Best gifts and toys for 4-year-olds that spark creativity and imaginative play

Mixing up weird and wonderful potions is such a classic part of childhood but this creative kit offers a serious upgrade to the usual mud, grass and petals concoctions our mini testers usually whip up. Every little detail has been carefully considered in this ocean-inspired pack from Pack n Play Trays. Featuring nine different (non-edible) potion ingredients and basic tools (wooden stirrer, scoop, a test tube, pipette and jumbo tweezers), the kit has everything children need to get stuck in right away. With amazingly named packets of ‘lost treasure’ (mini foaming bath bombs), ‘dolphin droppings’ (beluga black lentils), ‘deep sea water’ (foaming bath salts) and ‘squid ink’ (mica powder), all we needed to provide was a bowl and some water before letting our testers loose.

Our four-year-olds were instantly hooked and loved coming up with their own fizzing and foaming creations. We set up a potion-making station outside, in the mud kitchen, but a bowl on the floor in the garden or even on the kitchen table (we’d highly recommend a waterproof tablecloth, though) would do. At this age, open-ended toys can provide hours of fun, and this thoughtfully created potion kit impressed us so much with its endless scope for creativity.

In hindsight, perhaps we should have decanted some of the ingredients into smaller bowls, rather than letting our tester run riot and use up the whole kit in one play session, but we’ll remember that for next time.

This book is part of the hugely successful Big Bright Feelings series by Tom Percival, and navigates the consequences of not telling the truth, in a way that really resonated with our testers. It’s a reassuring story written with so much warmth, following Finn as he visits his Grandma’s for a holiday with his little sister. When a small fib quickly gets out of control, he knows he needs to tell the truth, but is he brave enough to own up?

Our four-year-olds were so engaged with this book and we found it such an easy way to open up a conversation about the importance of telling the truth. The age-appropriate language and endearing illustrations really brought the story to life – so much so, it’s taken the coveted ‘favourite bedtime story’ crown among our testers, who are the fiercest of literary critics. It’s also a book we’re more than happy to read on repeat, which – let’s face it – isn’t something you’ll find us saying often.

When it comes to board games for four-year-olds, simplicity is key, and this clever dice game is a great example. The idea is you each take turns throwing your dice (using the fun doggy shaker) and try to roll a bone, muddy puddle or dog, then place them on the matching picture cards. The person who can get rid of all their dice the quickest is the winner, but there are the usual twists and turns to keep everyone on their toes. You Little Stinker is an addictive dice game that had our four-year-old tester and the whole family hooked. It takes zero setup, is easy to explain (even to a young child) and is nicely compact and portable. The fact the dice shaker is dog-shaped only adds to the appeal. It’s a genuine crowd-pleaser.

This 24-piece set is the perfect introduction to magnetic tile play. The pack includes a selection of shapes in bright colours, each with magnetic edges, making them perfect for constructing 2D and 3D designs. Our four-year-old testers instantly got stuck into the set and loved creating all kinds of models, especially houses and castles. The pack comes with a booklet featuring a number of designs you can replicate with the pieces, and we found this really helpful after the initial play session, to give our testers more of an idea of the kind of things they could build themselves. However, ultimately, they just enjoyed coming up with their own fancy builds and creating little stories around them.

The magnetic tiles can easily be stored in the cardboard box in which they arrive, making them a brilliantly compact toy for taking on holiday or for weekends at the grandparents. We like that – if your child gets the bug for Connetix – there are various expansion packs you can buy, so your kids’ creations can get bigger and more complex.

After a beautiful wooden toy to spark hours of imaginative play? We think this cafe set from Tenderleaf Toys is hard to beat. Packed with interactive features – such as opening drawers, clacking knobs and buttons – as well as the sweetest accessories to help kids create toy coffees, teas, cakes, pastries and toasties, this gorgeous set squeezes so much into its 50.2cm x 13.5cm x 27.2cm size. The attention to detail here is next level – our testers particularly loved the little teabags on string that sit inside the mini fabric bags, as well as the fancy coffee-making equipment and toastie maker. The best bit? The cafe comes pre-assembled, so all you have to do is unwrap the accessories, and play can begin.

The cafe setup is double-sided, which really taps into the role-play aspect of the toy, and our little testers loved taking turns being the customer and the cafe owner.

We love that Tenderleaf Toys products are made from reclaimed wood, and the brand is part of a planting and reforestation programme – there’s a genuine sense of sustainability throughout the small business, which we really appreciate.

A pet penguin has been high up on our four-year-old tester’s wishlist for some time, and now we can make it a reality. Enter: Waddles. It’s impossible not to be charmed by this ridiculously cute, interactive penguin toy, which we feel is great value at £25. Super soft, perfectly chunky and with massive, oversized eyes and sweet rosy cheeks, Waddles elicited lots of shouts of “Cute!” from our mini testers.

The toy is easy to operate, you just turn the penguin on and tap its tummy or head to bring it to life. It dances, sings, makes cute little chirrups, and walks – there’s even a ribbon lead included, so your four-year-old can take Waddles for a walk. What impressed us is that, unlike most walking toys, this penguin can walk on carpet, without falling over. However, what really won over our little testers was being able to feed the penguin a plastic fish, while it made happy slurping noises, letting out the occasional burp – it’s the stuff of four-year-olds’ dreams. The penguin’s fluffy coat makes it snuggly enough for bedtime cuddles – Waddles is often found tucked up in our four-year-old tester’s bed – but not so good for outside play.

Although four-year-olds are pretty much babies themselves, they do love the chance to show off their big girl/boy status by taking on the parenting role with their own baby doll. This sweet doll is a timeless buy, with eyes that open and shut; a soft, flexible body perfect for squishy cuddles; and loose two-piece clothing that’s easy to get on and off. It’s incredibly lightweight and measures 32cm in height, making it ideal for little arms.

As soon as our four-year-old tester spotted baby Chamomille, it was love, and she instantly took to mothering her ‘baby’ and coming up with some very cute imaginary play. While some baby dolls have all kinds of fancy features, such as crying and drinking bottles, we appreciated the simplicity of this doll, which lets children come up with their own narrative during play. Oh, and we love the fact the doll and clothes can all go in the washing machine – hooray!

Scooters and four-year-olds are a perfect match, and it doesn’t get much cooler than the create your own maxi scooter. The durable three-wheeler – with LED light-up wheels – is designed to be used up to the age about 12 (max 152cm in height), but it’s the fact this beauty can be fully customisable that makes it such a fantastic gift. Using the ‘create your own’ tool on the Micro Scooters website, you can choose the colour of the stem, deck, handle grips and brake, to come up with a totally bespoke design that your four-year-old will love. We’re talking proper wow-factor gift.

As well as the cool customisable element, there’s a lot to love about this ‘grown-up’ three-wheel scooter. Easy to ride, with a lean-to-steer mechanism (great for balance and coordination) and a large back foot brake, it’s really intuitive – our four-year-old tester got the knack almost immediately. We really rate the extra-grippy footplate, adjustable handlebar and the fact the scooter folds, meaning you can easily stick it in the car boot and take it with you on days out.

Prepare to lose your four-year-old for the foreseeable, with this hugely entertaining and immersive playset from iconic toy brand Playmobil. Featuring a whopping 215 pieces, this highly detailed city zoo is packed with structures, figures and accessories, to inspire hours of imaginative play. There’s a viewing deck, penguin enclosure, giraffe feeding station, information stand and kiosk, and so much more – our four-year-old testers’ minds were blown.

Assembly is a bit fiddly (even with clear illustrated instructions), and we’d highly recommend putting this together when there are no children around, as parts are small and you don’t want to lose anything mid-build. However, once we’d got it set up, our mini testers had so much fun exploring all the creative touches – the ‘floating’ balloons and the penguin ramp were particular highlights. There are a lot of little pieces, so those at the very youngest end of the age range may be better off sticking with the larger figures. This is the kind of toy that will grow with your child, and we predict many years of enjoyment – in fact, this was as much of a hit with our testers’ eight-year-old sibling and parents.

Peppa Pig still holds godlike status among many four-year-olds, and our testers loved the chance to bring their favourite characters to life, in Duplo form, with this bumper set. These building bricks – the chunkier, more pre-school friendly version of their Lego cousin – are the perfect size for four-year-old hands and, with a little guidance, our tester was able to build the supermarket scene following the large-picture step-by-step instructions.

The set includes lots of features to encourage pretend play. Naturally, there’s Peppa (complete with fabric skirt, which we thought was a cute touch), George, Mummy Pig (again with a fabric overskirt) and Daddy Pig, as well as the famous red car and plenty of supermarket accessories, including a shopping trolley, shopping list and plastic food. This is such a fantastic all-rounder, which will be played with long after the initial build. It’s a firm favourite with our four-year-old tester, who comes back to it time and time again.

This has to be the most perfect board game for four-year-olds. As well as being cute, colourful and simple to follow, the two to four player game pits you against a seal, rather than each other, meaning all players work together as a team to win the game. Let’s be honest, four-year-olds aren’t great losers, and we found this game a brilliant way to encourage teamwork as we all raced to find the coloured fish, before the seal could make it to the middle of the board. It had our little testers hooked and it’s easily become the most requested game at home. For slightly older children – or those with more advanced diplomatic skills than our four-year-olds – the board can be flipped over to play a slightly different game against each other instead.

Designed specifically for little hands to get to grips with, the Spirograph junior was an overwhelming hit with our testers. The robust plastic box set includes everything your four-year-old needs to get started, from the gears to the washable markers and perfectly sized sheets of paper. It’s also incredibly easy to get the hang of – great news for encouraging a four-year-old’s burgeoning desire for independence and for parents who’d love a moment’s peace every now and then. Once we’d shown our testers how to place the paper on the yellow base, close the frame and fix the large gear ring correctly they happily got on with creating their own patterned masterpieces without any need for help.

This gift is such a great all-rounder; it lets your four-year-old get creative, helps promote those fine motor skills, encourages a good pen grip and is genuinely a lot of fun. We loved seeing our testers turn their Spirograph designs into cute cats and flowers, and it was a toy they returned to and requested again and again. The fact it all fits into one small case, perfect for taking away on holiday or even for keeping them occupied when you go for a meal out - and costs less than £20 - makes it a real winner.

If you’re looking to buy an extra-special present which will be used on repeat, the Toniebox is the one. This versatile audio player has been designed firmly with kids in mind; it’s soft and padded (with no pointy corners), durable and completely intuitive to use. Our four-year-old testers were able to skip through songs or chapters and operate the volume controls immediately.

Initial set up is so straight forward – it’s just a case of plugging in and connecting to your wifi. There’s also a parent app where you can control things such as maximum volume. Our testers loved that they were in control of what they listened to; they simply placed a Tonie – a small figure ranging from Disney favourites to Julia Donaldson, which contain stories or songs – on top of the box for the audio to begin. We particularly liked the range of lullaby Tonies, which our four-year-old listens to at bedtime to help relax and drift off, and the fact that there’s plenty of Tonies to suit older kids – such as Roald Dahl, National Geographic and DC options. Plus, you can buy the newly launched Clever Tonies, which are stackable educational Tonies for kids aged four and up, meaning this is not a toy they’ll grow out of quickly.

We think the Toniebox is so clever – it’s exciting, engaging, screen-free fun your four-year-old can really take ownership of.

Anything ice cream related is pretty certain to go down a storm with four-year-olds, and this classic wooden toy provided hours of fun, imaginative play for our testers. It packs everything any self-respecting ice cream shop could offer into a 27cm x 48cm x 26cm size, so won’t take up too much room at home and is easy to carry around the house or into the garden for some outdoor play.

The attention to detail here is amazing, with everything from a selection of lollies to various ice cream scoops, wafers, sauces, cones and tubs included in the 25-piece set. Our testers loved how you can add the ice cream to the cones using the magnetised scoop and had great fun taking our orders or coming up with their own ice cream creations. It does require self-assembly, but it was a very easy job that only took us 15 minutes – not bad for a toy that will deliver some serious wow.

We all know how important sensory play is for kids, but the mess during and after (which you’re always left to clean up) can be enough to put a lot of us off. This Kinetic Sand construction kit comes packed up in its own resealable sandbox, so all the messy play is contained rather than spread across the kitchen table. Inside you get a large bag of kinetic sand – a tactile, mouldable and squeezable play sand – a working crane you can use with both the wrecking ball and sand bucket attachments, and a dumper truck with three brick moulds on the back. Our testers really enjoyed filling up the moulds, wheeling the truck around the sand then dumping out the bricks to build walls on the plastic platform provided in the kit. It’s a total kid-magnet of a toy – even our testers’ older siblings couldn’t resist getting involved.

This is the perfect first camera for a four-year-old. For a start, it’s built to withstand the inevitable bashes that may come its way, and the chunky size makes it easy for little kids to grip securely. Despite its toy-like appearance, this camera means business, and we were very impressed with the high quality 5MP photos and videos it was capable of taking.

At first, we were a little unsure of how easily our four-year-old testers would get the hang of the camera – there are a lot of different features to work out – but we really only had to point out a couple of buttons and they worked the rest out themselves. There were howls of laughter as our testers discovered the funny camera effects, with particular favourites including the funfair-esque wavy mirror effect and the “hedgehog on your head” filter (yes, really).

There’s a selection of easy-to-play games on the camera, too, as well as a voice recorder and video. It’s simple to switch into selfie mode and the camera has a decent 128MB internal storage to save all their photos – of which, we can guarantee, there will be a lot. It also takes a 32GB micro SD card – which you can buy separately, and needs 4 AA batteries (included) to work.

We think this toy barber’s set is worth the money just to see your four-year-old pottering around the house wearing a fake beard, but if you’re not quite as easily pleased as us, you’ll be happy to hear there’s a lot more to this toy than that. Essentially, this 16-piece set has everything a child needs to play barber shops at home, including a brush, comb, play scissors, shaving cream can, hair pomade, mirror and more.

The features our testers particularly loved – apart from the play beard – were the razor (which has a roller on each side for a “smooth finish”) and the trimmer, which vibrates when you pull the tab at the bottom (no batteries needed). It’s such a fun set that promotes plenty of independent play, but be prepared to be roped in as a “customer” more often than not.

It’s impossible not to be charmed by this ridiculously cute, interactive lamb toy, which is great value at £25. From its fluffy white coat and waggly tail to the super-size eyes and rosy cheeks, it’s a four-year-old’s dream. It’s easy to operate – just press a button and the lamb walks along, going “baa” – there’s even a lead included, so your four-year-old can take the lamb for a walk.

What really won our testers over was being able to feed the lamb with a bottle, while it made sucking noises and wiggled its tail, before letting out a delicate burp. Seriously, what’s not to love as a four-year-old? It’s just about soft enough to take to bed for night-time cuddles, but it’s definitely best kept indoors, as the white fleece has the potential to get dirty easily.

Getting young kids to keep their hat on during winter is a never-ending battle, but you’ll have no problem with this cool trapper-style hat from independent kids’ accessories brand Little Hotdog Watson. Thoughtfully designed with a reflective piping trim – perfect for the school run in the depths of winter – the outer fabric of the hat is water-resistant, and it can even be washed in the machine. Our testers loved the snuggly faux-fur lining, which kept ears nice and warm, but it was the little bear ears stitched onto the hat that elevated this to “best kids’ hat ever” status.

Don’t let any mistakes get in the way of creativity, with these clever erasable coloured pencils from Ooly. The set of 12 offers great quality, is non-toxic and includes a rainbow’s worth of shades. What we love most is that each colour can be rubbed out using the eraser at the end of the pencil. It’s a genius design and something our four-year-olds got on board with straight away (once they realise you have to use the eraser on the end of the pencil you’ve coloured with to rub things out – no mix and matching).

Kids this age love to copy what they see around them and, as a result, are drawn to mini versions of household objects. This hairstyling play set comprises of child-sized versions of Dyson’s iconic supersonic hairdryer and corrale straighteners, along with diffuser and nozzle attachments, a barrel styling brush and comb, which really captured the imaginations of our little testers. The lights and sounds really up the fun factor, with the straighteners lighting up and making a sizzling noise and the hairdryer blowing a gentle stream of air when you press the button.

Our testers loved playing hairdressers and rounding us and their siblings up for a blow dry and style. It’s such a well-thought-out toy set, and a lot of fun to play with, but if you’re on a budget you can buy either the supersonic or corrale in smaller sets for around £20.

Four-year-olds love to learn about the world around them, and this cute set introduces a whole host of occupations in a fun way. Open up the box, and you’ll find 64 magnetic pieces to make up different figures representing different jobs – everything from astronaut to vet. The pieces are split into heads, bodies and legs, and our mini testers found it hilarious to create the weirdest of combinations possible. There are picture cards included, showing the different figures you can make, and we were relieved to see these didn’t stick to gender stereotypes. It’s a simple idea, but something our testers really loved playing with. We think it’s a great toy for car journeys or to keep kids entertained when eating out.

This big pink van – measuring 17.5cm x 31cm x 16.5cm – caught the attention of our four-year-old immediately. It’s part of the new Baby Born minis range, which is a collection of collectable mini figures and playsets just right for this age group. Inside the van, there’s everything you need to come up with some imaginative adventures, from the fancy built-in kitchen to the pull-down bed and bathroom. The set also comes with camping chairs, a table, BBQ and bike (which you can fit onto the bike rack at the back of the van) as well as a little 7cm figure, Jasmin.

There’s a sheet of stickers included, to add detail to the interiors, some of which can be a little fiddly, so best tackled by an adult. Our little tester loved being able to decorate the outside of the van however she liked with the remaining stickers, and we loved watching her play and come up with outlandish adventures for her doll and the van. There’s a choice of six mini babies and six sisters and brother dolls available to buy separately, if you want to add to the gang.