Successful presents for a 3 year old

Having just celebrated Mr G's 3rd birthday, and with Christmas fast approaching, I thought I would share some presents for a three year old that went down really well.

1.  Le Toy Van's Barbarossa Pirate ship.
Fuel for the three year old's rapidly expanding imagination and thirst for role play.  He has played with this so much, making the little pirates go on treasure hunts, making stowaways walk the plank or scrub the decks, setting sail across the living room carpet.

2.  Lego Duplo 

Busy garage and fire station.  My Dad and brother are die hard lego enthusiasts.  Mr G loved the flashing light brick you can move from the fire engine to the helicopter.  The garage rescue truck was a massive hit because it has a cable and hook to tow other vehicles.  The sets are the perfect balance of ready assembled and modifiable parts for a 3 year old.  Plus L who is 5, helped him build and joined in lots, so a great toy for co-operation.

3.  Melissa and Doug cup cake decorating set.  A perfect three year old birthday present.  You can assemble the wooden cakes and candles and use the dry marker pens (they look like icing tubes) to decorate your cakes.  We also have the ice cream making set which is a favourite in our house.  Thanks Grandma.

4.  Playdough breakfast set

This was a present from Mr G's friends.  Playdough is always a winner, keeps most three year olds quiet for ages, particularly I find, when it is cooking related.  He needs help to operate the milkshake and shredder, but he made pancakes, fried eggs and waffles independently.  I also love the smaller sets in sandwich style boxes.  All fiddly toys should come in storage boxes by law, in my humble opinion.

5. This Brimax 3D fire engine floor puzzle from great Aunty C and Uncle G is great.  We're at the stage of loving puzzles and the 3D and transport element really appealed.

Cars and Toy Story playing cards, a Fireman Sam headtorch, a pirate hotwater bottle and a penguin wind up torch were all much loved little bits which would make great stocking fillers.