Preschooler Gift Guide. The Best Toy Gifts for the 3-5 Crowd

Adorable Mantle Decor from Pottery Barn Kids

I absolutely love holidays with children. Little ones make the holidays so much more magical, I love doing all the fun little things to make it even more magical - I'll do another post on our Christmas Traditions,  which I'm so excited to share with you, but for now, here is my preschool toy guide. 

This guide is tried and true toys that my children love, you won't find any "hot toys" or "must buy deals" but the way I've linked the items it should show the current price, many of which I know will go on sale between now and Christmas. My favorite thing about the preschool age is the burst of imagination and imaginative play. So these items are perfect for imaginative, open-ended play. 

One of our favorite toys are Magformers Magnetic Blocks. We bought our first set when our oldest was three, and have added countless sets since. All three kids play with them regularly. They are so much fun, and there are so many different sets out there!

This is also the age range many kids go from Duplo blocks to regular Legos. My kids love both! At 3 1/2 our oldest went full in on the legos and hasn't slowed down since.

If you've got a little engineer on your hands, another awesome option are Tegu magnetic wooden blocks. I recommend them for the older preschoolers since many kids find the polar ends of magnets frustrating. But if you've got a big builder, they are amazingly fun and beautifully made. You can even buy them from my favorite boutique, Pi Baby.

Another amazing Fat Brain Toys option is the zoo-ominoes. Kids of all ages love setting them up and watching them fall. This is a great STEAM toy!

This magnetic set is so much fun!

My kids love these gears as well.

This year our 3 year old daughter is getting Maileg Mice.  She has the ballerina bunny and she is obsessed with it. I cannot wait to give her the mice, now that she's showing more interest in little dolls. These little mice are adorable and have the cutest clothes!

Maileg Mice from Pi Baby

Maileg Twins from Pi Baby

Maileg Book House from Pi Baby

All of our littles also love cars! Our favorite for preschool age and above are Bruder! They are impeccable replicas of the real thing. Our first got this for his third birthday and he still plays with it! 

But this Jeep was his first Bruder, and the first truck he really loved, it has been on many adventures.

He also has an ATV and loves to play with the construction/action men that come with them.

This Bruder hat is a great addition to a tool set and the hape work bench, all of which we love! Great imaginative play for both boys and girls!

I know what you're thinking, I don't want plastic tools, I want cute wooden tools. No, no, no, trust me, you don't. You know why? Because kids. One of my son's little friend's took the wooden Hape hammer to his pottery barn dresser and now my son's dresser is covered in about 50 hammer marks, so do yourself a favor, buy the tool bench, hide the hammer, and pick up this kit.

Preschool age is where the imagination really explodes, so we are doing a dress-up trunk for our 3 year old, who has been hit with the princess obsession. Here are a few of the dresses I've picked up for her. I also ordered a few from Trish Scully, but I haven't received them, so I can't attest to their quality yet. I'll keep you posted, but these are great - especially for the price!

Micro Kickboard Scooters are amazing! We started our girl on hers at 2 and she hasn't slowed down since! And baby bro has been riding it for the past few months as well. If a scooter is on your list this is a must buy!

If a bike is on your little's wish list this year, I highly recommend Cleary Bikes. They are amazing,  classic, sleek, and so much lighter than your typical kid's bike. 

For older preschoolers or taller children the 16 inch is a great fit. My oldest has this model in orange, and has requested the same orange in the larger size.

The play kitchen is another quintessential childhood gift. But it's that way for a reason - hours and hours of play. We bought our daughter this Pottery Barn Kids Chelsea kitchen when she was 18 months. It took me 30 minutes to put together - you heard that right 30 minutes! It was unbelievably easy! The hardest part was getting it out of the box. After almost 2 years of rough play it still looks brand new, and both brothers play with it regularly as well.

Play Kitchen 

Of course you can't have a play kitchen without play food! Our favorites are the Melissa and Doug, and Hape cutting food. Here are a few of our favorite sets:

We also love the Melissa and Doug and Hape kitchen appliances. How cute are these? The little pound cake with the mixer is my favorite!

The Melissa and Doug Shopping cart is also an awesome toy.

Nugget Comfort is one of my favorite things we've ever purchased! We bought the Lagoon, pictured below last year for our then 2 year old, and it has been played with every single day since! Dr. Nick, who was not on board with this purchase, on the end of day one, said "we need at least one more of those, probably two more". So when our son asked for one thing, and one thing only, for his birthday - his own Nugget, we had to oblige, and ordered him the submarine aka navy. Nugget does not do sales unless you buy 2 or more. Their pricing model is simple - fair and consistent pricing always. They are made right here in the USA by a small team in North Carolina. Such an amazing product & company! We are huge fans! 

Nugget Comfort Couch 

Waldorf Boards and Pickler Triangles are another great open-ended toy for hours and hours of adventures.

We are also huge fans of arts and crafts, but this mama doesn't play with anything that isn't washable, after much trial and error, Crayola is the clear winner in the actually washable and great color department. I've also found that paint and markers are the easiest to clean up, so skip the crayons and stick to paint, markers, and colored pencils. 

We love both these rolls of paper, and the drawing pads for on the go.

Other arts items we love include water wow books, paint by numbers, and random craft kits from Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and Target Dollar Spot.

You can check out some of our favorite Bath Toys here. And other great ideas in the Toddler Gift Guide. Next up is our Book Guide!

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