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Ultimate Preschool Gift Guide, Part 2: Gifts for Pretend Play
Welcome to part two of the Ultimate Unplugged Preschool Gift Guide, the best intentional gifts for little kids you love! (Find part one here!)
As a mom of four myself, I know how frustrating it is to see new toys quickly abandoned. So I carefully curated this gift-guide to help you find amazing gifts for ages 2-4 that your little kids will love and play with long-term!
These toys are unplugged, screen-free, and perfect for intentional gift-giving. My criteria in choosing these gifts was specific. I wanted toys with long-term playability, that encourage creativity, help teach problem-solving, and/or help kids learn new skills and perspectives.
And also… they’re FUN!
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Every single one of our four kids–our boy as well as our girls–has L-O-V-E-D using our play kitchen. I personally like the KidKraft play kitchens–they are sturdy, aesthetically pleasing, come in a variety of colors and have everything a good pretend kitchen needs.
We have a KidKraft retro-style kitchen, and it is often the hub of restaurant cooking or baby-doll care. The one-piece version that comes in three different colors. ๐
PROTIP: Don’t fall into the trap of buying a huge lot of plastic fruits and hamburgers. Less is more when it comes to play food.
I’ve definitely noticed that my kids are more likely to play with small, specific sets, and (bonus!) they are also less mess to clean up.
I particularly love Melissa & Doug play food. It’s super cute, AND it is also made of durable, painted wood and thick, high-quality plastic, so it and lasts through lots of play. The Learning Resources play food we have has held up well, too.
As with play food, less is more with play dishes. I love a good set of metal pots for “cooking,” like these Pots and Pans from Melissa & Doug. And a set of four place settings has always done the trick for our for pretend-dining needs.
We have this Wash and Dry Dish Set, which comes with colorful dishes and a dish rack and pretend soap & sponge for “clean up” and storage. Or you can stick to just plates, bowls, cups, and utensils with the Serve It! Dish Set.
Little “mommies” and “daddies” love looking after someone smaller than they are. We have three baby dolls at our house, and two of them are Baby Alive Luv ‘n Snuggle dolls pictured above. My kids love their soft, snuggly bodies (our four-year-old even sleeps with hers) and that they can suck their thumbs. ๐
I like to keep our baby doll care accessories simple, too. Adora has nice small sets. I like their diaper bag in pink, which comes with a bottle, changing pad, and diapers. (It also comes in blue, but with fewer accessories.)
I don’t know what it is about push toys, but the preschool bunch can’t get enough of loading up shopping carts and strollers and pushing them around, sometimes donning sunglasses and laden down with a backpack full of toy cars and baby wipes.
For kids who love towers and fortresses, these Jumbo Extra-Thick Cardboard Building Blocks are a creativity-building way to let kids dream up their own kid-sized mini-world. They come in at 4.5/5 stars on Amazon with over 1,000 reviews, and I loved how one preschool teacher said her students had used them to build “towers taller than their own height, car “garages”, a castle, a moat, a boat,” and more. So fun!
(Tip: If space is limited at your house, keep in mind that other parents did say they take up a lot of storage space when not in use.)
Play tents have their own kind of magic–there’s something wonderful about being cocooned away in a place all your own. We’ve owned two, and my kids often wanted them both up at once so they could have their own tent-village. I love the ones that come a carrying case and fold up small when packed away.
Have an aspiring astronaut, veterinarian, or fireman? Preschoolers love processing and playing out the adult world with pretend play, and dress-ups are a great way for them to get in to character.
Here’s a little round up of dream-job dress-ups with included accessories(!), running from about $15-25 a pop…
If your little one is in to all that glitters, princess dress-ups will be a dream-come-true. I love the high quality of the Disney Store costumes–but ouch! Those $50 prices! If you can’t find what you need by thrifting or shopping eBay, check out this list of affordable but beautiful Disney-style gowns I hunted down on Amazon. I looked at tons of dresses to arrive at this list! These all have great reviews and beautiful details and way happier prices than their Disney counterparts! (~$15-25/each)
Whether your adventurer dreams of searching for buried treasure, defeating the powers of evil, or crossing the galaxy, there are tons of great dress-up options to be had! Check eBay, Craigslist, and thrift stores, or use my list to wrap those gifts up without the hunt! My favorites in this genre come from California Costumes and Melissa & Doug,and all run about $20-25:
My littles love to explore and engage with their discoveries about the world through pretend play. Play sets and miniature houses give them the opportunity to imagine, orchestrate, and rearrange their own tiny worlds. And there are so many wonderful options!
Tiny animals living in their own adorable houses? No wonder Calico Critters were a favorite of mine growing up, right? I couldn’t wait to get some for my own daughters.
These classic, mid-century modern style play sets have been around since 1974 for a reason! One of my very intentional mama friends swears by Playmobil sets–she has 4 daughters, and every Christmas these sets beat out Barbie no contest on their wish lists.
We’ve had a set of Daniel Tiger “guys” for about three years, and they have held up so well. They’re cute, durable, and great to slip in your purse or backpack for playing on-the-go.
Die cast cars might be the ultimate grow-with-me toy. They start out as friends for pretend play, and migrate to race-track toys as your littles grow into bigs. Grab a set of these and you’ll definitely be finding them between your couch cushions for years. ๐
