Today, the shelves of children's stores are overflowing with goods for every color and taste. Every day it becomes more and more difficult to figure out which toys are really useful and educational for 3-year-old children, and which are not. The opinion of psychologists on this matter is clear: when choosing items for games, it is important to be guided not by high cost, popularity or the presence of “cool” functions, but by common sense. You need to ask yourself questions: “What qualities will the baby develop? How positive will his view of the outside world be? Is the toy age appropriate?
Features of development at 3 years
The three-year-old baby continues to actively develop, the functioning of his nervous system is improving, and the musculoskeletal system is being formed. At this age, endurance and concentration increase. The child begins to show patience. He strives to do everything himself.
At 3 years old, children begin to ask hundreds of questions: “Why is this? Why? How?". In this way, an idea of the outside world is formed. Later they will learn to operate with the acquired knowledge and subject it to in-depth analysis.
Play remains the baby's main activity. Now a plot appears in it, consisting of several events: the car leaves the garage and transports cargo, the doll wakes up and goes to eat.
Imagination develops, and by the end of 3 years the baby tries on different roles: doctor, fireman, policeman, his parents. Around this time, the ability to analyze appears. The child can identify an extra object based on a certain characteristic and find differences in the picture. When solving a problem, he acts less and less experimentally, and thinks more about his actions. For example, he builds a house from a construction set, leaving space for a door, a window, and proportions the opening to the size of the toy that will live in it.
What games do children at this age prefer?
After recent studies, the preferences of children from one and a half to three and a half years were revealed. Based on these data, you can even create a kind of hit parade of gaming preferences of children of this age. So: the first place is occupied by toys depicting animals; second place belongs to amusement toys; in third place are toys that are related to everyday life; in fourth place are cars; fifth place was taken by dolls, followed by balls, hoops, etc.
Children aged two and a half to three years prefer playing with flat models of animals. At this age, children prefer to play with “little animals” such as fox, wolf, hare, tiger, lion, bear. They are also interested in animals that are not typical for our country: elephants, hippopotamuses, sperm whales, etc. By observing animals, children acquire basic knowledge about them. Kids will learn that animals have paws, noses, ears, that animals drink, eat, and move. In a word, children learn that animals are living beings.
Children love to play with wind-up toys. The first meeting with such toys should take place in a friendly environment. If an adult introduces a child to such a toy, then he should not tell the child that the toy animal can “bite” or pretend to be afraid of him.
They often do this to make a joke, but the effect is completely different.
But toys that make them look like humans (baby elephants in aprons, cockerels in boots) occupy an important place among other toys. After all, you can talk to them, you can bathe them, feed them
Do not forget that the activities of a three-year-old baby become more difficult than playing with a 6-month-old child. Children at this age love to reproduce more complex situations; in them they use toys and all kinds of construction sets. Such sets should include geometric volumetric figures (bars, cylinders, balls, prisms, etc.).
Toys that reflect a person’s life (kitchenware, furniture, etc.) take an honorable third place in children’s preference. The baby will be happy to place dishes on the toy table. Sets of such items will be a wonderful gift for a girl from 2.5 to 3 years old.
Playing with household toy objects, the girl will open up many possibilities: cooking, setting the table, clearing dishes from the table, washing them. Mom, watching her daughter, will be able to appreciate her thriftiness and neatness. After all, the baby plays her mother in the game.
Such games are not a deviation from the norm. On the contrary, it is a reproduction of a happy family life, in which an atmosphere of love and mutual assistance reigns. Such an environment will help develop in a future man the qualities necessary to become a wonderful family man.
Educational toys for children from 2 to 3 years old can also be various toy vehicles. Most kids love to play with cars. Preference is given to medium-sized cars. Most of all, children love to play with van cars that have opening doors. This is due to the fact that such a machine is a “mystery”. No one sees what's inside, but you can guess it. Little girls love to play with cars just as much as boys. Moreover, they come up with very interesting stories for the game. The imagination and creative abilities of children at this age are already so well developed that they can try to find something interesting even in any ordinary object, making it a new stage for their development.
Current toys
The mental development of a preschool child is closely related to motor activity. The more mobile the baby, the higher his thinking abilities. Therefore, at the age of 3 years, toys that require mobility are especially relevant: balls, bicycles, balance bikes, children's sports corner, etc.
In addition, 3 years is the age of accumulation of ideas about the outside world. The child actively learns the names of objects and learns to pronounce them correctly. It is important to tell him about everything that is happening around him, and at the same time call things by their proper names (for example, a dove bird, a crow bird, a car, a truck). Useful toys include educational cards, books with fairy tales, children's encyclopedias, educational posters, tablets, and magnetic alphabet.
Other relevant areas of development:
- concentration of attention;
- memory;
- orientation in space and time;
- visual-figurative thinking;
- imagination;
- fine motor skills;
- speech.
Varieties
A large selection of toys allows parents to find the right one for their beloved child. All that remains is to determine what exactly you like.
Sorters
The name implies the main function of the toy - sorting objects. The design of the toy itself (frame) should tell the child the rules for sorting, most often by shape. Thanks to the ideas invented by Maria Montessori, children develop fine motor skills, train movement coordination, gain knowledge about the color and shape of objects, and become diligent and attentive. The sorter toy is best suited for babies under 4 years old.
Exercise equipment
This type includes mobiles, rattles and musical instruments.
Every parent knows that a mobile hanging above the crib perfectly develops the baby’s memory and attention, and a correctly chosen rattle will help develop the baby’s fine motor skills and ear for music.
counting board
A counting board or abacus (from the Latin abacus - counting board) is a pyramid with pins for stringing balls of different colors on them. The pins are arranged in ascending order: from small (for stringing one ball) to large (for 5 balls). The goal of the game is to familiarize the child with counting by sorting the balls by color and stringing them onto pins.
Educational arcs with children's toys
In the car or at home, educational arcs with toys are suitable to help parents. They develop motor skills, tactile and color perception.
Such toys have a universal fastening; their length and width are adjustable with hinges, which makes them more versatile. Most often, the arches are made of bright plastic and a “clip” is used as fastening, so they can be easily attached to a stroller, crib and/or car seat.
Arches with a suction cup fastening can be used as floor arches at home or at a party.
Toys attached to the arc will entertain the baby. Most of them are made of soft fabric and make loud or rustling sounds.
Some toys are filled with small plastic balls to develop hand motor skills, while others can be found for children's teeth.
Interactive
The name itself contains an important goal - development through entertainment. By pressing a certain button, the baby gets the desired result and joy. Depending on age, sounds can be short or long, in the form of a word or a whole phrase. This helps increase vocabulary, auditory memory and motor coordination.
Tabletop
Board games, especially in a company, help you learn to work in a team, show your initiative, perseverance, and train your memory.
Board games can be divided into several types depending on the age of the children.
3-5 years. The details of the game for this age are large and bright. If these are puzzles, then no more than 40 pieces. If the game is to teach counting, then up to 10. If it is a game of cubes, then with large pictures.
Top 8 toys for children 3 years old
Psychologists believe that toys that use imagination are more useful for children. That is, when choosing between a talking doll and a regular one, you should give preference to the second option. It would be better if the child comes up with the dialogue himself and can change it depending on the game plot.
Of course, musical toys have their place. Various flying specimens and radio-controlled cars are interesting and delight children. But for the most part they are suitable for entertainment, not development. Read on for a list of current educational toys for 3-year-old children.
Construction sets and mosaics
Such toys are definitely useful. They train fine motor skills, perseverance, spatial orientation, and have a positive effect on the baby’s speech, imagination and thinking. Moreover, there are many variations of designers:
- magnetic;
- block;
- cubes;
- on suction cups;
- in the form of Velcro;
- in the form of honeycombs;
- with bolts and nuts.
Figures of people, animals, fairy-tale creatures
With the help of such toys, you can learn names or play out various scenes that develop the imagination and introduce the child to the norms of behavior in society.
For the age of 3 years, the following characters are relevant:
- domestic and wild animals;
- baby dolls;
- female and male dolls;
- favorite characters from fairy tales and cartoons.
Moreover, it is wrong to believe that dolls are an extra toy for boys. One or two princesses will find use in a game where the baby will be a knight. Through playing with dolls, it is easier to explain how to behave correctly with girls, that they are weaker, and why they need to give in and help.
Puzzles
At the age of 3, logic games become relevant. They train ingenuity, speech, all types of thinking.
Here is a list of the most popular puzzle toys:
- a magazine with stickers that need to be glued to certain places;
- puzzles with 8–16 elements: wooden, cubes, cardboard, 3D;
- matryoshka;
- sorters;
- lacing;
- children's lotto, dominoes, other board games;
- labyrinths.
Vehicles
Such toys develop logical thinking, imagination, and fine motor skills. They teach spatial orientation, and arouse boys' interest in mechanics.
Children 3 years old are interested in the following vehicles:
- strollers for dolls (for girls);
- racing cars, track, parking (for boys);
- train with railway;
- construction equipment;
- special vehicles: fire, police, ambulance.
Outdoor toys
It is important for a three-year-old child to spend a lot of time outdoors. Therefore, he should have enough toys for the street. Which ones are the best?
- Balls.
- Bike.
- Three-wheeled scooter.
- Runbike.
- Sandbox set.
- Bubble.
- Colored crayons.
Toys for creativity
Creative activities not only train your imagination. They promote better concentration, improve memory, and improve the baby’s fine motor skills and speech.
For a three-year-old, the following will seem especially interesting:
- coloring books;
- album and colored pencils, markers;
- colored paper and glue;
- brush and paints (gouache, honey watercolor, finger paints);
- plasticine and modeling dough;
- thematic sets (for example, for painting plaster figures).
Educational toys
At 3 years old, a child can be introduced to letters, counting, geometric shapes, and shades of color.
The following toys are suitable for intellectual development:
- children's tablets and posters with the alphabet;
- training phone, laptop;
- cards and children's encyclopedias;
- magnetic board with the alphabet.
Mosaic and puzzles
By assembling puzzles or mosaics, children train their hand-eye coordination and gain information about shape, color, and size. In addition, they comprehend the philosophy of life that all big things are made up of many small ones.
Buy the simplest puzzles and mosaics for a 2-3 year old child. For example, a mosaic of 4-6 fragments with large, comfortable handles that make it possible to pull out parts from it.
The mosaic should consist of the simplest shapes - circles, squares. With the development of thinking and speech, more complex tasks become available to children - folding a pyramid with a large number of rings, mastering inserts with images of various objects, where individual pictures are part of one large image.
Important Features
The relevance and educational benefits of a toy are far from the only qualities that parents should be guided by when purchasing. It is important to pay attention to the following characteristics and features:
- Safety. At 3 years old, a child can still taste objects. It is important that the toy is made of non-toxic materials, does not have an unpleasant odor, and does not contain too small parts.
- Age appropriate. In life, it often happens that a child is interested in the toys of younger or older children. There is no need to forbid him to do this. For example, at 3 years old it is quite possible to introduce your baby to dominoes or checkers and let him rattle with a rattle. But it is better to purposefully choose those options that correspond to development. For example, the same domino, but for children, or instead of a rattle - maracas or another musical instrument.
- Impact on development. Before purchasing this or that toy, it is important to think about what qualities it will develop in a child. Of course, not all copies need to be useful; they also need to be interesting and entertaining. But their share should be small, up to ⅓ of the total mass.
- Impact on the psyche. Parents should also pay attention to what kind of understanding of the world this or that toy creates. For mental health, it is important that the child is surrounded by kind characters and realistic animals. Fairy-tale creatures are also needed, but their share should be reasonable. If a child plays with monsters, robots, purple dogs or fluffy pink elephants, this will not have the best effect on his perception of reality.
- Sanity. At one international toy exhibition, a specimen was presented that had to be cut, after which the insides would fall out of it: heart, liver, lungs. Or take the same dolls with a detailed depiction of the genitals. Are they suitable for gaming and what games can you play with them? Using common sense, it is better to leave them in the store.
And most importantly: when choosing toys at 3 years old, you should take into account the child’s interest in them. You should not impose your opinion, guided only by the benefits of the selected specimen and the desire to develop the baby. Children at this age already have their own character, preferences, and certain inclinations. It is also worth considering that the parent’s participation in the game is still important for the child. You need to show how to handle the toy and what to do to complete the task. Be sure to praise your child’s efforts, his ingenuity, imagination, and intelligence.
Gifts for a girl
Gifts for a little princess should bring pleasant emotions and vivid impressions. A girl is a future lady, mother, housewife. Therefore, the task of the gifts is to help her understand various feminine wisdom and teach her to love the world around her. Toys, dolls, jewelry, beauty items - all this is given to little girls. Suitable gifts for a baby:
- Doll house - at the age of three, girls love to play with dolls and create a cozy home for them. Choose a house with large elements, durable parts, and no sharp corners.
- Children's kitchen with everything you need: table, gas stove, sink, oven. This is the dream of any three-year-old girl - her mother’s assistant; she will be happy to join the story game.
- Sets for playing housekeeping : toy dishes, iron and ironing board, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, sewing machine. You can buy your little princess a supermarket trolley with groceries.
- Cinderella set : mop, brush, dustpan, bucket with mop wringer mechanism. The baby will learn to help her mother and master the skills necessary for every girl.
- Dolls - you can choose a baby doll that resembles a real child, a Disney princess, as a gift for a three-year-old girl, or buy a doll of the same age in approximately the same outfit as the birthday girl. There are many interesting dolls on sale from different manufacturers.
- Accessories for dolls : crib and playpen, stroller, bathtub, bedding, other items necessary for a little mother to care for her doll daughters and sons.
- Children's puppet theater - finger or glove, magnetic, puppet. You can choose wooden dolls with wire handles that can take different poses while playing as a gift for your baby.
- Playmobil game construction set especially for girls. The birthday girl will build a castle in which fairy fairies, princesses and mini-dolls from this play set will live.
- Interactive cat - she follows the commands of her little mistress, purrs and follows her. The girl will take care of a furry interactive friend and learn to be kind to animals.
- Soft toy . A cute soft bunny, a cat, a dog, a teddy bear - choose a toy made of high-quality material, ask the seller for a quality certificate for such a product.
- Sports gifts - a jump rope, a hoop, a ball, a set for playing badminton, you can buy a bright sports suit for a girl. Sports activities develop strength, endurance, and dexterity.
- Rocking horse - choose a bright, beautiful rocking horse for the girl, on which she can ride around the house, on the playground, along the paths of the park. This is a useful toy for the baby's health and physical development.
- Set of children's cosmetics . A little lady at 3 years old is already copying her mother, she wants to be like her. Buy her a set of healthy cosmetics, which includes eye shadow, hygienic lipstick, nail polish, hand and body cream.
- Jewelry and a box for it . For your baby's birthday, give children's jewelry in a box or blanks for making them. A girl will happily wear beads, a bracelet, a hoop, a brooch, and hairpins with a beautiful outfit.
- Jewelry - gold or silver earrings, a chain with a pendant or cross. Such a gift can be given by a mother, grandmother or godmother - the closest and dearest people.
- Necessary little things for a young lady . The birthday girl will be happy if you give her a beautiful suitcase in which she will find a mirror, a comb, sunglasses, hair clips and a hair hoop.
- A children's watch on their wrist - the little one will be delighted with such a gift. Opt for a bright accessory with a girlish design, with pictures from your favorite cartoon.
- A fashionable handbag or a bright backpack with the image of a princess or cartoon character. A girl will take a backpack or purse with her to kindergarten or for a walk, putting the things she needs for play in the accessory.
- Collectible cartoon characters : Smeshariki, Masha and the Bear, Fixies, Luntik and his friends. Replenish the birthday girl’s collection of toys with the missing items.
- brightly colored toy pillow Such accessories will decorate the room of a little princess.
- Pleasant little things : a bouquet or figurine of balloons, a spinning top, a kaleidoscope, tattoo stickers, a beautiful colored umbrella, paper dolls with clothes and many other gifts.
