My ds will be turning 3 in June and I need to start figuring out what he's going to get gift-wise. Does anyone have any recommendations for educational toys? I've been looking online all morning. I'm leaning more towards letter and number recognition type toys. TIA!!

By Debbie on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 11:08 am:

My ds has the Leap Frog bus and the actual Leap Frog. He loves them both. They are great for letter recognition and learning the sounds that letters make. We have actually been using the frog with my oler ds who is in Kindergarten. He is reading, but still has some trouble with vowel sounds. I really love all the Leap Frog toys, but these two are favorites with my ds's.

By Kolbysmom on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 11:28 am:

Thanks Debbie! I will look into the Leap Frog toys.

By Mommyathome on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 11:32 am:

Check Discovery Toys....they have some neat stuff. Andi is a representative for them, I think. Maybe she would have some suggestions!

By Ladypeacek on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 11:46 am:

I love the leap frog toys too!! They are wonderful! My daughter had the leap pad when she was 3. She obviously couldn't read yet but since it tells you each word she loved it. Plus by the time she was 4 she could say good morning, whats for breakfast, and i love sports in 8 languages, LOL!! And she is now 8 but she knows ALL the presidents and all the states and capitals and where they are located on the maps.

By Bellajoe on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 11:48 am:

My ds has a LeapFrog thing also. It is a magnet that we put on the fridge. It comes with letters. You put the letter into the magnet thing and it tells you the letter and the sound it makes.

"A says A and A says AAAHHH every letter makes a sound and A says A and AAAHHH" That's the little song it sings, it's cute.

He also has the bus and the my first Leap Pad, and he loves them all.....he is 3 yrs old also.

A puzzle with letters and numbers is a good idea also. TJ Maxx always has puzzles at a reasonable price.

By Tink on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 02:19 pm:

My dd has the Stuffed Leap toy. He has the letters printed on his shirt and sings the song that Bellajoe was talking about and talks about the color that each letter is. And a few other things. She likes those two best. She got this when she turned 2 but has only started playing with it in the last 2 months. She knows that B says "b-b-b-BUH" like Bella and that S says "ssss" for Sami and Seth. She just started M for Mommy. Too cute! My older two have the traditional Leadpads but I think they are a little too old for most 3yo. JMO

By Emily7 on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 03:49 pm:

My ds also has the magnetic ABC thing. He loves it...but you will sing the song, its just a little catchy. Its really cute to watch him dance to the ABC song.

By Andi on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 04:08 pm:

I am a Educational Consultant for Discovery Toys so e-mail me if you have any questions. wahooper5@cox.net

Leap Frog also has some great choices as well, you can't go wrong with either of them.

By Amy~moderator on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 04:32 pm:

My ds has the Leap Frog school bus, and that has really helped him to learn all of his Abc's - and he's only 2!

By Conni on Friday, April 23, 2004 - 09:06 am:

My ds has the Power Touch learning system by Fisher Price (i think?). Anyway, ds seems to like it alot. It is easy to use. And he has been learning to stop and listen to the instructions before he pushes any buttons. His Mema and Papa got it for him last yr. Otherwise I would have leaned toward the LeapFrog too. But this has been great and I am glad he has it!

The Jumpstart computer game series are great too!!! Jumpstart Preschool in particular.

Books, books and more books! My boys never have enough books... They are always asking for new ones.

Lion King 1-1/2 and Brother Bear are cute movies ds just got these DVD's for his 4th bday. But not educational I guess. lol

We order a preschool curriculum for ds from Brighter Vision Learning Adventure's. It is inexpensive and he jumps up and down every month when it is delivered to the front door in a box with name on it. lol He loves it. It always comes with a new story book, monthly theme related workbook, craft, poster, game, etc... All for about $14.00. They give you ideas on how to make stretch it out over a month and a list of other library books to check out that go along with the theme. Last months craft were animal magnets. The theme was Zoo Animals. Came with a Zoo animal poster, Zoo Animal Lotto game, etc... It fun. Just thought I'd mention it. Not for a bday gift so much, but it is nice to have something to do that is preschool based since my ds doesnt go and probably wont be going. I can teach him at home with this. He will sit and do an entire workbook if I let him.