Christmas Gift Guide 2021 : Best Toys For 3-4 Year Olds

Babipur Christmas Gift Guides
If you’re looking for natural wooden toys and gifts for babies, toddlers and children, you have come to the right place! We specialise in natural toys for kids. We only stock toys that are safe to chew on made from natural wood and natural rubber and are finished with water safe based paints. In this guide you’ll find our recommendations for the best toys for 3-4 year olds.
We are proud to stock such a wide and varied collection of ethical wooden and natural toys for early years and pre-schoolers from the very best sustainable toy brands. But as a parent the choice can be a little overwhelming, so we’ve narrowed it down to some of our favourites.
You’ll find some tried and tested toys that kids and eco-parents love and discover some new brands that have arrived on the Babipur shelves this year. So, whether you’re an avid wooden toy collector, or simply trying to navigate the world of eco-friendly Montessori toys this Christmas then this blog post is for you! Here you’ll find our top gifts for 3 and 4 year olds Christmas toy recommendations this year.
Christmas Gift Ideas for 3-4 Year Olds
We’ve split our Christmas gift guides into age groups to make shopping easier for you. You’ll never find our toy split into Girls Toys or Boys Toys. We strongly believe that toys are for everyone and aren’t defined by gender. We’ve been awarded the Let Toys Be Toys Toymark Award for eight consecutive years. This recognises good practice within the toy industry, specifically awarded to retailers and toy manufacturers providing a welcoming and inclusive space for all children.
At three and four years of age children are actively engaging in play. There are a huge range of toys which will open up learning opportunities at this age. Have you noticed your child engrossed in a particular type of activity, repeating it over and again? These activities are known as schemas and indicate a deep level of learning. Young children are compelled to repeat these actions in different ways during play.

For example, a child exploring a rotation schema may live to spin and twirl, but will also draw circles and spirals, and watch the movement of wheels and cogs. A transporting schema may be recognised when a child wants to move items from one place to another, including dolls and prams, containers and baskets or using wagons and trailers. If you can recognise these schemas there’s the opportunity to extend learning by choosing toys that fit into the child’s area of interest.
The Best Natural Toys For Early Years
At this age, children are really starting to explore and learn about the world around them. The world of toys officially opens up to all those toys considered a choking hazard to under 3s. Larger activity toys such as Wobbel rocker boards and Triclimb pikler triangles will encourage gross motor skill development and are great for building confidence. Loose parts, such as Grapat mandala pieces are perfect for working on those fine motor skills. Messy play is great for exploring all the senses, and children love the sensory experience of Dr Zigs Bubbles.
At three and four years they may be becoming more independent in their play and starting to enjoy playing alongside siblings and other children. They will be interacting more with their dolls and teddies in imaginary play, role play, or delighting in small world play with wooden figures. Children love colour matching and sorting and sorting at this age, helping with colour recognition and introducing them to counting and numbers. Singing and music is a wonderful way to support developing language, and musical instruments are always a favourite!
We’ve selected some of our all-time favourite natural toys for 3-4 year olds. Bringing together toys recommended by our Babipur Hangout community, customer favourites and our bestselling children’s toys this year. Choosing a natural toy for a child for Christmas is a lovely way to introduce children and parents to the wonderful world of wooden toys.
From much loved wooden building sets by Grimm’s , small world play from Plan Toys, pikler triangle from Triclimb, and inclusive Nin peg dolls by Grapat, there’s plenty of special gifts that will be loved, kept and passed down to future children. Without further ado, let’s take a look at what makes our Christmas list for 3-4 year olds this year.
The Best Eco-Friendly Toys for 3-4 year olds this Christmas
Plan Toys Bee Hives
This has got to be our number 1 all time favourite from Plan Toys. Consistently recommended by our customers and a best seller! These cute little bees come with wooden tweezers to put them in their colour matched hives.

Perfect for colour recognition, fine motor skills and working on the pincer grip. Children love these friendly little bees, stacking up the hives and matching up colours. These are available in bright rainbow colours or the new Orchard colourway celebrating 40 years of Plan Toys!
Dr Zigs My First Giant Bubble Kit
The perfect giant bubble starter kit for younger children. Dr Zigs My First Giant Bubble Kit is a great introduction to the magical world of giant bubbles! It contains everything you need for hours of bubble fun and thousands of giant bubbles – including concentrated bubble mix, wand and giant bubble rope.

3-4 year olds will be able to use the 25cm kiddie wand to produce the most incredible giant rainbow bubbles. Great for fun with family and friends in the garden, at the park, or on the beach. Another great option is the hand wand, which is the perfect size for younger children.
These award wining bubbles are made here in Snowdonia and are officially AMAZING – super strong and long lasting, multi coloured and enormous! They’ll bring joy and magic whenever and wherever they’re used. With top eco-credentials it’s a brand that has sustainable, eco fun at its heart.
Grimm’s Tweezers
Grimm’s tweezers are a great little addition to your 3 year olds Christmas stocking. Wooden tweezers add a new dimension of play. They are perfect for working on the all important pincer grip, needed later for holding a pencil for mark making.

Using the tweezers instead of fingers to grasp and move small such as beads, marbles and small natural objects is a great way to develop fine motor skills in pre-school children. Combine them with a Grapat Tinker Tray and some Grimm’s beads for some sorting and matching fun!
Wooden Animal Figures
Wooden animal figures by Bumbu, Holztiger and Ostheimer bring to life imaginative play, story telling and small world play. These heirloom quality toys undergo several processes to achieve the finished result, passing through many skilled hands.

At first glance they appear the same, however, thanks to their hand crafted nature, each is beautifully unique. These simple Waldorf toys are loved by children of all ages, and are perfect for collecting. Add a piece or two each birthday or Christmas to build up your collection.

Whether you want to create a farm, a woodland glade, underwater scene or prehistoric world, there’s a great range of figures to explore. Beautifully hand crafted and tactile, these traditional wooden figures have a timeless appeal and will be loved by generations of children.
Grapat Together Set
Celebrating the beauty in diversity, the Grapat Together set includes twelve beautifully hand painted wooden figures in 3 skin tones and different rainbow shades: 3 narrow Nins, 3 wide Nins, 3 striped Nins, and 3 Baby Nins, with a fabric bag to store them in. This fabulous set will introduce inclusivity and belongingness to little children, opening up discussions about our similarities and differences in a positive way.

Designed with compassion and love, Together represents the diversity of the people around us and how they enrich our lives, in all their shapes, colours and personalities. An opportunity for Grapat to share a positive message with us all, together is better!

Grapat Mandala Pieces
If you are new to mandala pieces, then let us fill you in! These are small wooden pieces which come in a variety of shapes, colours and tones. Perfect for creating circular mandala pictures for mindful moments. Equally loved by little children for sorting, positioning, counting and included in small world play.

These fabulous open-ended toys will inspire creativity, while working on fine motor skills. Much loved by adults and children of all ages, Grapat mandala pieces come in a range of natural forms and a rainbow of colours. Extremely tactile, nothing comes close to a basket of Grapat mandala pieces to encourage open-ended play.

Mader My First Spinning Tops
Mader are the masters of spinning top design, skilfully crafted from a single piece of wood in Austria. Each spinning top undergoes up to 20 different processes, all by hand.

With a range of difficulties to choose from there is something for children (and adults) of all ages. The best starter spinning top for 3-4 year olds is the My First Spinning Tops. These come in a range of beautiful shades and are the easiest for little hands to master. Spin these tops between two hands by young children, or use the cap and draw string in the case of the My First Top with Starter. Prepare to be mesmerised as the top spins away!

Plan Toys Dolls House
A dolls house makes a wonderful ‘big’ present for 3-4 year olds. We love the Plan Toys dolls house range, with a great choice of styles from contemporary, traditional and eco. All these dolls houses are sustainably made from reclaimed rubberwood and extremely durable. These heirloom pieces will be played with over and over again by generations of children.
Plan Toys are the leaders in environmentally friendly toy design, and their sustainable manufacturing processes are second to none. If you’re looking for a toy with real ‘WOW’ factor, the Plan Toys Victorian Dolls House is fabulous traditional dolls house. This large and impressive town house will be the centre piece of any playroom and will bring many years of enjoyment. Many of the Plan Toys dolls houses come with furniture, but extra sets are also available, as well as a diverse selection of dolls. If you’re after a Christmas Showstopper, you can’t go wrong with a Plan Toys Dolls House.

Wobbel Board 360
This unique curved wooden disc opens up a world of play possibilities. Young children are compelled to move – balance, spin, rock, play or do the Wobbel walk on the 360!
This circular rocker board is loved by 3-4 year olds who are exploring the rotational schema. Spinning themselves or watching other objects spin round the Wobbel360 such as balls or marbles. Flip it over and use it as a seat or ramp for vehicles. The play opportunities are endless.

For carpeted floors we recommend the non-felted version, while the felted 360 is best for wooden or hard floors. For added luxury, a Wobbel deck cushion makes a comfy addition.

Plan Toys Parking Garage
Part of the ever popular PlanCity range by Plan Toys, the Parking Garage is another much loved classic toy for 3-4 year olds. Well made and durable, this toy wooden garage has three parking levels with ramps, a car lift and electric car charging station with a solar panel roof.

Bringing eco to the mainstream is what Plan Toys does so well! Combine this toy garage with other toys from the PlanCity range, for many hours of small world play.
Triclimb Wibli
A fabulous addition to your Triclimb pikler triangle, the Wibli is a wavy wooden ladder providing an additional challenge for your little climbers. The Wibli ladder attaches securely to the rungs of your Triclimb reducing the climbing angle and increasing the climbing difficulty.

Once connected to Triclimb by the unique Trifix joint, Wibli challenges children to climb, grip, balance and build confidence in their abilities. Alter the angle by using different rungs on the Triclimb and children can tackle the new climbing feature at a pace that suits them.

Wibli is safe, stable, strong and fully tested as a children’s climbing toy up to 100Kg weight limit. Triclimb and Wibli create a solid platform that opens up a world of play possibilities at a pace that is dictated by your child, and is a perfect addition to a Montessori playroom.
Lubulona City Set
Lubulona have recently launched at Babipur and we love these engaging wooden city toys. With a modern, playful design these clever building sets will captivate young children in small world play. A worthy addition to our guide to the best toys for 3-4 year olds!

Each city set is cleverly designed to make slotting and stacking quick and easy. Their minimalist, square shape allows the roofs and ladders to slot neatly on top. This means its very easy to expand on your town as you collect more sets! The ladders also work very well as ramps for the cars – simply pop your driver in and park up in your very own garage.

Lubulona have used non-toxic finishes for all the FSC Beech wood pieces. Using natural woods makes for great quality and a timeless toy that can be used again and again.
Large Grimm’s Building Sets
Grimm’s are our customers top choice when it comes to building blocks! A large building set makes a very special gift which’ll be treasured and played with for years to come. Each wooden building set works together with other sets, so you can add to your collection over time.

Made from solid sustainably sourced lime wood and stained with non-toxic water-based dyes. They’re loved for their grippy texture, allowing children to build amazing structures and explore their creativity.

The Large Stepped Pyramid is always recommended as the best large Grimm’s block set to start with. With its impressive size it can be made into incredible towers, walls, buildings and ball runs. It works very well alongside the 1001 Nights, with their wonderful arch blocks, and for a bit more of a challenge, the Romanesque set.

There really are so many wonderful large Grimm’s block sets to choose from. Each bring their own bit of Grimm’s magic to your child’s play.
Plan Toys Sort & Count Cups
These are a Plan Toys classic early years learning toy and one of our favourites too! A simple, fun game for 3-4 year olds to sort out the coloured counters and place them in the correct bowls. Stack the counters up, use them as pretend coins, stepping stones, or ingredients in the play kitchen, they are fantastic for imaginative play. They can also form the basis of counting games and simple mathematical concepts. As with all Plan Toys they are extremely durable and sustainably made from PlanWood – a by-product of the rubberwood industry.

Grimm’s Rainbow World Of Numbers
This year Grimm’s brought out a new 10 piece rainbow to their collection, the Counting Rainbow. The colours chosen for the counting rainbow perfectly coordinate with other Grimm’s World of Numbers toy range. We couldn’t pick just one, so they’ve all made our best toys for 3-4 year olds guide!

The colours used perfectly compliment the Grimm’s Numbers Building Set, Colourful Bead Stair Concentric Circles, Counting Figures and Stepped Counting Blocks, and would be a wonderful addition to your home learning setting. The Grimm’s World of Numbers is a series of learning resources that work together to allow children to discover the abstract world of numbers in a playful and open-ended way.

By providing materials that stimulate free play, children discover new and exciting possibilities of combining these toys. This helps reveal different ways to explore similarities and differences.
Plan Toys Wagon
Another much loved Plan Toys classic – the Wagon! Children will love pulling their favourite toys and treasures around the house and garden with this beautiful wooden toy cart. Sturdy wheels with rubber grips ensure a steady ride.

The simple way the rope attaches through a hole at the front allows you to add more wagons or wheeled toys making a train. Great for storing toys and books in the playroom when not in use. Simple and stylish, and made from super sustainable reclaimed rubberwood.
Plan Toys Special Edition Vehicles
Last but not least in our guide to the best toys for 3-4 year olds is another favourite from Plan Toys. The all natural limited edition Plan Toys vehicles, a Plan Toys blast from the past remade in an unpainted natural wood finish. The wooden dumper truck is BIG with a huge rear tipper and massive chunky rubber wheels to handle rough terrain. Children will love to fill up the tipper, drive it around and then dump out the cargo.

Made from solid rubber wood and rubber wood ply with rubber wheels, they’re big, chunky and ready for anything. They’re sure to be played with for many years and passed on to future generations.

Lovely ideas for our 3 year olds Christmas. I had already looked at the Plan Toys special edition vehicles as they are lovely and the Wibli for the Tri Climb. I will deinitely be adding some of these to my little ones list 😊