Toys for four-year-olds

Sensible toys for ages 4 years and up

Which toys are suitable for 4-year-olds?

When choosing toys for 4-year-olds, you want to select toys which will not overwhelm them, but will also not underwhelm them either. At four years old, children's cognitive and fine motor skills are already rather advanced. To that end, we've got some recommendations that should support you in your choice of toys.

Coordination is getting easier for children aged 4 years and up. Their dexterity is increasing, and activities such as crafting in which they can let their imaginations run free are loads of fun for them. Their sense of balance has now improved to the point at which they can balance other objects.

Their comprehension of numbers, letters, and time-oriented expressions such as "yesterday", "today", or "tomorrow" is increasing. In this age, kids are starting to improve their independence, and things such as brushing their teeth, washing their hands, and getting dressed work fairly well at this point. Their attention span sits at around 20 minutes, but their ability to understand complex rules is still difficult for them. Their interest in playing with other children continues to increase. They form close friendships.

Four-year-olds love role-playing in a group. Imitating adults and creating their own play worlds promotes the development of their imagination, and they also like singing with others in that they're starting to pay attention to others' singing in order to sing songs in the same rhythm as others. Four-year-olds are also developing their own sense of humour more and more.

In this stage of development, children aged 4 years and up need toys…

  • For imitating adults
  • For social play
  • To learn numbers and letters
  • For active play
  • For musical play

For social play

To the active game

To the musical game

Patrick

Time, days, months, and seasons are easy for grown-ups to understand, but how do I explain these concepts to my four-year-old daughter? In order to help her understand times and calendar dates, I gave Leo the Educate Learning Board from small foot. With it, I was able to support Leo's learning of how those things are interconnected. I especially liked the fact that the Learning Board "Educate" is both a clock and a calendar in one! With the learning clock, kids can learn both the 12-hour and the 24-hour time systems as well as weather, days of the week, months, and seasons. All the while, setting the clock hands and the little gears and wheels trains motor skills. When the children are older and start to learn English, this Learning Board can be brought out again! Thanks to the stickers in 15 different languages, the learning clock can be used in English! Another thing I found to be a big plus was the fact that the clock is made of FSC®-certified wood.