33 Gifts and Toys for 3-Year-Old Girls

Does she hover nearby whenever a baby is being fed?

La Newborn from JC Toys gives her one to look after: a 14-inch doll made to look like a real newborn, with layette pieces for changing outfits and getting ready for bed.

Familiar faces from Bluey hide under every piece of this Ravensburger memory game, and each round plays like hide-and-seek on the floor.

Knowing the characters by heart gives her a head start, so the grown-up across from her has to pay attention.

Two patients come in the Melissa & Doug box, a plush dog and a plush cat, along with a pet doctor kit for looking after them.

Her stuffed bunny, already bundled up after every tumble, can wait its turn in line. Each animal leaves with a gentle pat and a made-up cure.

Hape's toy guitar puts strings under the fingers of a three-year-old who belts out every tune she hears on the radio.

Labeled for ages three and up, it gives her humming and clapping a sound she makes with her own hands. The instrument sits ready on her shelf between the concerts she stages for her stuffed animals.

Those self-checkout screens she always wants to tap at the grocery store now have a play version from VTech.

She rings up pantry cans one at a time, then switches sides and pays for them herself, so the game works even when no one else is free to shop.

Expect to build the first tower yourself so she can knock it down.

Before long she is stacking her own, pressing the MEGA BLOKS First Builders pieces together and pulling them apart again, and at cleanup time the whole set goes back into its bag.

A log cabin set makes sense for a girl who already piles cushions and boxes into houses for her toys.

Here the walls rise under her hands, and the finished home stays standing for her plush friends to move into. On the living room rug, a grown-up can sit beside her and pass her the next log.

Animal figures are close friends to a three-year-old girl, and this stable gives each new arrival a name and a stall.

She chats with her figures all day, and now they have a barn to return to after each adventure. Her favorite ends up in the middle spot, its new name announced to anyone passing by.

Gabby and her friends stop being characters she watches and become a cast she directs.

She knows every face from the show, so she picks who talks, who gets into trouble and how each new episode ends. A rainbow Gabby comes in the set, ready to star in the first story she invents.

Barbie arrives ready for a gymnastics meet in this playset, with accessories for staging her routines and a big finish.

Between her own cartwheels, she can send the doll through a turn of its own, cheer the landing and call out a score, usually a perfect ten.

This plush dog gives a little girl who pets every puppy on the sidewalk a companion of her own.

She already chats with the neighbors' pets, and now she can name a pup and serve it pretend kibble. Before her nap, she can save it a spot on the pillow beside her.

This Barbie Chelsea dollhouse puts a preschooler fond of doll families in charge of a whole household.

It is rated for ages 3 and up, so she is already old enough to play. On a quiet afternoon, the living room rug becomes her street.

Jenna, a Melissa & Doug baby doll, gives a preschooler with a nurturing streak someone small to care for.

She already rocks every stuffed animal, so cuddling and carrying a doll fits right into her games. At lunch, Jenna gets a seat beside her and a spoonful of pretend oatmeal.

This Bluey tea set gives a preschool fan of the show the host's seat at pretend tea parties.

She already feeds pretend snacks to her stuffed animals, and now each one gets a cup. She can take your order as well and keep your cup topped up.

The T-Rex Cozy Coupe is a dinosaur ride-on car for a make-believe driver at age three.

She turns the key, honks the horn and parks by the door. Her stuffed animals can ride along in the trunk.

The Radio Flyer Pink Rider Trike is a pedal tricycle for a girl turning three who wants to ride outside.

Its covered bin at the back holds a favorite toy. She can pack a snack and pedal off down the sidewalk.

This balance bike gives a 3-year-old girl her first set of wheels, with no pedals to figure out.

She pushes along with both feet, so gliding down the sidewalk comes before any pedaling. A removable plate lets her decorate it.

Color sorting is the point of this Learning Resources farmer's market set, with every play fruit and vegetable belonging to a matching pile.

Dump them all into one big heap and she can find a home for each piece, then mix them up again for another round.

Spike the hedgehog from Learning Resources runs on one simple loop of pulling a piece out, pressing it back in and starting over, the same urge behind every straw she pokes into a cup.

Now and then she may hand you a piece and point to where it goes.

This mammoth ice game lets a three-year-old girl tap out blocks with a mallet at the family table.

No reading is needed, so she can take her turn alongside everyone else. A colored die adds a second way to play.

Learning Resources tucks a surprise inside each basket, made for a preschooler who peeks into every shopping bag.

Peeking inside containers is her favorite discovery now, and each surprise tucks back in so the hunt restarts. The set spreads across the rug as a picnic for her stuffed animals, each guest with its own lunch.

Any three-year-old who begs for a seat when the grown-ups play at the table can bring her own Learning Resources donut game.

Sweet-shop make-believe is her favorite kind of play right now, so each turn spent collecting sugary goodies belongs to her. Her pile of sugary prizes gets shown off to everyone at the table once the round ends.

Sticker backings defeat most small fingers, and the Sticker Wow! cat stamper skips them entirely.

She presses it down, a sticker lands on the page, and she presses again somewhere new until the activity pad turns into a crowded scene. The stamper itself is a cat character she can fiddle with between pages.

Crayola Twistables crayons fit a preschooler who scribbles on every page she can reach, from coloring books to grocery lists.

Picking the color of every sky and cat is her big decision now, and these put it in her hand. The set travels in her backpack to the diner, where the paper menu becomes her canvas.

Soft Play-Doh is what a three-year-old wants under her palms, patting out pancakes and poking holes with a fingertip.

Her hands go for anything soft, and peeking behind cushions for hidden containers adds a hunt before the squeezing starts.

Whoever is choosing for a preschooler who asks for PAW Patrol every morning can hand her the show on paper.

The characters she watches become pictures she colors in herself, with stickers placed wherever she decides.

A store game needs a customer, so count on being the one with the empty basket.

The Hape checkout register puts her behind the counter, ringing up a banana and, once in a while, one of your shoes before calling the next shopper over.

This Melissa & Doug pretend cleaning set lets a chore-copying three-year-old tidy up like the grown-ups.

Melissa & Doug labels it for ages 3 and up, and copying your housework is her favorite game right now. While you wipe the kitchen counter, she can work her way across the coffee table.

When the girl you have in mind talks into a cupped hand, swap it for this toy phone.

She copies every grown-up conversation she overhears, and between chats she tows it behind her from room to room.

Digging and dumping in the sandbox gets a real job with this Tonka cement mixer truck.

She loads the barrel with sand, then turns the crank to mix a batch. The pile outside becomes her building site.