what's your 4 year old boy playing with these days?

[nicknack]

Yes, I'm already thinking about Christmas!

Brooks will be 4 in November and then obviously there's Christmas just after that. I already have a few things from the sale order from Oompa a while back (the Haba fireman game, a marble run, a Haba matching game) and I'm thinking some more Playmobil, but I thought I'd see what yours are really into.

TIA!
Nicole

[August Mom]

Mine is almost 5, but this past year, he has most enjoyed Playmobil. The airplane and rescue helicopter have been big hits along with the soccer game. He also likes Rokenbok, Legos, puzzles and boardgames. Favorite board games are Cranium Balloon Lagoon, Ravensburger's 3-D Labyrinth, Curious George Uno and Monopoly, Jr. He enjoys Automoblox, but I'm not sure I would get those again. If you do get them, you need at least 2. Trucks, cars and sports equipment are always good. Oh, and his bike was a huge hit!

[brittone2]

DS will be 4 in Feb., so we have Christmas and bday fairly close together. I usually like doing one big gift, but this year I think it will be a few smaller items. He's getting one or two Haba games (Block on Block is one of them), some parts to his marble maze set (already have a basic set), and I'm not sure what else yet.

Other things he likes right now are his balance bike (Puky), and his daddy recently made him a dollhouse treehouse.

He really likes practical living items, so he may get a cordless sweeper vac (the non electrical ones) and some smaller items from forsmallhands for his stocking. Maybe a bath boat?

Thanks for starting this thread. Looking forward to more ideas from everyone.

[brittone2]

DS will be 4 in Feb., so we have Christmas and bday fairly close together. I usually like doing one big gift, but this year I think it will be a few smaller items. He's getting one or two Haba games (Block on Block is one of them), some parts to his marble maze set (already have a basic set), and I'm not sure what else yet.

Other things he likes right now are his balance bike (Puky), and his daddy recently made him a dollhouse treehouse.

He really likes practical living items, so he may get a cordless sweeper vac (the non electrical ones) and some smaller items from forsmallhands for his stocking. Maybe a bath boat?

Thanks for starting this thread. Looking forward to more ideas from everyone.

[kitmama]

We have this little boat from Nova Natural, and love it:
http://www.novanatural.com/s.nl/it.A/id.331/.f

I've also noticed this one from Magic Cabin, but I think is too big for the bathtub?
http://tinyurl.com/33l74k


Littleman will be 4 in October- which is barely older than your son, so I may be of limited utility here. :)
- But he just got a bike with training wheels (to replace the trike), and that is a huge hit!
- He has also been very into painting and other art (so we are asking for art supplies for his birthday),
- cooking and practical stuff (like his small broom and other things from forsmallhands),
- hot wheels track and cars (we've made an effort to find very basic track so that he can invent routes, rather than using the fancier kits that are everywhere),
- games (Candyland when we can find all the pieces, and monkeys in a barrel- we need more of these),
- books, his magazine subscription to Click,
- little figures (ours happen to be pirates),
- squirt guns,
- M&D Lacing Shapes,
- and blocks and megablocks (we don't have smaller "legos" yet).

[hellokitty]

My son will be 4 in feb. He's still really into the boy stuff, like trains, airplanes, trucks, cars, anything that can be latched or towed, etc.. He also likes puzzles, we've been working on some 24 piece puzzles. The wedgits are also something he loves (and so does my youngest son and so do I, lol!). I found the wedgits at tjmaxx, which surprised me, but in a good way. We do have some playmobil stuff and my son likes it, BUT there are so many teeny tiny pieces, it is such a PITA, esp if your child has a younger sibling around who puts thing into their mouth. That means you have to put away all of the tiny pieces for later, that is what we did and I will have to remember to pull out the small pieces when my youngest son is past the, "everything in his mouth" phase. He hasn't shown any interest in blocks or legos in a long time. Maybe that will change, since we are going to be going to legoland this autumn.

If your son likes to watch a dvd every once in a while, my kids' favorite are: The "I love toy train" series. They are nuts about it. It's actually a very cool series and educational too. We get our from our library, but it's such a good series, I would recommend it to others to purchase if their kid is a train nut.

[Jen841]

J is 100% into sports. We bought him a set of bases for his b-day. He received a pitching machine and bat and ball sets, and tee ball set... he plays with them all daily! He also loves practicing dribbling his basketball.

We just removed the training wheels on his bike. Loving that!

We don't do a lot of games. With a brother <2 he has a piece stealing brother who is a problem when it comes to games. He does love puzzles, and I close him off to do them away from his brother. 50 piece puzzles are very appropriate now.

In addition to sports, he loves music. For his b-day he got a Guitar (Target) and a Drum Set (TRU) and we have a stage in the basement. He listens to his idols on CD and watches his DVD's and makes routines like Justin Roberts, Dan Zanes, Ralphs World and Laurie Berkner Band.

He received a matchbox car race track and that is priceless! Before the boys go to the breakfast table they play with it. E (<2) can do it too.

Geo Trak is still a hit and is requested right now. I took them down for the summer (fills our living room) and they are being requested.

Happy shopping!
Jen

[momofjandl]

This is a tough one b/c I think every child is so unique in their likes and dislikes.

Justin is 4.5 and not a sports type kid. Currently he is really into art, drawing, painting, etc. He's also into workbooks. Matches, numbers, letters, basic reading and writing, connect the dots, that type of thing. I guess I would say he's more into sit down type things. He really likes board games and puzzles. Never has been big into pretend play, but will do it on occasion with his brother. And if he had the choice, he would play computer games all day.

His dad is an engineer and I'm an artist, so I guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree so to speak. :)

For Christmas I have gotten him the MandD easel, a great set of "Why" books from Soutwest book company? (They come door to door.) And I think I might do the lego thing..not sure if I want to start that yet or not. I'll also do the leapster game thing too I think.

HTH!
Ruth

[JBaxter]

Nathan will be 4 in November and he is still into his trains so I picked up a water fall bridge/tunnel at TRU today ( 9.99 =15% off)
a john deer tractor/wagon set , a moterized backhoe ( loves diggers) , ants in the pants game, I also got the ryan's room firestation at tuesday morning. He would have really liked a doll house but DH and I compromised on the fire house :P
OH and a new whisk ( red )


Things he plays with as much as his trains are
Marble race ( must be assebled by and adult preferably daddy because he can use all the pieces and mommy has some left over that causes a melt down LOL) http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2317854&cp=&sr=1&f=Taxonomy%2FTRUS%2F2254197&origkw=marble+race&kw=marble+race&parentPage=search

Melissa & doug see and spell ( we call them "letter words")
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2308342&cp=&view=all&f=Taxonomy%2FTRUS%2F2254197&sr=1&origkw=melissa&kw=melissa+doug&parentPage=search

magneatos http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2413225&cp=&sr=1&f=Taxonomy%2FTRUS%2F2254197&origkw=magnets&kw=magnets&parentPage=search

and is L-Max ( dora and letters) and his plan city garage

[C99]

Magna-Tiles (as ever)
large wooden blocks
wooden Thomas/Brio trains
Vecta blocks (plastic blocks that slide together to make geometric shapes - they were a gift)
Lego and/or Duplo
Matchbox cars and track