Need kid gift ideas for ages 4-7? Here are toy ideas for everything from arts and crafts, building and educational toys to pretend play and outdoor toys.
Originally published 10/21. Updated 11/23.
Hi friend!
I’ve been blogging for 10+ years now and have done my share of gift guides. I wasn’t planning to create any more but then I realized that in the kid gift department, I kinda left off at the toddler stage. Now that I have 2/3 of my kids out of toddlerhood, I thought I should put together a new kids gift guide for our current stage of life. So, here are some things my older two (who are about to turn 5 and 7) have been into the past couple of years!
If you need more ideas, check out my past gift guides:
- Small Business Gift Guide
- Gift Ideas for Babies & New Moms {Baby’s First Year}
- Toddler Gift Ideas {Ages 1-3}
- Kitchen Tools For Kids
- Best Toys for Multiple Ages
- Gifts For New Moms
- Gift Ideas for Buys Moms
- Best Gifts For Husbands
- Best Gifts For In-Laws (or Parents)
As always, you know who you’re buying for. Some of these could be used by kids younger or older than this age group. This is also kind of a tricky age group because there are often two versions of things and a 4-year-old could do the “junior” version while a 7-year-old could do the regular version so be sure to consider that!
Remember that I’ve tried to provide links but there are often several similar versions of each idea out there so do some research if needed to find the best one for you! I also encourage you to shop from small businesses whenever possible. I’d love to see you take an idea from this post and purchase it from a small or local business! Or check FB Marketplace or your local selling groups and find one secondhand. Kids don’t need all brand new toys all the time!!
Most of the links below are Amazon affiliate links. That means that I make a small commission if you purchase through my link, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for supporting The Lean Green Bean.
Arts & Crafts for Kids
Let them express their creativity with all sorts of projects.
- Paint by Sticker – Paint by number can be tricky and messy. These are the same idea, but with stickers. Easy to throw in a travel bag, take to a restaurant and more!
- Boogie Boards – Great for car trips, waiting rooms, sibling sports practices etc.
- Perler Beads – these are fun to make your own designs or follow one tons of free patterns you can find online. For 4 year olds I recommend Biggie Beads which are larger and easier for little hands.
- Giant coloring pages – This is my absolute favorite one, and we’ve done lots! Great for multiple kids to work on at once or for special one on one time before bed or during quiet time.
- Rainbow scratch paper – Something I did as a kid that’s still fun today!
- Playdough + playdough tools – Makes a great stocking stuffer
- Kinetic sand – Lasts forever and is easier to clean up than real sand 🙂
- Mosaic sticker art – Similar to sticker by number
- Origami – Comes with paper that’s the exact size you need and shows you how to fold it!
- Paper Airplanes – Easy to make and shows them lots of different types of planes to make.
- Beads for jewelry making – If they’re ready to start stringing, try these. If they’re on the younger side, these beads pop together easily to make jewelry. Or these Lego Dot bracelets!
- Friendship bracelet-making kits – definitely for the older end but great for 7-8 year olds to start making!
- Weaving loom – So fun for making pot holders. If they like it, you can buy refill bags of just the loops to make more on the loom.
- Modeling clay – They have kinds that won’t dry out and can be reused or kinds that dry into permanent creations
- How to draw books – there are books for pretty much anything they’re interested – animals, characters, monsters etc
Art Supplies for Kids
Build a robust art station and let them create with anything that is out and available!
- Pipe cleaners
- Clothespins
- Straws
- Pom poms
- Washable paint – We love washable tempera paint and put it in muffin tins when they want to paint.
- Balloons
- Popsicle sticks
- Paint Brushes
- Kwik Stixs Solid Tempera Paints – perfect for when you need something bolder than a marker but want it to dry quicker than regular paint
- Do A Dot Art! Markers
- Glue Sticks – I like the disappearing purple ones because they can easily see where they’ve spread the glue
- Markers
- Crayons
- Butcher Paper – for me this is so much easier than single sheets of paper because you can tear off as much or as little as you want each time
- Construction paper
- Scissors – Invest in good scissors for less frustration from kids!
- Hole punches – These are super fun and kids can use both the punched paper and the punch outs
- Hot Glue Gun – Help the younger kids but older kids are totally capable of using these on their own.
- Watercolor paints – These are our absolute fav
Building Toys for Kids
These building toys for kids give them a chance to let their creativity shine!
- Legos – There are so many different sets out there from easy to hard. There should be an option for everyone!
- Playmobil – If they’re tired of Legos these are a fun way to change it up and great for younger kids
- Magnatiles – One of my all-time favorite gifts for kids ages 2- 10. There’s always more to build and you can always use more of these!
- Giant Jenga blocks – my kids love to use these for building just like regular wooden blocks
- Wooden Blocks – A classic toy that never goes out of style. So much open-ended play!
- Marble run – Tons of different combinations are possible with some imagination
- Plus Plus – Another alternative to legos. They have sets to build or boxes for open-ended play. For the younger end of the range look at Plus Plus Big.
- K’nex – For 4-5 year olds look at Kids K’nex
- Fort Builder – there are lots of brands. Build and then drape a blanket or sheet over it!
- Real Tools – plus some scrap wood! Or a building kit.
- Air Fort – Easy to store without taking up space and easy to set up.
- Erector Set – My youngest loves looking through the book to pick out which design to build and use the screw driver it comes with.
Games and Puzzles for kids
Games that are easy enough for kids but still fun for adults to play, plus puzzles!
- Outfoxed – A fun, collaborative game
- Sleeping Queens – One of our family favorites
- Osmo – The starter kid plus a fun game, like detective, pizza or coding
- 100+ piece puzzles – my kids love puzzles and have several 100 and even 200 piece puzzles
- Spot-It – there’s also Spot-It Junior!
- Super Why ABC letter Game – great for preschool and kindergarten
- Moneybags – better for first gradeish range
- Ticket to Ride First Journey – easier when they can read in my opinion
- Rat a Tat Cat – Another one of our favorites!
- Mermaid Island
- Floor Puzzles – Ditch the boxes and store in mesh zipper bags to save space
- Shut the Box – Fun way to practice math
Educational Toys for Kids
Let them research and learn, experiment and build! Plus you can never have too many books.
- Snap circuits – They have junior and more advanced versions so it’s fun for a wide range of ages.
- Science kits – There are tons out there. My oldest loves them. This is a good starter one. National Geographic also makes some good ones
- Chapter books – Check out these lists: Best Read Aloud Chapter Books – (they’re linked on Amazon here) and 100+ Chapter Book Series for Kids – you can find them linked on Amazon here.
- Eyeclops Digital Microscope (or other digital microscope)
- Nature identification books – depending on their interests look at bug identifying books, bird books, plant identification books, etc
- Encyclopedia – We love this one with tons of pictures. t
- Awesome Science Experiments for Kids– I love this book series, they have an engineering one, robotics one, food experiments and more
- Logic Puzzles
- Simon – My kids love seeing how long they can follow the pattern
- Yoto – A screen-free way for kids to listen to stories. Perfect for quiet time!
Subscription Boxes for Kids
Monthly subscription boxes for kids- everything from cooking to magazines to coding and clothes.
- Raddish – cooking for kids
- Kiwi Crate – STEAM activities for kids
- Highlights – I get Highlights for my 7-year-old and High Five for my 5-year-old.
- Ranger Rick – They have Ranger Rick and Rick Jr. magazines for different ages
- Stitch Fix Kids – If they’re into fashion! Rockets of Awesome and KidPik are other similar options
- Little Passports – Global learning adventures that are fun and educational!
- Bitsbox – Coding for kids
Active and Outdoor Toys for Kids
Get them up and moving. There are so many options out there for some of these that you’ll have to do your own research to find a good one. But here are some general ideas, some with links, some without
- Nerf Dart toys – Tons of options big and small
- Laser tag – Great for a group of neighborhood kids
- Razor scooter – Look for these secondhand! For when they upgrade from three to two wheeled scooters
- Razor 360 trike – Look for these secondhand! They’re really fun
- Rollerblades/skates – there are lots of options that start as rollerskates and can convert to rollerblades as their balance improves!
- Sports stuff – Soccer, baseball, football, etc
- Beamo soft frisbee – Always go with a soft frisbee….just trust me!
- Balance beam
- Obstacle course stuff
- Mud Kitchen – Here are directions for how to build a mud kitchen!
- Bug Catcher
- Stomp Rocket – Aim it away from the roof!
- Gardening/digging tools – Go for metal, not plastic!
- Saucer Swing – Outdoor swing
- Pod swing – Indoor swing
- Slackline – Great way to practice balance
- Ninja course – Hours of fun if you have room in your yard!
Imagination Toys for Kids
Look for all this stuff secondhand! I scored a great deal on a dollhouse in perfect condition plus a huge bunch of Barbies. Around and after Halloween is a great time to look for dress-up clothes.
- Dollhouse – look for these secondhand! Kids are always outgrowing them
- Barbies
- Baby dolls
- Costumes
- Hot wheels
- Superheros
- Doctor kit
- Vet kit
- Digital camera – in my opinion it’s better to just get an inexpensive real digital camera vs a “kid one”
- Animal figurines – dinosaurs, Little People, robots etc
- Play food for restaurants – Mine love to get new sets and then still use our play kitchen as well
- Ice Cream shop
A few more ideas for the kitchen:
- The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs is my favorite kids cookbook.
- The Big Fun Kids Baking Book is also a good one. The recipes are loaded with butter and sugar, but also delicious. And there’s a fun section for fake-out cakes. We made the grilled cheese one!
Whew! There you go. Hope that helps give you some ideas. Would love to hear your favs in the comments.
Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
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