Like other parents, you want to know what are the best educational activities for 3 year olds. Maybe your 2 year old has their 3rd birthday coming up and you’re looking to treat them to a special educational gift. Or maybe your little one has outgrown their old toys.
Rest assured because here is a list of highly educational toys and activities for 3-4 year olds and these are suitable for girls and boys. These help toddlers and preschoolers to learn and develop their cognitive skills and abilities in a fun way.
We know that the early years are when children learn the most about the world and so it’s normal for us to want to instil knowledge and confidence in them at an early age.
a list of top picks of educational activities for 3 year olds
Aqua Mat
An aqua mat (it’s called this because the pens draw with water instead of ink) will keep your 3 year old busy and entertained for a long time. Doodling helps young children to develop their fine motor skills for drawing and writing.
This doodle mat above also comes with stencils that your little one can draw around which helps them to learn to draw letters, shapes and numbers. It also helps with their hand-eye coordination.
Aqua mats are easily transportable so can be taken anywhere – even in the car your child can be drawing. And because the pens are filled with water instead of ink you don’t need to worry about them making an unremovable mess (plus you just refill the pens from your tap and use them again and again).
Bath Foam Letters And Numbers
This is a fun and educational bath toy set which includes letters A-Z and numbers 0-9. They easily stick to the bathtub and tiles when wet and are great for helping preschoolers to learn the alphabet and basic phonic sounds. This is a much loved activity in our house when it’s the kids bath time.
Create A Busy Book With Learning Activities
Busy books in general help to improve fine motor skills, cognitive skills and hand-eye coordination for young kids. If you’re unfamiliar with what busy books are, they are a set of educational worksheet activities that are kept in a folder / binder. Here, I explain in more detail.
The activities in this particular busy book can help your pre-schooler to learn:
- How to spell their own name
- Numbers
- Counting
- The alphabet
- Shapes
- Colours
- The concept of size i.e. big and small
Not only are busy books educational but they are great fun, engaging and young kids simply love activities that involve sticking things together.
Chalkboard / Whiteboard
Another way for your child to doodle is with a chalkboard or whiteboard. This board above is sturdy, has ample storage space and is easy to set up.
With this board, you can switch between either a blackboard or a magnetic whiteboard so you can do lots of different activities with it. This will help to stimulate the imagination and creativity of your young child. They can even pretend play by being a teacher in front of a classroom.
Children Learning Reading
Children Learning Reading is a highly educational activity to get your 3-4 year old involved in.
This is something that I purchased for my daughter who’s now 3 as she loves books and stories and she’s really picking up phonics gradually.
You too can start teaching your 3 year old reading!
Children Learning Reading helps with teaching phonics to kids of different ages. It provides the necessary reading tools for kids as young as toddlers by using letters and phonics in fun and engaging activities. There are many benefits of reading to children but this will give you the resources for teaching reading using simple phonics worksheets.
If you’re in doubt, check out the many reviews from parents just here. Children Learning Reading is super easy to use and all it takes is 15 minutes of reading each day following the step by step reading program.
Anatomy Puzzle
This anatomy puzzle above helps young children to learn names and locations of body parts. With different layers to the puzzle, your preschooler will begin learning the skeleton, then the organs, then the muscles and lastly the outer parts of the body. You can pick either a male or female anatomy puzzle.
Perpetual Calendar
The perpetual calendar above helps young children to learn the days of the week, months of the year, dates and weather symbols. With this, you will never need another calendar again as this one is forever rotational.
If you get this perpetual calendar, soon your preschooler could be telling you the days of the week, months of the year, dates and weather. It would also add an attractive look to your child’s bedroom.
Magnetic Building Blocks
Spark your child’s creativity and problem solving skills with magnetic building blocks such as these shown above. With these blocks, 3 year olds can learn to build towers, vehicles, rockets and other fun stuff.
These magnetic blocks are something that are bound to keep your 3-4 year old entertained for a while and it’s a very popular choice amongst many parents.
Count And Stack Colourful Rings
This count and stack colourful ring above encourages learning and problem solving skills by sorting out colours and numbers with the relevant pegs. No doubt, your 3 year old will learn maths and counting skills by playing with this fun toy.
Free Educational Printables With The Great Little Trading Company
The Great Little Trading Company have free printable learning activities for toddlers and preschoolers. Their printables include colouring, crafts, alphabet phonics, counting and morning / afternoon checklists (and more).
All you need to do is visit their website by clicking the link above. Then simply print out a printable that you like the look of… and voila… your child has a great learning activity set!
Have fun with these educational activities for 3 year olds
Try these educational toys for your 3 to 4 year old and I’m confident they will help to develop their learning. Feel free to leave a comment if you have found these toys helpful for your little one’s learning and thanks for reading.
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If your 3 year old loves nursery rhymes then treat them to this FREE set of nursery rhyme busy book matching activities – just click below to get yours.
