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Welcome to The Ultimate Birthday Gift Guide for Preschoolers! Our little preschooler is turning 4 and he’s ready to celebrate. He keeps running around saying, “Na-na-na, na-na BATMAN Birthday!” He has an exciting birthday wish list to share with you of his favorite toy picks. We added a few extra ones too that he already owns and loves. We love toys that encourage imaginative play and learning, especially math and building.

All children develop at different speeds and have different interests. The age range for these toys starts at 3+.  They are not recommended for children under 3.  Please use your own discretion.  All toys are marked with age recommendations from the manufacturer. We only endorse toys we own, have played with, or are planning to buy him for his birthday and Christmas. These are his (mine too) favorite toys and books for this year! Happy Birthday!

Metro Mags Clear Colors 32 Piece Set

Favorite Birthday Toy Pick #1 – Metro Mags! We love symmetry, shapes, and learning math concepts.  Metro Mags help develop spatial awareness, problem-solving skills, logical thinking, and math reasoning.  

• 32-piece set of clear, geometric magnetic building tiles with project guide
• Square and triangular tiles adhere on all sides for infinite 2D and 3D building possibilities
• Open-ended manipulative building set engages children of all ages in creative play
•  3+

Melissa & Doug 60-Piece Standard Unit Blocks

Melissa & Doug make high-quality, toxic-free products.  Aside from the solid heavy construction, they’re an excellent tool to teach basic math concepts, organizational skills, sequential skills, and spatial relations.  Building blocks are an important part of development that encourages imaginative play.  Plus, it’s C’s favorite activity and toy, aside from reading!

• 60-piece standard unit quality block set allows children to build towers and towns
• Stimulates creativity and hones basic motor skills
• Includes 60 solid-wood pieces and wooden storage box
• 3+

ECR4Kids Wooden Tunnels and Arches, 10-Piece Set

Favorite Birthday Toy Pick #2 – Wooden Tunnels and Arches! Actually, this is Grandma’s Birthday gift! C loves tunnels, bridges, trains, and anything that can be molded, shaped, or cut into a tunnel! I can hardly wait to give these to him! The opportunities for children to build tunnels and archways for imaginative play are endless.

• 10-piece set of curved blocks
• 3 different widths
• Made of 100-Percent rubber wood
• 3+

Hape Discovery Space Center

We love space and Hape toys.  Doll houses, space houses, and fire houses all present wonderful learning opportunities for kids. Aside from the endless hours of fun, they encourage language development, character and story building, and teach basic concepts – through the door, down the stairs, opening the door.  Plus, space is so cool.  This toy gives you a great opportunity to introduce space exploration, planets, and geography.

• Explore space with this 37 piece spaceship set
• 4 level spaceship is designed like real space shuttles
• Some easy assembly is required
• Hape finishes are all non-toxic, child safe, and of the highest quality; 3+

MINDWARE PATTERN PLAY

Favorite Birthday Toy Pick #3 – This toy will make a Christmas appearance! This activity helps develop a basic understanding of geometry and visual thinking, enhances creativity, and provides an introduction to color palettes.  I want to play with it too!

• Pattern play blocks are a great introduction to math concepts like sorting, matching, symmetry, congruence and fractions.
• This high-quality set fits just-so into its wood tray, with vibrant colors and unusual shapes that build spatial skills.
• Includes 40 exceptionally well finished wood blocks, a 10 1/2″ square wood building tray, 40 pattern cards and a drawstring canvas storage bag.

LEGO CLASSIC LARGE CREATIVE BRICK BOX

As you can see, there’s a building theme going on.  I grew up with Legos, so they hold a special place in my heart.  Have you ever stepped on them? Ooch! With them being so small, we wanted to wait until he’s at least 4 to introduce them.  This is a great gift for those older preschoolers that love to build. Lego’s encourage problem solving, spatial awareness, and storytelling.  We’ve been exploring and building with Duplos for a while. Don’t forget your Lego plate for extra building capabilities.

• Colorful LEGO bricks
• 650 pieces
• 4+

+

LEGO Classic Green Baseplate

Learning Resources Gears! Gears! Gears! Super Set

Gear! Gears! Gears! There are so many opportunity to learn with this toy from spacial awareness, problem-solving, direction, weight and balance and the list goes on. My boy loves to build.

• 150-piece set
• Endless creative combinations
• Encourages creativity
• Giant storage tub

HAPE MARBLE RAILWAY IN WOOD

Marble runs provide hours of entertainment.  They’re fun, colorful, and help strengthen fine motor skills.

• Quadrilla is the Ultimate Marble Run Building Set
• Endless possibilities for 3-dimensional thinking, creating captivating structures
• Hape Toy finishes are all non-toxic, child safe and of the highest quality, Hape constructs their toys using FSC accredited wood products
• For ages 4+

MELISSA & DOUG PROJECT WORKBENCH

This is a definite holiday wish list pick for our little builder. I wonder what his first project will be?!

• Workbench includes a functioning vise, tool rack, wooden tools and hardware
• Ideas to spark the imagination are included
• Handcrafted wooden construction
• 3+

KidKraft Heroes FireHouse Play Set

This tops as his all-time favorite BIRTHDAY gift to date from this past year when he turned 3, thank you Grammy. This is every little boys dream (not to say girls wouldn’t love it too). There are so many opportunity for speech and language, behavior, and role-playing with a doll house. He loves it so much, he thought it would complete The Ultimate Birthday Gift Guide for Preschoolers. We even made him a cool recycled Fireman Air Tank to go along with it.  It makes a great addition to Fire Prevention Week activities too.

BOOKS

C’s favorite activity is reading. This is one area we’ve focused on since he was a baby. We Both Read books are amazing.  One side of the page is for the parent (setting up the story) and the other side is for the child to read. They come in K, K1, 1, 1-2, 2, & 3 levels.  For the children’s side level K- K-1 books are 1-3 word sentences; level 1 books are 3-7 word sentences, multiple sentences; level 1-2 books are 7-15 word sentences, more complex stories.  On Amazon you can look inside the books too! There are 21 titles in total.

C’s Favorite We Both Read Level 1 Books

Fox’s Best Trick Ever (We Both Read)

The Well-Mannered Monster (We Both Read)

The New Red Bed (We Both Read)

C’s Wish List We Both Read Level 1-2 Books

 

 

About Dinosaurs (We Both Read)

About the Ocean (We Both Read)

About the Rain Forest (We Both Read)

Jack & The Beanstalk (We Both Read)

I hope you enjoyed our list! There are so many wonderful learning and bonding opportunities with these toys and books. Have fun, happy birthday, and happy holidays! Thank you so much for reading and supporting our little blog.  We really appreciate all your support. You’re welcome to read our full Amazon affiliate disclosure is here.

Also, if you have a little one that craves movement, deep-pressure, or loves to jump, check out our Best Toys and Theraputic Tools for Sensory Seekers.  The kids love these fun toys.

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