Parenting Tips for Your 49-50 Month Old Child
Children love toys. Toys are the tools of play. Four year olds enjoy trucks, blocks, dolls, balls, dress-up clothes, and puzzles. Toys give young children opportunities for learning.
Children do not need a lot of toys, but they do need a variety of play materials as they grow. They need carefully chosen, well-made and affordable toys that come from the following categories.
- Art materials: scissors, tape, glue, chalk, crayons, paper, play dough
- Audiovisual materials: recorded tapes or CD’s, short videos about familiar themes like animals
- Balls and sports equipment: balls that can be held in one hand, and big balls like beach balls, kick balls
- Books: good variety, bright clean illustrations, few words, pop-up and homemade books
- Construction materials: cloth, rubber, wood, cardboard, snap-together blocks, safe pounding toys
- Dolls: safe cloth cuddly dolls, plastic-body dolls to wash, clothing for dolls
- Toys to practice dressing: lacing cards, stringing beads, toys to snap, zip, button, buckle
- Games: matching games, simple card games, picture bingo
- Musical instruments: rattles, bells, rhythm sticks, blocks with sand paper, crank music box
- Outdoor equipment: large foam blocks, large boxes
- Play scenes: wooden or plastic people and animal shapes, vehicles, buildings, furniture
- Puppets: safe and sturdy hand and finger puppets, mitten and sock puppets
- Puzzles: wood, plastic, cardboard, knobs, number puzzles
- Riding equipment: tricycle, big wheel
- Role play material: dolls, stuffed animals, toy phone, dishes, dress up clothes
- Sand and water play material: floating toys, sprinkling can, funnels, sand molds
- Pretend animal toys: stuffed washable cloth toys, sturdy rubber or vinyl or plastic toys such as dinosaurs
- Transportation toys: trucks, cars, trains, airplanes
Learn more about Your Child: 49-50 Months from Just In Time Parenting. You can also go to our Resource Links for additional information on child care and development.
