15 Best Educational Toys for 3-Year-Olds

This 100-piece Wood Block Set from Melissa & Doug stimulates critical thinking and creativity in toddlers as they experiment with building and knocking things down to start all over again. The pieces are lightweight and feature four bright colors as well as nine different shapes.

The Learn-To-Play Piano from Melissa & Doug is an adorable miniature piano made from solid wood that's durable and functional when it comes to introducing tots to music. There are 25 keys and two full octaves, and this even comes with a color-coded, illustrated songbook so toddlers can learn to play nine popular kid-friendly songs.

The Step2 Easel for Two is one of the few 15 best educational toys for 3-year-olds that can be used by more than one kid at the same time. One side has a chalkboard and the other features a magnetic dry erase board. It comes with 77 pieces of foam magnetic letters, signs, and numbers.

The Boon Building Bath Pipes Toy is featured among the 15 best educational toys for 3-year-olds that teaches them about various shapes, functions, and helps them develop problem-solving skills. With suction cups to stick to the wall, these pipes can be used individually or as a chain.

The VTech Write and Learn Creative Center teaches kids proper stroke order to create upper and lowercase letters. They can draw on the magnetic board, use the two magnetic stamps, or draw with the eight stencils. It's customizable too so kids can learn to write their names.

The Educational Engineering Construction Blocks introduce toddlers to STEM learning through the excitement of construction toys. With over 100 pieces, tots have an endless amount of possibilities to stretch their creativity and critical thinking skills. These blocks also grow with a child's development so they can use them for years to come.

The Skoolzy Rainbow Counting Bears is a cute way for toddlers to discover color recognition, counting, and sorting skills. There are 71 total pieces and six different colors for the bears with matching cups. Kids can create various games from adding to developing patterns between colors and placing the bears in the appropriate cups.

The Learning Resources Puzzle Globe is a simple introduction to geography for toddlers. There are six pieces to represent Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and North and South America. Meanwhile, a single stationary bottom piece is used for Antarctica. This also comes with six labels and a sheet of blank label stickers.

The BOHS Literacy Wiz Fun Game is one of the best educational toys for 3-year-olds that can help with early vocabulary and word-building skills. Kids can play alone or with a partner and create words by placing cards on the holder that can support up to 5-letter words. There are 52 total letters with 60 double-sided cards. That’s a total of 120 sight words!

The iPlay, iLearn Kids Wooden World Map is a fun puzzle that includes 36 pieces. Made from safe wooden materials, the pieces are designed for smaller hands to grasp, and the diagram is easy to follow so kids can learn how to understand directions. It features cute character artwork of animals in their proper continent.

The LeapFrog LeapPad Ultimate Ready for School Tablet includes several school readiness activities alongside music apps, reading apps, and more. There is even a kid-friendly web browser that has pre-selected websites for tots to visit. Kids can also play with the microphone, video camera, and use the stylus.

The Born Toys Kids Gardening Set comes with everything toddlers need to get out there and help parents with the garden. This includes an apron and hat, a shovel, gloves, a water bottle sprayer, three tools, and a carrying bag.

The Kinetic Sand, Bake Shoppe features one pound of the original moldable kinetic sand along with 16 tools and molds so toddlers can create amazingly fun bakery treats. They can even add toppings and serve them all up using the included serving tray. It's a great way to encourage creative play and hone their fine motor skills.

Designed by teachers, these Educational Posters for Toddlers and Kids give tots a head-start using fun, enlightening posters. The artwork is vibrant and colorful, and there are several categories from the ABCs, to numbers, to telling time or the days of the week. There are 11 total posters to hang on the walls.

The LiKee See and Spell promotes a toddler's development through various means from helping them build problem-solving skills to improving their hand-eye coordination. This game requires tots to sort the wooden letters and place them on the proper card to spell the word. There are 56 cute illustrations to help them along the way.