children educational toys Archives

10 Most Age Appropriate Toys For 3-Year-Olds

Ophira1 CommentJanuary 4, 2022June 27, 2019

Read time: 5 minutes

There are two criteria for selecting toys for kids, safety and age appropriateness. Many enthusiastic parents buy toys without giving any consideration to the age of the child. Before you buy the next trending toy, ask your self, does this toy match my child’s current skills?

Each child develops at his own pace and often buying toys meant for higher age groups only leaves the child overwhelmed and disinterested.

In order to encourage creativity in play you first need to buy materials (toys and games) that are suited your child’s current skill set.

I always look to my child when I need to buy him a toy. What is his current area of interest? What skills do I see him develop at the moment? Has he spotted something that he wants to try? Using his innate curiosity for things around him we slowly introduce him to new concepts and materials.

There is no rush for him to try everything within a specified time frame. There have been times I buy something I like and my son rejects the toy immediately. Then after a while has passed I see him take a liking to the same toy he rejected earlier. This is because he was not ready to explore when he was first exposed to the toy. There is no rush. More on child led learning here.

Here are a few toys and ideas I think 3-year-olds will enjoy. These are age-appropriate toys for 3-year-olds, some of them also make great 3-year-old birthday gift ideas.

Age Appropriate Toys For 3-year-olds

Puzzles And Pattern Blocks

You can introduce puzzles at age 2 and by age 3 most kids can solve 9-10 piece puzzle sets. This is also a great time to use pattern blocks and allow the child to use his creativity and come up with his own designs.

A few puzzles and pattern blocks to try;

Creative Educational Aids (5 – 9 piece puzzles)

Shumee Animal Floor Puzzle

Melissa & Doug Pattern Blocks

Magnetic tiles

Magnetic tiles is one of the best birthday gift ideas for 3-year-olds. By now most 3-year-olds know how to build using building blocks and magentic tiles add another level of creativity to the mix. The colored tiles hold 3-year-olds attention for long periods of time. This is one toy our son can be seen playing with first thing in the morning.

Coloring And Art

Toddlers love using crayons and paints and getting really messy with them. Copy coloring becomes a particularly interesting activity at this age as toddlers begin to figure out how to color within the lines.

Paint using materials from the kitchen like okra or potatoes. Paint on stones or eggshells. There are many ways to add variation in art and craft.

Outdoor Toys

As 3-year-olds develop gross motor skills engage them in a variety of outdoor play and activities. Toys like a sandbox, trampoline, cricket bat and ball, football, and beach toys all engage little ones to get out there and catch some Vit D and exercise.

Ride-on Toys

This age group also enjoys ride-on toys. They are figuring out balance and motion and ride-on toys are a lot of fun.

Example: Ride on tricycle, bicycle, scooters, and cars

Vehicle Sets

Anything that moves and has wheels can catch the eye of little ones. Most 3-year-olds are beginning to name the different modes of transport and this is a great time to introduce them to pretend play with vehicles

Some of great vehicle toys,

Melissa & Doug Car Loader Truck

Hape Classic Train Toy

Hape Wooden Train Set

Activity Subscription Services

Activity boxes are a great way to introduce little ones to different themes and learning concepts. There are many subscription services these days that provide interesting materials for art and craft activities. These are to be done with the help of a parent and can be used as a way to have conversations around the themes and gauge the child’s interest and likings.

Some of our favorite subscription activity boxes are,

Firstcry Intellikit

Flintobox

More educational toys for 3 year olds.

Dress-up

Pretend play is a huge part of a young child’s games. If your child is enjoying a particular role play buy him that outfit for dress up. Dress up games are a great way to allow the child’s inner creativity to shine.

Blocks

After using the mega blocks since age 1, it is now time for your child to graduate to building blocks that require advanced motor skills.

We really like these bristle blocks, our son finds the texture of the blocks interesting and they require the use of fine motor skills to be made into different structures.

Pretend Playsets

And of course, I am going to end this list with pretend play. If you follow me on Instagram you know we are big on pretend play in our house. We use a Kitchen set, a teepee tent and lots of stuffed toys to build endless hours of fun.

You can catch my reviews on our Hape kitchen set and Cuddly Coo teepee tent here.

Use your child’s interest and find toys that cater to his creativity. There are so many pretend play toys out there from doll houses to doctor sets. Find a few that interest your child and use pretend play as a way to spend one on one time with your child.

I hope this list is handy to moms of three-year-olds. What toys does your child like to play with?

25 Low-Prep And Easy Indoor Activities For Toddlers

OphiraLeave a commentMarch 25, 2022April 17, 2019

Read time: 8 minutes

child coloring - indoor-activities-for-1-year-olds-3-year olds

Keeping toddlers engaged for long periods of time is a challenge for most parents. Before you hand out the iPad, here are some easy low prep indoor activities for toddlers.

I work from home and our 3-year-old doesn’t go to playschool. So, if you are wondering how I keep him busy, read on.

We have our own little system of work and play that suits his interests. I believe in child-led learning and exploration. Most times I am only providing him with the tools and he uses and learns with them in a child led way. There is no forcefulness, no pressure to learn concepts or to complete an activity if he doesn’t like it, and no strict rules on how to play.

All play in our home is explorative and imaginative.

For a 2-3-year-old my focus is on sensory activities, imaginative play, development of fine motor skills, art and craft and introduction of educational concepts through some educational activities.

As I mentioned earlier, I create a safe space for my son to play his games in, introduce these activities and tools, give minimal instructions where needed and then just let him use his hands and imagination to play.

All play is learning. This method has benefitted our son immensely. He enjoys his play environment and has learned key life skills through play.

In a previous post on screen-free activities, I already covered some of these activities and how I keep screentime to a minimum in our home. The following list includes activities from the old list and some new activities that a 2-3-year-old can easily do at this learning stage.

All of these indoor activities for toddlers are low prep and don’t require you to posses DIY skills or be a Pinterest mom.

Let’s get started.

LOW PREP INDOOR ACTIVITIES FOR TODDLERS

Sensory Play For Toddlers

Sensory Bins

Our son loves sensory bins. I usually use materials from our pantry, some cups, spoons in different sizes and voila a 20-minute coffee break for mama is set up.

Do not leave the toddler alone with such sensory bins. Vigilance is needed. So if you are a work from home mom, you can make a small set up close to your laptop and monitor the play.

Sensory bins provide much-needed exposure to different textures and sensory feedback. Add in a few cups and create a pouring activity on the side that helps with hand-eye coordination and motor skills.

Read here to learn more about the benefits of sensory play in child development.

Here are some of our favorite sensory bin activities:

toddler playing with a sensory bin made of rice- indoor activities for toddler — Sensory bin made using rice

sensory bin made with wheat flour — Sensory bin with a nature scene made using wheat flour

sensory bin made with beans — Sensory bin made using beans- Rescue the pom poms activity

Water play

What kid doesn’t like playing with water. This is a simple activity that requires a jug of water and a few cups. The toddler can practice pouring water in different cups.

Sometimes we change it up and build a Car wash station. All you need is baby friendly soap, a big box, and some water. Create a soapy foam. Then give the child a scrubber and his cars to wash. I also add cups and spoons so that he can practice pouring after the car washing activity.

Toddlers love these water games and each of these sensory activities can keep them busy for a good 20-30 mins.

Play with dough

Can’t say enough about play-doh. Play-doh gives children the opportunity to use their hands, improves fine motor skills and encourages creativity.

We use the classic play-doh, but you can also make homemade play-doh.

Fine-motor Skills Activity For Toddlers

We make use of fine motor skill-based toys and activities to help develop this key skill. Fine motor skills are the first step towards developing writing skills.

Here is a list of toys for fine-motor skill development.

Activities for fine-motor skills

4. Stickers

5. Making Pasta Necklace

Use some raw pasta and some thread to build pasta necklaces.

6. Beading activities

7. Cutting activity with scissors

Draw lines on a piece of paper for the child to practice cutting. Once the child is good at cutting, you can draw zig-zag lines or different shapes for them to further develop fine motor skills. Here is a great scissor skills practice book for kids.

8. Sorting Pom Poms

We love this Learning resources set for fine motor activities. The toddler-friendly tweezers can be used to sort pom poms into different color groups. Simple activities like these not only develop fine motor skills but also teach the toddler color recognition.

Art and Craft For Toddlers

9. Easel for painting and drawing

10. Leaf painting

Collect different types of leaves on your next nature walk and bring them back home for some leaf painting activity.

This activity provides an opportunity to talk about the different types of trees, their leaves, the life cycle of a plant.

11. Vegetable painting

You can make use of vegetables like potatoes and okra for some painting activities too. Let the child use his creativity and come up with different designs using these simple natural materials.

12. Art and craft based on a favorite book

I draw out scenes from his current favorite storybook and ask him to color it. Safe, non-toxic finger paints or toddler friendly chunky crayons are the best. They not only provide a rich sensory experience but also help with fine motor skills development.

Get a 10% discount on all Dabble Play Art non-toxic, eco friendly art supplies. Use code DM09 at checkout. My personal favorites are their finger paints.

Sometimes we look for free printable activities for toddlers based on his favorite books.

Here is an activity we did recently based on one of his favorite books – Polar Bear, Polar Bear

polar bear polar bear book based activity for toddlers — Polar bear, Polar bear book based activity for toddlers

13. Sand tracing

A sand tray allows the child to trace the alphabet and numbers providing a sensorial experience along with fine motor skill development. Here is a video to understand how to set up this learning activity.

Imaginative And Pretend Play For Toddlers

Pretend play is huge in our home. Toddlers love mimicking adults and adult activities. Some pretend play and open-ended toys are a must-buy for this stage of toddler development. You can select toys that match the child’s interest.

14. Play Kitchen

Here is a review and our experience using the Hape Play Kitchen

15. Teepee Tent

Here is a review and our experience using the Cuddly Coo Teepee Tent.

16. Open-ended toys like Magna Tiles, Rainbow stacker rings, building blocks, cloth blocks can be used in multiple ways to build different scenes for sensory play or pretend play.

17. Costumes of the child’s favorite characters

18. Child’s interest-based pretend play toys like Doctor set, Teacher set, doll house, or car park

19. Storytelling

Educational Activities For Toddlers

Ages two and up is a great time to get started on educational concept learning. At this stage only focus on exposure not how much is being learned. Learning happens in time with consistent exposure to concepts, correlation, and conversation.

Here are some educational activities for toddlers

20. Sing songs & Dance: Sing Nursery rhymes, different cultural songs, the ABC’s song. Simple song and dance teach little children a lot about language, life around them, rhythm, and movement.

21. Read books on a variety of subjects: Incorporate books on a variety of subjects and in different formats for the toddler. Read here to know more about the benefits of reading daily to your kids. Here are a few age-appropriate book lists for toddlers

Books for babies

Books for 1-year-olds

Books for 2-year-olds

22. Conversation

A conversation about the child’s topics of interest, pointing out to objects of interest build the child’s knowledge base on different topics. Answer the child’s question in an in-depth manner. When you don’t know about something, research the subject, find books and figure out ways to explain it to the child in a simple way.

23. Subscription boxes

When I am running out of creativity and looking for learning activities I rely on children’s subscription boxes. Some of our favorite ones are:

Firstcry Intellikit
Flintobox
Hobby Ideas

24. Cooking with kids

Cooking teaches children so many concepts. They learn about different fruits, vegetables, measurements, counting, and practice motor skills too.

Here is an article on the importance of cooking with toddlers. It includes tips on how to get started and a few easy recipes to make with your toddler at home.

Everyday Routine Tasks For Toddlers

25. Home chores

When looking for activities for toddlers at home, chores are the first place to get started. Toddlers want to be more independent and in many ways, we rob them of opportunities to be truly independent around the house because of our fear of messes.

Allowing them to be more involved in the day to day activities around the house is not only a great way to keep them engaged but is also teaching them key life skills and making them more self-reliant.

Baby proof the house and make sure that the area is safe for your toddler to navigate.

Then give them simple instructions on each activity, guide them through the steps and let them have a go at it.

Here is a post on simple toddler chores to get started with when planning activities for toddlers at home.

Helping out around the house is the simplest way to build confidence in kids and make them feel like a part of the family unit.

That’s how we keep our son engaged at home. If you try any of these indoor activities for toddlers, do write to me and tell me how it went.

How do you keep your toddler busy when you work? Maybe your tips can help fellow moms. Comment and let us know.

How To Select Learning Toys For Children

Ophira22 CommentsJanuary 4, 2022January 30, 2018

Read time: 4 minutes

learning toys - open-ended toys- building blocks

I often get asked on how to engage a toddler with educational and learning toys. While every parent wishes their toddler learn and develop through play. The key lies in introducing activities that are age appropriate and match the developmental milestones. A good learning toy can help foster the child’s imagination and creativity.

This post is sponsored by Skola Toys. But all views and opinions expressed are my own.

So how do we as parents choose the correct educational toys for our children? A few key criteria in toy selection can go a long way in enriching our children cognitively and simultaneously build a collection of toys that lasts a long time.

Selection Criteria For Learning Toys

Safety First

That shiny train set staring back at you from the toy store window may look like the best gift for your child, but you need to check a few things before you go ahead and buy it.

Always look for the age group indicated on the toy. This is a safeguard against buying toys meant for older children that contain small parts that pose a choking risk to your young child.

Check that a toy has smooth edges and is devoid of pointed parts.
It should be made with sturdy materials that can sustain extensive rough use.
The size, shape, and weight should also be manageable for your child.
Paints used in the toy are lead-free and use natural pigments.

Age Appropriate

Each stage of development goes hand in hand with a certain set of skills. As children grow they become adept at performing certain tasks. The toys you choose should also match the difficulty level according to the age of the child.

If a toy is too complex the child can get frustrated with it and may not be able to enjoy the toy. The recommended age group specified on the toy should help you in making this decision.

How to select age appropriate toys? Ask yourself these questions when you are shopping for toys the next time

Does the toy allow age appropriate problem-solving?
Is it challenging the child in an incremental manner as he grows, allowing the child to use the same toy in different ways?

A simple example can be stacking toys that vary according to age and skill level of the child. These toys challenge the child’s age appropriate skill level and their simple design foster creativity to use the toy in different ways. Look at the below example of a stacking toy designed for age and skill level of the child.

Skola learning toy stage 1 – Image courtesy Skola Toys

Skola learning toy stage 2 – Image courtesy Skola Toys

Skola learning toy stage 4 — Skola learning toy stage 3 – Image courtesy Skola Toys

Skola learning toy phase 3 — Skola learning toy stage 4 – Image courtesy Skola toys

Durability

It’s a simple fact that wooden toys outlast plastic toys. There is a reason why they are called generational toys. They serve as toys when we are kids and take us down the memory lane, as we grow older. It’s important to check that the wooden toys are made out of hardwood and use safe natural paints.

Simple & Open-Ended

Toddlers are great at repurposing household articles; a rectangular cardboard box can serve as a bus one day and a house the next.

Open ended toys are often simple and don’t overwhelm the senses, on the contrary they challenge children to use their creativity. Great examples of open ended toys are building blocks and stacking/nesting rings. These toys allow the toddler to take charge of how to play with them. They grow with the child and provide limitless opportunities for play.

Battery operated toys often overwhelm a child’s senses. This is especially true if a single toy contains varied colors, shapes, textures, flashing lights and loud music. The child may not be able to focus on any one learning concept.

However a simply designed wooden shape sorter, for example, allows the child an opportunity to focus on shape sorting and from there to move onto other concepts.

In my quest to find such educational toys I came across Skola Toys. They design wooden educational toys that are researched to target developmental milestones. Skola Toys aims to break down key developmental skills and learning concepts as per the age of the child. This helps cement learning the concept through play. They call this the Learning Journeys.

They cover learning journeys like Dexterity, Environment, Numbers, Language and Cognition through their wooden toys.

These type of learning toys are more enjoyable to the child and help in the better understanding of concepts. You can check all their learning toys here.

What criteria do you use to select toys for your little ones? Leave me a comment below.

Posts on toy gift guides:

This is a sponsored post. However, all thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.