of the best investements you could buy...it will last forever and get tons of playtime!

DS also got Spike the dinosaur for Christmas and loves him! And wooden blocks and magformers are toys that you could buy now, but will have lasting power!

Good luck! January birthdays are hard! For my dd, I always try to buy someting that she will also use throughout the year, even if it means buying her a bike or sandbox in the winter. When she turned three she got a barbie power wheels jeep, and even though it was cold, she still rode it around the lawn, she was just bundled up. That was probably her favorite gift! All of my kids got one when they turned 3! And they ALL still work!

 

[Johnson1220]

At 3 my boys really enjoyed the Galactic Heroes (Star Wars). This is of course more exciting if he knows what Star Wars is. They have expanded the line of squatty little action figures so that if they aren't into SW there is spiderman, gi joe, etc.

The Imaginext play sets are FANTASTIC! They have several different ones, a castle, bat cave, etc. A set with some additional characters would go over well.

Three is also an age that many kids get Leapsters. In our family though, my boys grew up around video games and at 3 my youngest wanted a Nintendo DS, didn't have any interest in a Leapster.

Hope this helps.

I totally agree on the Imaginext CASTLE - my almost 3 year old loves it. And of coures cars and trucks but this castle keeps him entertained for quite awhile.

 

[CuteAndFluffy]

I've got a few suggestions that work for my son and for some other 3&4 year olds in my life:

The game Hullabaloo by the makers of Cranium. Super simple to play on his own or with friends, simple instructions. Animal Scramble is a similar, super fun game. And Cariboo by Cranium is an awesome treasure hunt game.

Any pretending sets. Melissa and Doug makes a great mailbox. If he doesn't have a kitchen yet, that or any pots/pans/play food.

Dress up costumes--fire fighter, doctor/vet, train engineer, cowboy, superhero cape

Scissors and a book like "My First Book of Cutting." Paper, playdoh and cool playdoh tools (Melissa and Doug make great ones), paints, chalk, glue, ...

A glider/balance bike--like a Skuut bike. Two wheels are fun and awesome.

Electronic stuff--zippity? (might be too old) or a Tag/Tag Jr. reading system

I saw a cool Lightning McQueen the other day where you could switch out wheels/faces/etc. and "fix" it.

I hope you find the perfect thing for him!

 

[solfan68]

DS7 was huge into GeoTrax for several years. I still remember scrambling through WalMart and Ebay to locate additional track packs. The good news was we could get push trains when he was younger, and grew into the remote-operated vehicles that ran on the same tracks. It took over our den for a period of time with bridges and a tower and a lighthouse. Crazy fun.

 

[jenlynn0808]

GeoTrax