Looking for the best gifts for 3-year-old boys? I’m here with all of the best toys, games and books that my three sons have absolutely loved.
Over the years, I’ve learned that some toys get played with and others are a complete bust! Learn from my mistakes and wisdom with these 48 Best Gifts for Boys who are 3-years-old.
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Open Ended Play Gifts for 3-year-old Boys
I love to choose toys that aren’t made for just *one* purpose. All of these toys can be used for many different activities which means 1) Your 3-year-old boy will play with them longer and 2) they will last for years instead of days!
Inflatable Fort: This is an incredible open-ended toy for 3-year-olds! He will be able to pretend he is a king in a castle, a knight on an errand or play house. This does require a standard box fan but it will give your little boy hours of fun.
Ball/Car Tube Toy: If you’ve ever had an extra cardboard tube and a 3-year-old boy you will recognized the genius of this open ended play toy. Little boys LOVE cars and they love balls. You can set up this tube so they can zoom cars and balls down from the couch, down the stairs or from anywhere! Super fun!
Wooden Balance Board: Boat, rocker, catapult, teeter totter…this balance board helps with balance, core strength and imagination! A great open ended toy for 3-year-old boys.
Imaginary Play Toys for 3-year-old Boys
These gifts will help encourage your 3-year-old boy to use his imagination.
Farm Sand Play Set: This is an awesome imaginary play toy for 3-year-old boy! It comes in an 10” x 15” container with a lid so you can keep the mess contained. 😉 Inside there are two pounds of play sand along with animals, a tractor, farm implements like rakes, shovels and a wheel barrow and fences so your little guy can give the animals a home.
Sword and Shield Playset: Little boys will love fighting with these (painless) foam sword and shield set. You’ll be glad you have a shield for yourself.
Batman Batcave: My little guys absolutely adored their Batcave! They loved pretending to battle Penguin and the Joker. This has fun trap doors, jails and batman gadgets that will help encourage imaginary play. You could also go with this amazing Pirate Cove wooden play set.
The Best Ride On Toys for 3-year-old Boys
Ride-on toys are such a great gift for 3-year-old boys and there are so many amazing ride-ons to choose from! Here are some of our family’s favorites.
Ride on Excavator: We had a similar toy and my little boys LOVED it! This ride-on excavator has operable digger arm so he can actually dig up sand, dirt or even snow. This is a perfect gift for a 3-year-old boy!
Three Wheel Light Up Scooter: 3-year-old boys still need the stability of a 3 wheel scooter but this one is extra cool and “grown-up.” It has lights and as a bonus (for our garages!) it can fold up easily.
Wiggle Car: These are the ultimate vehicle for 3-year-old boys because they can wiggle and wiggle to their hearts content! There are electric wiggle cars available, but the classic is pretty darn fun for kids! My kids used wiggle cars until they were 10-11 years old.
Active Outdoor Toys 3-year-old Boys will Love
Get your little boy’s wiggles out in the fresh air with these active outdoor toys your 3-year-old boy will adore.
Water Table I would argue that water tables are one of the best gifts for kids. Kids LOVE water…and these tables give them the ability to play with water in all sorts of ways at their own. Pouring, measuring, splashing. We would even move our water table inside on top of beach towels in the kitchen during the winter.
Step2 Up and Down Roller Coaster You will not believe how much fun little kids have on this roller coaster! You need to have space for the roller coaster to drift after it goes off the coaster. 3-year-old boys will climb up, slide down, climb up, slide down for endless hours!
Little Tikes Bounce House: Santa Claus brought this gift to our family and we have been using it for years! It is great inside on rainy days and outside with friends. 3-year-old boys are the perfect age for this size of bounce house and you’ll love how he gets his wiggles out.
Active Inside Toys for 3-year-old Boys
If only the weather was perfect, we could be active outside every day! But you’ll want to have some 3-year-old boy toys that will keep their heart rate up indoors.
Obstacle Course Balance Beam: This could be used indoors or outdoors and is an amazing 3-year-old boy gift! He will love trying to get all the way around the circle beam and it will help him build core strength and balance. It includes 20 pieces of interlocking plastic that has different curves and heights. There is a less expensive 8 piece obstacle course balance beam as well.
Indoor Climber/Slide/Rock wall/Swing Set This wooden indoor playset is an amazing gift for kids ages 18 months to 5 years. It is a bit of a beast to put together, but will provide hours of climbing, sliding, swinging and hanging entertainment.
5 foot indoor trampoline: If you have the space for an indoor trampoline they are a lifesaver! This is the perfect size for 3-year-old boys and will be fun for years! We had a similar model that is discontinued and all of my kids loved it and used it! There is a 7 foot indoor trampoline option as well if you want it to last a few years longer.
Tech you can gift your 3-year-old Boy
Technology is here to stay, but there are some tech toys that you can feel good about gifting your 3-year-old boy.
VTech Play Smart Laptop My kids always loved carrying around their VTech laptops and pretending to work. They are awesome for car rides too! Lots of very simple educational games, songs and learning.
TonieBox Audio Box Peppa Pig Bundle – We love TonieBox! It is the smartest storytelling/music playing invention on the market. The small speaker interacts with the plastic figures from Peppa Pig to Paw Patrol to Lightning McQueen. Place the figure on top for stories, music and educational learning related to that character. It is an amazing way for your 3-year-old boy to be entertained without a screen (and awesome for bedtime too!) This bundle is Peppa Pig but there is also a Disney Pixar Toniebox Bundle, a Frozen Toniebox Bundle, a Dr. Suess Toniebox Bundle and a Disney Princess Toniebox bundle. This is one of the best gifts for 3-year-old boys!
Fire Tablet for Kids: If you are ready to introduce a tablet to your 3-year-old boy, I wholeheartedly recommend the Fire Tablet. We have Fire Tablets and they are perfect for this age! They are easy to set up and add parental controls, have books, educational apps and video streaming options and include a case and a 2-year worry free guarantee. If ANYTHING happens to the tablet you call Amazon and they will send you a new one. We had two of ours replaced after they were accidently smashed.
The Best Books to Gift 3-year-old Boys
Here are some of my three son’s favorite books that make excellent gifts for 3-year-old boys!
National Geographic Little Kids First Book of Dinosaurs: We take our dinosaurs very seriously around here. This book has a special place in my heart because my little boys just LOVED dinosaurs. This has tons of interesting facts and glorious pictures that a 3-year-old boy will just dive into!
So Cool! Sharks Book Little boys also love anything terrifying from the sea! This book has lots of cool shark facts for 3-year-old boys.
Richard Scarry Cars and Trucks and Things that Go: The detailed pictures (and all of the fun cars and trucks and things that go) make this a 3-year-old boy’s dream book! My boys would look at this for such a long time, especially if we explored the book together.
Building Toys for 3-year-old Boys
Toys that encourage building of some sort are great for spatial awareness, which is a precursor to math skills. Of course Legos are the OG building toy, but there are other fun options as well!
Montessori Screwdriver Board This is such a genius gift for a 3-year-old boy because it will let him use REAL tools and REAL screws to his heart’s content.
Tinker Toys Classic Set: 100 tinker toy parts in a reusable tin, this classic gift is classic for a reason! Little kids love to build with these and 3-year-olds are a great age for building with these.
Lakeshore Ultimate Fort Building Kit: There are a TON of fort building options on Amazon, but reading the reviews you will see that most of them are very difficult to hook together and don’t stay up. This is a bit of an investment but would make a great gift for a 3-year-old boy that would last for years.
The Best Car Toys for 3-year-old Boys
Cars and little boys are like peanut butter and jelly! Here are some fun car gifts for your little boy.
Slot Car Track These slot car tracks are super easy to set up and so fun for little boys! They are flexible so they can build them over pillows or other obstacles. It is also easy for them to build a track themselves! The car is battery operated. This is a great gift for a 3-year-old boy!
Hot Wheels Racing Loops Tower: Grab a pack of hotwheels and this racing loops tower for hours of fun for your 3-year-old boy! He will love filling up his car with gas and racing cars down the tracks.
Mario Kart Slot Car Race Track: Slot car race tracks use electricity and a simple push button controller to make them the cars zip around the track. These car tracks are so much fun!
STEM Gifts 3-year-old boys will love!
Encourage your 3-year-old boy’s love of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math with these cool gifts. They won’t even know they are learning!
Marble Run: My little boys absolutely adored marble runs at this age (and beyond!). The pieces are easy for 3-year-old boy hands to put together and they love to watch the marbles zoom down the track. This is a great STEM toy that builds engineering skills.
Wooden GeoBoard with Elastics: You don’t see these toys everywhere but they are a huge hit with kids of all ages. It is such a simple toy, a board with knobs and a bunch of elastics. 3-year-old boys will enjoy making shapes and pictures out of the elastics. This is another toy that helps with spatial awareness (and math skills!).
Science Beakers and Droppers: This simple STEM toy can be used in the kitchen, the bathtub or outside. They are one of my best parenting trick ;). I fill each beaker with a different color of water (with food coloring) and let the kids go to town dropping and mixing the colors.
Art/Creative Gifts for 3-year-old Boys
Art and creativity are super important skills. These gifts will encourage your little boy to grow those skills.
This e-writing board is perfect for travel or quiet time. Your 3-year-old can draw and then erase his drawings with a push of the button.
Dino Model Air Dry Clay Kit This is such a cool creative gift for 3-year-old boys who love dinos. The kit comes with four dinosaur skeletons and colorful air dry clay. Kids can form the clay over the skeletons to make their own custom dinosaurs.
Coloring Cardboard Castle: Gift your 3-year-old boy a cardboard castle that he can color himself and then have so much fun playing inside.
Sports Gifts for your 3-year-old Boy
If your little guy loves sports, here are some gifts he will enjoy.
Ninja Punching Bag Hi-YA! 3-year-old boys will love kicking and punching this punching bag just like a real ninja.
Mini Basketball Hoop Every little kid needs a basketball hoop! This one is perfectly sized for a 3-year-old boy. It comes with three small sized balls to keep your baller hooping it up.
Pop Up Soccer Goals: These are a great sports gift and will last for years! They fold up small and my kids love kicking soccer balls in over and over again.
Fun Bath Toys for 3-year-old Boys
Bath toys are always a hit! Plus it will encourage your 3-year-old not to grumble as much when it is time for a bath!
Boon Suction Bath Tubes, Pipes and Cogs: We love these Boon bath toys! They suction onto the bathtub or shower door. Your 3-year-old boy can make his own contraption and watch the cogs spin.
Bath Fishing Pole This fishing pole is functional so your 3-year-old can cast and reel in the three included sea creatures. Super fun!
Bathtub Finger Paints: 3-year-old boys will be ecstatic to paint themselves and the entire bathtub with soap finger paints.
Room Decor to Gift your 3-year-old Boy
These fun gifts will be a perfect addition to your 3-year-old Boy’s bedroom.
Discovery Kids Lantern and Star Projector: This two-in-one lantern will be super fun for 3-year-old boy’s room. He will love to have his own special light for pretending and for keeping monsters at bay.
Bed Tent: I just purchased this for my son and he LOVES it! It has a special spot to put an iPad so they can watch a show from inside their tent, now all my kids want one!
Pillow Lounger: A comfortable lounger that your 3-year-old can carry from his bedroom to the living room! You will need to purchase four standard sized pillows (this is just the lounger cover!).
3-year-old Boy Gift Ideas: Board Games
It is always smart to have board games at the ready for rainy days. These games have enough activity to keep 3-year-old boy’s attention spans.
Don’t Break The Ice This game takes a few minutes to set up, and will take an excited 3-year-old boy approximately 2 seconds to destroy. Haha! But they love it! A hammer, ice and a penguin?! What’s not to love?
The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game: Little boys will enjoy this game that has them collecting colored acorns and trying to avoid the sneaky snacky squirrel who wants to steal them.
Car Race Track Toy Game: Using the different controllers and switches, your 3-year-old boy will try to get his race car to the end of the track. This is similar to the old “Screwball” game but is just the perfect gift for this age of boy!
Classic Toys for 3-year-old Boys
There is a reason that toys like these stick around for half a century! Check out these classic toys that your 3-year-old boy will love as a gift.
Dolphin Water Game: Fill the toy with water, then your 3-year-old pushes the button that causes bubbles to push the rings up onto the dolphin’s nose. It is so simple but kids absolutely love this classic toy!
Domino Train: This is a modern twist on classic domino games. The train drops 80 dominos into a path your 3-year-old can then knock down. There are LOTS of options for a domino train on Amazon but this is the option that has the most positive reviews.
Hot Potato Game: Even though this says it is for ages 4 and up, my 3-year-old boys easily played this game. It has a soft musical potato that you toss from person to person until the music stops.
I hope my boys’ favorite toys have inspired you to find an excellent gift for your 3-year-old boy.