Arts and crafts kits beyond the basics of markers, paint, crayons, etc.

My son is 4 and Santa is bringing him a tool set. I bought a Craftsman tool bag at Kmart and am putting in safety glasses, scrap wood, a measuring tape, a hammer, two screwdrivers, and various nails and screws. I'm actually debating on picking up a handheld mini drill for him as well.

My kids love these tracks. They used them when they were very little -- and my 4 year old still enjoys playing with the tracks:
http://www.magiccabin.com/click-clack-track_p990239_s2003_d1101_c2104.html

I adore any of the creative play items at Magic Cabin. I stear clear of plastic toys --- the wooden blocks and stackable rainbows are gifts that last and get played with for years. Oh, and my daughter LOVES the ($14) butterfly and lady bug wings. Enjoy!

I am buying my 3 year old son a few puzzles from Melissa & Doug, he loves their products. Especially their fruit cutting set with the velcro and wooden cutting knife! He plays with that set daily. I try to buy him toys that engage his fine motor skill and his thinking skills. Crayola easel, mini drum set, and a Radio Flyer trike are also included this christmas for him. I hope this helps!

I have had a great reception from both parents and kids whenever I've given the Froebel toys. They're absolutely indestructible (being made from wood) and encourage imaginative play.

http://www.froebelgifts.com/gifts.htm

My kids loved bath toys that let them pour water from one little vessel to another. It's also a way to teach them spacial relationships (although to them, it's just fun).

Marble runs, Tangrams, Wooden blocks, Duplo/Legos, Magnatiles, Lincoln logs

Do you mean a hand-crank drill? They are great for kids, though I haven't seen an kid-size version. We got a Fiskars one for my son when he turned 9 year-old and it fits his hand, but it's big. It's very safe and we feel fine letting him go to town with it.

My 4yo is very into babies so she has a few Corolle dolls. They are beautiful. She also loves to play dress up, esp. jewelry, so I went to town at H&M for her stocking this year.

I'll be the first to admit - I am a senior citizen and hopelessly old-fashioned when it comes to toys for preschoolers. I think well-made basics are the best. For little girls: baby dolls, kitchen play sets (dishes, pots and pans, nursery sets). Melissa and Doug's Cutting Food set is and excellent fteaching tool as well as a fun play set.
I'm not much for plastic toys with dozens of little parts and pieces. If you've ever stepped on a Lego in the dark, you know what I mean! These little components get strewn everywhere and lost, and soon that expensive toy becomes just "junk" that the child has lost interest in. Better to have a few well-designed made of wood or good plastic than lots of little flimsy ones.
Boys like "basic" cars and trucks, motorcycles and trains, and they'll play with these long after the batteries have died in the fancy robot-car or the remote has broken or is inoperable. My little grandson tried to hold the remote in his hand while he peed....guess what happenen?
Some of the wooden took kits, outfitted with hammers and saws and measuring tapes give little boys (and girls) a chance to "fix" all sorts of things around the house, from the glass coffee table top to Mommy's high heels.
I think it's best to stick with well-made basics - and the fewer pieces, the better!

ASK. Seriously. Ask parents what their kids want. When I was little I HATED dolls, but yet every year relatives would insist on getting them for me because "little girls love dolls!" My parents told them over and over again that I preferred anything involving reptiles (I was obsessed with rubber snakes) and nature-y stuff. And every year poor little me was crushed when she opened...another baby doll. Sigh.

Nobody said books?? Perhaps my 4-year-old is unusual, but he loves sitting with a pile of books, flipping through the pages, even though he can't quite read for himself. We get them from the library, but he LOVES the super-simple early readers that we own (a dozen Curious George books came in 1 box). He also loves his preschool "homework" so we got a workbook with tear-out pages of preschool activities.

Pretend play is big at this age---dressing like a favorite character is fun, as well as play kitchen items, tools, etc.. I like the fabric play food from IKEA. We've had wood train tracks for a while, and it looks like they'll get played with for a while longer.

I second you, gingerish. I wanted Lincoln Logs, a Construx set of my own (brothers don't always like to share), and a circuit board toy. But I got a Cabbage Patch Kid instead. It was a good lesson in gracefully accepting something I really didn't want, but 25 years later I still feel bad they wasted their money.

They are so very active at this age! (I have a 3 and 5 year old) I recently blogged about my top picks..messy play and winter wonderland

I have a three year old who is obsessed with trains/cars. This Christmas we're trying to expand out of that rut a little bit. He's getting floor puzzles (he's great at them, especially in the 30-50 piece range), a couple new movies, play food for his new kitchen (the kitchen isn't the gift, we've had it for a month or two), some matchbox cars in his stocking (obviously). He might get a massive stuffed animal for his room if we can find a good one for less money (not the cheapy huge ones). I have definitely thought about a dollhouse for him (that can be shared once his sister is older) but haven't thought about it too seriously yet).

He has some things that he plays with constantly: a small collection of Schleich animals, Tegu blocks (magnetic wooden blocks - GREAT toy!), cars/trucks of all shapes and sizes, Melissa and Doug puzzles, especially the magnetic ones, train set (a mix of Brio and IKEA). He would use his marble run constantly if not for his crawling baby sister who limits that sort of activity. Crayons are always a hit, and he loves those extra-large coloring pages.

A membership to a children's museum, science museum or aquarium can make a really great gift, especially from aunts, uncles or grandparents. We bought our nieces a family pass to the Boston Museum of Science last year. It was great free fun for the whole family for a full year. Well worth the money!

My preschoolers love toolboxes for being 'helper girls', anything bugs / dinosaurs, art kits that 'make' something (jewelry box, piggy bank) & hello kitty handbags / accessories.

I'm raising a serious eyebrow at this - my daughter would LOVE the "boy" toys you mentioned (her current favorite toy is a real toolbox, complete with child-size but functional wrenches, hammers, and screwdrivers) and I would happily give a boy a baby doll or a kitchen play set. Why reinforce anachronistic gender roles when gifting? Children of both genders would enjoy playing with all the things you mentioned.

I teach Pre-K and I loved this list and the links to all the different "best of" toys/books for young children! http://www.teachpreschool.org/2012/11/top-ten-toys-for-the-preschool-classroom/ Magnatiles and the game Zingo are a few of my favorites that come to mind!

Some friends asked what we wanted for our Christmas Baby. He digs books so I asked for a few from this series by Jennifer Adams.
http://www.amazon.com/Dracula-A-BabyLit-Counting-Primer/dp/1423624807/ref=pd_sim_b_5

My 3.5 year old is getting several dress up costumes from Melissa and Doug, a few books and a few trucks. He loves anything that lets his imagination be in charge.

We went to a restaurant supply store and got my son all sorts of stuff to play "E's Cafe"--a small tray, table settings, waiter's apron, bread basket, table nber, pad for taking orders, even the little folder you put the check in (to which we added some play money and a fake credit card from some junk mail.) We made up a menu of his favorite foods and slipped it into a vinyl menu holder, and collected up some of his play food to add to the kit. He still loves it two years later!
Any "real" materials are a big hit with this age--office supplies, doctor's equipment, cooking stuff...

I know everyone tries to steer clear of the plastics, and I did the same with my kids. Consider one exception, though: Schleich toys. My daughter got her first, a horse, when she was two. Now eight, with a little brother aboard, we have a box full of animals, dragons, fairies, etc. that get played with Every Single Day. Every Single Day for six and a half years and counting... pretty impressive!

They are an ethical company, and the line carries toys from $3.00 to well over $100.00 - something for everyone. They travel well, encourage imaginative play, and (fair warning) inspire a collector's spirit.

Really good, school-size blocks:
http://www.barclaywoods.com/KitPics07/BegA_Firsts_07.html

Holztiger wooden animals:
http://www.finewoodentoys.com/holztiger

Brio trains:
http://www.brio.net/ToPlay/3_years/Railway_Sets/33052_Deluxe_Railway_Set.aspx

all were played with until the kids were nearly teens.

I love the Chalk-a-Doodle portable chalkboard. It goes anywhere...restaurants, car, park and comes with dustless chalk and an eraser. You can't go wrong with this for $12.00. We also LOVE these affordable customized "You're Super!" capes, masks and wristbands. I love the message that your child is "super" versus them pretending to be a conventional super hero. My son has been playing Super Sam for 2 years now! It never grows old.
http://www.sunshinesam.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=ORECHALK

What about a pretend candy store: http://snugglebuguniversity.blogspot.com/2012/11/etsy-shop-grand-opening.html

or a flower shop? http://snugglebuguniversity.blogspot.com/2012/12/flower-shop-printable.html

for girls, princess dresses! all her friends at her daycare are obsessed with princess dresses and shoes.
I am buying her a cash register toy and fruit stand and a hanging tent. I think they love to pretend at this age.

I like playsilks for both boys and girls--they can become a superhero cape, a slinky skirt, a turban, a river for your toy boat, flames for your campfire and a backdrop for your play animals. I prefer to dye them myself with koolaid, because the white silks that Dharma trading company sells are such high quality, but Sarah's Silks is a widely available brand. My ten year old still plays with hers almost every day; she got them for her first birthday, so that's nine solid years of use. My son uses them as landscaping when he builds a block city.

For anyone looking for stuffed animals: both Costco and Sam's Club have gigantic ones and regular-sized ones, for surprisingly low prices. Toy selection at warehouse clubs is limited, but the deals are good. And you don't have to buy a case of them at once. :)

I have a 4 year old and 2 year old. The best toys we have that are durable, hold their interest, and seem that they will play with them for multiple/many years are:

Melissa & Doug standard blocks. They incorporate them into all sorts of play: http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-60-Piece-Standard-Blocks/dp/B00008W72D/ref=pd_sim_t_9

The Tough doodler: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003TJALFI/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00

GeoTrax trains. They are very durable, snap together easily, and the trains are easy to put on the track: http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-GeoTrax-Control-Timbertown-Railway/dp/B001W1YG56/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1354976495&sr=1-1&keywords=geotrax+train+sets

Books!

I've taught for 12 years in Montessori schools and time and time again the best response from parents about gifts their children get and actually use are child sized and REAL tools for helping out in the kitchen.
Michael Olaf offers a great selection: http://michaelolaf.com/store/3to6food.html

My daughter wants a "doctor kit" for christmas. We had a plastic toy one, but it was basically trash, everything fell apart really quickly. This year we're buying her a real doctors tools from amazon (stethoscope, otoscope, reflex hammer), some ace bandages, an eye chart, oral medicine syringes, etc for her.

If you are buying for a kid that is not your own, ask the parents what they like/need. Space in our house is at a premium and our preschooler has all of her older brother's hand-me-down toys.

Djeco fairytale puzzles - the ones with three panels from the story. Maileg mouse-in-a-matchbox. The Orchard boardgame for younger kids from Haba. Pesonalized water bottle from Pottery Barn. Washi tape! Lambfleece.

My 3-year-old niece loves playing with pattern blocks. http://www.yoyo.com/p/melissa-doug-pattern-blocks-and-boards-21144?

Plus it's a great way to practice spatial reasoning.

When my eldest son was in preschool, he was more dedicated in learning how to write and draw. I think maybe he was a little bit of advance than other kids knowing that toys was his second option and learning was his first. So when he reached his 4rth birthday, i surprised him with a complete set of drawing materials like pencils, crayons, and drawing papers. When he opened his gift, he was too excited to use his materials that he even forgot to open the others. I think this is one of the <p>Learn more about top gifts age 4 that you can give. :)