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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

Best Christmas toys for 3 year old

17 replies

Albgo · 25/09/2022 12:35

I'm looking for stocking fillers and small gift ideas please!


This thread is quite old now so some of the suggestions may be out of date, but if you’ve landed here looking for toy or gift ideas for three-year-olds, we’ve recently updated our best toys for 3-year-olds page with lots of great options, as tried and tested by Mumsnet users and their kids. We hope you find it useful. Flowers
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OP posts:
Bobbins2022 · 25/09/2022 12:44

My DS is 3 and so far I've got him:

Some glow in the dark stars for his room
Melissa and Doug reusable stickers
Paint sticks
Toy ambulance

That's it so far. It's his birthday this week and in terms of little presents he's getting an baking kit and a board game (animal lotto).

Oh and books. Trying to move into more "grown up" stories now e.g. 3 little pigs

Fivemoreminutes1 · 25/09/2022 18:26

Mr Men or Little Miss book (they have some Christmas ones!)
Aurora Palm Pal
Chunky crayons
Crazy foam soap
Bubble mixture
Lacing cards
Pipe cleaners
Gruffalo game
Wooden beads
Playdoh and cutters

hiredandsqueak · 25/09/2022 19:32

Dgs loves Orchard toys games particularly the Shopping List game and Old Macdonald's Farm Lotto. He likes dominoes as well. I've bought him this from the bargain thread. He loves Hey Duggee sticker books as well so one of them will be in his stocking.

TwinsAndTiramisu · 25/09/2022 20:46

Dtwins will turn 3 at Christmas and they currently have some popping candy and a wind up toy for their stockings, will probably add a Julia Donaldson sticker book, glow in the dark stars and a bottle of bubbles. Stockings are small and for them to hopefully give us ten minutes breathing space for a cuppa when they inevitably wake up at 4.30am over excited :)

Girl twin has her first Sylvanian set, a large house, family, car, treehouse thingy (all for £40, thank you FB for sale), a pink kidizoom camera and will be getting a play doctor set and some sparkly shoes.

Boy twin has a blue kidizoom camera, a couple of packs of hotwheels cars, a large talking gruffalo, a load of Disney Cars die casts (bundle from eBay) and still to get him a superhero mask and cape.

Learned early on that they need half the amount we get them, after you factor in the presents from family as well, so whilst the list seems small, it's actually plenty or they get overwhelmed and things get overlooked in a huge pile of stuff.

Past stocking hits have been moonballs, which were stocking gifts last year and still played with, probably even more now than when they first got them and the little traditional toy gliders which break after about twenty minutes, but they (and elder DS who's had one nearly every year whilst in primary) really like them.

Ihatemyroad · 25/09/2022 23:13

Kaleidoscope
Torch
whoopee cushion

and for a bigger gift.....
Robo alive snake and lizard have been huge hits with my 3 year old

AliceTheCamelHasFiveHumps · 25/09/2022 23:17

My LO will be 3 mid December. She's getting a bike from us. (She can do balance bike perfectly, so just needs to learn to pedal) otherwise on her "wishlist" is

Dr dress up and medical kit (stethoscope and stuff)
Peanut ball
Pop up pirate
Puzzles
Toy dinosaurs
Stickers
Books
Bath bombs

Albgo · 26/09/2022 08:47

@Bobbins2022 is that a kit you've put together yourself? I haven't done much baking with him, so something like that sounds like a good idea.

@Fivemoreminutes1 crazy foam soap? Never heard of it, but sounds great!

@hiredandsqueak that hairdresser set is brilliant. Amazing reduction too.

@TwinsAndTiramisu completely agree about too many presents. We made that mistake last year and it just overwhelmed him. We're only getting presents from us this year and asking family to give money so we can do activities throughout the year.
Again, not heard of moonballs - will check them out.

@Ihatemyroad - omg whoppie cushion! Genius. I loved them so much when I was little.

@AliceTheCamelHasFiveHumps bath bombs are a good idea. Are you getting toddler friendly ones (if so from where please?) or just normal ones?

Thanks all for the replies - loads of great ideas. Much appreciated.

OP posts:
Bobbins2022 · 26/09/2022 09:08

Yes I've put it together myself. I found a little apron in a tourist shop in York and I'm going to wrap it up with a little rolling pin and cookie cutters. I'm giving it to him for his birthday so we can do lots of christmas baking

CornishGem1975 · 26/09/2022 10:58

Great ideas. My DS is 3 just after Christmas so need double the ideas! He really only like cars and diggers and trains and planes...

mam0918 · 26/09/2022 11:05

Last year my 3 year old got:

bubble wand
chalks
bath pens
match the pictures card game
cup and ball
bath bomb
slime
stress ball
stickers
and on of those toys you push down and the pop back up

  • all the usual sweets

We went big last year for the stockings but honestly it was too much stuff and most didnt get used, we are doing less this year, this year hes getting:

fun cup
small ty teddy
stickers
a velco ball game

  • all the usual sweets
mam0918 · 26/09/2022 11:06

I have no idea why its added those dots in.

Albgo · 26/09/2022 12:27

@CornishGem1975 I've got my eye on a kinetic sand digger set...

OP posts:
CornishGem1975 · 26/09/2022 12:29

Looks good @Albgo, not sure if I could cope with the mess though!

Albgo · 26/09/2022 12:30

@CornishGem1975 that's what's making me hesitate too!

OP posts:
Timetoeat · 26/09/2022 15:14

Stocking ideas
New character toothbrush
Socks or pants with characters on.
Mini box of cereal(for breakfast after presents)
Favourite jellies or chocolate
Play Mobil mini bags
Melissa and Doug water wow
Mini brand type ball with dinosaurs or cars.
Binoculars or magnifying glass
Magazine or a book

Gifts Ideas
Play Mobil sets
Books
Number Blocks set
PJ's
Orchard Game
First Coding Toy
Hot Wheels set
Paint sticks and paper.

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Prinnny · 26/09/2022 17:52

Stocking ideas so far for DD3.5 are a new princess crown, bath bomb, pascal cuddly toy from tangled, sticker book and a lindt reindeer.

Her main present is the Disney princess celebration castle, also getting her the leap frog ice cream stall and the Melissa and Doug dentist and vet sets. She loves role play. Also the play dough hairdressers set and some kinetic sand.

I was thinking about maybe getting her some Lego too, could anyone recommend a good introductory set?

Yousee · 26/09/2022 18:12

I was working on my 3 year olds stocking last night on PoundToy.com. Great bargains on there, got a Mr Men Christmas book for £1.50!
Stocking currently includes: mega pack of bath nonsense (bath bombs, bath slime etc), small pack of glow sticks, magnifying glass.
Possibly going to add some of the following: play doh, kinetic sand, bubbles, magazine, small box of Coco pops (he's type 1 Diabetic so this is a major treat!), Stickers, Hot Wheels colour change car, new figure for his Tonie box, projector torch.
He's also got the Playmobil VW camper and the Melissa and Doug car dashboard. Got that for £35 on Amazon Prime day, not sure it's worth the £70rrp or current £54 but it looks good and he will love it!
Other ideas that I've shelved for when relatives come asking what he would like: VTech Kidizoom camera, Pop up Pirate, orchard games.

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