The Best Toys for 4 Year Olds | 2024
Based on Age and Development and Notes on Why They Work | 2024
New to the list: Surprise Powerz Dolls. For insights on the developmental benefits of these and other GGGT picks read on.
Surprise Powerz Dolls - Codie the Coder Doll
Codie is one of four fantastic dolls from Powerz Dolls that promote a love for science. Each doll represents a different ethnicity and area of interest: Astro the Astronaut, Vera the Vet, Maria the Mathematician, and Codie the Coder. The plush 16” dolls each speak 75 phrases in their area of expertise at the gentle squeeze of their hand. They engage the child in “conversations,” play games, and sing songs all while building authentic STEM experiences and vocabulary. Based on GGGT first-hand testing, the dolls were a huge hit with little ones.
Mercy Watson Box Set: Adventures of a Porcine Wonder
This humor- and action-packed series is sure to delight the whole family. The box set includes the full 6-book series by award winning author Kate DiCamillo and award winning illustrator Chris Van Dusen. They team up and make you fall in love with Mercy Watson, the porcine wonder always on an unwavering mission for buttered toast. Along the way she meets some colorful characters who make Mercy’s seemingly common life full of exciting escapades.
The Loog Mini Acoustic Guitar
This award-winning three-string guitar from Loog is made of real wood, has classic nylon guitar strings, and uses standard guitar tuning. The three stringed design allows for easier and faster learning and is specifically designed for smaller hands. Its low string action creates beautiful classical guitar sounds and this bundle includes a guitar strap, guitar stand, flashcards that teach basic fingering, and free video lessons on the app in addition to the guitar.
BRIO World Smart Tech Trains
Take a child’s beloved Brio train set up to the next level with these smart trains. This set includes a train that communicates with the included moveable tunnels. Place a tunnel anywhere on the train’s routes over the standard wooden Brio tracks to command it to stop, reverse, or sound its train horn. And the included pedestrian bridge with a working traffic light communicates with the smart train too. Perhaps the best part is that this train and its parts will smoothly integrate into all of the beloved Brio tracks and pieces the child has been playing with for years.
Reusable Drawing Tablet
This LCD writing pad uses a small replaceable battery to allow over 100,000 drawings to come to life per battery cycle. The mess-free doodle board is a great travel toy and a ton of fun at home, too. Children can practice writing letters, drawing shapes, and being creative however they may choose. Then they can erase their work with a simple press of a button or save it by switching on the lock button.
132-Piece Marble Run
Endless hours of fun and engineering abound with this exciting marble run set. Made up of 132 interchangeable pieces, children can use it to build models of varying size and complexity based on their skill level. As they grow, so too will their marblerun construction confidence and skill. They will learn how the physics of the ramps, steppers, swoopers, plates, and windmills all work to transport the marble from one place to another. Providing authentic problem solving and hand-eye coordination challenges, children will improve their fine motor, patience, and analytical thinking all while having fun.
Smart Farmer Board Game
An engaging 1-player game from Smart Games, Smart Farmer is a logic and problem solving game where the child is tasked with building fences to separate the farm animals. The challenge guide provides the setup for 60 different puzzles broken into 4 levels, each one growing in complexity. But don’t worry, Gift Guide Go-To has tested this game on 4-year-olds, and the beginning challenges are completely appropriate. The setup for each challenge is pictorial, so reading skills are not necessary for a young one to engage independently. Building cognitive skills such as spatial reasoning, flexible thinking, and decision making skills simultaneously, this exciting game is sure to build confidence and independence, too.
Crayola Model Magic
Along with all of the more traditional problem solving skills we think of in a 4-year-old’s development, sensory play and creativity both play a vital role. Open-ended creative play is important for building self-regulation and to support a child’s growing sense of independence. This 14-pack of different colored air-dry clay combines all of these needs for a 4-year-old. They can create whatever they desire with this easy to manipulate clay, and since it requires little clean-up and no baking, it can be a completely independent activity. Just remember to keep the packaging sealed tight when not in use because, well, it does air-dry, after all.
PLAYMOBIL Country
A classic toy for decades, Playmobil takes imaginative “doll house” play to the next level. Whether your child would like to play in a water park, a kitchen, a playground, a recycling truck, or this country home, there is a Playmobil set for them. Toys like Playmobil help facilitate the social and emotional growth of 4-year-olds. As they bring the figurines to life, they too are processing the world around them and are even allowed opportunities to work through challenges from their own day.
Toniebox
A tried-and-true Gift Guide Go-To favorite, the Toniebox audio player is an innovative screen-free listening experience that inspires and entertains young children now and in the years to come. This easy to operate system is designed with young listeners in mind; after the initial configuration with the help of an adult, a child can simply place the Tonie figurine on top of the box and enjoy its content, pinch an ear to adjust the volume, and tap the side to skip tracks. This starter set comes with Simba, Winnie the Pooh, Woody, Lightning McQueen and a Playtime Puppy Tonie, who plays popular children’s songs. The long list of available Tonies is sure to please every child: from Disney Princess favorites to Dr. Seuss, from My Little Pony to Eloise, from PJ Masks to Cars 2’s Mater, and the list continues on for dozens of more options, ensuring this gift is a long-term favorite. Oh, and as the child grows, they can enjoy “big kid” favorites from books like Matilda and non-fiction narratives from National Geographic.
Micro Kickboard - Mini Deluxe 3-Wheeled Scooter
By the age of four, very often a child already has a scooter, but if they have outgrown their toddler “my first” version, this is a great option. With a narrower kickboard than a more junior scooter, 4-year-olds can perfect their foot placement and balance in preparation for a two wheeled version in the years to come. Micro brand is known for their long-lasting construction and reliable smooth-gliding wheels. A child will outgrow the scooter before the scooter has worn down – it’s a great brand for hand-me-down potential.
American Girl WellieWishers
These 14.5-inch dolls by the American Girl Doll Company are a great first “big kid” doll for a young one. Just the right size, the series is made up of several dolls: Emerson (shown here), Camille, Kendall, Bryant, Willa, and Ashlyn. 4-year-olds learn by doing and they love dramatic play and dress-up at this age. These dolls facilitate open-ended play and inspire creative opportunities for language development when playing with the dolls independently or with peers. And for those who love a story to inspire their play, there are a series of books to go along with the Wellie Wisher friends.
Story Time Chess
This unique, award-winning game teaches even the youngest children the foundational skills of chess through stories and short game play. Introducing each piece as a character, a child gets to know the piece’s role on the board and the way they’re allowed to move. After learning about each piece, the child engages in short game-like activity to practice what they have learned. After they have been fully immersed in the moves, language, and strategy of chess, they are officially ready to play their first “real” game, and quite competently at that.
Flower Garden Building Set
This unique building set tasks children with sorting, stacking, and nesting brightly colored flower parts one inside the other to create floral arrangements and garden beds. This 130-piece set comes with a convenient carrying case for cleanup and portability. The endless combinations of flower building are great for both independent or joint play. Expand the gift, and a child’s mind, by adding this wonderful book by Gail Gibbons to help young horticulturists learn the life cycle and parts of a flower through beautiful illustrations and accessible language.
eeBoo: I Never Forget a Face, Memory & Matching Game
Matching games are a classic and important game for young children to engage with. They help with pattern recognition and develop both visual and short term memory. This beautifully illustrated version from eeBoo allows kids to engage with 24 children from around the world, perhaps introducing them to new cultures which can spark authentic and meaningful conversation.
Screwdriver Board Set
The Screwdriver Busy Board is a Montessori-inspired classic that engages children in real world problem solving. With 7 different working parts, this board also becomes the jumping off point for endless imaginative play scenarios: mechanics, building a house, flying an airplane, and whatever else a young child can imagine.
Learning Resources Code & Go Robot Mouse
This screen-free STEM toy is an exciting way for a young child to begin their adventures in the world of coding.Developmentally, most four year olds are beginning to become aware of more complex patterns and they are able to explore them with hands-on learning. This STEM toy is designed on just that. First, a child is tasked with planning a route for Jack the mouse by laying out directional cards. Then they translate that plan into code by pressing the corresponding shapes on Jack himself. When he is all done, watch him go! And to make it even more exciting, set up a maze for him using magnatiles, wooden blocks, or any other building material you might have at home.
Flybar My First Foam Pogo Jumper
Harnessing the boundless energy of 4-year-olds, the Flybar Pogo Jumper is a safer and exciting way for young children to bounce all around the house, literally. Moving just like that of a traditional pogo stick but keeping the children close to the ground and on a sturdy foam base they can practice gross motor skills, balance, and coordination all while utilizing their endless enthusiasm.
A Little Spot of Emotion - 8-Book Set
This box set is nothing short of brilliant. The Spots (each one correlates a color to an emotion) come to life to perfectly capture the attention of children as young as four, helping to develop self-awareness and common language around the emotions. Each book explains, provides memorable examples of, and even strategies for dealing with each emotion. The depth of conversation that young ones can have facilitated by these books are remarkable. This is a Gift Guide Go-To Favorite for supporting the social-emotional growth of children.
Born Toys Dress-Up Trunk
Role playing is an important part of early childhood development. This wonderfully curated set for children includes outfits for people from their community: police officer, firefighter, doctor, construction worker, baker, and gardener. Each comes with several working props to allow the child to fully immerse themselves in their play, and the costumes are easy for children to put on and take off by themselves, which helps to build their confidence and independence.
