My kids each have their own hopper ball and they bring COUNTLESS hours of fun!

We allow them to bounce around the downstairs of our home and they love chasing each other on them and they are a great way to get energy out and encourage exercise indoors! A great active play item!

The age of three is when kids are really able to participate in crafts and enjoy making their own artwork.

We have this easel and it's remained in excellent condition for over 7 years now!

I love how easy it is to fold up for storage and how easy it is to clip paper onto the easel to minimize mess!

Your kids will love showing off their creative skills and it's a great way to have artwork to send to the grandparents too.

The big gift for my kids at age 3 is a Power Wheels Jeep.

I love the jeep because I have fond memories of it as a kid but also because it can seat two kids at once which means siblings can share in the fun!

They have several different designs (my daughters have a Frozen one that sings!) and they hold up GREAT over time!

I spent a TON of money on a fancy PBK bean bag chair for my oldest and it has not held up to the test of time.

If I could go back and do it again I'd purchase this stuffed animal storage bean bag chair - it's GENIUS!

Kids start to really love stuffed animals around age 3 so why not get them a comfortable spot to store them in?

I will totally be a customer when my youngest turns three!

This is one of those toys that I was SO excited to give to my kids!

The tiger is so cute and feels realistic and is highly interactive. A WOW present they will love!

While my kids don't use nightlights they LOVE having "dance parties" in their bedrooms where they turn off the lights and turn on flashlights or one of these awesome star projectors.

My three year old was SO excited when she was gifted this for her birthday and it's continued to be a bonding toy between siblings.

Once kids turn three they are really able to start playing games.

At this age we start having family game time in the evenings and a simple matching game is a PERFECT first game for your three year old!

A tip: start off just using a few of the cards rather than all of them...keep it quick and easy and help build that confidence before adding in all the cards in the pack!

Love brain toys that get that mind working 😉

Another great first game is the classic fishing game.

Perfect to work on developing hand and eye coordination and fine motor skills.

A good one to give a little further into the age of three to make sure the child is past the stage of putting everything into their mouths!

Even if your child doesn't own the easel this is still a great first art set.

I LOVE the paint cups! They make clean up SO easy when painting and help with avoiding mixing colors but using the paint conatiners and filling them according to their coordinating paint!

If you have been reading my other gift guides then you may be thinking "why the repeat?" But magna-tiles are THAT good of a gift that they need to be on multiple lists for a variety of ages!

Yes, they are pricey. However they are a must-have item for creative play.

Older kids and younger kids alike will enjoy coming up with all sorts of creations and they work well with other toys and toy sets and are a great distraction activity when Mommy is trying to get dinner on the table.

I love age 3 because it means I can FINALLY bribe my kids to smile for pictures 😉

I am totally "that mom" who takes pictures of my kids non-stop and naturally they want to be behind the camera too!

My kids have an older version of this camera and it's held up great over the years and I never have to worry about it breaking.

They love taking pictures of everything...feet, walls, their toys, and occasionally a selfie of possibly just their nostrils 😉

When my kids turn one I like to buy them a Cozy Coupe Car. At this age they are usually still enjoying the car but needing more interactive options to really enjoy playing with it on a regular basis.

This little gas pump is super cute and SO fun for kids to "fill up their tanks"! Makes a unique gift!

Candy Land is a CLASSIC and for good reason - it's a great first family game that doesn't require any reading but helps kids learn colors!

Pro parent tip: rig up the card stack to make the game go quicker if you're playing before bedtime. 😉

We have enjoyed our Candy Land so much over the years that the box is literally taped together. When my kids are grown adults I will still always smile whenever I see Candy Land because it is such a special bonding time with my babies!

Balance bikes are a great way to transition into bikes with pedals and are very easy to ride and to practice balancing.

Yes, one more game! But this is another favorite for this age and one of the very first games we play together as a family!

Simple to set up, so many laughs and a quick game that can be over and done within a solid 10 minutes before bedtime!

Hooded bath towels are a great gift for kids and at age 3 I find that my kids get really excited about which towel they get to use after bathtime.

They are especially big fans of animals that have fun sounds associated with them 😉 Little ones of all ages enjoy a fun towel!

For years we had the old school turtle sandbox and it was a nightmare to keep the lid on...I finally bought this sandbox and it's been AWESOME.

The lid is easy enough for little hands to open but sturdy enough where it doesn't come off in weather and the sand stays play-ready year round!

Simple toys are often the ones that get the most love and are played with the most frequently.

A set of animal toys is a must-have for this age and they can be used along with so many other toys!

Car play mat? Animals attack! Train set? Animals on the loose! Doll house? Family visits the farm!

These type of toys are also great for travel or running errands...elephants on parade along the shopping cart while Mommy grabs groceries 😉

Hot Wheels Cars become a BIG favorite for boys around this age and are such a great (affordable!) gift to give.

Three year olds love to line things up and organize their items and having a big hauler truck to house their hot wheels cars will provide countless hours of FUN

Playmobil make high quality toys that LAST. I still have many of my sets from childhood and enjoyed starting to purchase sets for my son when he turned three.

The working lights and ladder will make it a win and the figurines allow for that developed play.

Along with imaginative play Imaginext toys are also fabulous quality and have TONS of different options with lots of features.

My oldest is currently 10 years old and a lot of his toys have been packed up, passed down, or given away...but his Imaginext toys continue to be played with on a regular basis.

He still loves setting them up and using the figurines to play with! I'm glad I started investing in these pieces when he was three as they've really been a huge winner!

I LOVE this playmat and recommend it regularly to other mamas.

I had one similar growing up and have such great memories playing on the mat with my brother and our cars.

It is a great quality and rolls up very easily for storage.

I really did my research when deciding on a play carpet and this one fit all the qualities I was wanting!

I wanted lots of parking spaces, building, divided roads and space for a race car to zoom 😉

Another toy that I still bring out on a regular basis for all of my kids to play with is our wooden train set.

At three your child may get frustrated with putting the track pieces together until their motor skills develop so be warned that it may work best for you to set it up and then let him (or her) play with the track once assembled but it won't take too long for them to get the hang of it and to start creating their own track designs.

I love the quality of the magnetic wood pieces - I still have some of the tracks from our childhood set that work great with newer pieces I bought for our kids.

I know many people start buying Duplo sets at younger ages than age 3 but I like to wait until my kids are fully able to put the pieces together on their own and far enough along in their development that they can be creative and have imaginative ideas with what they want to build.

This is a great first set for beginners!

I personally keep this basketball goal in our playroom. It stays in better shape than it would outside and allows for more frequent play!

It's great that you're able to adjust the height for your child's needs and that it can grow with your child as they get older.

Oh three year olds - the age where the obsession with stuffed animals really begins!

My girls are alllll about beanie boos and I have to admit, I think they are pretty dang cute myself.

They are a nice size so they aren't huge but are also big enough not to easily misplace.

Resist the urge to leave the tags on like you did with your beanie babies as a kid 😉

My girls both LOVED little purses and bags at this age and the combo of a stuffed animal AND a purse? Double win!

We have several of these sets and my 7 year old daughter is still thrilled over getting these as a gift!

At age 3 the dress up stage of childhood is just starting and I AM ALL ABOUT IT.

I just love a little kid in dress up clothes! Personally my girls hit the dress up stage before my son did.

I recommend sizing up on dress-up clothes. If it's a little big, who cares! And that way they can grow into it and get longer life out of it.

This set comes with several pieces and is a great starter!

A baby doll is an item I buy for my girls pretty early on but I wait until age 3 to purchase one of these strollers.

They are super cheap and may break when a younger sibling goes for a ride in them (ask me how I know...) but they are also awesome because they fold up like a legit stroller for storage and provide tons of fun for pushing baby dolls, stuffed animals, etc around!

I LOVED my Puppy Surprise as a kid and still legit have the babies and my kids have loved pulling them out from time to time to play with.

When I found out they still sell them I scooped them up quick!

Now they have all sorts of funky/fun colors to choose from but the basic concept is still the same and the puppies are still as cute and fun to collect!

Playmobil sets are excellent for both boys and girls and a good toy set to start collecting at the older age range of 3 where you can trust that little pieces won't go in the mouth.

I like to keep toys like these in a larger storage bin altogether and pull them out from time to time so they feel like a new toy!

I do NOT trust a three year old with any sort of makeup...however this set? It's ADORABLE and none of it is legit.

It's all cardboard but looks like the real deal and is perfect for the "I wanna be just like Mommy" stage that usually starts around this age.

Plus it all comes in a fun bag which DUH is a huge hit too! Using the zipper is a great way to work on fine motor abilities!

I adore this dollhouse. We keep it out all the time in my daughter's room and it's played with frequently.

It's great because everything can be stored inside of it!

All the pieces are a nice size and the house has many fun features (a must-have for me was a working doorbell!).

A great first dollhouse and a nice set to be able to add pieces too!

Every little girl needs a tea set, right? And this one is super easy to clean after use!

I love toys that build on each other and I like to buy a tea set at age three to go with the play kitchen I bought at age 1 or 2!