Most used toys for 3 yo girls?

[tmarie]

DD is turning 3yo and we are looking for present ideas. Right now she has a new tricycle for outside and a wagon from last year, as well as some garden tools and sidewalk chalk. For inside she has a kitchen set, tons of dolls w/strollers, cradle, etc..., lots of books, puzzles, easel, little people, and a princess castle. She is just getting into princesses. She loves listening to music in the car.

Any ideas? We do not have any electronic toys (Leapster, V-Smile, etc...) and I don't know whether these are a good idea or not. And if so, which ones? We don't a sandbox or water table...but I don't know if she is getting past the point when these are fun? We are in a new house and our lawn is still growing, so I hesitate to do anything but driveway toys we can pull out and put away. I was also wondering about a camera or MP3 player for kids.

TIA!

tmarie
dd#1 5/05
dd#2 7/08

[MarisaSF]

My daughter is 3.75. When she was a new 3, her fave toy was Maggie Leigh (http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2486630). She really likes anything related to dress up, including clothes for herself and for her stuffed animals. She also likes "real" things like gardening tools, the Swiffer (LOL), "sewing" (ie lacing boards I made myself).

She's a little too tall for her water table, but she does play with it when her brother is splashing in it. Maybe they make preschool-height ones?

At a recent garage sale, i got her a scooter, a bike with training wheels, and a computer. She loves the bike and the computer especially.

What does your daughter like best now? Instead of getting something new (ex: water table, Leapster) that you're not sure if she'll like, maybe you could build on something she already has?

I don't think my DD's ready for a camera or MP3 player. She keeps saying she wants a microphone though. :jammin:

[mamalia]

DD is 3yo (born 2/14). She mostly plays with her toy kitchen. She loves to arrange the food and have picnics/tea parties. She loves to collect things in her purse or lunch box - little treasures like cards, play money, coins, small cars & dolls. She LOVES books. And almost daily she asks me to take down her Disney pirate ship, I put it up because it has a lot of small parts.

Activity wise: Outdoors she had a lot of fun planting a little section in our garden. The seeds are just starting to sprout. We recently adopted a caterpillar which we released as a butterfly. Her bug habitat then became home to a ladybug for a short time. DD really enjoyed checking up on her friends each day - and we were all amazed to see the butterfly's life cycle. You can buy caterpillar kits online, and someone told me the habitats (with caterpillar redemption coupons) are available at Ross.

Arts/Crafts: I bought a couple of Kumon books based on a BBB recc. DD enjoys that, well she goes through phases with them. Her favorite is the Cut & Paste book. Paint is ALWAYS a favorite, but we usually only do watercolors at home. She also LOVES making popsicle puppets. The Learning store has kits for that and other art projects, or Michaels sells all the goodies.

Gadgets: DD got a leapfrog thingy as a gift but didn't show much interest. I should probably take a look at it again to try to figure it out. She LOVES playing guitar hero with DH. And she loves her Uncle's gameboy that has this pet puppy game on it (I think it's called Nintendogs). Grandma bought her the FP camera last Christmas. DD played with it daily at first, and it still gets pulled out occasionally now. The picture quality on it is not that great, but she enjoys the "grown up" aspect of taking our picture. That's about all the techie things she likes. Although, I have been eye'ing the Leapfrog globe - probably more so for me at this point. :)

My suggestion for a 3yo gift would be an experiential activity - outing to the movies, zoo membership, art classes, or ballet lessons. Along with a small gift cued to the experience: her own popcorn bowl, an animal tee, a smock, or a tutu. Alternatively, maybe a balance bike? Those seem so cool!

[astro_girl]

Ha! My oldest daughter just turned 4, and I go crazy trying to keep my kids' toys below a critical mass so they won't overwhelm their room or our small house. I found the best investment has been in creative toys such as crayons, lots of paper/coloring books, water colors, "invisible ink" fingerpaints and markers, washable markers, chalk, dry erase markers, play dough/sand, stamps, chalk/dry erase easel, etc. I rotate certain items onto our dining room table (protected by a splash mat) each day. The easel is a tabletop easel, and often-times I encourage my kids to try and busy themselves instead of bugging me for ideas. Having these items ready for instantaneous creativity has been the best sacrifice of dining room space. I just have to weed through the "works of art" daily so they don't overwhelm the table. The best thing is...the art supplies get used (stampers, play dough and molding sand are special items that are supervised activities only) several times a day at impromptu quiet times, and they are tossed once they are used up. I love art supplies since they don't hang around indefinitely like the long-forgotten toys. It's fun to then stock up on new art supplies once the old ones are used up.

Because I have our "art table" perpetually set up, both of my daughters love to draw and write (my 4 year old started writing words at 3!) for long periods of time, and it's a quiet activity where both older kids can sit and be busy simultaneously.