What to get a 3 year old boy?

[onthebusoctopus]

I’m on quite a budget this year, of about 100-150. I don’t want to buy any plastic tat this year, and I’d like some things that are quite educational. He likes Bing, Paw Patrol and Lego. Any ideas on what to get him for Christmas?

What about the bargain Lego bricks set from Asda, Way To Play rubber road, with the die cast Paw Patrol cars? I don't think they have any plastic on them, though I haven't seen them in the flesh.

I found Kreo better than lego and cheaper. Not sure if it's still around.

Orchard games can be educational and fun. Made of durable cardboard.

A doodle board or a jigsaw. Sticky bricks or duplo blocks.

There is a crayola set which consists of no mess pens and book to colour in - and they do a paw patrol one. Usually about £5-£6 in supermarkets. He might like that - and no mess! And aqua doodle is fun (as long as they don't work out how to unscrew the pens and tup water out) .....

Thank you! Will look into all of these. My parents are getting him a bike, so he has a main present sorted.

I was thinking about an aqua doodle! Will add that to the list

Also - 3 is a good age where they start liking dressing up. Ours liked builders (with hat), fireman (with talking fireman sam hat) and case with fire stuff from elc, and superheroes are always a hit.

Ooh good idea!! Thank you all.

Wooden work bench www.woodentoyshop.co.uk/my-first-workbench.html
Wooden tool box www.woodentoyshop.co.uk/melissa-and-doug-take-along-tool-kit.html
Train set www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/lillabo-45-piece-train-set-with-rail-20330066/

£100-150 is a great budget for a 3yo esp if a bike is already taken care of.
Does he have a scooter?

How about a Duplo train set?
Wooden blocks (Haba)?

Kids at that age seem to go off characters very quickly so I'd avoid too much character stuff.

Any of the Melissa and Doug wooden games?

We have the latches board, lacing beads and bear dress up. Thinking of getting the doorbell house this year. All quite educational and help with motor skills

Also Paw Patrol puzzles. Can often pick up a box with 4 puzzles in for about a fiver from the entertainer. Or a giant floor puzzle for about £10

Something playmobil? My little boy turns 3 in a couple of weeks and I've got him the camper van. Following with interest for some Christmas ideas

He doesn’t have a scooter, so that’s an idea. Will get a train set, and the Melissa and Doug toys. The paw patrol puzzle sounds like a good stocking filler!. Playmobil is also a good option. I feel like 3 is such a difficult age because they aren’t babies but they aren’t really grown up, so I just don’t know what to buy him.

Are your parents getting him a helmet? There are some pretty cool ones... other bike accessories too do not buy a loud horn if you value your sanity and your neighbours

Lego sets, for longevity. It's something good to unwrap (and easy to wrap up in the first place!), and then gets put aside while they play with more accessible presents (like the bike) and might get forgotten about... but is still new, shiny, exciting and still age-appropriate in 6 months when you rediscover the unopened box

My MIL likes to buy big presents, which does annoy me but otoh frees my budget up to buy him slightly more expensive versions of practical things, like clothes, wellies etc... Boring, but mine didn't care as long as he could rip presents open, and in fact it worked quite well in terms of not giving him too much fun stuff to cope with, and the ensuing overwhelmed tantrums... And he also learned to say thank you for socks, which is a skill I think many adults (particularly dads!) will need!

I bought then-3yo DS a few colouring books (the paintless paint ones were a big hit) and a couple of learning to write books with wipe-clean pages and dotted letters. He was too little for them then, but showed interest mostly in scribbling and then wiping the pages and we are still using them 1.5yrs later.

Grimms Rainbow.
Code a Pillar.
Slinky

@Stillinsistsheseestheghosts lots of great ideas! I might get a bell for his bike and a helmet and then see if he guesses he’s got a bike. Will get some Lego for him as he loves it. The no paint books seem to be s hit.

Any ideas for good books? I’ve seen some books about feelings and stuff like that which I thought was nice.

Day monkey night monkey with the toys for books

My DD is 3 and we are getting her a scooter. She also loves her wooden train set and role play stuff (kitchen, till, vet set etc.. ) would he like anything like thay?

For books I like usborne. They do magic painting that isn't rubbish, non-fiction books that are age appropriate , and sticker books with a decent number of actual stickers (not "1000" stickers but half of them are microscopic)

He’d love a train set that’s on the cards! And I will have a look at usbourne books. Thank you everyone! I didn’t expect this many replies

We bought a great wooden train set from ikea. train set
DS loves it and you can buy extra bits to go with it.
We are getting DS the ikea kitchen this year with wooden food. The scooter we got last year was a great hit and used all the time. He isn’t a fan of the aqua doodle unfortunately but he loves the Crayola mess free colouring packs mentioned up thread. I bought loads on toys for a pound for a couple of quid each

Will look at the toys for a pound, that will be good for stocking fillers

I'd check out Melissa and doug toys. Although plastic the smoothie maker is brilliant and played with lots here

Books that can last as fun pictures and good stories...
the day the crayons quit, lost and found, Barry fish with fingers, how to grow a dinosaur
(Oliver Jefferies, Sue Hendra, Caryl Hart)