Any good engaging toys for a 3 yr old?

[FlossALump]

It's DS's birthday in a few weeks and we've just recently had a new baby. Does anyone have any good ideas of toys that will stimulated him and encourage him to sit quietly for a while? Are those laptop type thingeys any good for example? Or are they just a pile of crap! TIA!

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Not sure, but am watching this thread!!

Ds will be 3 tomorrow and loves his train track. Plays with it for hours and every time we buy a new bit (new train, station etc) he plays with it more!!

my 3 yo sometimes takes a while to get into new toys. i found floor puzzles were brilliant and we got him a leap pad type of thing.

i know how u feel btw- typing this whilst feed baby too whilst ds lays with his dools house

oooh what terrrible typing.

Don't know about laptops, but duplo has always worked wonders here.

Megg does he actually play witht the laptop? Floor puzzles sound good! He has mega blocks but I'm sure it is time to move onto something a bit more, well fun than those huge things!!

a toy garage - keeps my three year old amused and stimulated for a while! john lewis do a great wooden one - or just one of the plastic ones with lots of tracks are good ones to get

my ds is 3.2...he loves jigsaws,duplo,brio & playmobil......everything else is largely ignored

oh,he adores his shop & wooden play food

duplo definately, and train track. some sort of shop/kitchen toys - a till, tea set, toy food, shopping basket etc.

my almost 3 year old loves duplo and her train set. also getting into puzzles that she can do herself, and fuzzy felt. loves playdough as well - the laptop thing I wouldn't bother with myself, when you do have some time just with your 3 year old, get them onto some cool sites like www.poissonrouge.com my daughter loves it!

cool website hana

playdoh has been one of my best buys this year as we were in the same boat 10 months ago. I roll it out, he gets busy.

Ds (3.5) adores his peppa pig playhouse - will sit quite happily playing for 30 mins with all the little figures. Bliss.

That website is fab! We've been on there for the past hr! Now he is having a tantrum about watching his bob the builder dvd - which he asked for I wish I understood toddlers! I will definately look at getting some duplo type stuff. We have a till, but no space for a whole kitchen shop! He already has a train tack but he has been a bit young for it so far, so hopefully that might come into play a bit more soon. He also has a garage, but I think it is one of those toys that becomes part of the furniture as he had it for his first birthday!

Our best buy by far has been the pintoy fire engine, fire station and firemen. DS1 has had hours of playtime out of it. Because its a bit pricey (since the engine, station and men all come separately) we got the inlaws to buy the engine and we bought the other bits. Well worth a look.

Also Magnetix. The big chunky ones. DS1 will happily play for a good half an hour or so.

DD would spend ages adnd ages playing with Happyland toys (from ELC) back then. She had a whole village of buildings, vehicles, animals and people. I'd help her set it up and she would be in her own little world for so long.

Oooh Hulababy, we have the fire engine/men set too - they are fab (but expensive)

I noticed that they have made an exact replica, only smaller, that comes with 2 fireman, that is on sale for £20 in John Lewis. BARGAIN!

Sorry Hula got all confused with names - I meant ellehcim!

AND when DS1 smashed a part off his fire engine, I emailed John Crane/Pintoy and they sent me a replacement part to fix it - they are lovely lovely people.

The Pintoy fire stuff is THE best toy. My nephew lusts after DS1's (and I feel really guilty about it but pleased that we've found such a great toy!)

With ds1 it's been any construction toy or any drawing type thing that'll keep him amused the longest. Building blocks have been popular since he was 18 months, but this has been replaced by his magnetix, octons and marble run (in last 2-3 months - he's just turned four). He also gets lots of entertainment from his colour doodle (and you don't have to supervise that one).
He also loves doing the spot the difference and odd one out and mazes in magazines. but they require input from me.

Here's the link for the cheaper Pintoy fire engine from John Lewis

I can't recommend it enough . My DS will play nicely with his for ages

Floss, my ds2 is 2.8 and by far this is his favourite toy. He occupies himself for ages playing with his cars and trains on it. The toys can be stored in it and it comes with a lid so can be used as a low table. It doesn't look very much but it has been worth every single penny. It definately keeps him busy when I'm feeding ds3. It appeals to older kids as well, as ds1 (7) and all his friends play with it when they visit too.

Thank you washersauras, will try and get to a JL in the next week to have a nosey at that! Hi Kinki - hope all is going well with you! Your play set looks fab, and would work really well with a lot of DS's toys I see too. Maybe for xmas if we can clear some space in our two bed house first!!