Our favorite toys for 3 to 5 year olds

Readers often ask me for educational toy recommendations.  Here are my kids' favorites.  These are the toys with which they play day in and day out.   These are all things we own (with the exception of the three things on our wishlist - you'll see when you get to those items).

Beleduc 5-layer Body Puzzle (Girl or Boy ): Bear's had this since she turned 2 and it's everyone's favorite, even now that she's 5.

Magna-Tiles - the number one toy in this house.  We got a small set.  If you have more than one child, you really need the set of 100.  32 pieces is just not enough. 

Wedgits - J-jo likes to build whatever, and Bear likes to follow the plans in the book.  This is a great logic and building toy.  A good toy for many ages.

miniLUK and BambinoLUK - We only have the miniLUK (but our friends have and like the BambinoLUK) and though Bear enjoys it, it is really J-jo's favorite activity in the school room.  He could be more independent with the BambinoLUK, but he manages the MiniLUK with some help.  It is frustrating that the book slips and slides under the MiniLUK controller, but our solution is to use some sticky tack stuff (usually to hold posters to walls) to hold the controller to the book.  The Starter Packs are not too expensive.  I'd personally go with the miniLUK if you have a 3 year old or older, even though it says it is for ages 5 and above.  Most 3 year olds should be able to handle the miniLUK with a bit of scaffolding help.  

Rush Hour - J-jo likes to just play with the cars and is starting to copy the patterns on the cars; Bear is now playing the actual game.  It's neat the see a toy grow with a child this way.

Melissa and Doug puzzles- we have the boxed set that has the vehicles, as well as a few of the 24 piece puzzles.  I look for these at consignment sales and save them up for birthdays and Christmas.  I like these because they are wood and the pieces don't get bent.   

Montessori botany, animal , or insect puzzles - these are on my wishlist this year for my puzzle loving kids.  

Lauri stacking pegs - J-jo has the train one for counting, but I also showed the picture of the one I wish we had bought as it would be better for open-ended building play.  The link takes you to all the sets available.

Wooden cutting food sets - we have the one shown below, but there are so many different fun options!

Leapfrog magnetic phonics toys - J-jo loves both the ones shown below.  

Of course, Lego, Duplo, Playmobil, and Little People are favorites at our house as well.  Bear will spend hours building with Lego.  Playmobil are durable toys that encourage pretend play.  You can even get Egyptian sets and knights sets to go with ancient history.  They are so durable that my kids are playing with my old sets from when I was a child.  Little People are J-jo's favorites.  He's hoping for the Little People Nativity this Christmas, (who can blame him - it's so cute and on the cover of every catalog we've gotten so far this year) but we already have the Playmobil one that gets played with a lot. 

As for Bibles:

The Jesus Storybook Bible is our very favorite. It's a must-have!  I held out so long to get it (and wish I hadn't) because we already had Karen Henley's The Beginner's Bible, which is a good early reader.  In fact, Sonlight uses it as a second grade reader.  I got a used copy of the Beginner's Bible from Amazon.  They have one for a penny right now.  

Oh and Lauri - Fun with Magnets  is in our cart for Bear and J-jo.  It's gotten rave reviews over at What Did We Do All Day.

I also have some Billy and Blaze books in the cart for J-jo.  He always has them out from the library.  We return them and the next time we go, he picks them up again.  I think it's time he had his own:)

Disclaimer: The Amazon links are all affiliate, which means I can earn a small commission at no additional cost to you when you use my links for purchases.  Thank you!