Developmental Toys for 3 Year Old Boy

When my kids were that age, they loved puzzles! I especially liked the alphabet and number puzzles where they can learn at the same time. We also had some that had farm animals and vehicles on them, which my son loved! He can learn what the animals say and the difference between the car, truck, semi, etc. You'll love driving down the road where he recognizes one of them and points it out to you! Make it fun for him and you'll be amazed how quickly he picks up all of it! They are little sponges at this age!

My son is 3, so I'm looking forward to reading all the answers!

Our current favorites are:
Zingo

Crayola Crayon town (building with crayons, coloring, fine motor, etc.)

Play kitchen - he "bakes" me everything from cookies to hot dogs

Any memory/matching games

Dot-to-Dot books - counting, writing, fine motor

Tag Pen - he reads on his own, but this is still fun for sound effects and tough words, plus the books make great rewards and future gifts!

LeapFrog Read and Learn Karaoke - Al, Meg, Izzy, Og, and Gus are awesome characters that happen to teach vowel sounds in a series of 12 fun songs and they come with read-along books.

I don't sell Discovery Toys (home-based company) but I sort of wish I did for the discount! ALL of our MOST favorite things are from there. They are:

Place and Trace puzzles (it's a puzzle, tracing, stencil, play-doh mold all in one!)

First Words (30 two-piece puzzles, match the word to the picture of the word, it's reading, matching, visualization, and fine motor in one)

Busy Farm (colors, matching, adding, counting, following directions, etc.)

Motor Works (Tools! Fine motor, building, following directions)

Stacking cups (Yes, I know they sound baby-ish, but these are volumetric and numbered so it literally takes two #1 cups to fill the #2 cup and so on. Awesome for early math skills and pouring and lots of learning fun in the tub or sand table!)

Happy Playing!

Keep it simple and nurture ALL his senses.
Wooden blocks
Playing outside with buckets, water, sand. Measuring stuff.
Put on mud boots and let him play in the mud
Drawing designs in dirt with sticks
Stacking cups
But go outside with him and let him explore!

If you are concerned about "academics" at age 3, just limit it to teachable moments. Such as, "Look at your toes. How many?" But don't push it. It will come naturally. Three is really quite young.

Label his toy area to get him used to the fact that things have labels. Keep it simple with a word and picture. Such as a box for legos is named "Legos" and a little picture of a lego. Bonus: It will help him keep his room more organized and help him pick up after himself!

Magnatiles. Expensive but worth it. Marble maze set - teaches spatial relationship skills. Play kitchen - wonderful for modeling adult behavior and teaching responsibility (putting pots away, etc.).

My son just turned 3 and is really into the beginning stages pretend play. He got a super hero cape and a pirate outfit with a treasure chest for his birthday. He's about worn them out already. Also, loves his Vetech Bugsby Books (like the leapfrog Tag system).

Really difficult puzzles. Beyond his age.

My son loves his Leapfrog stuff. He also has the Vtech reader that is a favorite. As far as toys, any kind of building blocks, pegs, matching games. Basic science experiments can be fun too.

Blocks and Duplo legos! He's five now and those are still a favorite. THey teach problem solving and fine motor skills.

not a toy, but a DVD:
Meet the Sight Words, Meet the Letters, Meet the Numbers
all from www.preschoolprepco.com (but cheaper on amazon.com)

Blocks, trains, cardboard boxes, anything that allows them to manipulate things, build and play.