The holidays are a magical time, and for 4-year-olds, it’s prime time for pretend play and hands-on fun! If you're searching to find the perfect Christmas present or holiday gift for the 4-year-old child in your life, we’ve got you covered.
We've compiled a list of our favorite top toys for the holiday season that will delight your 4-year-old and also support their development. If you'd like additional help finding the right toy for your child, check out Melissa & Doug's Holiday Gift Guide and let it do all the work for you.
Our Top Toys & Gifts for 4-Year-Olds for the Holidays
Sort, Stock, Select Beauty Kiosk Play Set
Why it’s a great gift for 4-year-olds: Perfect for mess-free imaginative pretend play, this innovative wooden vending machine play set comes packed with features and fun, including realistic-looking pretend play toy makeup accessories for eyes, lips, and face that let budding makeup artists imagine different looks and practice daily skin care and makeup routines! (NOTE: Does NOT contain real cosmetics; NO color is transferred.) Open the back of the kiosk and stock it with nine double-sided play beauty accessories, including wooden lipsticks, pretend eye shadows, flip-top lotion tube, and double-sided pouches. On the front, select an item, insert a color-matching play coin or bank card, press the corresponding letter and number button, and the play makeup drops into the collection drawer!
Fun feature: No batteries required! There’s a sign that can be personalized and a reusable activity card for keeping track of what to stock, order, and how the pretend play beauty items are used. Requires no assembly. All the pieces are stored in the vending machine for easy cleanup.
Skills: This vending play set is an engaging, hands-on way to help teach kids about cause-and-effect, and to encourage letter, number, and color recognition, sorting, matching, counting, and fine motor skills.
How to wow: If your child enjoys a pretend play cosmetics routine, supplement their glow-up accessories with our Love Your Look Makeup Kit Play Set, a mess-free pretend play cosmetics kit that kids can take anywhere.
Flip & Fry Grill Play Set with Color Changing Water WOW!
Why it’s a great gift for 4-year-olds: Grilling and frying has never been so fun! Satisfy hungry imaginations with Melissa & Doug Water WOW! color-changing play food.
Fun feature: Flip play burger, veggie burger, or pancake on the grill and griddle, squeeze water from the spatula when flipping, and watch colors change as food magically “cooks”! Add water to the fryer and pretend chicken tenders, onion rings, and fries to the fry basket to “deep fry” more treats. Serve with felt fixings and burger buns that reveal ketchup and mustard when water drips from the condiment squeeze bottle. Let the pieces dry and cook with water again and again!
Skills: A fun, engaging way for kids to practice important developmental skills such as fine motor, sorting, counting, and imaginative play, and to demonstrate cause-and-effect.
How to wow: Combine this with the Melissa and Doug Simmer & Stir Stovetop Play Set with Water Wow!® Color Changing Play Food to create the ultimate pretend play world!
Make & Bake Pies Play Set
Why it’s a great gift for 4-year-olds: Feed hungry imaginations! The Melissa & Doug 27-piece pretend play pie-making set has everything kids need to prep, put together, and “bake” deliciously imaginative play pies.
Fun feature: Roll a squishable, moldable fabric pie crust dough flat with the wooden rolling pin, then press it to form-fit into pie tins. Fill with double-sided puffy fabric filling for meringue or crumble-topped pie; with sliceable wooden fruit for blueberry, cherry, peach, or apple pies; or with double-side textured filling from a play can for pumpkin or cherry pies! Top with a lattice crust and pop a pie into the sturdy wooden play oven with built-in cutting board to “bake”! Top creations with shaped whipped cream dollops for scrumptious-looking play pies!
Skills: Engaging way for budding chefs to boost motor skills, learn to follow directions, practice counting, sorting, storytelling, creative expression, and communication skills.
How to wow: When you look good, you cook even better, so help your little foodie play the part with our Chef Costume Role Play Set!
Why it’s a great gift for 4-year-olds: Melissa & Doug Blockables™ are connectable, stackable, and playable! Easy-to-grasp smooth, colorful wooden blocks fit together in a snap with large connectors that even little hands can push in and pull out.
Fun feature: An illustrated guide shows how to arrange and link the Blockables™ to create multi-textured "things that go" (a sailboat with felt sail, airplane with felt propeller and wings, tractor with trailer, and race car), or kids can use their imaginations to mix, match, and combine pieces to make unique creations and play their own way! The packaging folds out to convert into a fun play space and pieces store in the sturdy corrugated box with a soft handle for easy cleanup and portability.
Skills: The solid wood connect-and-play building blocks are perfect manipulatives to help preschoolers boost developmental skills such as fine motor, problem-solving, matching, storytelling, and self-esteem, while using their imaginations and having fun.
How to wow: Kids can easily expand their collection -- the 54-piece Vehicles Play Set is compatible with all other Blockables™ play sets!
Sort Stock Select Vending Machine Play Set
Why it’s a great gift for 4-year-olds: Satisfy hungry imaginations with the push of a button! Open up the back of the unique wooden vending machine and stock it with nine double-sided play food packages, including snack bars, drinks, and pouches. On the front, select an item, insert a color-matching play coin or bank card, press the corresponding letter and number button, and the snack drops into the collection drawer! There’s a sign that can be personalized and a reusable activity card for keeping track of what to stock and what to display. Requires no assembly. All the pieces are stored in the vending machine for easy cleanup.
Fun feature: No batteries required!
Skills: Fun way to teach cause-and-effect and encourage imaginative play, sorting, counting, letter recognition, and other developmental skills.
How to wow: When your budding entrepreneur looks to expand their retail business empire, consider gifting them our Fresh Mart Grocery Store play space so they can go into a pretend brick and mortar business!
Wooden Chocolate Factory Play Set
Why it’s a great gift for 4-year-olds: Sweeten up playtime by ordering, assembling, displaying, and gifting deliciously fun pretend play candy treats! The Melissa & Doug Wooden Chocolate Factory Play Set lets kids create imaginative pretend play chocolate candies with durable plastic tops and bottoms and colorful wooden fillings that can be decorated with stickers. Flip switches to indicate flavors, move the slider across a conveyor area, press a lever to drop fillings into bases, and turn the dial to drop on the tops!
Fun feature: Completed play candies slide down a chute, where kids 3+ can decorate with a pretend icing squeeze tube. Display in a fancy gift box, and pay for purchases with play money!
Skills: Encourages fine motor, number, and matching skills, as well as color recognition, communication, cooperative play, and narrative thinking.
How to wow: It's super-important to keep your pretend chocolate-making space clean, so have your little one tidy up with Dust Sweep Mop play set for Grade A pretend play fun.
Deluxe Grill & Pizza Oven Play Set
Why it’s a great gift for a 4-year-old: Fire up pretend play with this perfectly kid-sized wooden barbecue grill, smoker, and pizza oven play set! Budding young chefs 3+ will love creating make-believe barbecue favorites -- and even play pizza! After mealtime, the more than 60 accessories and play food pieces all store neatly on the grill and storage shelf for easy clean-up.
Fun feature: Grill includes built-in timer, dials to raise and lower “flames,” a smoker box with chimney for play wood chips, movable utensil rack, side burner, storage shelf, lid with safety-close hinge; removable thermometer can press into holes in wooden play food to test if they are “done.”
Skills: Promotes hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, sorting and counting skills, storytelling ability, and imaginative play.
How to wow: Help your kid chef get into the role play by dressing the part too, with our Chef Costume Role Play Set.
Barber Shop Play Set
Why it’s a great gift for a 4-year-old: Cut, trim, shave, and style with pretend play shaving essentials for a trip to the barber! Kids can check their look in the hand mirror that flips to stand as they finish with textured pomade in a tub, comb, and brush. Includes a reusable double-sided activity card. Everything stores in a sturdy zippered shaving kit for easy cleanup.
Fun feature: The included trimmers vibrate when the tab is pulled—no batteries required!
Skills: Encourages creative play, promotes fine motor development and language skills.
How to wow: Look the part of a barber or stylist with the Melissa & Doug Hair Stylist Role Play Costume.
Outer Space Glow-in-the-Dark Puzzle - 48 Pieces
Why it’s a great gift for a 4-year-old: Piece together 48 sturdy jumbo cardboard jigsaw pieces for an experience that’s out of this world! Assemble the detailed and colorful space scene in a brightly lit room.
Fun feature: When the 3-foot by 2-foot puzzle is complete, turn out the lights and watch as hidden pictures and details appear in glow-in-the-dark ink! (NOTE: The puzzle must first be exposed to bright light to activate the glow-in-the-dark feature.)
Skills: Great for storytelling and sparking imaginative play, motor skill development, and encourages problem-solving and critical thinking.
How to wow: If outer space doesn't get your 4-year-old excited, check out Melissa & Doug's assortment of puzzles perfect for that age.
Spanish See & Spell Learning Toy
Why it’s a great gift for 4-year-olds: Complete a puzzle to spell a word in Spanish! This wonderfully illustrated wooden puzzle set is great for native Spanish-speakers and for kids learning another language. Place the wooden lowercase letters into the double-sided puzzle boards to spell words in Spanish that match the illustrations.
Fun feature: The letters are also great for stenciling and lots of learning games, as well as for color recognition and sorting and sequencing activities.
Skills: Helps kids develop sight-reading vocabulary, letter recognition, spelling, color recognition, and fine motor skills.
How to wow: Also available in an English version!
Wooden Stamp Set - Dinosaurs
Why it’s a great gift for 4-year-olds: Imagine a landscape full of dinosaurs! Children love using the eight detailed dino stamps and a two-color inkpad, and it's fun creating countless scenes, and coloring in the pictures with the five colored pencils!
Fun feature: Washable, non-toxic kid-friendly ink.
Skills: Promotes creativity, fine motor skills.
How to wow: Melissa & Doug offers a host of other themed wooden stamp sets, including Friendship, ABCs/123s, and many more.
Scissor Skills Activity Pad
Why it’s a great gift for 4-year-olds: Kids love to cut with scissors--as you can see by the trail of scraps often left in their wake! This creative and practical activity pad gives an engaging, creative direction to scissor work, meaning more concentration and less mess.
Fun feature: Organized from simple to more complex, 20 different paper cutting projects (with complete supplies included right in the pages of the book) practice slightly different skills and techniques, and produce 20 unique crafts, games, and activities to offer kids a creative focus and a sense of accomplishment. Plastic safety scissors included.
Skills: Encourages fine motor and cognitive skills.
How to wow: Once your little one has those scissor skills mastered, take their pretend cutting careers to the next level with our Barber Shop Play Set or Beauty Salon Play Set.
Scratch Art Rainbow Mini Notes (125-count)
Why it’s a great gift for 4-year-olds: Creative kids can jot notes, etch doodles, and make their own exciting masterpieces with Mini Scratch Art Notes!
Fun feature: Includes 125 Rainbow Mini Notes, a wooden stylus, and a handy "desktop dispenser" box to keep it all organized.
Skills: Promotes fine motor, creativity, C-grip, hand-eye coordination.
How to wow: If creative play is what engages your little creator the most, then consider adding an essential piece of arts & crafts play to their playroom, such as our Deluxe Wooden Standing Art Easel.
Self-Correcting Letter Puzzles
Why it’s a great gift for 4-year-olds: Kids can match these wooden puzzle pairs to make mastering letters as easy as A-B-C! A different object illustrates each letter of the alphabet shown in both upper and lower case, and the puzzles are self-correcting because each puzzle piece has only one match that fits. It's a great way for children to play independently and learn at the same time.
Fun feature: The puzzle includes 52 high-quality wooden pieces, and comes in a sturdy wooden box with a slide-in lid for easy storage and accessibility. The colorful puzzle pieces feature a familiar item to represent each letter ranging from an apple to a zebra.
Skills: Letter recognition, matching and memory skills, eye-hand coordination, and fine motors skills.
How to wow: Want to help your little learner master their numbers as well? We’ve got a toy for that—The Self-Correcting Number Puzzles!
Design-Your-Own Bracelets
Why it’s a great gift for 4-year-olds: This exciting fashion activity set and bracelet craft kit lets kids make their own accessories to wear and share! The set includes four two-sided kids' bracelets, with a different shimmering color on each side.
Fun feature: Just add the included sparkle-gem and glitter stickers to fill each one with flowers, hearts, butterflies, stars, loops, and swirls. Make your own bracelets, then close the reusable tab closure to wear your favorite--or layer a bunch for a sparkling fashion statement!
Skills: Fine motor, creativity.
How to wow: If fashion fun gives your child a creative boost, introduce them to the glorious world of puffy reusable stickers with our Puffy Stickers Play Set: Princess edition.
Building Site Floor Puzzle - 48 Pieces
Why it’s a great gift for 4-year-olds: Constructive playtime awaits with this exciting cardboard floor puzzle featuring vehicles hard at work on a building site!
Fun feature: The puzzle is an impressive 2 feet x 3 feet when assembled, and the 48 extra-thick pieces are durable and easy to clean, so they'll stay looking like new, use after use.
Skills: Fine motor, problem-solving skills.
How to wow: Perhaps your child doesn’t dig construction themes; not a problem, as Melissa & Doug offers a host of puzzle theme options, from Solar System to Underwater and everything in between.
Created by Me! Jewelry Box Wooden Craft Kit
Why it’s a great gift for 4-year-olds: This Melissa & Doug wooden jewelry box is a craft kit and keepsake all in one! Kids can add their own creative touches and personalize this Created by Me jewelry box and use it to store their jewelry and special little items.
Fun feature: The sturdy wooden box is constructed of high-quality, durable wood, and features a mirror inside the lid as well as a velvet ring holder. The all-inclusive craft kit features everything kids need to decorate the pretty pink box. It includes 26 sparkling gem stickers, 38 shimmering foil stickers, three glitter glue sticks and a white glue stick.
Skills: Promotes fine motor, hand-eye coordination, and creative expression.
How to wow: Keep your child’s creativity going with more arts & crafts fun, such as our Created by Me Flower Magnets Wooden Craft Kit.
National Parks Reusable Stickers – Park Animals (5 Scenes, 121 Stickers)
Why it’s a great gift for 4-year-olds: Take a creative storytelling journey through five national parks (Denali, Everglades, Biscayne, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon) and learn the names of the animals and plants there! Tell imaginative stories by matching 20 Denali-themed puffy stickers and 101 cling-style stickers to illustrated glossy park scenes, then peel the stickers off to rearrange again and again!
Fun feature: Large, top spiral-bound pad lets scenes lay flat, and makes the set great for travel. Stickers store on color-coded tabbed pages inside for mess-free play!
Skills: Plants and animals identified in English and Spanish; great educational travel toy for development of fine motor and storytelling skills.
How to wow: If your child loves nature and the great outdoors, introduce them to the Melissa & Doug National Park Foundation collection of toys, designed to inspire a lifelong relationship with the natural world.
School Time Classroom Play Set
Why it’s a great gift for 4-year-olds: With a drop-down teacher desk on one side and a student desk on the other, this innovative set allows kids to realistically play both roles!
Fun feature: The exciting array of supplies — including 2 double-sided write-on, wipe-off boards, 2 dry-erase markers, 9 reusable activity cards, 12 pattern blocks, 150 reusable stickers, a bell, timer, pointer, and lots more — enables kids to explore a favorite activity and continue learning even out of the classroom!
Skills: Vocabulary, social-emotional development.
How to wow: Go for “extra credit,” by adding the Deluxe Double-Sided Tabletop Easel to enhance your child’s pretend classroom.
Looking for more of the best Christmas and holiday gift and toy ideas for kids of all ages? Check out these links:
Shop Melissa & Doug Holiday Gift Guide
Shop All Melissa & Doug Pretend Play Toys
Shop All Melissa & Doug Learning Toys
Shop All Melissa & Doug Puzzles
Shop All Melissa & Doug Arts & Crafts Toys
Shop All Melissa & Doug Plush Toys
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