Now that my daughter is older I am bringing far fewer toys into our house and instead reusing the toys we do have in amazing ways. As she quickly approaches three years old, she’s fully immersed herself in imaginative play so our toys have taken on new roles. What was once used just for stacking is now used to create a pretend movie theater for her little figurines (which makes me extremely happy). Here our our favorite toys right now at the Almost Three stage, most of which we’ve been playing with for many months at the very least.

Duplo World Animals - I had my eye on this set for at least a year before finally pulling the trigger. It’s an expensive set but definitely worth it. It comes with over 100 pieces and if your kid is anything like mine, they will love that all the animals come with a “baby” and a “mommy”.

Melissa & Doug Wooden Blocks - We’ve had these blocks for over a year and still play with them almost every single day. We build zoos and use the animals from the Duplo World Animal set. We create movie theaters and have her Peppa figures sit on all the seats. I think this block set has probably gotten us the single most bang for our buck of any toy we’ve ever purchased and it looks like we’ll be using it for years to come.

Megaformer Magnetic Blocks - We first discovered these magnetic blocks at a restaurant in Stowe, Vermont (read all about it here) and we’ve been huge fans ever since. I know Magnatiles are by far the most popular of the magnetic building blocks but I find these to be more intuitive and easier to stick together. I also appreciate that they are much less expensive :)

Colorama Sensory Kit - A recent addition to our household, this sensory kit from our friend Colorama has become our go-to new toy. My daughter has always loved play dough and decorating it with little figurines, but this kit comes with everything in one spot to let their imaginations run wild. You can read all about Colorama and Brittany here.

Art Supplies: We love craft time at our house and one of our favorite brands is Ooly. They make amazing, high-end art supplies that we’ve been lucky to receive as gifts and then continued to buy for ourselves (including these sparkle gel crayons and these scented crayons). We keep a pack in our busy bag (along with the cute corresponding notebooks) and another at home to keep our daughter occupied for a very, very long time. In addition to the standard crayons, papers, pipe cleaners, pom poms, etc we also keep a few of these Alex art supply boxes handy in case we need a prepared activity for a rainy day.

Step2 Rain Water Table - Since we’re in LA we’re able to play with our water table for most of the year. This one is affordable and is perfect for little toddler gatherings in the back yard. We also have another water and sand table from Land of Nod (RIP) that is the single most used item over the last two years. Sadly, the table (which is now sold through Crate & Kids) has become extremely expensive (I got it for around $200 on sale) so I can’t recommend at the new price, but if you ever see it on sale it is a great option because you can fill it with sand in cooler months and it has a top so it can quickly convert to an outdoor kid table.

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