Fabulous Gifts for FOUR Year Olds

Believe it or not Miss M is almost FOUR! I started this blog when she was 9 months old so if you've followed me for a while you would have seen her grow up before your eyes. She is such a little lady now with amazing language skills, so chatty and really interested in learning. Her confidence has bloomed and she has surprised me with all the new things she's tried and accomplished over recent months. It feels like we've only just had Christmas and Little Man's birthday - but now it's almost time to give Miss M a special celebration!

I always love sharing gift ideas with you - especially for specific ages. Friends with children of the same age are always asking for ideas, and I stalked my favourite internet stores to bring you some fantastic new ideas that you may not have seen before!

Fairy Gardens

I recently posted Fairy Play Five Ways and have since connected with the lovely Fairy Kate from Garden Sparkle. Fairy play is what she is all about! Garden Sparkle stocks a huge range of fairies, accessories and fairy garden kits, perfect for four year olds. We selected the 'purple fairy garden kit' (you can see what was included in the photo above). A kit is a great way to go to get you started and give you enough materials to create a magical fairy garden. We tizzied up our existing fairy garden flower pot and Miss M just loves it. "Flitter flutter" she says and tinkles the bell to tell the fairies it's time to come home.

Sponsored + gifted

Marble Play!

Marble runs are so fun for this age group and The Creative Toy Shop has two great products that I think would make perfect gifts for four year olds. A marble run like this one pictured below provides great opportunities for construction, engineering and critical thinking, and then they get to experience the thrill of watching the marble go from the top to the bottom.

Shop here* - Image via The Creative Toy Shop website

Marble sounding trees are one of the most awesome products I've come across. They come in three sizes and as you drop the marble from the top, each leaf of the tree produces a different ascending sound. It's mesmerising to the eyes and ears and is ideal for fine motor development and hand eye coordination.

Shop here* - Image via The Creative Toy Shop website

*Affiliate links 

Draw, Write & Colour

You may have heard me say before that Miss M is obsessed with drawing at the moment. She can't get enough of it - which is great for a four year old to be interested in (although not all of them are - which is perfectly fine!). Either way - these cute little Tiger Tribe "How to draw" packs from Lucas Loves Cars are ideal. Everything is so perfectly packaged in the cutest box, and as you'll see the step by step guide of how to draw all sorts of different animals. Sometimes children just don't know where to start when they're trying to draw something. They can see it in their head but transferring it to paper can be tricky or frustrating. Miss M is getting this one for her birthday (thank you Lucas Loves Cars for gifting us this pack). Will be sure to share some of her illustrations on Instagram.

Magnatiles

Magnatiles are the coolest construction toy around! Another innovative product to encourage STEM learning opportunities, and kids love them. There is a world of 2D and 3D shape possibilities for them to construct and the pieces fit together with ease.

Shop here* - Image via Sweet Elephants website

*Affiliate link

ABCs + 123s

4 year olds are really eager to learn! And the more letters and numbers they are familiar with before starting school, the better! Offspring Education stocks these fantastic Hape number and alphabet puzzles (both upper and lower case) and because it's Hape you know the quality is going to be amazing. Kids will be learning while they're playing with these beautiful puzzles.

Shop here - Image via Offspring Education website

Wild Animals

Every kids needs toy animals. And wooden animals are a great addition to your child's construction and imaginary play collection. Open ended toys which provide lots of opportunities for pretend play and language development. Our set came from Mr Kipp and Little Jimmy* and you can see Miss M's imagination hard at work when My Little Pony came to join in. Also in this invitation to play is the Farm Truck also from Lucas Loves Cars. 

*Brand rep

Play dough fun!

These two products would be an ideal match for a four year old gift! Doh Stamp meets Happy Hands Happy Heart natural play dough. You may recall I've featured HHHH on the blog before, and I'm a huge fan! Doh Stamp made it to my 2016 Christmas Gift Guide and you all loved it so I thought it was worth another special mention. 

Shop here - Image via Doh Stamp Etsy store

Shop here - Image via HHHH website

Dolls House with a difference

We have a cardboard cubby from Emy Meets Lulu, but did you know they also have dolls houses? I just love love love this concept! Far cheaper than traditional doll houses and with so many more possibilities for a 4 year old's imagination! It comes with a set of stickers to decorate but there are certainly a lot of possibilities and potential for you and your child to get creative before the dolls move in!

Oh and the ideal dolls I'd choose to go with this would be the Grimm's rainbow peg people from The Creative Toy Shop (affiliate).

Shop here - Image via Emy Meets Lulu

Give an Experience

Finally, if the child you're buying for has far too many toys already and you'd like to give the gift of an experience, here are some suggestions for 4 year olds

• Movie voucher
• Zoo ticket entry
• Membership or multi visit pass to a play cafe
• Donation towards their swimming/dancing lessons or any other activity they are currently doing.

Well we have a Paw Patrol party with Miss M's little friends coming up soon and we're hiring out our local Kindergym so fingers crossed all goes well! I'll be sure to share all about it.

Do you have a four year old? What are their favourite toys at the moment?

Lauren xx