Gifts for a 4-year-old — the best gift ideas

No time for the whole list? These are our four favourites for a 4-year-old: the KAPLA Autumn drum with 200 coloured planks, the building material that lasts a whole childhood; Charlotte Dematons’ beautiful Alfabet, a search-and-find book you start at 4 and are still discovering new things in at 8; Uno Junior, the first card game a young child can really play on their own; and LEGO Bluey’s Car Trip to the Beach, a 4+ set with the most famous dog of the moment. Four gifts you can’t go wrong with.

A small gift for a 4-year-old, for the Sinterklaas shoe, for a birthday party or as a reward. Everything below costs less than ten euros.

With up to 25 euros there’s plenty of choice: a game, a picture book, a craft kit or something to take outside. Everything below has been picked for a 4-year-old.

At this age they’d rather be outside all day. A scooter with light-up wheels for the way to school, pavement chalk, bubbles, a beach set for the sandpit, a bug box for the garden or a wheelbarrow to help out. LazyLama and Little Dutch have the full range.

A 4-year-old builds their first real LEGO. Sets with 4+ on the box have larger starter pieces, so they can put together a car, a little house or an animal clinic without help — and Bluey and Toy Story are favourites that aren’t tied to boy or girl. Browse the full range in the LEGO Shop.

For little movers, Stapelstein stones are worth their weight in gold: to sit on, make an obstacle course, build towers or practise balance — and they last for generations. A balance board and a sturdy ball belong in the same list. Ideal to give together with several people via the money wish on a wishlist. Studio Bambacht and LazyLama have all the pieces.

Kapla is a beautiful open-ended building system: identical wooden planks, no glue and no clicking together, just stacking and balancing. It’s one of the most popular play materials in Dutch infant classes, and at home it gets used for years. HEMA’s wooden building blocks are the affordable alternative, and Plus-Plus is a lovely building system with small pieces, in tubes of a hundred.

At 4, reading aloud is the best moment of the day. The Dutch classics by Annie M.G. Schmidt, a search-and-find book that lasts for years and funny picture books with a bit more plot: books you’re still happy to read aloud for the tenth time. Studio Bambacht and LazyLama have a lovely selection of children’s books for this age.

Four is the age of pretend play. A play tent as their own spot to read and camp in, a costume or a mask, or a wooden doctor’s bag to make mum and dad better. LazyLama has a large range of dressing-up clothes from Souza!, with sturdy fabrics and child-safe materials.

A 4-year-old can do a puzzle of 24 to 50 pieces on their own, a floor puzzle is one to do together lying on your tummies, and a set of increasing difficulty grows with them for a year. Lotana and LazyLama have a large collection of puzzles for young children.

Chunky colouring pencils for small hands, modelling clay, a bead set, sticker books and a nature spotting book: at 4, crafts should above all give quick results. LazyLama, Pipoos and Invulboekjes.nl have a large range. Also see our blogs on lovely drawing supplies for children and the best drawing books for children.

A game for a 4-year-old needs no reading and lasts fifteen minutes at most. Memory, picture dominoes, a card game like Uno Junior or a reaction game for the whole family: at this age playing together becomes more fun than playing alone. Lotana and 999 Games have the full range of children’s games.

At 4, Dutch children start primary school, and nothing makes that as exciting as having your own things. A backpack in infant size, a lunch box, a water bottle that doesn’t leak and a PE bag for the gym. Choose neutral colours, so it lasts into groep 2 and 3 as well. Little Dutch and Studio Bambacht have plenty more school things.

A fun day out together is a treat in itself: you experience something special and make memories to talk about for ages. A few ideas:

🎪 Monkey Town or another indoor play centre

🛝 A big playground to run wild in

🦒 A day at the zoo or a children’s farm

🍿 A film night with popcorn (and staying up late!)

🏊 Swimming and playing at the pool