What did your 3 year old LOVE??

[whatevenwasthat]

3 year old boy who loves things with wheels and his toolbox.

I plan to get him a new and improved tool box/work bench and one of those cars that have screws in for you to build, but he's got tons of cars, etc so I'm a bit stuck for other things. His birthday his in December too so I have two lots of gifts to sort.

Would love recommendations at what has been a huge hit for your 3 year old - absolutely any type of gift, I'd be happy to broaden his horizons a little.

Marble Rush set - DH was desperate to get it, I thought it was a waste of time, I was wrong - he's still playing with it years later and every kid who visits plays with it.

We now have a ridiculous amount of sets filling up 4 Ikea cube drawer things and they love to build elaborate long sets with all the special pieces at once.

Also any of the Hot Wheels sets where they do things like loop the loop or get eaten by a dinosaur or any nonsense like that.

Spider-Man onesie
hot wheels (maybe for slightly older kids?)
bakugan (again maybe slightly older)
brio trains

Magnetic tiles, my kids are obsessed

3 was when dinosaurs really took off here, so I think a collection of model dinosaurs and a book of facts were the big hits. He was also really excited about getting a pedal bike and he took to that really quickly, but he was obsessed with his balance bike so was ready for that step up.

Strangely it was a kids umbrella 😀

Oh yes I forgot about the umbrella! My dd had been asking for umbrella for ages and my mum brought her one for her birthday. It was the present she was most excited about by far.

We first got magnatiles when DD was 3 I think, she’s 5 now and we’ve kept adding to them and they’re still very much played with.

We got a bug hunting kit I think from jaques of London - it was a random last minute edition but she’s loved it and she still immediately goes to find it any time there’s a slide in the house.

An umbrella- I remember her asking for one for her 3rd birthday and she was very happy with it!

My sister got her a kids camera which she still likes.

A wobble board - still much used. For her last birthday (so 5) we got her other things to make an obstacle course in the garden - some really chunky stepping stones that are all different levels, hoops, cones, some little hurdles. They pack away and store really easily and a really open ended - in theory could be used indoors too.

She was also big into sticker books at that age - the kind where there’s a specific right place to put each sticker that you have to find.

Books:
The You Choose ones
You Can’t Let an Elephant Drive the Bus (and other vehicles available!)
Oi Frog and others in that series
Any Oliver Jeffers - especially Lost and Found
The pants ones, my daughter used to kill herself laughing particularly at Animal Pants
I Want My Hat Back

My son loved knights and castles when he was 3, but I appreciate that's a bit niche.
He had a Playmobil castle for Christmas that year and kissed the box when he opened it.
(He's now 16)

Umbrellas seems to be a common theme! Funny how it’s the simple things. DD other grandparents brought her a bike but she was far more excited by the umbrella!

I've never heard of that toy but it looks incredible! Is it worth getting the most expensive one for more parts? Any add ons you'd recommend?

I've got torch on my daughter's Xmas list. Did you just go for a small normal torch or a kids one? I'm paranoid about her taking the batteries out of a normal one

An ikea mini kitchen with pans and utensils 😁

The squirrels who squabbled is a great book! One of the few I don’t get tired of reading over…. And over….

Octonauts vehicles
Those ‘How Things Work’ books with layers of lift-the-flaps that show engines, cross sections of ships etc.

Wooden train track from IKEA..... he's still absolutely train mad 17 year later ❤️

We love this series of books. We started with the lion inside then moved on to the others. I liked the koala who could but my son also liked the way home for wolf. I'm keen to buy the whale who wanted more as the "I wants" and "I needs" have started kicking in. They're all lovely books that are really enjoyable to read.

@JG24it was a bog-standard torch. We’ve never had issues with the batteries being taken out. They can be screwed close very tightly.

Magnet tiles and proper wooden brio trains have been the biggest successes at that age.

You don’t mention if he already has a bike or a scooter?

I've not read the full thread, so don't know if It's already been mentioned but Playdough. My DC loved it for years and years.

DD18 will still sit and play with it if she has the opportunity (volunteers as a guides young leader)

I think we did get the biggest set (the one with both kinds of wheels) and I reckon that is the right amount. Our DCs have grandparents who always want to contribute to a 'big' present, so we asked for contributions to that instead of DS getting loads of different things. We haven't got add-ons yet but we were thinking of buying more for DS2 so that DS1 will feel moved to share. I'm tempted by the balance track, which is new since we got ours.

Duplo duplo and more duplo. There's a lovely Christmas set that he (now teen!) still builds as a festive decoration.

Thank you
What age do you think is best for this? Mine is currently 2.5 so think maybe a little young?

The box it came in.

Absolute favourite toy at 3 by far was colour changing cars. We had Disney Cars and Hot Wheels ones. I saw some in B&M last week and felt all nostalgic. We constantly had to set him up with bowls of ice and warm water.

@JG24 we actually got the set for our DS for his first birthday! It comes with a book of suggested things you can build, and you/they just play with it differently as they get older. At first, it was us building him little towers to climb on and cars to ride on, and he would rock on the large piece with the curved edge. At 2-3 he'd get more involved in the design (whether following the instructions or making stuff up) but he would need a bit of help with the actual building. Now he's 4 and he invents his own cars and zooms them round the house pretending he is a delivery driver. We've had it for more than 3 years now and in that time, one connector peg has broken, so it's been pretty good value overall.