Gift Guide for 3-4 year old

 

Nugget Couch/Dupe 

This one I put off for a while- mostly because of a space issue. When we moved earlier this year I decided it was time. We use this daily. It's so fun for my kids to build forts, cars, jump on the cushions etc. But not gonna lie it does take up a lot of space. 

Bicycle 

We are graduating out of the balance bike and starting to transition to a real bike with pedals. We opted not to do training wheels because theoretically he knows how to balance from the balance bike 

Action Figures

We've really entered the pretend play area. We have a Captain  America, Buzz lightyear and Woody that get played with daily. I don't love the ones that make noise- but they are fun for my kids to play with. 

Magnetic cubes 

These were a bit of an impulse buy but my kids play with these pretty frequently. They build towers, robots etc. 

Costumes/pretend play

I know I've harped on these before but I cannot stress them enough- these get played with on the daily at our house. We have super heros and then doctor, firefighter and police officer. They are so fun for pretend play. They also get used a ton when we have friends come over 

Mess free coloring pages 

These are coloring sheets that use special markers that only show up on the special paper. I like this alot because I can walk away and 

Play Tent 

Games- this year my toddler got very into board games. Both my husband and I love board games so we wanted to foster it. Here are some of our favorites 

My First Orchard- Really good first ever game. Good at color matching and practicing taking turns. My 2 year old can also "play" this game with lots of guidance. 

Hi Ho Cheerio- Very fun works on counting. The only con is a lot of little pieces so may not be good if you have younger sibilings. This one goes on sale a lot on Amazon. 

Don't break the ice- Also very fun but this one drives me nuts a little. It's a pain because I have to set the "ice" back up, my toddler can't do it himself. If he plays the game correctly it's fine but a lot of times he will just try to crash the whole thing so it gets old for me really quick

Bluey Scavengar Hunt- This one I personally love. It is a cooperative game so you have to work together to collect all the toys before bedtime. It also involves kids in doing activities (hop on one foot, find something blue etc) It's really fun for a group of kids if you have friends over. You can always adapt the game if the kids playing don't know bluey well- you can change the questions to be about whatever you would like. 

Chutes and Ladders- This one is fun and classic but not my toddlers go to. Our's is spider man and so I think my toddler likes that aspect of it. I've also seen a princess one at our library that seems to be a hit. Teaches turn taking and counting

Candy Land- Classic game that has many different versions (bluey, princess etc).  Teaches turn taking, color identification and counting. 

Book Suggestions

The Bad Seed- Any of the "Food group" books by Jory John and Pete Oswald have been a big hit for us. Our favorite is "The Big Cheese" but they are all good and teach good lessons. They are a bit on the longer side but I'm trying to use to them to transition to chapter books

The World of Worm- These I found at our library and have been really fun for teaching number identification and shapes. It taught my 3 year old shapes in two read throughs I was very impressed. 

Dr Suess books- The cat in the hat, Green Eggs and Ham, One fish two fish. My toddler really likes these but be careful some of them can really be hard to read. I have banned some of them from our house.