What are the Best Toys for 3-Year-Olds with Autism? What key features should you watch out for when buying toys for your 3-year-old autistic child?
Toys for your 3-year-old autistic child play a significant role in achieving educational objectives such as balance, color recognition, fine motor skills, and spatial recognition.
In addition, these toys allow your autistic child to remain calm, enjoy the present moment and focus on activities such as eating and sleeping.
However, there are numerous toys for autism at three years old, and picking the best one can be confusing.
Also, you could be wondering (like I did) how each toy will aid the growth, health, and condition of my autistic child?
Therefore, we spent 55 hours researching deeply on the web on what toys will perfectly serve autistic children. Finally, our editor combined all reports, lab results from our hub to put this detailed review for you to consume and make a well-informed decision.
But first…
Table of Contents
Who is an autistic child?
An autistic child is a child who has Autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by difficulties with social interaction and communication and restricted and repetitive behavior.
Therefore, autistic children resist change in routine, repeat body movements, and may grow an obsessive focus on an activity, toy, or game.
Why Buy Toys for 3-Year-Olds with Autism?
Toys help autistic children grow their social skills. Autistic children lack intuition about others and toys aid in providing gameplay sessions while the guardian watches or plays along. Toys with teamwork potential excel well here.
Toys bring variety and reduce repetitive behavior in autistic children, such as jumping or rolling heads. The various textures, colors, and sizes of baby toys are key in diversifying the potential of magic.
Therefore, your child has a broader exposure to different items that significantly reduce overfocusing on one area.
Toys improve the communication of autistic children since they face developmental challenges in changing symbols to speech.
A toy with sound, music, or even exciting sounds from moving parts of a toy, plays a huge role in invoking speech instincts and a framework for communication.
Reviews for Best Toys for 3-Year-Olds with Autism
1. Best Sensory Mat Toys for 3-year-olds with autism – TickiT Silishapes
Specifications
- Age Limit: 36 months – 50 years
- Dimensions: 10.53 x 10.14 x 2.14 inches
- Battery: Not required
- Weight: 2.55 pounds
TickiT Silishapes is a highly interactive toy due to the 5 textures, 5 colors; purple, cyan, red, green, yellow, and 2 sizes. These variations reduce monotony in the toy, offer high engagement and increased gameplay time.
Your Autistic Child is exposed to various aspects of life, acquires color recognition skills, and is less likely to continue making repetitive movements thanks to a diverse baby toy.
TickiT Silishapes helps your child meet several educational objectives, including preconception, balance, coordination, orientation, posture, and exploring their sense of touch.
Using the big circles with their feet and moving the smaller discs with their hands, TickiT Silishapes allows your autistic kid to control their body and limbs.
Feeling each of the textures enhances their sense of touch, making it easy for autistic children to grasp objects, throw them away and gain spatial recognition.
Also, TickiT Silishapes is a durable sensory toy made from high-quality silicone. Silicone has a high tensile strength of between 580 to 1700 PSI and a high UV resistance factor of 4 out of 5. Your toys, therefore, will last a long time, allowing your autistic child to gain the most skills and fun from the toy.
Pros
✅ Numerous educational objectives
✅ Durable silicone build
✅ Highly interactive and engaging toy
Cons
X Although washable, TickiT Silishapes collect dust too easily
Learn More from BestToyLine: Best Toy For 4 Year Old Autistic Boy
2. Best fidget toys for 3-year-olds with autism – Loveyc Fidget Toys Set
Specifications
- Age Limit: 3 years and up
- Material: Silicone
Loveyc Fidget Toys Set allows your three-year-old autistic child to play safely without the risk of inflammation or skin irritation.
Since autistic children can have a huge obsession with one toy, they are bound to fully explore the magic in the toy with their skin, mouth, nose, feet, and even face.
This set has a safe silicone build that is non-toxic and environmentally friendly for harmless gameplay.
Loveyc Fidget Toys Set directly encourages parent-child communication. Autistic children have to overcome impaired communication where they struggle to form symbols and speech forms.
Also, autistic children lack the intuition about others and are socially impaired. Holding the fidget toys with your autistic child is a fun activity to aid them in overcoming these challenges and develop recognition of other individuals around them.
The mechanism of this toy to relieve stress and keep the brain focused makes it an ideal choice for autistic children. Children with autism tend to be nervous and anxious.
This toy plays a vital role in relaxing and calming them to prevent violence or hyperactivity.
Pros
✅ Safe silicone material
✅ Many educational objectives including intellectual development, hands-on brain, grasping, hand-eye coordination, color cognition, other ability training, interactive toys,parent-child communication
✅ Great for calming and relaxing anxious and nervous autistic children
Cons
X None
3. Best chewing toy for 3-year-old with autism – SENSO MINDS Chew Necklace Bundle
Specifications
- Age Limit: 12 Months and up
- Material: Silicone
Senso Chewers are a great way to entertain and improve the condition of your 3-year-old autistic child. The chewers are 100% non-toxic and perfectly fit for teething without toxic chemicals such as lead, latex, BPA, PVC, and phthalates.
Your autistic child, therefore, can explore all the magic of these toys, gain obsession, and even repeat toy sessions with the same chewer without causing skin irritations.
Also, the chewers are 100% safe for use by autistic children due to the adjustable breakaway clasp. Autistic children are bound to perform repetitive behavior such as head rolling and hand flapping. A clasp ensures teethers do not fall from their mouths to the ground.
Senso chewers are easy to clean and sanitize. Since you may not control your autistic child’s actions, they are bound to soil toys and rub against the inappropriate surfaces in the house.
However, this toy is sanitary and hygienic allowing simple washes with just water to eliminate debris and residue while making disinfection easy.
Pros
✅ 100% non-toxic silicone build
✅ Breakaway clasp for additional safety
✅ Sanitary and Hygienic chewers
Cons
X Soft chewing toy with no variation in the strength of the chew across the different chewers
4. Twiddle Sensory Toys for Autistic Children
Specifications
- Age Limit: 12 Months and up
- Material: Silicone
Twindle pup is designed to reduce stress, anxiety, and nervousness in children while increasing brain function.
TwiddlePup comes with an interior soft-plastic orbit ball tethered on the inside.
The exterior attached gadgets include a loop of multi-colored wooden beads, textured ribbons, a sealed buckskin crackle pouch, and a hook.
All these accessories play a significant role in diversifying your child’s toys and giving them exposure to new perspectives. Autistic children can therefore overcome sameness, repetition, and obsession.
Twindle pup is a hygienic and sanitary toy for your 3-year-old with autism. The pup is Machine Washable and Dryer Friendly after removing gadgets.
Cleaning is easy and ensures your toy is safe and fit for use at all times.
Twindle Pup complies with all US and European safety standards, ensuring that you are using a non-hazardous toy that may otherwise deteriorate the health of your child.
Depending on the color preference or interests of your autistic child, parents can select different models of the toy. These models include brown cat, Classic, Cream Cat, Nathan, and Sport.
Pros
✅ Perfect for reducing stress, anxiety, and nervousness
✅ Multipiece toy for reducing monotony and boredom
✅ Hygienic and sanitary toy
✅ The toy is available in different models
Cons
X Although the toy performs well in retaining short-term engagement, it scores relatively low on long-term interaction.
5. Best sensory putty for autistic toddlers – Crazy Aaron’s Sensory Putty
Specifications
- Age Limit: 3 years and up
Aaron’s Putty is a perfect fit for 3-year-old autistic kids due to its ability to calm and relax children. The soft texture and the elasticity of the putty make it ideal for relieving nervousness.
Making out anything the child wants gives them control and positive energy that reduces stress and frustrations. The toy builds confidence in autistic kids and gives them feedback for their actions.
The toy also creates a grateful heart and a recognition of people around them. The toy archives this by giving room to parents or other children for playing with putty together.
The vital advantage here is reducing social impairment through enhanced eye contact and increased intuition about others.
Aaron’s Putty is 100% non-toxic and safe for play by your autistic child. Autistic children can lick, mouth, or even touch their faces while playing with putty.
Aaron’s Putty gives an infinite gameplay option for autistic children to enjoy a fun time that poses zero hazards to their health.
Also, Aaron’s Putty is gluten-free and latex-free, and Made in the USA, assuring you of top-notch safety and certification.
Pros
✅ 100% safe kids putty made in the USA
✅ Calms and relaxes due to the soft texture
✅ It gives room for social interaction
Cons
X Stick for relatively long to surfaces including skin, clothes but does not stain
6. Intock Magnetic Blocks, 40 Pieces
Specifications
- Age Limit: 3 years and up
Intock Magnetic Blocks are a highly interactive stacking toy for your 3-year-old autistic child. Autistic children exhibit repetition and obsession with items, activities, and games.
Interactive Intock Magnetic Blocks with 4 colors; blue, red, green, and yellow, and the relatively high quality of pieces (40) are the perfect fit to bring interest, excitement, and appreciation for diversity and change.
Also, stacking plays a huge role in toddlers’ color recognition, communication, and hand-eye coordination skills.
By lifting pieces to a specific destination, your child strengthens their arms and ensures hand-eye coordination. Matching color pieces to form patterns is an excellent activity for distinguishing and collaborating colors.
The pieces can also be used as magnetic clickable fidgets that bring calmness and relaxation to reduce anxiety occasioned by autistic children. Playing with individual pieces without stacking is also beneficial to improving the life and condition of your child.
Intock Magnetic Blocks is 100% Safe and Non-Toxic ABS plastic. The toy has ASTM F963, making it 0% toxic-free and compliant with healthy baby item regulations.
In addition, ABS Plastic has a high tensile strength of 4,100 PSI, making it durable to withstand ears and tears and scratches and breaks over a long time.
Pros
✅ High durable ABS Plastic build
✅ Highly interactive toy
✅ Facilitates achieving several educational objectives, including color recognition, hand-eye coordination, communication
✅ 100% safe and non-toxic
Cons
X The low weight makes forms prone to falling
7. PlayLearn Blackout Sensory Tent Corner for Autistic Children
Specifications
- Age Limit: 3 years and up
PlayLearn Tent Corner offers exclusive entertainment for your autistic child to enable them to calm down alone.
Getting rid of stimulating objects that just raise their emotions unnecessarily is key to achieving calmness and reducing nervousness.
In the end, your autistic child reaches a personal environment to discover life on their own.
Also, the glow-in-dark light accessories that the child could be having in the house get magnified in this tent. This tent can thus be used as their haven where they can experience a heightened magic level compared to what they get elsewhere in the house.
The key advantage that places this item apart from its competition is focusing on calmness and serenity to allow your autistic child to refocus.
While other tents can offer shelter, this one offers an exclusive and calm environment for dark environments perfect for refocusing and relaxation.
Pros
✅ Exclusive dark tent for calming, relaxation, and refocusing
✅ Best fit for reducing anxiety in autistic children
✅ Made of highly durable PU fabric
Cons
X None
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What to buy a 3-year-old child with autism – Ultimate Buying Guide
Toys with sand, snow, soil, water, etc.
Sand, snow, soil, and water are central to facilitating the calmness and relaxation of your 3-year-old autistic child.
These materials allow your child to appreciate various textures individually or mix them.
This exposure to changes and variations subsequently builds the option for change in routine, reducing sameness and obsession from your 3-year-old autistic child.
In the end, your autistic child has reduced anxiety and nervousness, allowing them to cope with life and enjoy the gameplay.
Safe and non-toxic toys
Selecting safe and non-toxic toys is key to ensuring that your autistic child is free from skin irritations or allergies.
Since autistic children can have an obsession over one toy, they are bound to explore it entirely by scratching, licking, mouthing, and touching every surface on the toy.
A safe and non-toxic toy reduces the risk of health hazards that could cause more implications.
Interactive toys
Interactive toys are ideal for autistic children just to grab their attention, captivate their minds, and refrain from self-destructive habits like skin scratching.
The features that make toys interactive include variation in color, glowing, textures, and shapes that reduce boredom and monotony.
Durable toys
Autistic children have characteristics of sameness, resisting change, and obsession with one object. Parents can decide to satisfy these needs, especially if an autistic child loves certain kinds of toys.
Durable toys will reduce distractions and the commotion that could arise when a broken toy has to be eliminated from the toy shelf.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I entertain my 3-year-old child with autism?
The best way to entertain your 3-year-old with autism is to play with him using sensory toys.
Since autistic children lack social communication and intuition about others, a united, fun play session excites them and builds social cooperation.
What do you buy for a 3-year-old autistic child?
The best items to buy a 3-year-old autistic child are sensory toys. These sensory toy compartments include sensory mats, magnetic puzzles, sand and water stations, fidget balls, and balancing toys.
These sensory toys give your autistic child exposure to various textures, colors, sizes, and shapes to change monotony and avoid boredom.
How to deal with a 3-year-old autistic child
Dealing with a 3-year-old autistic child involves studying their characteristics and their behaviors connected to autism.
Understanding which habits need to be subtracted from their life could include applying to a pediatrician or introducing specific toys to improve certain behaviors. However, punishment for repetitive patterns and self-injury actions is not desired.
Conclusion
TickiT Silishapes and Loveyc Fidget Toys Set are the overall Best toys for 3-Year-Olds with Autism. These toys invoke a social cooperation space to ensure your child appreciates intuition about others.
Also, the toys offer various textures, sizes, and colors to reduce monotony and increase engagement to reduce obsession and repetition.
Selecting the best toy for your 3-year-old with autism requires that you look for Toys with sand, snow, soil, water, etc.; Safe and non-toxic toys; Interactive toys, and Durable toys.