25 Best Montessori Toys for 3-Year Olds
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Montessori toys are usually simple, aesthetically pleasing objects and made of natural materials like wood or cotton. Toys for 3-year old's should have a clear purpose and be aimed at the development of one particular skill or focused on a single concept.
Keep reading to see our picks for the best Montessori toys for 3-year old's.
Best Type of Montessori Toys for 3 Year Old's
Montessori believes a child is drawn in by purpose, that makes him or her feel competent and significant in their world.
1. Stack it Pegs
The Stack It Peg Game is meant to encourage fine motor skills and hand eye coordination. Your 3-year-old will learn to improve dexterity and hand eye coordination when using this toy.
2. Wood Fruit Set
Your 3-year-old will be excited to practice cutting with a knife on wood fruit. It’s great for pretend play and fits nicely on any work shelf. This is not only fun, promotes hand eye coordination but also helps your child transition to safety knives.
3. Play Kitchen
3-year old's are now able to be left alone for imaginative play time. The cabinets to give your 3-year-old access to dishes and silverware as well as using the stovetop and sink for creative play.
4. Animal Figurines Match Game
Animal figurines helps your 3-year-old relate to and understand the world around them and develop meaningful connections. These figurine sets can be made up of farm animals, arctic animals, safari animals, and pets. They are a great learning toy and can be used also in matching the figurines to identical sets or printed cards.
5. Musical Instruments
Musical instruments are a staple for Montessori learning. Your 3-year-old will enjoy the different sounds and realize the powerful impact music can have on emotional and cognitive development.
6. Hammer Toys
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Montessori hammer toys are especially designed for little hands and suitable for an easy grip, which is ideal for your 3 year old. These kinds of toys can help promote hand-eye coordination, improve dexterity and exercise their muscles.
7. Wood Blocks
Wood is one that can grow with your 3-year-old for years to come. Blocks encourage your child to build, imagine, develop motor skills and even experiment with math and physics concepts. These sets are made from natural wood and finished with non-toxic paint.
8. Puzzles
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Puzzles are a classic Montessori activity and your 3-year-old can use puzzle time for matching, develop eye-hand coordination, fine motor and problem-solving skills.
9. Shape Sorting Cube
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Shape sorting cubes are a classic Montessori childhood staple that will keep your 3-year-old busy for hours. The bright colors and chunky size objects make it easy for little hands to grasp. Your child can drop shapes into the sorting cube by fitting the pieces in the matching holes.
10. Chunky Blocks
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Chunky blocks combine the simplicity of wood blocks with a colorful design. These chunky building blocks help your 3 year old develop motor skills, improve hand-eye coordination, and are a great tool for teaching colors and shapes.
11. Rainbow Stacker
3-year-olds starting to “come into their own” when it comes to open-ended play. Having a wooden stacking rainbow on their toy shelf allows for creativity and help develop intelligence. These sets usually come with several colors and is made of a quality wood.
12. Board Books
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The Montessori method recommends choosing children’s books that are based in reality, include interesting details and are appropriate for a child’s age and learning level. Bright, realistic images will help with expanding their vocabulary with lots of new words.
13. Wooden Stacking & Bowls
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This toy is great for multifunctional stacking, sorting and is especially designed for Montessori teaching. Your three-year-old can stack the bowls up to make a tower and stack them inside each other in order to learn size, weight, or math.
14. Wooden Puzzle Shape Sorter
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This toy will guide your 3-year-old to learn more colors, shapes and numbers when matching blocks. Your child can learn to combine objects in various ways because of the pillar base adopts upgraded design and can be separate break-up.
15. Wooden Tool Box
A wooden tool box encourages imaginative play with building and designing. Your 3-year-old will develop color recognition, shape recognition, counting skills, fine motor skills and intellectual abilities. Your little one can also build many different fun shapes out of the chunky, smooth-edge wood blocks.
16. Magna Tiles
Magna-Tiles make amazing toys for 3-year-olds these are found in Montessori classrooms. Through open-ended and imaginative play, your little one can use these tiles to build structures. This in turn helps develop fine motor skills in preparation for problem-solving skills, and spatial reasoning.
17. Peg Board
Your three-year-old will develop visual memory while also training the muscles of the hand using these pegs. The color matching and placing pegs will help with hand eye coordination and color recognition.
18. Paint Play
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Finger paints inspire creativity and sensory exploration for your 3-year-old. Painting will encourage your little one with sensory development and motor skills. These paints are non-toxic, washable and safe for artists of any age.
19. Housework Helpers Cleaning Tools
Ask your 3-year-old to help around the using child sized cleaning tools that look just like the real thing. This is an important feature in Montessori classrooms and teaches your child a sense of responsibility and how to help around the house.
20. Play Couch
Foam play couches are extremely popular gross motor items in Montessori homes. Your 3-year-old can stack the for fort making, climbing, relaxing, or pretend play.
21. Wooden Marble Run
This toy provides your 3-year-old endless creative building possibilities and encourages spatial thinking and problem solving. This toy comes with different color blocks and each has a different function. The gutters make the marbles go around the outside of blocks.
22. Ramp Racer
The Junior Ramp Racer helps your 3-year-old with hand-eye coordination and extend their attention span. It also encourages your child to take turns with others when using their own race cars. They will also develop communication skills, dexterity and repetition through playing with this Montessori toy.
23. Stacking Stones
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Wooden stacking stones help develop spatial reasoning and problem solving for your 3-year-old. Stacking stones sets are colorful and a lot of fun for young children.
24. Crawling Tunnel
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The crawling tunnel is a great exercise in gross motor skills and creative play for 3-year-old children. The physical play and imagination can last for hours.
25. Light Box
Lightboxes can be used in so many creative ways with your 3-year-old. Translucent Lego sets and Magna-Tiles are fun to explore colors or they can trace art work.
Also Read:
- 21 Fun Montessori Activities for Toddlers & Preschoolers
- The 25 Best Montessori Toys for 2 Year Olds
- 25 Best Montessori Toys for 1 Year Olds
Final Thoughts
Montessori toys for 3-year old's are fantastic for your child’s imagination, development and physical play. Montessori toys come in all different styles, shapes and sizes, ranging from the traditional wooden toys, to make believe kitchen sets and toddler sized tool kits.