# Best (favorite) toys for 3 year old boy



## Mom to E and A (Jul 11, 2005)

I can not believe I am having this much trouble with my own son, but I am at a loss on what to get him for Christmas. He will be 3 in March. we have a train table with all accessories that he is only kinda into. I feel like I have so much for his sister, and he is the only boy, so we are seriously lacking in "boy" toys. Educational is always nice, as well as simple, but anything will do at this point, lol!


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## lexmas (Jan 9, 2007)

DS jsut turned 3. He's picky about toys. He's getting some various "building" sets, megabloks, k'nex, fisher price trio, that sort of thing. He's also getting a leapfrog TAG reading system thing (based on how much he loves our 30 year old books on tape, I think he'll be into this), some cars (he just got a car racer where you put two cars in and they each have their own ramp to race down for his birthday, that is a big big hit), and a playmobil fire truck because he told santa he really wants a big fire truck!


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## Red Pajama (Jun 11, 2007)

Last Christmas (so they were turning 4) my boys got magnatiles. Those were a big hit.
At almost three, they liked play tools, toys of heavy machinery. They were given little people toys that christmas, too.

Fat Brain toys website has a "shop by age" feature that you might find helpful for ideas.


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## Mama2Bug (Feb 18, 2005)

I have a five year old DD, but we keep toys pretty gender-neutral. Here are some of the things that she and her friends (boys too) enjoyed when she was three:

Plan Toys Pirate Ship
Wooden Fire Truck
Tool Bench
Little Tikes Drum
Schleich animals
Choral Top
Hopping Ball

All of them still get played with on a fairly regular basis.


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## Jessy1019 (Aug 6, 2006)

My son is 3.5 and has been really into both Playmobil and cars/Monster Trucks for more than six months now. Playmobil makes some awesome sets . . . they do involved a lot of little pieces and are recommended for ages 4+, but depending on your child, they might be just fine. My son is the type to sit down and play with things for long stretches of time, make the characters talk to each other, etc.


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## azmomtoone (Aug 30, 2008)

DS just turned 3.
Trains & Train tracks, and cars & race tracks are huge around here. He's getting this for Christmas: http://www.amazon.com/AI-Racer-Exclu...0754204&sr=8-1 (I didn't pay nearly that much for it though! Got it at Marshall's here for about half that price).
And a wooden 8-piece M&D train set, from Amazon's Black Friday clearance.

Oh - and stickers are huger around here, and almost all 2-3 yr old boys...we got a Cars stickerbook for him....


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## wrenmoon (Feb 6, 2008)

My ds loves...

Big Wooden trucks
Big wooden tractors
Big wooden trains (sensing a theme?)
little red wagon
trike with big off-road tires that can really go anywhere (we live on a farm)
child sized wheelbarrow and gardening tools

Farmers coops (tractor supply places) often sell metal tractors and machinery

He didn't really get into his train set until he was closer to 4...
but tractors. whew. tractors.


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## Biscuits & Gravy (Jul 17, 2008)

It seems to me that different kids are into different things. My guy is a little interested in vehicles and building stuff (legos, blocks, etc.) but what he really prefers are things like imaginext, playmobil and little people. He likes acting out stories and setting up different scenarios. He also loves dress up clothes.


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## pbjmama (Sep 20, 2007)

plasma car!


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## Mom to E and A (Jul 11, 2005)

thank you all (keep em coming) I am looking into lots of different things that have been suggested. DS isn't really into anything except TV and "figures" He loves to play with characters (Arthur, Hunchback, Spongebob, Cars...) and such...mostly McDonald's toys, lol. He also does like his sister's dress ups and polly pockets...


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## sewaneecook (Nov 1, 2005)

My DS is 3.5 and loves:

Wooden train set
Anything artsy (paper, pens, markers, paints, play doh etc.)
bead mazes
blocks (wooden, Mega Bloks, Duplo, things to build towers with)
All trucks, cars, vehicles
Dominoes (he builds with them, knocks them down, counts them, very creative play)
Magnetic shapes to make patterns, cars, trains, vehicles, etc. (Melissa and Doug makes one that isn't too expensive)
Play silks
Tee Pee (My sister made him one out of PVC piping and sheet fabric)
Anything that his little brother is playing with is also a hit (baby rattles, exersaucer, paci, burp rag, etc. But I think that's more of a jealousy issue than really being interested in the toys!







)


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## busymama77 (Jun 16, 2009)

DS is in to:

Batman
Dragons
Dinosaurs
Transformers
Boats and Pirates
Swords & playing dress up
Race Cars

He really enjoys the Imaginext and Playmobil brands, but will really play with anything that sparks his interest regardless of who makes it!


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## Redheaded_Momma (Nov 8, 2006)

We got DS a nice wooden forklift for his 3rd bday in October. We'll be getting him the same brand of crane for Christmas. He plays with it daily.

Artsy stuff. He would love to use scissors on a regular basis but I don't love the idea. I just made some Flubber and he loved that for awhile.


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## sexysisam (Jul 13, 2006)

My 3 year old really likes the Guidecraft Cito construction vehicles. We first bought him the forklift since he is majorly forklift obsessed. It has been thrown down a full flight of stairs almost every morning for a year and it's still in great shape. They are made in China, which is a bummer and I didn't find out until after I already bought the forklift, dump truck, and logger truck. But now that we have some of them, we want all 5. They are REALLY BIG AND HEAVY but I think that just makes them even more fun for the boys. And don't be scared by the price, you can find them cheaper by doing a google search.

http://www.guidecraft.com/product/0/...KLIFT_&_PALLET


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## AnnieA (Nov 26, 2007)

I bet he would love this: http://store.playmobilusa.com/on/dem...&cgid=Tierpark or this: http://store.playmobilusa.com/on/dem...&cgid=Tierpark

Good luck!


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## eepster (Sep 20, 2006)

DS is 3 3/4 yo now. Over the past year he has played with:

His stuffed animals/hand pupets. Especially Mr Rabbit.
larger toy trucks and trains, pretty independantly.
His train tracks, but mostly when he has someone to play along with him.
Legos, but he tends to like help with those, and he makes an incredible mess.
Musical instruments, he especially loves blowning his slide whistle as loudly as possible right in my ear







.
Soft balls he's allowed to play with inside, and his wiffle ball and bat outside, but he needs a partener to catch and throw it back.
Blocks, he again wants someone to play with him. Simple cube blocks that I got at the estate sale of a child psycologist get more playtime than the unit blocks.
A dumping wagon and wheel barrow, which the stuffed animals get frequent rides in.
He likes to feed me play food.
He wears his play silks or drapes them over his head.
He enjoys his playmobils, especially the boats at bath time.
He has one of those memory games with Winnie the Pooh, that he love to play. Mommy and Daddy get a bit bored with it though.
He plays with a wooden tool set at grandpas house very happily.
Of course, he plays with many non-toy items:

Various kitchen gadgets, so I bought for him to use with play dough and his kitchen; others he stole from my kitchen drawers







.
Art supplies, he especially likes cutting and pasting. I let him use those scissors for cutting fancy borders since they only cut paper and not for example the couch upholstery (I know b/c he tried







.)
He loves books







. He will be getting several for Christmas, both for reading and ones with mazes.
He likes maps and globes.
He likes taking stuff apart.
Of course he watches DVDs and he loves to play on the computer.
I'm sure I could go on, but you get the idea. Really, if it's around he'll find ways to play with it.


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## Owen'nZoe (Sep 7, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mom to E and A* 
thank you all (keep em coming) I am looking into lots of different things that have been suggested. DS isn't really into anything except TV and "figures" He loves to play with characters (Arthur, Hunchback, Spongebob, Cars...) and such...mostly McDonald's toys, lol. He also does like his sister's dress ups and polly pockets...

Since he likes his sister's polly pockets and figures, I'd totally look into Playmobil. There are so many fun sets you could find one that fit his interests.

My 3 year old is a big train guy, so this may or may not suit your son, but his absolute favorite toy is *GeoTrax*. He's played with GeoTrax almost every single day for over a year now. He especially loves the little people that go with the set, and the one engine we have that can go both backwards and forwards.

Other he'll be getting for Christmas that I think he will really love - a marble maze, automoblox (these look so awesome - I'm very excited about these), a small R/C car, his favorite cartoon on DVD, and books.

Good luck shopping!


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## lexmas (Jan 9, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mom to E and A* 
thank you all (keep em coming) I am looking into lots of different things that have been suggested. DS isn't really into anything except TV and "figures" He loves to play with characters (Arthur, Hunchback, Spongebob, Cars...) and such...mostly McDonald's toys, lol. He also does like his sister's dress ups and polly pockets...

Have you looked at the lego or megabloks sets for those characters? They come with "characters" and then he can build and pretend.


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## Mom to E and A (Jul 11, 2005)

Thanks to this thread I did look into Playmobile and got him (what I think) is the best toy ever...a Pirate set. He's really into pirates and playsets so that should be awesome.
I've also decided that I really need to get over it and not buy just to buy. He can't count and won't know he's not getting as much stuff as his sister and besides, he'll be just as happy with her toys as she will be (IF she shares them, lol)
I also got a set of some sort of Lego things...not sure if it's duplo or megablocks or what, but we shall see what he thinks of those.


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