Every year, we want to provide our kids with the best educational toys we can find! As a homeschooling mom, I understand how important this can be. So, I went through multiple toys to create this guide of the best gifts for 4 year old.
*This article contains affiliate links, but I only recommend the products that I have used or I am very passionate about. *
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Best Gifts for 4 Year Old Girl
Flower Garden Building Toy
This is one toy on my shopping list this year. There are so many flower options and can be used as a teaching lesson on flowers.
Doctor Kit with Nurse Dress Up
I love toys like this. Children get to explain different fields and learn more about their environment. My kids play doctor very often. It’s a great toy to promote well-being.
VTech Camera
We purchased this camera for my daughters 4th birthday and she enjoys playing with it. It has a few games and the picture quality is alright. This camera can take a beating though!
VTech Touch and Learn Activity Desk
This desk comes with five different activity pages, which will expose your child to several academic concepts. In addition, you can pretend to call people and listen to some music.
Magnetic Tile Set
This magnetic tile set is a get gift for 4 year old girls. Enrich their critical thinking and coordination skills. This can be played with for hours.
Pop Beads
Expand on your daughter’s creativity with this bread set! This bead set is colorful and unique.
Princess Castle Tent
I can just picture my little girl reading books in there, can’t you? Such a cute tent that would be full of make-believe and heart-filled memories.
Pretend Makeup Kit
Looks real, but it’s not! Perfect for a little girl that loves watching Mommy do her makeup.
Best Gifts for 4 Year Old Boy
Hot Wheels Car Engine
Your little guy can be just like Daddy now! This engine lets you change the oil, “rebuild” the engine, and change the tires.
Dinosaur Play Set
Any child with a love of dinosaurs would enjoy playing with this set. It comes with 9 dinos, a cloth mat, and a storage container. Great for a dinosaur lesson. Looking for more dinosaur toys?
Engineering Dinosaurs
A great gift for 4 year old boy who loves to take things part! Rebuild these dinosaurs over and over again.
Magnetic Tiles
More magnetic tiles for endless building possibilities.
Take Apart Toy Racing Car
Rebuild this race car over and over again. You can remove everything that is yellow and the wheels!
VTech Touch and Learn Activity Desk
A great educational gift for 4 year old boys. That’s of course, if you can get them to sit still! This desk comes with 5 interchangeable pages.
Construction Worker Play Kit
Again, imaginary play is so awesome! Let your little guy experience what it is like to be a construction worker. Read some books and explore a construction site!
Construction Site Vehicles
You can’t have a construction worker without his construction site. This playset will add to his learning about construction workers.
Marble Race Track
We have one of these marble mazes for my son. He will play with this for hours! It is a blast to build your own maze and I often even find myself playing with it at times. It comes with plastic balls that are a little larger than a marble. However, you can use glass marbles on this track.
Games
Games can be fun for the whole family. They can be extremely educational which leads to your child learning without even knowing it. Talk about a win-win!
Perfection
Who doesn’t remember this game?! This one is defiantly on my list this year. My daughter is so competitive and what’s better than practicing her shapes and matching skills while racing the clock.
Magnetic Matching Game
Children get introduced to how magnets works, while trying to use their problem-solving skills. Each card has a pattern to match and can be played with others or alone.
Hoot Owl Hoot!
This board game consists of color matching. Match the colors on the board and help the owl get home before the sun comes up!
Color and Shape Slide Puzzle
Let your child be challenged by this brain teaser puzzle. It stimulates the brain while still having loads of fun! Kids could play with this for hours. This is on my list of gifts this year.
I have such a love for wooden toys! We purchased this fishing game for my son’s birthday. It’s a fun game that encourages kids to practice their hand-eye coordination. They to practice their letter recognition and number counting.
Pimple Pete Game
I know, gross right? But, this game is so fun to play with the kids. My kids loved it and the adults got a good laugh.
Jumbo Counting Bears Matching Game
A Montessori toy that is perfect for helping your little one learn colors, sorting, and mathematics.
Ladybug Garden Memory Game
Test your child’s memory with this interchangeable memory game. It comes with several different playing sheets to allow you to play the game in multple ways!
Busytown Eye Found It
This 6 feet long game board puts the whole family in a hunt for items. It encourages team building skills, object identification, and increases matching skills.
Patterns
This list of toys add some additional learning time on patterns. Perfect for getting those little ones away the screen and getting their fingers moving!
Magnetic Creation Station
Fat Brain Toys have fantastic toys! It is probably my favorite toy site right now. This magnetic set is perfect for on the go fun.
Design and Drill Activity Center
This is another toy on my list that I am considering getting for my son. I can picture any little one who has a love for construction would enjoy playing with this.
Color Matching Pegboard
Finish each pattern board by matching the colored pieces. All you have to do is snap them in. This comes with 10 different pegboards.
Wooden Pattern Blocks Animal Jigsaw Puzzle
Another Montessori toy that enriches your child’s learning. It contains 60 different pattern cards to follow and increases your child’s problem-solving skills.
Fat Brain Toys Bugzzle
This toy challenges your little learner with 40 different combinations. Kids can try to match the puzzle card, while they pratice critical thinking, problem-solving, logic, and fine-motor skills. Another great toy by Fat Brain Toys
The toy comes with several different colorful gears. The child has to match them on the image and if they are correct, they will be able to spin the gears.
STEM Toys
If you haven’t heard of STEM it stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. These toys are terrific for hands-on learning and expanding the mind.
Educational Building Toy
This toy comes with 288 pieces. Both boys and girls can expand their building creativity. They can build different animals, vehicles, robots, dinosaurs, and more.
Coogman Wooden Tetris Puzzle
This colorful puzzel is a great brain teaser for a 4 year old. There are multiple ways of solving it and you can create different images.
Mosaic Puzzle
Build a house, kola, cat, and more. This set comes with 36 different patterns to follow, or create your own! Your beloved 4 year old will expand on their problem-solving and fine motor skills.
Squigz
Squigz encourages those little hands to move and build. See if you can connect them from wall to wall. We have these and I use them as a bathtub toy. No water can be held inside!
Construction Engineering Tool Set
A 4 year old will enjoy playing with this tool set. Instead of building a flat image, you can build a 3 dimensional structure. Perfect for traveling and on the road fun!
Fat Brain Toys Joinks
Another 3 dimensional toy that will keep your kids busy! This toy contains wooden sticks and silicone connectors. Just keep in mind, this may not be a good choice for little ones who like to put things in their mouth.
Straw Constructor
These look like so much fun! I can picture kids playing with these for hours. This straw building set is another item on my list this year.
Craft Supplies for Your Little Artist
What child doesn’t love getting messy? You can never go wrong with art supplies. It enriches your child’s creativity.
Kids Easel with Paper Roll
This easel has it all!It is a chalk and dry erase board. It holds art supplies, paper roll, and has no spill paint cups. Perfect for your little artist!
Drawing Stencil Set
We have this tracing stencil kit. It is not something played with often, but it’s great to have. My daughter likes to make different scenes with the different images.
Mega Kids Art Supplies Jar
This jar is full of different craft supplies. Imagine all the fun creations you will get to make with your little ones!
Melissa and Doug’s Wooden Animal Stamp Set
Every kid I know loves stamps. My daughter went through a phase where she just loved playing with stamps. They make a great gift for 4 year olds.
Little Kids Art Set
This art set contains 48 different pieces. As you can see, there are many different styles of brushes to try and the apron will help keep your child’s clothes just a tid-pit cleaner.
Imaginary Play
Pretend play is so important for young minds. It strengthens their emotional development and gives children a chance to experience the adult world.
Outside Explorer Kit
Kids who are fond of the outdoors would enjoy a explorer kit. Collect different bugs and exam them. Rent a book from the library and expand on their bug knowledge!
Musical Instruments
This wooden instrument set contains 32 different pieces. Your little homeschooler can explore music at its finest.
Wooden Fresh Mart Grocery Store
Shop freely on the shelves and once you are done come to the scanner to check out. I’m sure the grocer would be pleased to help you!
Wooden Kitchen by Melissa and Doug
Extend on your child’s “cooking” skills with this wooden kitchen. This kitchen is large enough for several children to play at once. It has a nice clean look that will not be an eye-sore in the homeschool room.
Kitchen Chair Cover
If you live in a small house or apartment, like we do, I know you don’t have room for a large play kitchen. Instead consider getting one of these chair covers! They have other options as well: a vet, workbench, grocery store, and beauty salon.
The Last Few Gift Ideas for 4 Year Old
Flying Saucer Tree Swing
Eliminate all the stimulation from a day of learning and let the kids swing the stress away.
Spinagain by Fat Brain Toys
We bought this for our son and he LOVES it! We had it for a few years now and he still continues to play with it. As you put each disc on it spins to the bottom. Completely different than a traditional stacking ring toy.
Personalized Wooden Name Puzzle
A great gift to help a child learn how to practice spelling their name.
Lots of great ideas! I definitely second the Vtech camera. We bought my oldest one for her 3rd birthday, 6 years ago. It’s been dropped, thrown, and dragged all sorts of places and still works great!
That is awesome! It’s good to know you will have a toy that can withstand all the crazy activities of a preschooler! The only complaint I have is putting the batteries back in after it is smashed into the floor. Haha! However, the Vtech camera is a great gift for 4-year-olds.
I love this list! I sometimes spend hours sifting through catalogues to find toys of exactly this caliber. Stem, fine motor, pretend play, social-cooperative, it’s all here. And the replay value and staying power of these toys will be awesome. I know I’m bookmarking this list for Christmas.
Hey Bethany! I am so glad you found this unique gift list for preschoolers useful! I know it can be challenging to find educational toys that can fill multiple functions! I am always looking for these types of toys and they can be hard to come by. Hope you have a wonderful holiday season!