Three’s are a tough crowd. The toys Bean will play with at three have dwindled to a bare minimum. I have no idea why. Child has gotten focused and picky.
Part of this is that what she most prefers to do is whatever I’m doing. Picking up, vacuuming, cooking, cleaning dishes, sweeping, dusting. If I’m working on a project, it would take an actual crowbar to peel her away from it.
But, back to toys. The only toys that get played with around here are open-ended. Her world is all about imagining random scenarios, creating families out of dolls, and recreating things that we do like going to preschool or to the market.
Here’s what’s been a hit around here the past year:
A favorite. Everything is very nice quality, sturdy and unbreakable. She especially likes taking her family through our evening routine (dinner, bath, bedtime).
It’s pretty expensive brand-new, but pretty cheap off Craigslist. Also, I took out a supporting wall to open up the play area (which you can see in the top photo) — the house is a little too enclosed as-is for easy preschooler access. (It stays up fine without it.) Also also also, this $15 Ikea table is perfect for this dollhouse: perfect width to hold the 3-story house structure, perfect height so kids can see easily into bottom floors without having to sprawl out on the ground.
Calico Critters Outback Koala Family
(Bean actually has the rabbit family, because she wouldn’t let me pick.)
So, oddly, the Plan Toys humans aren’t great, at least not for preschoolers. The bendable legs stretch right back out after a little while, so they frustratingly keep sliding out of chairs and sofas. It’s also hard to get them to stand. Very frustrating for a 3 year old.
The Calico Critters on the other hand, HUGE HIT. Bean actually didn’t play with her dollhouse until we swapped out a human family for a rabbit family.
Bean received these as a gift a couple years ago, and she still plays with them all the time. Sometimes, she builds cities with them or, now that she’s a little older, she can build arches and tunnels to send bunnies through. Other times she’ll pretend they’re ice cream cones or lollipops, or she’ll set up a market and pretend they are cookies, sandwiches, hot dogs. Endlessly versatile.
This is a simple little train set, but still manages to have all the fun things like a bridge, tunnel, people, houses, decorative trees. Bean still hasn’t figured out how to make the figure-8 all by herself, but she’s happy to stretch the tracks across the floor or build them into concentric circles. Then it’s all about loading up the trains with the firefighter, construction worker, and any Schleich animals that happen to be around.
Wild Republic Ring Tailed Lemur
By far, her most played with toys? Stuffed animals. She has created family structures for them (lemur here is piggie’s daddy, if you can believe it) and sends them off to preschool and throws them elaborate birthday parties (using the blocks above for cupcakes and cake). We have baskets and baskets of them collected through the years, and she plays with every single one nearly every day.
What toys are your preschoolers returning to again and again?
