The 33 Best Gifts for 4-Year-Olds

Around the age of 4, many kids can really listen to, understand, and follow simple game instructions, said Keewa Nurullah, owner of Chicago children’s shop Kido. To play the Dinosaur Escape Game, players roll the die to reveal either a number or a volcano. The former moves the player’s dinosaur in any direction on the board, and the latter adds one piece to the five-piece volcano at the board’s center. As young dinosaur experts know, volcanoes are bad news for dinos. The object of the game is to get the dinosaurs to safety without completing the volcano—or being run back to the start by a T. rex token.

—Kelly Glass

Calling Coding Critters Go-Pets Dipper the Narwhal a “coding toy” feels like a bit of a stretch—it’s essentially a jigsaw puzzle that forms a track that a cute, battery-operated narwhal automatically follows. However, the toy does encourage preschoolers to plan, count, and problem-solve in sequential order, as they reconfigure the pieces of the track to send the narwhal on simple missions (which match the story from a short activity book). My preschooler enjoyed those exercises only briefly and then moved on to the real fun: building and rebuilding the track to send the poor, persistent narwhal on an endless, tangled loop.

—Caitlin Giddings

If you already own a dollhouse (such as Hape’s All Seasons Kids Wooden Dollhouse, from our guide to the best gifts for 3-year-olds), check out Hape’s furniture sets and accessories. My daughter especially loves the Children’s Room and the Baby’s Room sets (which do not come with the furnished Hape dollhouse). There’s also a very cute patio set and even a car (for when your child’s wooden family cares to venture “outdoors”).

—Rachel Hurn

My aunt is an elementary school teacher, and she always manages to find the gifts that delight my children the most, including the Play-Doh Kitchen Creations Drizzy Ice Cream Playset. This pretend ice cream maker lets my kids live out their sundae fantasies—from lemon ice cream with gummy worms to a rainbow unicorn concoction with sprinkles. They push the Play-Doh through a lever to create creamy swirls, while the 31 molds on the contraption’s side produce faux candies, sprinkles, cherries, gummy bears, and other toppings. It’s especially fun to squirt the alarmingly realistic strawberry and chocolate drizzle—pretend syrup goo—from the squeeze bottles (don’t worry—it’s all washable). Tulip-shaped serving cups are included, along with two spoons and a pair of recipe cards. The set also comes with six containers of Play-Doh, but the ice cream maker has gotten so much use that we’ve had to purchase replacements (any Play-Doh will do, but we’ve noticed that the fresher stuff works best). I’ll admit that this machine is a little clunky—it’s about the size of my forearm—so I stash it (along with all the accouterments) in a bin between sessions. Yet considering what a crowd-pleaser this gift has been, it more than earns its keep.

—Lara Rabinovitch

When I presented this book to my 4-year-old daughter, she acted like she had won the sticker lottery. Full of easy-to-peel stickers, Fashion Angels 1000+ Stickers for Kids is a compact album that delivers on its promise—it includes everything from large, cartoonish emoji stickers to pastel rainbow letters to cats wearing glasses and fake mustaches. About the size of a thin paperback novel, the book fits in my purse for when we need a fun activity on the go, and my daughter can easily tote it around whenever an occasion arises. While waiting at a doctor’s office last week, she won over all of the nurses by handing out stickers of doughnuts and rainbows.

—Lara Rabinovitch

The Wailiki Hopper offers joyful bouncing for kids who have energy to spare—and it doubles as a comfy seat for those who like or need to wiggle and rock, even when they’re sitting still. For my oldest son, who has autism spectrum disorder and sensory processing disorder, the Waliki Hopper served as a sensory-friendly seat for story time and more, allowing him to rock and bounce to stay alert and focused well into his middle-school years. Constructed of thick rubber, the Hopper is more durable than yoga balls (which are typically made from vinyl); our Hopper has withstood years of indoor and outdoor use. (A hand pump is included.) The Hopper comes in multiple colors as well as plush-covered versions, and there are four sizes (the 18-inch Hopper is best for 4-year-olds).

—Kelly Glass

When you need to entertain people in a wide range of ages, nothing beats a good old-fashioned round of charades. Granted, to play this long-popular game, you don’t need anything more than your imagination (and a willing audience), but Pressman Charades for Kids definitely helps get it going. The set comes with an hourglass timer, an optional die (for selecting which clue to act out), and 150 cards. Each card has three levels of clues to choose from: The easiest is represented by just an image (like a cat or a bee), so there’s no reading required, and the other two get increasingly difficult (eating spaghetti, hanging a picture).

—Caitlin Giddings

As a huge board-game geek, I spent years impatiently waiting for my child to age into games that involve even a modicum of strategy—as opposed to, say, feverishly smashing a lever to make a hippo eat marbles. My First Castle Panic is the first game we played together that gave me hope. The concept is fairly basic: You simply draw and trade cards with shapes on them (no reading required), and then you use them to stop the monsters from encroaching on the castle. This game involves communication, cooperation, planning, and even some fantasy role-playing. Compared with other games we’ve tried that are aimed at kids under age 5, this one is much more engaging and re-playable for all ages. Perhaps we’ll launch that family D&D campaign together sooner than I thought.

—Caitlin Giddings

Arnold Lobel’s books featuring Frog and Toad have amused generations of early readers—and their parents—with the silly and profound nature of their enduring friendship. You can find all four of the original Frog and Toad stories, with Lobel’s beautifully expressive illustrations, in Frog and Toad Storybook Favorites. We can all recognize a little of ourselves in the anxious, innocent, and tantrum-prone Toad or the patient, cheerful, and always-reasonable Frog (or both!). Although the stories offer some useful life lessons, they are never didactic: Their appeal lies in the joy these two opposites find in simple acts such as gardening, sledding, and doing kind things for each other—as well as in the ridiculous things that Toad does all on his own. The Lobel-narrated Frog and Toad Audio Collection is as beloved in our household as the books. And someday I’ll find the time to knit absolutely perfect, little stuffed versions of my favorite amphibian friends, with the help of the Frog & Cast Frog and Toad Pattern Download.

—Winnie Yang

I like to think of the Scratch and Sketch Infinity Pad as magic paper. It resembles a plain black clipboard, but when you draw on this LCD doodling board, multicolor art magically appears. My daughter is dazzled by how the screen transforms from darkness into a neon riot. The kid-size stylus (included) helps her create precise lines, but she uses just her fingers, too. When she’s ready to start fresh, she presses a button at the base of the screen, and her work is erased and replaced with a blank canvas. It does require a coin-shaped battery, but this portable, shatterproof toy is less an electronic device than it is an Etch-a-Sketch for the 21st century. Only instead of bulky knobs and a monochrome palette, my daughter has the whole rainbow at her fingertips.

—Lara Rabinovitch

Simple, inexpensive, and endlessly replayable, this set of Mudpuppy Dinosaur Dominoes is a welcome take on the classic matching game, designed specifically for toddlers and preschoolers. The dominoes themselves are made of cardstock—so you can’t set them up and knock ’em down or craft the beginnings of a Rube Goldberg device. But the dominoes are big and sturdy enough to be gripped by little hands. And playing with them doesn’t require any reading: On one side of each card, there are varying numbers of dots, so kids can practice their counting; on the other side, there are just pictures that can easily be paired up. The themes also include unicorns, wildlife, and outer space. We’re a dino family.

—Caitlin Giddings

My son begged me to get Zingo after he played several fun-filled rounds of it at his preschool. As with its predecessor, Bingo, the object of Zingo is to be the first player to fill your row or board—only in this game, the victor shrieks “Zingo!” with competitive zeal. Instead of numbers, the boxes on the laminated boards feature illustrations, like a tree, a cake, or a heart, along with the corresponding word in a bold, easy-to-read font. (My son’s preschool teachers loved how Zingo helped build vocabulary and focus, along with a whirlwind of excitement.) Three years later, this game is still in rotation in our home, with my daughter, 4, joining in the fun. She and her brother, now 7, take turns pulling chips from the dispenser and calling out the images. My husband and I often play too, because it’s tough to resist the high drama and thrill of winning.

—Lara Rabinovitch

Like a sturdier version of paper dolls, the magnetic animals in Petit Collage’s Make Believe Magnetic Dress Up come with over 35 mix-and-match costume changes. Young kids can use their imaginations to invent new jobs and identities for the included bear and fox. It’s a particularly convenient toy for long car rides, thanks to the magnetic box, which pulls double duty as a backdrop for the dress-up fun and a container for all of the small pieces. Once dressed, each animal can be displayed on a wooden stand to fully flaunt their new looks. Petit Collage also offers a selection of detailed play scenes, including outer space and a tree-house shindig.

—Caitlin Giddings

The ZOOB BuilderZ ZOOB Bot kit is a building toy that features connectable pieces with ball joints that kids can snap into U-shaped brackets to build their own robot. (We recommend Zoob sets in our guide to learning toys and STEM toys we love.) Instead of building static structures with traditional blocks or Duplo kits, 4-year-olds can use this set to experiment with hinges and joints, building open-ended creations with curves and bends that they can move, flex, and spin. The company recommends the Zoob kit for kids ages 6 and up, though we’ve seen younger kids gravitate to it the most. The pieces fall between Duplo and Lego in size, and they require some manual dexterity and strength to snap together.

—Courtney Schley

While my children don’t love going to restaurants, they definitely like playing it. The Melissa & Doug Diner Restaurant Play Set includes props for a waiter (apron, menu, guest check, fake money), chef (frying pan, spatula), and customer (plate, utensils, breakfast and lunch items, beverages), setting kids up for imaginative play. My kids especially love to take orders and prepare meals when we have guests visit. If only this set helped them be open to sampling more real food.

—Amy Miller Kravetz

I’ve been comparing kids hiking backpacks for Wirecutter since my just-turned-teenager was in pre-K. In all that time, I’ve yet to find a pack that offers more features for the price than the REI Co-op Tarn 12. This bag is everything you’d want a high-quality hiking pack to be: It’s rugged and comfortable, with nicely padded shoulder straps and an adjustable chest strap and waist belt. There are two stretchy but secure water-bottle pockets, and there’s a slot for a water bladder inside the bag (a bladder is not included). There’s no need to limit the pack to hiking. My kids also used this bag to lug toys and books to the playground and onto airplanes, as well as to preschool and playdates. It makes a practical gift for a 4-year-old because they’ll likely get several years of use out of it before it starts to feel small—and is ready to be passed down to a younger sibling or friend.

— Kalee Thompson

If your 4-year-old is into dress-up, make-believe, and all things space, they’ll likely be over the moon for the Born Toys Deluxe Astronaut Set. The simple yet sturdy suit is made of hefty material and has a front zipper and an adjustable belt buckle. Festooned with official-looking stickers, it comes with its own accessories, namely a NASA cap and a little backpack (which can store the costume when it’s time to return to planet Earth). The best part? It’s durable. Several members of the Wirecutter staff can attest that the suit will survive years of space-themed playtime.

—Caira Blackwell

The world of legendary children’s illustrator Richard Scarry is crammed with industrious animal characters attending to the many particulars of their busy lives. So it’s the perfect setting for a gamified version of Where’s Waldo? To play Busytown Eye Found It!, players work together to move their characters though Busytown, searching for images in Scarry’s signature elaborate pastiches. The goal is to reach the blanket at the other end of the board before pigs swoop in and consume the picnic spread. (All participants must reach safety as a group, so you win or lose together as a team—which helps foster camaraderie and minimize meltdowns.) You’ll notice right away that the board itself is huge—6 feet long, once unfurled from its box. The jumbo size is great for toddlers crawling around to hunt for pictures, but it can be arduous for grownups when the board is on the floor. I’ve found this game is particularly joyful for kids ages 2 to 5 to play. And it introduces them to all of the basic skills and concepts of playing board games: flicking a spinner, counting spaces, drawing cards, watching a timer, making decisions, working together, and, yes, sometimes even losing to a horde of hungry pigs. (Note: While kids as young as 2 can handle the action, the small game pieces can be a choking hazard.)

—Caitlin Giddings

My daughter loves a good tea party (humans and stuffed animals are all invited). But when she started drinking out of the cheap, paint-chipped plastic set my sweet mother-in-law bought at a garage sale, I had to step in with an upgrade. The Green Toys Tea Set—made in the US from recycled plastic—meets FDA food-contact standards. So you can feel comfortable putting cake on the plates and sipping from the adorable cups. The service for four comes in two color schemes and is dishwasher-safe, though I just give everything a quick hand-wash after use. In our house, a tea party is really just an excuse to drink sugar dissolved in water. The sugar bowl, oddly enough, has holes in the bottom that let the saccharine crystals fall onto the table. We quick-fixed that by adding a napkin liner before filling the bowl (and our bellies) with the sweet stuff.

—Annemarie Conte

The Oogi Family by Moluk made their debut in our tub when I was looking to revamp my daughter’s bath toy collection. This silicone brood, a favorite in our guide to the best bath toys, has featureless heads, comically long arms, and squat, arched legs. Their suction-cup appendages cling to flat, slick surfaces and to one another—when you try to pull them apart, the Oogis stretch and then emit an entertaining “pop!” as they release.

—Ingela Ratledge Amundson

Many 4-year-olds are mesmerized by the magic of rainbows. And the Kikkerland Solar-Powered Rainbow Maker is a happy little contraption that uses a solar panel to power a colorful geared motor, which rotates a hanging Swarovski crystal and sends rainbows swooping across the room. Simply attach the Rainbow Maker to a window that gets some direct sunlight (it affixes via suction cup, so there’s no sticky residue), and then wait for the optics to begin. This thing is particularly fun when you forget it’s there—until the sun reaches just the right angle and sets it into motion. My niece calls this “rainbow time,” and she enjoys chasing the colors across the room and seeing them slide over different objects.

—Erin Price

The Learning Resources Gears! Gears! Gears! Building Set is basically what you’d imagine: a big box of colored gears that snap together with axles and extenders to create complex, movable structures. The challenge is figuring out how to align and order the gears so they’ll all turn in unison and not get jammed up. As preschoolers experiment with building spinning, whirring, gear-driven structures, they’re actually starting to understand the basics of complex machines. These gears have long been a pick in our guide to learning toys and STEM toys we love, and they’re a favorite with the kids of several parents on our staff.

The Lakeshore Turn & Learn Magnetic Gears set includes magnetized gears that you can attach to the fridge. You can’t build complex structures like you can with Gears! Gears! Gears!, but this set is still an engaging way for little kids to experiment with mechanics (the pieces are also a bit larger, so some kids may find them easier to handle). My preschooler loves to align the colorful, interlocking pieces on our refrigerator and figure out how he can make them all spin. A bonus: The magnets themselves are really strong and will keep all of your child’s refrigerator-worthy artworks firmly in place.

—Courtney Schley

If you have a budding Simone Biles at home, the Zelus 8-Foot Gymnastics Balance Beam is a great piece of equipment for practicing balance and coordination. The beam, which folds in half for easy storage, is 4 inches wide (the same width as a traditional balance beam) and about 2½ inches high. At 11 pounds, it’s a little heavier than two other folding options we considered, but that’s due to the metal hinge holding the halves together (instead of Velcro) and the wood core (which makes this one feel sturdier). The beam is covered in a soft suede fabric and has a non-slip bottom, though it can be a bit wobbly on a mat or carpet because it sits on little feet. For now, my preschooler is happy to simply walk forward and backward on the beam. If she continues with gymnastics, I can see her practicing more-advanced moves in the future.

—Amy Miller Kravetz

When a child is sitting on a KidsErgo Ergonomic Stool, it’s probably safe to say they’re not thinking about the importance of good ergonomics or trying to build their core strength. They’re too busy wiggling around on this squat, accordion-like seat to realize that doing so actually requires work and concentration—at least if they want to remain upright. (This seat provides a similar experience to using an exercise ball in place of a desk chair.) The 15-inch-tall stools are made from a thick, durable plastic with a high-quality look and feel—and they are priced accordingly, like proper furniture. Yet they’re still lightweight and easy to move around. My family has a pair of them that we keep in the kitchen, and I’m convinced they look totally chic and non-kiddie in a geometric, Brancusi sculpture kind of way. (They come in a range of colors, including blue, yellow, pink, and green.) The KidsErgo stool is designed to hold up to 170 pounds; it’s available in scaled-up adult sizes, too.

—Ingela Ratledge Amundson

The KiwiCo Koala Crate is our favorite subscription box for preschool-age kids. We tested a number of such subscriptions for this age group, and we liked this one the best for its thoughtful design, appealing themes, and fun, unique, age-appropriate projects. KiwiCo, the company that makes Koala Crate, develops its projects with input from educators and child-development experts. Although children’s individual skills vary, many 4-year-olds will be able to complete some or all of each month’s projects independently, giving them a sense of accomplishment—and providing a reliable arsenal of rainy-day activities. Each box comes with instructions (including directions for the “grown-up assistant”), as well as all of the materials to make two or three different craft projects. These projects challenge kids to explore skills like stitching, gluing, and arranging pieces. I tested these subscriptions when my daughter was 4, and she loved the projects we tried: dyeing a tote bag with tissue paper and water, sewing and stuffing a felt rainbow, and making a tissue-paper campfire. Every project is organized around a theme, such as reptiles, ocean animals, or doctor visits.

—Jackie Reeve

I was extremely skeptical about this unusual-looking contraption after my son received it as a gift when he was about 4. But over several years of use, the Cyclone—which you “pedal” with your arms, somewhat like you would a racing wheelchair—became one of my kids’ favorite outdoor toys, and it held up well to miles of rough rolling. From age 4 or 5, my older son was an ace on the Cyclone, speeding it down the sidewalk to a local park and performing spins and skids for smaller kids once there. They tended to line up to give it a whirl, and I found that some kids as young as 3 can learn to maneuver the Cyclone in the dizzying circles that no doubt inspired its name.

—Kalee Thompson

Marble runs, such as the Marble Genius Marble Run Extreme Set, introduce new energy to a childhood classic. This 300-piece set includes funnels, spinning wheels, and tubes that snap together easily on three large bases. It also has parts that are translucent, so kids can see the marbles move from the top to the bottom and through all of the spins and twists. In addition to giving kids the creative challenge of constructing a track—and the fun of watching the marbles spin and clatter through the turns—marble runs let kids observe the effects of gravity, speed, and direction. Some 4-year-olds may need adult help getting the hang of building the marble run, but it’s pretty irresistible even for grownups. (Note: The marbles in this set could pose a choking hazard for younger children and pets.)

—Kelly Glass

When he was 4, my son received the KidKraft Storage Easel from his grandparents for Christmas. He’s serious about his artwork, and he would be happy to paint every day. But setting up—and cleaning up after—a painting session on the kitchen table can be a bit of a project. I like that the KidKraft easel comes with an attached roll of art paper and built-in storage bins underneath (these can be used to hold paints, brushes, and other supplies; three paint cups are also included). Though this easel requires assembly, it’s sturdier and has more features than less-expensive easels we’ve used in the past. Wirecutter kids have also created countless masterpieces with simpler wooden easels made by Melissa & Doug and IKEA. The cheap rolls of craft paper you can buy at IKEA or local art-supply stores should work with any of them. And if your kid goes through a ton of paint, you’ll save money in the long run by stocking up on bigger bottles of washable tempera, rather than buying tiny individual cups of paint from Crayola and the like.

—Kalee Thompson

Wirecutter kids love Magna-Tiles, and the experts agree: “If there is one constant of what preschool-age children are interested in, it may be magnets,” said John Dimit III, owner of the toy-and-game store Dr. G’s BrainWorks in Champaign, Illinois. A pick in our guide to learning toys and STEM toys we love, the Magna-Tiles Classic 100-Piece Set includes a variety of basic shapes. Colorful Magna-Tiles combine the mesmerizing snap-together magic of magnets with open-ended block play. When my son was 4, castles were his go-to. By age 5, he was coming up with new creations, such as a robot or an oven to bake his toy cupcakes in. We also like the Magna-Qubix 29-Piece Set, which includes three-dimensional pyramids, prisms, and cubes. My son uses the Magna-Qubix pieces to add more detail to his structures, and he’s working on making dinosaurs using the small pyramids and cube shapes.

—Kelly Glass

A family membership to a zoo or a nature center is a great gift for families with preschool-age kids. Like many kids, my younger son was obsessed with animals when he was about 4. When we lived in Los Angeles, we had a membership to the Los Angeles Zoo (and we once made a pilgrimage to the famous San Diego Zoo). When we moved to rural New Hampshire, we discovered a very different type of animal experience at the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center, where a lovely wooded footpath winds through exhibits housing local native animals (many of them rescued after an injury). I like how smaller, local nature centers like this one can give kids a deeper knowledge of the creatures and ecosystems they encounter every day near their own homes. And similar to many of the best zoos, animal parks, and nature centers, Squam Lakes also has plenty of room—including fun outdoor play areas—for kids to run and use up energy.

—Kalee Thompson

Additional reporting by Julie Kim. This article was edited by Ellen Lee and Kalee Thompson.