By the time your little girl reaches the age of 3 she is either in preschool or about to start preschool. She is socializing with people outside her family more often and her sense of independence seems to be growing by leaps and bounds.
Most 3 year olds also can spend longer periods of time playing on their own as long as they have toys and activities that hold their interest. We have done a good deal of research and put together a list of premium and highly rated toys and gifts for 3 year old girls.
In a Rush? See Our Top 3 Picks Just Below
Top Pick: Magnetic Tiles Set
Runner Up: Teeter Totter
2nd Runner Up: Quality Play Kitchen
Our Criteria for Choosing Good 3 Year Old Girl Toys
As parents and grandparents ourselves we want to know what the criteria is when people recommend a toy for the children we love. With that in mind we felt you might be interested in knowing what criteria we used in selecting the toys and gifts for this list of toys. Our criteria is based on the following:
Educational Value
The first thing we look at is the educational value of any toy we select. By educational value we mean the toy’s ability to aid the child’s physical, mental and emotional development. This includes encouraging the child to use their imagination to solve problems and their curiosity to explore the world around them.
Entertainment Value
We also look at the entertainment value of a toy. After all toys are supposed to provide fun for a child. We based the entertainment value on the toy’s ability to hold the child’s interest as well as whether or not it will grow with the child providing them with more than a few weeks or months of fun.
The Best Gift Ideas & Toys for 3 Year Old Girls List
1. Disney Princess Dress Up Outfits
Every little girl loves playing dress and this princess dress up trunk will make a great birthday gift or Christmas present for your own 3 year old princess. This trunk contains 3 skirts, 4 tops, hair ribbons, chokers, a necklace and a play tiara.
This dress up trunk will aid children in learning how to dress themselves, engaging in imaginative play and socialization when they play dress up with a friend or a sibling. The clothing runs sizes 4 to 6.
Positives
Easy for child to put on themselves
Material is lightweight
Negatives
Not the best quality
2. Bianco Flower Garden
Studies have shown that girls lag behind boys when it comes to STEM subjects. Building toys are one way to introduce girls to some of the STEM principles at an early age. This flower building set will make a great gift that any preschool girl will love and help create an interest in building sets. This build a flower garden toy makes a great Christmas or birthday gift that is sure to excite any young girl on your shopping list.
This set comes with 120 pieces of BPA and Phthalates and PVC free and can be used inside or outside. They are easy to clean and fun to use.
This building kit will help your child develop their fine motor skills, hand/eye motor skills, color recognition, sorting skills, counting and even help the child recognize the different parts of a flower.
Positives
Encourages a child’s creativity
Great toy for social interaction since children can build a garden together
Negatives
A lot of small parts so watch around young children who still tend to put objects in their mouth
3. Little Pritti Princess Purse Set
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Little girls love to emulate their mothers and other older women so a purse with all the (pretend) womanly objects in it makes for a great birthday or Christmas gift for any young girl. This toy purse set includes a purse, wallet, play money, credit cards, cell phone, lipstick, make up, and keys. This purse set is perfect for the child using her imagination for pretend shopping or she can leave the play contents at home and bring the purse along on real visits to the store with mom or dad.
Positives
Purse can actually be used by child
Lots of fun accessories for imaginative play
Negatives
Handles may break easily
4. T-Ball Set
This Franklin T-Ball set makes a great spring or summer birthday gift for any little girl who wants to try her hand at sports. This T-ball set up will grow with your child allowing them to practice their batting and improve their hand/eye coordination for the next 3 or 4 years.
This setup has a hanging tee for the youngest children to use and then transforms into a regular T-ball tee for older kids to practice their batting. It comes with 4 balls and a plastic bat.
Positives
Easy to use
Easy to assemble
Negatives
Everything sticks to the Velcro. Sand, grass etc.
5. Swivel See-Saw
This see-saw is a combination between a teeter totter and a merry-go-around since it will rotate 360 degrees as the children go up and down. This makes a perfect outdoor playground gift for Christmas or a birthday. This see-saw has a heavy duty frame and is powder coated to help prevent rust so it will be more long lasting.
Using this fun teeter -totter will help children develop gross motor and social skills since it needs at least two people to use. It will hold a user weight of 200 pounds so it will go with the child.
Positives
Easy to assemble
Sturdy and safe
Negatives
Rubber handle grips are not the best
6. LeapFrog Scoop and Learn Ice Cream Cart
This cute little ice cream cart makes a great birthday gift or Christmas gift for any young child who enjoys playing at owning a business. The special ice cream scoopers scoops up ice cream and topping to make great looking ice cream cones.
This cart is designed to help your child recognize colors, numbers, and work on sequencing. Pushing the cart helps to develop gross motor skills, and playing at filling orders helps your child develop their social skills.
Positives
Lots of activities to keep your child busy
Great for teaching children to follow directions
Negatives
Some problems with the sound
7. Play Kitchen
This cute Step 2 Fun with Friends Kitchen makes the perfect gift for any little girl’s 3rd birthday who has an interest in cooking. The kitchen comes with realistic lights and sounds as your child busy themselves preparing meals for your whole family. The kitchen has built-in shelves, a fridge, oven and microwave, a few pots, pans, utensils and place settings for 2 people. There are even a couple of storage bins for keeping extra food or other items.
Positives
Pretty easy to assemble
Sound feature is great
Negatives
No instructions for assembly
8. Water Table
Let your child create some cool summertime fun with this Step 2 water table toy and it’s 13 accessories including a large bucket, 2 cups, rubber duck, frog and fish squirters, strainer, flipper, spinners, and 3 maze pieces. Pour water in the top section of the table and it will rain back into the bottom pond spinning the spinners as it rains. This water table will make a great gift for that late spring or summer birthday and any little girl will be excited to play with it. This water table will grow with your child providing them with years of fun play.
Positives
Provides hours of fun for children of various ages (taller children may want a stool when playing.)
Sturdy
Negatives
Difficult to empty
9. Pony Cycle Horse Toy
If you are looking for that special Christmas present your child will love it’s this Pony Cycle ride on toy. This pony can ride on flat ground indoors or out of doors. This pony is soft to the touch which any young child will love. When riding this pony they simply pump the foot pedals to get the pony to move forward. This pony will aid the child in developing their gross motor skills and encourage their imaginative play.
Positives
Kids love the fact that the horse’s head bobs up and down as he moves along
Will grow with the child
Negatives
Some parents experienced the horse breaking within a few days or weeks
10. Magnetic Blocks
This magnetic block set makes for a great Christmas or birthday gift and will encourage your child to explore their creativity. This set comes with 133 pieces of various shaped blocks and includes window, door and roof pieces. This is a great toy for preschoolers since this set allows them to build all sorts of things from various buildings, to vehicles, animals, Ferris wheels and much more.
These blocks will help children develop their fine motor skills, hand/eye coordination, problem solving skills and creativity. Children will also be able to use these blocks to practice their sorting skills, color recognition, and counting.
Positives
Lots of shapes
Encourages creativity
Negatives
Some sets are missing pieces
What Are Good Gift Ideas for a 3 Year Old Girl Who Has Everything?
Some children tend to have more toys than they can actually enjoy playing with, if the 3 year old girl in your life is one of these children then here are some alternate gifts that you can feel great about giving the child for their birthday or Christmas.
1. Toy Box
Instead of giving another toy, why not give that little girl something to keep her toys in so that she can learn to put things away and keep her room clean. This sturdy toy box comes with a lightweight lid at detaches for safety and no assembly required.
Positives
Sturdy
No assembly required
Negatives
Some users found the color of the lid to be slightly darker than pictured
2. Kids Bedding Set
In place of another toy, why not give that little girl a bedding set to dress up her bedroom. This bedding set comes with 5 pieces, a flat and fitted sheet, pillow case, pillow sham and comforter. There are several themes to choose from making it easier to find a set that matches your child’s room décor.
Positive
Nice fluffy comforter
vibrant colors
Negatives
Bedding is not very soft
Tips for Finding Great Christmas or Birthday Gifts for a 3 Year Old Girl
- By age 3 your little girl is really starting to use her imagination so look for toys that will spark their creativity and engage them in imaginative play.
- Try to find toys that can provide open ended play. Toys such as building blocks that can be used in a number of different ways provides more entertainment value than a toy that only serves one purpose.
- Choose some toys that encourage your child to be active rather than all passive toys.
Wrapping Up Our List of Great Gift Ideas for 3 Year Old Girls
Purchasing toys and gifts for 3 year olds should not be stressful and with this list you should be able to find some great ideas for any little girl of this age on your shopping list.
