LEGOs for many years. |
Idk I think liking mind games and puzzles is very different than building things. I never did like legos. Later on, I really liked card games, sudoku and crossword puzzles. |
I had a 4YO who was obsessed with puzzles, marble runs and mazes. Crocodile Creek and Eeboo make some beautiful, quality puzzles IMO. He also conpleted books of mazes by Usborne and Kumon. Some of his other favorite toys were Magnetic Mighty Mind, Rush Hour Jr, and the Perplexus Jr maze ball.
https://www.fatbraintoys.com/toy_companies/leisure_learning_products_inc/magnetic_mightymind.cfm https://www.fatbraintoys.com/toy_companies/thinkfun/rush_hour_jr.cfm https://www.youngexplorers.com/itemdy00.aspx?T1=Y101266&srccode=NXCYC6&utm_source=google&utm_medium=comparison&utm_campaign=datafeed&source=pla&gclid=Cj0KCQjw7qn1BRDqARIsAKMbHDYu5gUKF-pgkzc6Z7wYHoALgHyCOLxxyyvhAZWnPLDtNffICyRF0akaArBjEALw_wcB |
Mancala was big with my kids. Great for getting them to start thinking about strategy. |
If she can recognize double digits numbers then this might be a good fit. My 4 year old loves these sticker books. The stickers are really small and you have to place them exactly at the right angle in the outline.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0761189416/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_Ir6QEbDXFJP8E |
My son (4.5) loves puzzles and also loves the wooden railway toys - Brio or similar. He likes Duplos for free building but I don’t know that he’d be into assembling a whole Lego kit, not yet anyway. |
color by numbers? |
this. These are the only puzzles we get for our 4 year old that loves puzzles. Get some games: sneaky snacky squirrel, orchard game by haba, zingo, very Hungary caterpillar. Our 2.5 year old can sort of participate in all of these! |
We just got katmino. It’s a bit difficult for her, but she does a few of the first section then stacks the blocks. It’s nerve wracking but also relaxing with multiple Lee velds of challenge. Might be better in a year or three though. |
One of my kids was especially drawn to jigsaws. She was also pretty artsy, don't know if that's connected or applies to your child.
When my puzzle lover was about that age, one of her favorite toys was a mosaic puzzle board similar to this (It was about 15 years ago, her pegs were all the same size and there weren't as many colors). https://www.amazon.com/MAGIKON-296-Pack-Mushroom-Creative-Educational/dp/B06XQH4TJR When she was older, she really enjoyed the logic puzzle Rush Hour, which makes me think she would have loved the Castle Logix toy I just recently read about on another thread. https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/876893.page https://www.google.com/search?q=castle+logix&oq=castle+logix&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l2j69i60l2.4388j0j4&client=ms-android-att-us&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8 |
The Highlights Hidden Picture books. Could not possibly add up all the hours my kid has spent with those. |
We love those too! |
Seconding the recommendations for Ravensburger puzzles. We also have a Springbok 100 piece puzzle marketed for adults with memory loss that is nice - pieces bigger than the Ravensburger 100s but smaller than the Melissa and Doug 100 piece floor puzzles.
Games our puzzle kid likes include Outfoxed, My First Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride First Journey, and now Mastermind (listed in order of difficulty). He also really enjoys the LEGO “classic” sets (in the yellow boxes) which come with instructions for various small builds. “Bricks and Gears” was the all time favorite. The “small” creative box with the brick lid was also a favorite but it looks like they don’t sell that right now. Depending on how big the overall set is, I sometimes need to help him gather the pieces he needs, but he can generally follow the instructions on his own and if I bag them up for the individual build, he can do it again. |
My 4 year old also loves those Melissa and Doug puzzles. We've been doing the 100 piece Ravensburger ones, and he really likes those too. He and I have been playing a lot of Crazy Eights - he loves it. Some other games I wholeheartedly recommend are: Zingo (this has been a huge favorite w/ all my kids) Apple to Apples Chutes and Ladders Candy Land Guess Who (I'd keep trying to get that) Uno |