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While it might not seem like much, at least from an adult point of view, the difference between a child who just turned 3 and one who just turned 4 can be enormous. According to Jeannette Corey, director of the Bank Street Family Center, 4-year-olds continue to engage in pretend play, but that play becomes more sophisticated and is more dependent on their expanding language skills. They are also more physically mature and able to use more advanced techniques when drawing, painting, or sculpting a hunk of Play-Doh. As a result, their art becomes more representational, Corey says.
In practical terms, that means they might experiment with telling jokes and be interested in adopting words and phrases they hear adults say. They are endlessly curious, oftentimes goofy, and creative enough to invent their own games and play scenarios. To help you find gifts that encourage this curiosity and creativity, we asked child-development specialists like Corey, toy experts, and discerning parents to recommend their favorites. We’ve organized the 37 toy recommendations below by price range, so if you have a budget in mind, you can use the table of contents to jump right to that section — or read all the way through to get a full picture of the best gifts for 4-year-olds.
Meanwhile, if you’re also shopping for kids in other age groups, we have gift guides for 1-year-olds, 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, 5-year-olds, 6-year-olds, 7-year-olds, 8-year-olds, 9-year-olds, 10-year-olds, 11-year-olds, and 12-year-olds plus the meticulously curated Strategist Toy Store, filled with all our greatest hits.
Update on November 15, 2024: Added a toy cash register, a new sensory building set from Fat Brain Toys, and a pretend-play car wash panel for a play couch; updated prices and checked stock for all products.
Under $25
“My older son, who is a huge fan of Richard Scarry books, loved playing this game” after he received it for his 4th birthday, reports Strategist writer Lauren Ro. It’s basically the world of Busytown in board-game form — interactive, silly, and super fun. Players work as a team to race to the island on a ferry before the picnicking pigs eat all the food. Depending on what you spin, you either advance or go on a scavenger hunt to collect different objects on the six-foot-long game board. “It’s actually pretty challenging, even for adults,” Ro says, since there’s so much ground to cover and the illustrations are quite detailed (just like in the books). “But Augie relishes the challenge and gets really excited each time he plays.”
“Open the box, and you’ve got the basics of an auto-body shop,” says Jason Feifer, editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magazine, podcast host, and dad of two. “There’s a big plastic drill that spins at non-dangerous speeds as well as the disassembled parts of a car — chassis, roof, wheels, bumpers, and a bunch of screws. At first, a very practical parent might assemble the car and think … That’s it? But to kids, it becomes an endless experiment: They’ll spend hours mastering their screwing technique, changing the wheels around (or screwing them into the roof or front bumper), and generally just re-pimping this ride over and over and over.”
Ro’s son is also a fan of this dino-themed cooperative game where kids have to work together and use their memory to get the dinosaurs to safety before the volcano explodes. “Augie loves the many interactive components involved: rolling the die; flipping over tokens to try to find the matching dinosaurs; and even building the volcano in the center when you get unlucky,” she says.
Speaking of dinosaurs, this clay-dinosaur craft kit makes kids feel like one part artist, one part paleontologist as they mold their own prehistoric beasts, using little tools and bright clay to cover up faux fossils.
Before they actually start to learn to read, children work on pre-reading skills like letter forms, storytelling, and spacing, among other things. According to Lori Caplan-Colon, a speech and language pathologist at Montclair Speech Therapy, this set of wooden letters with corresponding pictures and word guides simplifies the process by letting kids focus on the simple act of building a word. “The directed, goal-oriented play helps children celebrate each “win” as they gain mastery, learning important sight words and improving fine motor skills all the while,” says Caplan-Colon
Corey recommends stocking a play space with age-appropriate art supplies that support process over product, and scissors are a superlative tool for honing fine motor skills and improving hand strength. The wacky edges on this easy-to-grip, child-safe set come in six different shapes for wavier, more interesting borders.
At this age, many kids are starting to experiment with personal style and fashion. And lots of 4-year-olds love accessorizing their bold style choices with temporary tattoos. You can find tons of great options on Amazon, but Kelly Harris Smith, founder of the Boston-based Minni art space, recommends Tattly temporary tattoos because the company supports working artists, and the unique designs are more exciting. The brand has a huge selection of tattoos so you can tailor the theme to your child’s interests, whether that’s Richard Scarry characters, outer space, unicorns, or pizza slices.
For the animal lover, speech-language pathologist and mom Ellice Kim Lacerda recommends figurines from Schleich, the German toy company that’s been around since 1935. “In general, we love the Schleich figurines. We always add a few different animals to every holiday and birthday wish list,” she says. “They are pricier than other figurines, but they look realistic and are very durable.” (And for eco-conscious families, the brand has a new line of fully recyclable figurines; once you’re done playing with them, you can send them back to the company where they’ll be used to make new toys.) Whether your kid prefers dinosaurs or wild animals, there’s something for everyone.
Milk Teeth co-founder Catherine Newell-Hanson is a repeat buyer of these personalized superhero capes that have been a hit with the kids in her life. You’ll need a bit of lead time, but the result will definitely make the recipient feel very special. “The Etsy seller who makes them can also include a matching mask,” she notes.
If kids only see dolls without private parts, says Caitlin Meister, founder of the Greer Meister Group, an educational consulting practice in Brooklyn, they could be getting a message that there’s something about those body parts that is shameful or bad. Instead, she thinks it’s important to give children dolls that accurately represent the human body, like Miniland’s baby dolls, to help counter any unintentional negative messaging. The brand’s dolls are all anatomically correct and represent a range of different races.
And once you’ve selected a doll, gifting clothing and accessories to go along with it will help encourage imaginative storytelling. Harris Smith says her preschool-aged students love to dress up their dolls and stuffed animals. “They have even gone so far as designing and creating miniature outfits for them,” she says. Miniland makes lots of different outfits for its dolls, but I particularly love this ’70s-inspired fleece jacket and jeans. And for kids who take their baby doll everywhere they go, this adorable, shrunken-down Ergobaby doll carrier will help them do so hands-free.
But not every doll has to be educational. Meister suggests that kids should play with a mix of realistic dolls and dolls that don’t shy away from fantasy, like this Barbie Dreamtopia Mermaid doll. Strategist senior editor Jen Trolio’s two daughters own three of the colorful finned Barbies and love playing with them in the bath at home or taking them to their community swimming pool in the summertime.
“I love this little gift for vocabulary and language development,” says Dr. Alexandra Figueras-Daniel, an assistant research professor at the National Institute for Early Education Research. The set of 36 illustrated storytelling cards can be arranged and rearranged into different stories and scenarios, allowing kids to create a new narrative every time they play with it. “It’s inexpensive,” Figueras-Daniel adds, “and great to carry in a bag for waiting at a restaurant or taking on a trip.” For kids who are especially interested in making up elaborate situations when they play pretend, it’s a wonderful way to put their creativity to work.
Many 4-year-olds are ready to graduate from Duplos and move on to playing with full-size Lego bricks, which Dr. George Sachs, a child psychologist and founder of the Sachs Center in Manhattan, says “allow children to develop their own creative ideas and foster spatial awareness.” They’re incredibly engaging and will often keep kids busy for longer than you’d think possible. Joanna Faber, co-author of How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen, recommends them for their open-ended nature: “Kids love Legos because you can endlessly make wild and crazy things with them,” she explains.
A large part of every child’s education is social-emotional — learning how to interact with other children and process feelings. For that reason, Caplan-Colon suggests giving this age group a toy that encourages empathy and pretend play, like this veterinarian kit that lets them treat and care for a plush kitten and puppy.
These dominoes are especially good for preschoolers because they are sturdy, brightly colored, and plentiful (because you will lose some to mysterious corners of the house). Lining them up for the big knockdown is a great parent-child activity, and 4-year-olds have just enough focus and motor control to create some basic trails themselves. The hardest part will be teaching your kid the willpower to not send the tiles toppling while you’re only a handful deep.
“Cash registers are an excellent toy option,” says Helen Sadovsky, a pediatric occupational therapist who runs Toy-Ideas.com, because they teach counting and money-management skills and can be a great part of imaginative play as your child sets up their very own store or restaurant. This sweet little register from Target’s in-house brand Gigglescape comes with 31 pieces, including pretend cash, sundry items, a small grocery basket, and a credit card.
Under $50
This entirely kid-friendly microscope has a dual eyepiece, so there’s no need to close one eye to use it. “I love the Geosafari Microscope for my curious preschooler,” says Andrea Scalzo Yi — founder of RaisingDragons.com and author of 100 Easy STEAM Activities. “It allows him to explore the world around him in a unique way and encourages learning through play, which is so important.”
Art supplies are endlessly appealing to kids at this age, who are beginning to master the fine motor skills needed for more complex drawing, painting, and sculpting. And to satisfy a 4-year-old’s penchant for variety, Tze Chun, founder of UPRISE ART, recommends this beginner craft library that she says contains enough of a mix to keep little kids busy but is curated enough to motivate them to use their supplies carefully. She also likes that it works as a “perfect self-contained activity” and can be easily brought on a trip.
For our roundup of the best art supplies for kids, Erin Boyle of Reading My Tea Leaves told us about her favorite chunky colored pencils. “You can use them like a crayon, add water to use them like a watercolor, and they even work on whiteboards,” she says, adding that they are a very good way to satisfy kids (or parents) who want the color intensity of markers but don’t want to deal with lost caps.
Sachs stresses that “this is the age when kids are doing a lot of pretend play.” They are also more creative with the scenarios they invent. This picnic set offers everything needed to stage a lovely outing with real, fake, or imagined snacks.
Here’s a fun new building toy that helps little kids perfect their fine-motor skills — I had the chance to test it this fall and like that it feels like a fidget toy kids can use to build unique sculptures and patterns. But most of all I like that the pieces make a satisfying “pop” when pulled apart.
Under $100
If healing cats and dogs is old news, here’s a toy that lets children play midwife — sort of — to a rabbit. When you first open Mama Surprise (and a grown-up sets it up with batteries), she is alone in her hutch. But after feeding her some carrots and comforting her with a few head pats, she is ready to give birth to three babies. Trolio’s 6-year-old daughter has the previous Guinea-pig version of this toy and loved re-creating the surprise over and over again. But she easily figured out how it worked, so Trolio suggests giving it to kids around 4 years old instead.
This pretend-play pilot dashboard from Melissa & Doug was first recommended to me by James Zahn, senior editor at the Toy Insider, and I later got a chance to test it myself at the New York Toy Fair. The wooden toy has the feel of an arcade game while still being totally screen-free — kids can fly the “plane” to a handful of different locations depending on which of the three double-sided windshield cards they choose, and the scrolling dashboard, buttons, and levers all trigger lights, sounds, and real-sounding in-flight alerts.
Jocelyn Greene, founder of Child’s Play NY, emphasizes the importance of imaginative play for 4-year-old kids, because kids start to get the most cognitive and social benefits from this kind of play around age 3 and beyond. She says pretending to be someone else — whether it’s a race car driver, makeup artist, firefighter, or surgeon — is not only fun, it’s critical to a child’s development, as they explore how to navigate the world in someone else’s shoes. This play couch add-on turns your kid’s Nugget into a car wash, complete with a fringe-adorned entrance and exit.
Another toy that taps into the fun of make-believe is this plush campfire set from Crate & Barrel’s kids’ line. “Although my kids got it for Christmas years ago, they still play with it to this day,” says marketing manager and mom of three Irene Kwon, who notes it makes for a particularly good cold-weather activity. “During wintertime, when we’re mostly indoors, my kids rely on their creativity to get them through those long hours at home. This toy really sets the stage for a cozy, relaxing, warm winter’s night — sans fireplace.” To make it even more like the real deal, Kwon suggests giving your child a cup of hot cocoa “to enjoy with their faux marshmallows.” (And real ones — if they’re lucky.)
Kids who like playing in a sandbox will have even more fun doing so with this swiveling excavator crane, according to Lacerda. She told us the toy keeps her daughter “very occupied for long stretches of time” and “it is always a hit when friends come over.” Simply set it up in the sandbox — or at the playground or the beach — plop your kiddo on the rotating seat, and watch them dig and dump to their heart’s content.
$100 and up
This beautiful and gender-neutral modular wooden dollhouse is perfect for small spaces since its three “rooms” can be expanded and arranged in multiple ways, then slide together for easy storage. It also comes with a design-y chandelier and furniture for a bedroom, living room, bathroom, kitchen, and dining room. Plan Toys sells half a dozen different dollhouses, most of which I have seen in person and all of which foster hours of open-ended imaginative play and are built to last for generations. I love that this one can be separated into parts and rebuilt as children see fit, and that all of the brand’s doll furniture can be used for any of the dollhouses it makes. We previously featured a similarly open-plan (but not as portable) dollhouse from Plan Toys in our story about the best dollhouses.
Though they are admittedly expensive compared to other bikes for kids, Woom bikes have developed a loyal following of happy parents and happier mini-cyclists. Stroll through Prospect Park on any given sunny day, and you’re guaranteed to spot at least a handful of kids racing around on their Wooms. I recently named this Woom bike one of 15 expensive toys that are actually worth it and Ro agrees. “It’s a beautiful, well-made bike that feels robust, with every component thoughtfully designed and considered,” she says. “A lot of made-for-kid stuff feels ticky-tacky, but this bike is hefty, like an adult bike but shrunk down.” The company offers six different models for ages 18 months to 10 years. Ro’s son Augie rode a Woom 2, a 14-inch bike designed for kids 3 and up, for 2 years until he turned 5 years old. Now that he’s a taller kindergarten kid, he’s graduated to the 16-inch Woom 3. “The ride is so smooth,” says Ro, noting that braking is easy, too, thanks to the ergonomic and designed-for-small-hands levers. Woom also makes kids’ helmets in three sizes that are incredibly lightweight and feature a pinch-free clasp that makes it easier for kids to put it on and take it off on their own.
If you’re willing to embrace mess, Lacerda loves how mud kitchens encourages creative play. Her daughter enjoys grabbing sticks and leaves from the garden and adding them to the removable sink on her mud kitchen, where she also likes to wash and clean her toys. This outdoor kitchen from Hape comes with a sink, burner, oven, shelving, and a set of stainless-steel pots and pans, plus a ladle, making it easy to whip up mud pies — or whatever else is on the menu.
Additional reporting by Lauren Ro and Steven John
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