Xmas gift ideas for my difficult 4yo DD1

[wendibird22]

Needing xmas gift ideas for 4yo (will be 4.5yo at xmas) DD1 who is very grounded in reality. We have dress up clothes, dolls, doll clothes, legos, play kitchen, etc, etc, etc. Problem is that DD1 doesn't really play pretend. She'll dress up just to dance. Or she'll changes clothes on a doll just to change. But she doesn't make up stories for herself or her toys. We had a friends almost 5yo over the other day and boy she was super creative with everything she played with and it was a noticeable difference between her and DD1. DD1 played with her barbies (we don't have any) but it was again more a fascination withe putting shoes on or changing outfit than really playing with them IYKWIM. DH and I will throw out ideas to her like pretend she's a vet and use the doctor kit to examine her stuffed animals but she never wants to. She'll spend lots of time coloring and doing craft projects. She'll sometimes do puzzles and sometimes build with legos. She likes books.

So, any suggestions for toys or other items for her?

[Neatfreak]

Do you think that she'd like board games? At that age, my own kiddo really liked Cariboo ...

[TwinFoxes]

How about outdoor toys? My DDs love any type of ride one, climb on, outside toy. Maybe get her really amazing art supplies? (My DDs aren't especially into art). Does she like music? How about a child sized guitar? Gardening stuff? Or, go big...a pet? Doesn't have to be a cat or a dog, could be a turtle, snake, fish. Or how about sports gear/lessons?

HTH.

[zag95]

How about focusing on what she does like?

If she likes crafts- get some craft kits (like from Michaels) and maybe sign her up for a craft class- like a make pottery, paint and fire it class or some other type of art (or cooking/dancing- classes she enjoys)

If she likes reading- what about a magazine subscription- such as Highlights (High five) or National Geographic for Kids?

I think games are good-

You could take her to Toys R Us or Target and walk thru the toy aisle and see what she is drawn to.......

[brittone2]

I bet you could find something inspiring in a Montessori type catalog.

ITA w/ books, board games, crafty stuff if she already likes those.

Does she like Playdoh?

vtech camera?

[ahisma]

I was going to suggest some Montessori gifts too.

She's at a great age for the Quadrilla marble runs as well.

You mentioned that she likes books a lot, what about a special bookshelf? There are a lot of creative shelves out there, you could combine it with some new books and a gift card to fill it.

My niece once got a ton of office supplies for Christmas (stapler, tape dispenser, etc.). She was thrilled!

[tiapam]

Magna-tiles

[elbenn]

She might like science kits. I would think there would be tons of fun science kits for kids--you could probably get an educational catalog that would list them.

[infomama]

Dd1 just got this but dd2 (4) is fascinated with it and I have to admit...it's totally cool.
www.klutz.com/science/The-Hand-Book

[wendibird22]

Thanks for all of the suggestions ladies! I'll have to research games and magazines. We have the standard classic games...hi hi cherryo, chutes, candy land, guess who, but I know there are others. I was also thinking about a tag reader.

I'll pass on the animal...our 5yo springer spaniel is enough of a handful LOL!

We'll definitely need to take a walk through TRU and Michael's. Only problem is she'll want one of everything but then never play with it. Like now that her friend was over with Barbies she keeps begging for Barbies. Honestly, I have no idea what she'd do with them. I'm afraid after a few weeks of changing their clothes she'd grow tired of them.

[Momit]

Maybe a nice set of Usborne books? A museum membership?

[KrisM]

DS1 is not imaginative either. He never did any dress-up, kitchen play, etc.

He does/did like marble runs a lot and Quadrilla is his favorite. I'm pretty sure he was 4.5 when he got it. He needed help understanding the directions at first, but loved it.

Last year at 4.5, DD got the Alex sewing kit and really enjoyed that a lot. She also likes the Klutz pot holder making kit. So does DS1.