What to Gift a 3-Year-Old (Toys and Books That Actually Get Played With)
These are the things my son and his friends played with on repeat, and the books we read on repeat, when he was 3. Some of them are still in rotation a year later.
These are the things my son and his friends played with on repeat, and the books we read on repeat, when he was 3. Some of them are still in rotation a year later.
Books
At 3, Oli wanted the same books over and over.
- Mulle Meck (Gary Gadget) — Swedish picture-book series about a tinkerer who builds cars, boats, and planes. Long enough to hold attention, simple enough to follow.
- The Gruffalo — a forever classic. He memorized whole pages.
- Stick Man — same author as The Gruffalo, same magic.
- Conni stories — especially Conni Goes on Vacation and Conni Goes Camping. Everyday-life adventures that matched what he was actually doing or about to do.
- Wimmelbooks — the big busy-picture books. Perfect for "find the…" games, and they grow with the kid.
- Little Robot — after we read it together once, he kept going back to it on his own, "reading" the pictures and following the story by himself.
- Personalized detective stories — this was the age he got into detective stories. In one month we generated and printed 21 of them, and we read them constantly. But what he loved most was seeing his real friends in the stories — interacting with the police, solving cases together.
👉 See an example of a personalized story here
👉 Or create a book for your child
Toys
At 3, he couldn't focus on one thing for very long, so we rotated toys a lot. These are the ones we got the most use out of — and the ones I now gift to friends.
- Magna-Tiles — I really recommend looking at Pinterest. There are so many builds, from simple to complicated, that you can do together. We loved watching what other people made and recreating it.
- Wooden trains — I think this is the favorite of boys. For Oli and his friends, nothing beats the trains. (His girlfriend Eva, on the other hand, isn't impressed at all.)
- LEGO Duplo train set — great for ages 2–3. By 4 it's too late, and it takes up a lot of space, but he loved it at this age.
- Schleich Farm World — if I had to pick the one toy he played with most, it would be this. We also bought a lot of small animals to go with it. Endless storylines. My one regret: I didn't buy the slide for the farmhouse. I think with the slide we would have gotten even more use out of it.
Board games
3 is when real games start to click. We bought and exchanged a lot of board games at this age, but these are the ones that stuck — and he still pulls them out sometimes, even though he's outgrown them. The favorites were cooperative, which I think is key at this age. When they're tired after preschool, losing against someone is hard. Cooperative games let us play together against the game — and if we lose, we lose together.
- Pin Pon by Djeco — a cooperative firefighter game with a little fire truck you drive across the board to put out the fire before it's too late.
- Little Cooperation by Djeco — four animals trying to cross the ice to their igloo before the bridge collapses.
- Puzzles — Oli was obsessed for a stretch. He started at 24 pieces, moved to 60, and even 100 for some.
- Lotto — the very first game, even at 2.5. We had the transport version. He played it with adults first, then learned to play it with friends. It was the first real game where they all played together and took turns losing. Painful. But it's what they need to learn.
Camping gear
Even if you don't camp, you don't need a real sleepover for this to land. Just play camping in the garden or at the park. Kids this age are so excited by the whole idea.
- Kids camp chair — friends gave us a little one and I think it was the most exciting thing of the summer. Having his own little chair around the fire was a small thing that made a big difference.
- Sleeping bag — we started camping that year and we're continuing this one.
What I'm noticing at this age
At 3, there's a lot more playing with friends (not as much as at 4, but it's important) — collaborating, role-playing, mothers and daughters, doctor, teachers. The best toys we had were the ones where you could build many different stories around the same one. Open-ended wins every time.
