What do 4 year old girls love?

[Biscuits & Gravy]

DS has been invited to a birthday party for a friend at preschool. What are your 4 year old girls into? What would they love as a birthday gift?

[mamassong]

Hi! My 4 yo (just turned in Dec.) loves arts and crafts supplies, dress up clothes, dolls. She wears dress up clothes more often than regular clothes and does a craft every day, sometimes 3 or 4 times a day. Paint, play doh, glitter and glue, markers, crayons, scissors, she loves it all.

[lyterae]

My 4 yo loves anything to do with princesses, dressing up, dolls, babies, etc.. She also enjoys legos, art supplies and blocks.

Her favorite gift this year was a set of sturdy paper doll princesses (they were magnetic).

[Thalia the Muse]

My daughter loved those magnetic paperdoll sets, too.

for birthday party gifts, I always like books.

[LuckyMommaToo]

I vote for a craft kit like this tissue paper one:
http://www.amazon.com/Alex-521W-My-T...6025809&sr=8-5

Or one of the chicken socks books like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Klutz-Make-You...6025843&sr=1-9

(There are others to choose from as well.)

Oh, and my SIL just raved about these Usborne sticker books:
http://www.amazon.com/Sticker-Dolly-...6025914&sr=8-7

(My DD will be four in May, so I'm basing my responses on her and her friends.)
-e

For DD:

[Kirsten]

CANNOT go wrong with dress up! Interesting art supplies (not just regular crayons, paper, etc) are always good too.

[saffrongirl]

Originally Posted by Kirsten

CANNOT go wrong with dress up! Interesting art supplies (not just regular crayons, paper, etc) are always good too.

I agree. Dress up, princesses, a tea party set - my dd always loved all the pretend food sets at that age too. And the Melissa & Doug "pizza" where you can "cut" the pizza.

[BMG580]

Well, my 4 year old DD is obsessed with the stereotypical little girl things: princesses/mermaids, glitter, sparkles, crowns, tutus, etc. Any crafts, books, dress up items that fit into those areas would be a big hit.

[Kuba'sMama]

Yea, I think that 4 is the peak for "girliness", around my crowd here anyway (dd and her friends). Princesses, little dress up dollies, little animals, little ponies, little babies.. for some reason my daughter loves tiny little characters that she constantly carries everywhere with her, puts them in tiny purses, etc. And pink is definitely IN. I didn't start it, I swear, lol!
We do love arts too, especially sparkly art!

[zuleicamoon]

My nearly 4yo also loves dress up, and I think interesting art supplies are always a hit (for the holidays she got a portfolio-type supply holder with notebooks, stickers,glitter crayons, etc in it and she has used it at least once a day since she received it). However, she is also very much in to hotwheels/matchbox cars, anything having to do with pirates, and what she calls goblins (any little figurines that look sort of goofy - I think the set she picked out was characters from comic books? I think I remember seeing spiderman...).

I'd call and ask the little girl's mom/dad what she especially likes and if there are any types of gifts they'd prefer you avoid, or ask when you call to RSVP.

[LuxPerpetua]

Okay, my dd must be weird because she is NOT into dolls or princesses or dress-up . . . I didn't realize how prevalent that was. Hmmm.

I'd go with art and craft supplies. Dd currently adores pipe cleaners, markers, nice paints and paper, playdough, etc. I think you really can't go wrong with this.

[skueppers]

I am so glad that my daughter is now 5 and has decided that she likes colors other than pink and purple!

Anyway, I'd say pretend play of all kinds was really big at that age. In addition to the things I've already seen mentioned, play silks, playmobil, dolls, stuffed animals, and realistic small animals (Schleich and the like) were all big hits at that age.

[Marimami]

Originally Posted by LuxPerpetua

Okay, my dd must be weird because she is NOT into dolls or princesses or dress-up . . . I didn't realize how prevalent that was. Hmmm.

I'd go with art and craft supplies. Dd currently adores pipe cleaners, markers, nice paints and paper, playdough, etc. I think you really can't go wrong with this.

My DD is weird too. I'm okay with that. She's 5.5 now and has never been into any of these things, and I've tried! She told me to sell all her dolls because she's never going to play with them. She does some dress-up but it is very specific... like she is a Flamenco dancer... never a princess or anything like that.

But, arts and craft supplies are always a sure thing around here!
Holli

[Biscuits & Gravy]

Originally Posted by LuckyMommaToo

I vote for a craft kit like this tissue paper one:
http://www.amazon.com/Alex-521W-My-T...6025809&sr=8-5

Or one of the chicken socks books like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Klutz-Make-You...6025843&sr=1-9

(There are others to choose from as well.)

Oh, and my SIL just raved about these Usborne sticker books:
http://www.amazon.com/Sticker-Dolly-...6025914&sr=8-7

(My DD will be four in May, so I'm basing my responses on her and her friends.)
-e

For DD:

LOL!! Yeah, I could go the easy way out and just give Usborne books, right?

This little girl did make the most elaborate craft-tastic valentines for the whole class. I think arts & crafts stuff sounds great, and you all have given me some wonderful suggestions for that.

[stlmomof2]

My 4yo is not very into princess stuff, either. She'll dress up as a princess occasionally but does not seem to gravitate to princess movies, books, dolls, imaginative play, etc. She's really into dinosaurs and various other topics like oceans and volcanos. I personally enjoy fairy tales and anything with medieval motifs but these things don't seem to interest her very much. She also loves arts and crafts. She loves using acrylic paints--she's very careful with them. She loves to glue things. Some kind of mosaic set would be great.

[verde]

My 4 y/o DD's not so much into princesses either. She's an active girl. The one toy that she uses several times a day is her toddler trampoline. She's worn one out completely and is on #2.

For birthday gifts I'd go for books. Those big floor puzzles are also a lot of fun.

[jillmamma]

Ponies, princesses, baby dolls, dressup, puzzles, books, arts and crafts, girly stuff, pink and purple.

[One_Girl]

My dd loved the kid k-nex, small legos, trains, dolls, barbies, and dress up dresses at that age.

[ramama]

Originally Posted by mamassong

Hi! My 4 yo (just turned in Dec.) loves arts and crafts supplies, dress up clothes, dolls. She wears dress up clothes more often than regular clothes and does a craft every day, sometimes 3 or 4 times a day. Paint, play doh, glitter and glue, markers, crayons, scissors, she loves it all.

Do we share a child? LOL! My 4yo turned 4 in December and is exactly as you describe! Just loves loves loves glitter, markers (especially "special" markers like window markers), glitter glue, stickers, anything that has to do with art and making messes. She can play with playdoh and modeling clay for hours. And oh, boy, the dress up!

She is just now really getting into board games as well, and I give games often for childrens parties, especially if the child has siblings.

[rainbowmoon]

My 4yo loves kittens and any kind of little animal (Stuffed, plastic or otherwise) and playfood and princesses. Art or hair things are always a hit. (and hats or shoes!)