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Montessori 3 Year Old Toys
The ultimate list for a well-rounded day! As the owner of a Montessori-inspired Playschool, who’s been working with toddlers for almost a decade, I can tell you that the simple, functional Montessori 3 year old toys I am going to share with you today, will grow with your toddler and become daily favorites!
Not all of these are traditional Montessori toys however, I will break down how we use them so that you see how they fit into the function and purpose of the Montessori approach.
Fulfilling all of your child’s physical, emotional, and educational needs, this well-rounded list will have many items to suit your developing child’s interests, daily life, and developmental needs!
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1. Real Camera Of Their Own
You won’t see this on many lists but it is so functional in real, everyday life, and it speaks to many toddlers’ current interests.
My twins love their camera, taking family photos, and hanging their pictures in their room. And really I like how this one doesn’t need ink refills!
Does your toddler love to swipe your phone and take random pictures and videos?
Well then, that tells you this could be a great addition to your home for your toddler!
Functional for creativity and self-expression, great for discovering and capturing nature’s beauty on child-led walks, family vacations, or for documenting their beloved block creations, and family moments.
A special gift they can take care of and cherish. Plus, it keeps them from using the one on your phone. Win win win.
I love that my 3 year old twins can take pictures of things they think are special and create a collage of those pictures in their room.
A key part of Montessori methodology is observing the child and crafting their setting according to their needs and interests, for optimally learning and dynamic/behavior. Oh and yes, not all toys in your home have to be wooden to function as a Montessori-inspired toy 😉
2. Easy-Squeeze Scissors
Another wonderful and functional Montessori 3 year olds toy here! Toddlers work SO well with these scissors. Far less frustrations and far more ability to control the scissors safely, and build up to traditional scissors!
Learning to cut is a skill, and it’s one of those that take many baby steps to reach the ultimate goal of holding properly and using safely.
This set above is perfect because it comes with traditional scissors also in both right and left, so your toddler practice with the easy-squeeze and grow into the traditional!
3. Balance Bike
This unique bike has revolutionized how toddlers learn to balance and ride! It gives them more control and independence in the moment, while allowing them the necessary time to learn the skills needed to ride a bike, at the same time.
Children usually learn how to ride faster with this bike, and its lowest setting seat makes it perfect for petite, little bodies.
Perfect for family walks and strolls at the park, this Montessori 3 year old toy is a wonderful addition for families who love to get outside and who want to give their toddler the most natural setting for learning how to balance then how to ride a bike!
4. Self-Worth Building Affirmation Coloring Books
This affirmation coloring book for kids will empower, uplift, and motivate your toddler to dwell in and celebrate all of their greatness!
Building self-esteem and a solid sense of self are key factors to having a child who grows to be confident, determined, proud of themselves, think good things about themselves, love themselves – SO many of the important things for a thriving life!
Filled with a collection of doodles and beloved images, your toddler is sure to love spotting what’s on each page, reading the empowering words together, and coloring this book!
Cheers to creativity, self-love, and positive affirmations!
(Do I seem a little excited about this one? It’s because I created it! Haha, it’s truly a wonderful dream come true to put something like this out in the world!) Check out my toddler potty book and mom stress relief coloring book, too.
5. Wooden Pattern Blocks With Guide Cards
I love seeing the beautiful creations all the toddlers make with these colorful, geometric blocks. Sometimes they stand them up and make little village-type structures, other times they make long tracks for their dolls or cars, and sometimes they follow along to the picture on the cards to make butterflies and boats.
Endless creativity and loads of concentration! These also make a wonderful potty training in-bathroom activity.
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6. Wobble Board
The possibilities are endless with this balancing toy. Many of the toddlers here love to use it during story time. They are able to get their natural wiggles out, and listen at the same time – sounds like a win to me!
Some other ways they love to use it is for: tunnels, laying in and reading, flipping over and standing on/using as a step stool, car track, a bed for their baby, and the list goes on…
Movement is so important for toddlers, so this is a definite must-have that allows for endless open-ended play, and helps with balance, coordination and independence, too.
7. Clip & silk Set
Have a toddler who loves to create forts? Who makes sure that the blankets are ‘just so’, who likes to build, create, invent? Then this simple, yet wonderful set is a perfect Montessori 3 year old toy for you!
Hours of open-ended play can be had with this set. Sometimes the toddlers here like to play superhero using the silk as a cape, sometimes they build awesome forts, sometimes they wrap their teddies and babies up, and sometimes they even use it for privacy when they want to play separately.
It’s always cool to see what they create and to watch them work with the clips! There are realistic images of dinosaurs on the silk and the clips are heavy duty, durable, and great for small hands.
8. Screwdriver Board
Watch the focus and sheer joy of mastery when your little one builds their grip and twisting skills! A wonderful practical life activity that takes focus and care, and gets those hands working and ready for writing, grasping and more!
This is a challenging, engaging, and fun Montessori 3 year old for girls and boys!
One of our toddlers here is so cute, he will run off and grab a pair of glasses before he starts working on this activity.
8. See My Feelings Mirror
Helping toddlers become mindful and aware of their feelings and actions, is a big focus here at my Playschool, as it helps them so much in the now and forever in the future. This is my favorite book for teaching emotions to toddlers.
I learned early on, how describing what feelings were, and how those feelings drove behaviors, really helped in shaping more positive behaviors from toddlers, and created a calmer, more connected adult-child dynamic.
This mirror is a perfect tool for doing this. It helps toddlers learn through seeing themselves. I find that this mirror extremely helpful and soothing in our peace corner.
If you haven’t heard of a peace corner, I cannot recommend enough that you read more about what it is and it’s intended use. I highly recommend it for every household, especially with toddlers. You’ll find it’s such a beautiful addition to your home that is teaching your child how to understand and manage their natural feelings in a healthy way.
The Montessori Toddler is a great book to pick up to learn more about all things Montessori, if you’re looking to dive deeper and create a calmer, more connected home.
9. Mini Dustpan Set
Real life, all day everyday! This is a wonderful size for tiny hands. For reference, it’s used as a counter top dustpan for adults. Toddlers are ready to engage and be a part of the regular, everyday moment things in their lives, which gives us the fantastic opportunity to foster teamwork, helping hands and responsibility share, in a way that is calm and natural, rather than punishment or forced.
Have you ever noticed that your child loves mixing bowls, wooden spoons, the phone charger, the broom, amazon boxes….? Yes, not all meaningful and useful things are ‘toys’, yet toddlers find so much joy and function in using them.
We have a couple sayings here – ‘we play and then we put away, everybody helps. we eat and then we put away, everybody helps.’ We actually sing these lines often. It’s a natural routine, it makes sense, it’s fair and tools like this dustpan are just for them, so they can easily do what they need to do with supplies designated for them, in a place they can access independently, and comfortable for them to use.
Positive teamwork and shared responsibility!
10. See & Spell Puzzle Set
This is one of my favorite letter recognition and language-building ready-made sets. We use this wonderful to create words on the boards, which have wording on the back and front, and to match letters, create the alphabet, make our own words, practice letter sounds, and even colors!
I love that these letters are lowercase, as many kindergarten teachers will tell you that many children don’t recognize lower case because so many toys only have uppercase letters.
So many ways to use these letters and boards! A wonderful addition to a Montessori-inspired home!
11. Doorway Sensory Swing Set
Another toy you won’t see on many Montessori 3 year old toy lists! This is SUCH a beneficial toy, especially for toddlers with additional sensory needs – adhd, autism, spirited toddlers… Movement is an essential part of a healthy, regulated toddlerhood, and lifestyle in general, and this indoor sensory swing set helps toddlers achieve it in a unique way!
Super easy to install with clamps and tension, no drilling needed. This is one of my favorite ‘release toys’ for toddlers! On a rainy day, in extra cold weather, or just to mix up the scenery, having this swing has been so soothing and fun for so many!
One of my twins is spirited, and possibly has adhd (we’ll check more into this after she’s 5), and she’ll go off to the swing for emotional comfort, to reset, to soothe, to read, or to play with her baby dolls.
Another busy little boy I worked with loved practicing his Spanish words while moving with the swing (or the balance board), and I noticed his learning was accelerated when we incorporated this movement. Amazing!
12. Key & Lock Board
This Montessori 3 year old toy makes for a wonderful and challenging focus, real life activity. All the toddlers love to use this one!
A child can typically spend 20-30 minutes working with these locks and keys.
I love to see them hard at work and growing their skills!
13. Hammering Set
This simple hammering set is great for hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills and emotional release too!
The toddlers here love to use it on pumpkins in the fall and old amazon boxes or playdoh, all year around.
When working with a picky eater, this is an excellent tool that gets them hands on with all kinds of foods, pounding away at them, feeling and often tasting them! (food play is incredible for overcoming picky eating.)
14. Threading Set
I really love threading for 2 things – hand control practice as a prerequisite to writing, and quiet time play where the toddler is focusing and problem solving.
This simple Montessori 3 year old toy allows toddlers to practice the necessary hand control for writing and it also has them focusing on precisely placing the thread through the hole, and then coordinating their hands so they can pull the thread out the other end.
A fantastic toy for concentration, hand control and hand coordination skill-building!
15. Magnetic Building Tiles
In my eyes, these magnet building tiles provide real-life skill practice of problem solving, as well as the opportunity for self-expression.
When you watch a toddler interact with the tiles, you can clearly see their little minds at work – deciding on color, figuring out how to lay the tile so it stays, discovering how to turn the tile so that it connects instead of repels from the other, you can see the thrill and pride of creating something functional for their little animal figurines, and the sheer joy of creating something beautiful.
Love these and every single toddler I have worked with can literally play with these, on and off all day, for years!
16. Toddler-size Kitchen
The key to making this toddler kitchen more functional in everyday life to suit a Montessori setup is to place it near your regular kitchen and put items your toddler uses for mealtime and/or cleanup, in the kitchen.
For instance, you can add their water cups, their utensils and their plates to the shelving in this kitchen. You can hang actual cooking tools they use to help meal prep, on the hanging hooks, and you can add a few towels in there that they can use for cleanup. Maybe, you place their dustpan on a hook on the side of the kitchen and some snacks in a basket on the side.
It comes with real lights and isn’t too bulky.
17. Grow-With-Them Math Pegs
This is a classic Montessori 3 year old toy that your toddler will be able to use from simple number recognition, number matching, and counting, through kindergarten for more complex math exercises. Flashcards are included, too. Such a great math toy all around, in one set!
I love to watch how a toddler chooses to organize their pegs and numbers. You can see their skill of placing the pegs in correctly sharpen over time, and soon they are zipping through 1-20 with ease and speed! Some of the toddlers here love to incorporate pom-poms or even river rocks into their counting with these!
18. Bristle Blocks
Building and creating galore! These are a favorite for all the toddlers I have worked with. The bristles give it an added sensory element and they have endless ways of being attached and formed.
I love watching the focus and imagination while toddlers create their masterpieces with bristle blocks!
Sometimes we use them for focused activities coordinated by color or by size, for counting or sorting too.
19. Musical Instrument Set
This instrument bundle is a wonderful Montessori toy for 3 year olds! Your child will be able to use and love this for many, many years.
Music and movement is a pillar in the Montessori world.
Montessori activities typically focus on one skill at a time, and are placed in wooden trays for easy transportation for the child, to and from the shelf where they belong. Rotating toys on that shelf is common practice. This keeps things organized and fresh for your child.
For this musical instrument set, you have lots of opportunity to set out a single instrument or an instrument set for your child to bang on, blow into, dance around with and build their skills with.
All the babies and toddlers LOVE LOVE LOVE music time here!
Unlike traditional Montessori setup, I have the music items placed up on a shelf only I can reach and we have designated times when everyone is free to use and choose what they’d like. I do this because I have a mix of ages in one setting, which means sometimes a baby is sleeping. So, I do need to monitor noise a few times throughout the day to make sure everyone can sleep.
If you have a baby and a toddler at home, this is a great way to allow for music time they love, while also accommodating baby’s needs. Maybe you have music time at 11am or 3pm, when everyone is awake.
I love how this diversity puzzle opens up conversation about how different people can look, normalizes differences, and creates kindness and acceptance.3
20. Hopper Ball
Another one you most likely won’t see on other Montessori 3 year old toy blog posts, but they are so wonderful for movement and body limit exploration and expansion!
Toddlers can test their balance and coordination and move their body, indoor and outdoor, with these hopper balls.
We use ours here every day! From hopper ball races, bouncing around during dance parties, balancing on their bellies or backs, even hanging them on a door handle and using them like a punching bag, toddlers love these hopper balls as part of their play tools!
21. Assortment Of Unique Puzzles – Diversity, Body Parts
Puzzles are a fantastic, interactive way for toddlers to learn so much! These are a few of my favorite puzzles – for getting toddlers exposed to realistic foods, to diversity, to letter, animals, and more!
I love how this diversity puzzle opens up conversation about how different people can look, normalizes differences, and creates kindness and acceptance.
The kids here are fascinated by the anatomy puzzle! Lots of great exposure to our body, how it works, what each part is, even how foods affect our bodies and how they are digested, what happens when we’re sick, how our organs work, and a great prerequisite for potty training!
I recently published my first toddler potty book, which is another fantastic tool to prepare for potty training. You can see it on Amazon here.
Toys with images of real animals, insects, foods, people, etc is really hard to find. Yet, it is SO powerful to have around, for toddlers to see and learn from, about what things actually look like in real life.
This puzzle set is a perfect Montessori 3 year old toy that can even help with picky eating!
Yes, the more toddlers see, feel, smell and touch a variety of foods, the more they will accept and taste them!
If you’re a parent who struggles with picky eating, sing up for my Free Guide: Transforming Picky Eating In 4 Weeks Or Less
What Are Considered Montessori Toys?
A Montessori toy is traditionally made of natural materials. Their purpose is to stimulate learning, typically honing one skill at a time. Montessori toys allow for focus and concentration, rather than distraction and multi-stimulation.
This is why Montessori toys are often wooden and very simple.
The Montessori methodology supports child development through natural exploration of the world around them, focusing on simplicity and the child’s pace for discovering and problem solving.
Babies and toddlers are programmed to be ready and curious for the world around them. A simple toy allows them to think about – “how many ways can I use this?” “What more can I do with this? “How can I do xyz with this?”
Montessori toys support the built-in creativity children have, rather than overstimulate them with automatic sounds and functions. Not much is learned from toys like this. In fact, babies and toddlers can get overstimulated and agitated with toys like this.
Most Montessori toys are beautifully-made too, so that children are attracted to use them.
Being functional, practical and useful in real life is key. In Montessori, realistic is key, while fantasy is not.
What toys should my 3 year old play with?
With attention spans being longer, testing of physical skill and limits expanding, the desire to understand ‘why’, and the craving for independence, 3 year olds can excel with a variety of toys that include:
- toys that allow for building and creating, sorting and stacking
- toys for problem solving
- toys to manipulate (like kinetic sand & playdoh)
- toys to make things with (like paper, scissors, chalk, paint sets)
- books with more complex stories and more words
- toys that allow movement, balance, pulling, pushing, hanging, jumping, climbing, pinching, grasping, gripping…
Benefits of Montessori toys
Montessori toys can be incredibly beneficial for children of all ages because they encourage experimentation. They not only help develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, but can also help children learn new concepts, such as counting, sorting, and problem-solving, and build a growth mindset.
Montessori toys are typically designed to be self-correcting and calming, so they help foster independence and allow children to learn at their own pace, with minimal frustrations.
Overall, Montessori toys provide children with a safe, stimulating, and engaging environment to learn and explore with minimal distractions or hinderance.
what to consider when buying toys for your 3 year old
It’s best to observe your child, see what they are drawn to. Likewise, recognize where they might need more support – for instance, taking some time away when overstimulated buy siblings. Some toddlers aren’t able to step away on their own and they end up getting frustrated, hitting or pushing.
This is where the peace corner, emotion books and sensory swing I mentioned, come in really handy.
If you notice your toddler loves to build intricate towers with their blocks, expand on their interest and skill by getting them the bristle blocks I mentioned or the magna tiles. They’ll continue to build new and amazing things and wow you and themselves!
Longevity is also important to me personally, and it may be for you as well. I recently got this outdoor climbing structure for my twins (and of course my playschool kids use it too). It got excellent reviews, some of which said they had had it for 3-5 years!
It’s been used as a climber, a drying rack, a fort, a place to perch and have a snack, and even an anchor for tying things too!
Having toys that will grow with your child will help keep your home less cluttered, will allow your toddler to cherish more of their toys, and will have you spending less on random, poor-quality stuff.
The list of Montessori 3 year old toys I shared with you above will give you a great, balanced day!
Montessori-inpsired toy organizing tips
- Designate a space for the toys and store the rest. When it comes to Montessori toys, having an area that’s dedicated solely to them is key. You don’t want piles or too many in one spot.
- Use a safe, toddler-accessible shelf or woven bins on the floor to keep sets separate from other toys and all together, and ready to use. Not only does it help keep the toys organized, but it adds an inviting atmosphere for your child to explore and learn.
- Sort stored toys into categories. This helps keep the toys organized and makes it easier to find things quickly and easily.
- Label containers of stored toys. Labeling containers is a great way to keep Montessori toys organized. This will help keep the toys sorted and make it easier for your child to know what goes where.
- Utilize vertical space. Don’t forget to make use of vertical space when organizing Montessori toys. This can help keep things tidy and make the space feel more organized.
- Make cleaning up fun and part of the rules of your family and home. “we play and we put away.” “We all help in this family.” “It’s quicker when we all work as a team.” Cleaning up doesn’t have to feel like a horrible chore! Make it natural, normal or even fun by turning it into a team effort with a playful song or some favorite music playing, or even a game or challenge for your child. This can help make the process more enjoyable and keep your Montessori toys organized, regularly.
- Sit toys/sets on wooden trays with handles so your toddler can grab the tray with all the toys pieces easily, transport it to the table or floor, then put everything back on the tray when putting the toy away.
If you need trays to do your Montessori-inspired activities, here they are.
Want to see all the play items (and toddler or parenting books, and baby led weaning and potty training supplies) that I recommend in my amazon shop? You can see them here.
And there you have it! Let me know in the comments below what your favorite Montessori 3 year old toy is and which you are most excited about from this list!
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