The Best Gift Ideas for Three Year Old Girls in 2021
My daughter recently turned three and before her birthday, I extensively searched the internet for great birthday gift ideas for 3 year olds.
I worked as an early intervention therapist with kids from birth to age 3 for several years. I feel so confident in caring for children from babies through two years old. But three-year-olds are a bit of a mystery to me!
I am so amazed at how much my daughter has grown -physically, emotionally, and cognitively- over the past year. I am excited to see her learn MUCH MORE as a three-year-old.
For her third birthday, I wanted to give her presents that would help her reach three-year-old developmental milestones, keep her engaged and active, and encourage independent and imaginative play.
Here is the list of my favorite toys and gift ideas for three-year-old girls.
The Best Gift Ideas for Three Year Old Girls in 2021
These presents can help little girls reach their three-year-old developmental milestones while having tons of fun. Of course, any of these gift ideas can be used for boys as well!
Mindware Imagination Magnets
I wasn’t sure if this game would be too difficult for my daughter at first but she has asked to play with it almost every day since her birthday. The inside of the wooden carrying case doubles as a magnetic board and a whiteboard for drawing. This comes with over 40 different puzzle cards for you to recreate with the magnets. My daughter can’t yet replicate the pictures on her own but with guidance, she can find the different pieces and tries to place them on the board where they belong by looking at the picture. It’s also great for color and shape recognition.
Count Your Chickens Board Game
This is a great game to help your three year old practice counting. It’s a cooperative game (no one wins or loses) that encourages turn taking which is a necessary skill for kids to learn at this age. It takes about 10 minutes to play one game. Ten minutes is about my three year old’s limit for focusing on one task right now so it’s perfect!
Farms aren’t your thing? Peaceable Kingdom has a large selection of other different themed board games geared toward young kids.
Mini Scooter
Three-year-olds are active little people. They are also learning a lot of new physical skills. A scooter is a great way to help your three-year-old work on gross motor skills and practice balance and coordination.
Don’t forget a helmet and protective gear!
Wipe Clean Workbook for Early Learners
Three-year-olds are beginning to develop many hand and finger skills as they work on reaching fine motor milestones. They will start to copy circle and square shapes and trace some letters. This workbook is great to help your three year old learn how to grasp a writing utensil and to start gaining more dexterity and precision in their pre-writing skills. The best thing about this book is that it can be wiped clean and used over and over again!
Wooden Dollhouse
We got my daughter this Melissa and Doug wooden multi-level dollhouse for Christmas this past year. She has recently started playing with it a lot more.
This particular dollhouse comes with furniture for every room but we also love the HABA Little Friends doll collection and furniture to go with it!
Scribble Scrubbies Pets
I love this toy because it combines two of my daughter’s favorite things – coloring and taking baths! She loves to draw AND loves to give her toys “tubbies” or just play with water. These Scribble Scrubbies Pets are little toy animals that your little one can color with special markers. This particular set comes with a mini toy bathtub with a shower that you fill with water and your toddler can wash her pets. There are lots of other sets and expansion packs with different animals your three-year-old can collect and play with. We also have the Beauty Salon Playset and I’d love to get the Safari Animals Tub Set next.
Dress Up Clothes
Fantasy play is super important for kids in this age group. My daughter frequently picks out her Elsa and Anna dresses to put on when I let her choose her own clothes. These role play costumes are a great gift idea to let toddlers and young kids use their imagination and play pretend.
Disney Stories for 3-Year-Olds
My little girl absolutely loves this book that she got as a gift from her aunt and uncle for Christmas. This is currently her favorite going to bed book (and has been for the past several months). She gets to choose two stories from this book that we read before bed.
We also recently discovered the Hello World! books which I think are amazing. The bright colorful pictures keep kids entertained and engaged while the books themselves help them learn about different topics in an easy, kid-friendly way.
Take Apart Toys
My 3 year old loves helping to change the batteries in her toys and always asks to use the screwdriver herself. She got this take apart plane for her birthday. This gift comes with a battery powered drill that goes in both directions to loosen or tighten the toy screws. My daughter still needs my help to figure out how to put the plane together but once her hand skills improve, I think she’ll be able to figure it out on her own!
Pet Vet Play Set
My 3-year-old loves pretending to be a doctor and giving everyone a flu shot. BUT her favorite pretend play game right now is veterinarian. She will take her sick stuffed animals to the vet. Sometimes, she’ll pretend to be a hurt tiger or a puppy with a broken leg and ask me or her dad to fix her up. This is a great gift for your three year old future health professional.
Melissa & Doug Grocery Store
I wish we had the room in our apartment for this amazing grocery store set up from Melissa & Doug. My daughter played with this at a friend’s house and was IN LOVE. It can provide the opportunity for a lot of imaginative and creative play for your toddler (but you might get stuck being the grocery store worker)!
Don’t forget the grocery cart and pretend food to go with it.
Your three year old will learn so many new skills this year. She will start to become more balanced in her gross motor abilities and more coordinated with her fine motor and pre-writing skills. Toddlers around age 3 are becoming more independent and engaging in fantasy or imaginative play. Choosing gifts to encourage these new skills can help them stay on track for meeting developmental milestones.
I hope this list gave you some ideas for gifts to get for your three-year-old girl.
Is there anything I should add to the list? What are your little one’s favorite toys and games right now?
