Best Toys for 3 Year Old

My 4 year olds had the Leap Pad my first leap pad, and they were wonderful. For Christmas I will get them the next Leap Pad product for their age. I'm also looking at a "smart cycle" video game. Their big gift will be bikes (they are done with trikes)
For grandparents, I had to limit my mom b/c things were getting out of hand! Now she picks 2 things per child and puts money in their college fund. My mother in law finally agreed to do something similar last year and she sent them savings bonds.

J. my daughter got a leapster when she was 3 and love it we order it of of ebay and it can hook up to the tv it was so grest whenmy car was broken into and it was taken i went on live and got her a new one

My kids have not been into the electronic toys...just as the leapfrog books etc. We do have the leapfrog fridge magnet that sings and makes vowel sounds...my 22 mos old loves it..

The Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD is great! My 5 year old still asks to watch it...it will teach your 3 year old all the letter sounds...

What about an American Girl doll?

We always tell the grandparents one toy, one pair of PJS and college money!

The v smile/ v tech video game system is great. You can get games for different ages, starting at age 3. My 5yr old still loves to play it, but my 7 year old not so much anymore. Others would be puzzels, early games like candyland and cooties, blocks. My kids love all kinds of blocks, mega blocks are good at that age. Play doh and art supplies etc. Books. A kitchen and dress up clothes if she likes to pretend play. You can find all sorts of cool scarves, purses and hats at Good Will. My kids have a toy cash register that they played with alot starting at age 3 - we would play grocery store and I would pretend like I was buying the food. All 3yr olds love flashlights too. Magna Doodles are good travel toys. Hope this helps!

My parents bought my daughter a tunnel with a detachable tent for her 2nd b-day....she is now 4 1/2 and still uses it quite often and our soon to be 2 year old loves it. We took it to a BBQ 3 weeks ago and kids from 1-7 were playing in it and LOVING it. Folds nicely, easy to store and can be used indoors and out. This is just one of those toys that my hubby and I have said over and over, that it was money well spent...and it was not THAT much money.

The small Bounce Houses are good too. They can be used outdoors, in the garage (during the cold months) or even in a room with taller ceilings. This is a little more pricey, but again, the kids LOVE it!!!

My daughter is 2 1/2 and right now her favorite toy is the Magnadoodle. I'm looking forward to reading the other responses to this because she'll also be 3 around Christmas time!

we had a v tech for my daughter when she was 3, she loved it but is didn't last long, it broke within a year.

I bought the Leap Frog Tag Reader for my daughter when she turned 3 and she absolutly loves it and plays with it all the time, you can buy brand new books for around $5-$10 on Ebay which is what I did instead of paying $15-$20 regular price for them. I know she will get ALOT of use out of it and it will help her to learn to read :) I also bought her the carry case and it has a spot for head phones so she can take it with her where ever she goes. It has an automatic shut off to help save on batteries & only takes 2 AA batteries and they have lasted pretty long (about 2-3 months depending on use). Personally I think it was worth the money. Good luck :)

At three we got our daughter some V-tech toys, some of the simpler ones that are usually on amazon for 20 or less. One my daughter loved and it really helped her learn to write with ease (because it gave simple instructions) was the Doodle and Draw. I just saw the receipt this week when I was cleaning out some drawers it was 17 on amazon, she would play with it forever and so would her friends. The battery life seemed to be good too. We also got her the orange lap top from them, she liked it more when she was four though.
Something I have done for ideas for gifts for her (she is 5 now), was went to toysrus.com, amazon, etc and searched learning toys for 3 year olds, etc. If you look them up, you can find reviews which I found to help a lot.

Don't forget games like hi ho cheerio, which teach waiting your turn and counting. Uno is a great one, even though it states it is geered toward bigger kids. Little ones can get the concept with help and only 2-3 players and the bonus is that it reinforces colors and numbers-which is a great learning game. Memory too of course.

My twin daughters are 3 1/2. Some of their favorites are: don't break the ice game, matching game, LeapFrog My First Computer, LeapFrog leap pad, PlayDough ice cream factory, Letter Factory DVD, anything for pretend play...(doctors kit, tea set, etc.), puzzles, SteveSongs (music cds and dvd, www.stevesongs.com) (Mr. Steve is seen on PBS inbetween programs during a.m. toddler shows)They also like the wipe off books where they can practice writing their letters. Also tunnel with the detacable tents are awesome (we have a tunnel, tent is still on our wish list).