29 Games That Every 4-Year-Olds Love to Play

Games for 4 Year Olds

1. MentalUP Learning Games for 4 Year Olds

Do you know what MentalUP is? Let’s briefly explain it: MentalUP is an award-winning app that offers hundreds of spot the difference, number blocks, puzzles, and other cognitive skills games that nurture mental agility, logic, attention, and memory development!

MentalUP is the best option for free learning games for preschoolers. The most significant advantage of this app is that it provides multi-faceted exercises rather than unidirectional exercises. There are no ads or inappropriate content, which is beneficial in that kids can play MentalUP without any parental control need.

MentalUP consists of learning apps for preschoolers that are designed for the development of visual, verbal, mathematical intelligence, attention, concentration, analytical thinking skills, and more based on their learning style.

2. From the Market Game

You can name the things that you bought from the market to your child one by one. While doing this, say one item and then ask them to repeat it. Then increase the items to 2 items, 3 items, 4 items, and etc. Here’s an example:

• Today I bought an apple from the market. Repeat Carol: what did I buy from the market today?
• An apple.
• Well-done! I also bought some other things. Today I bought an apple and a pear from the market. What did I buy?
• An apple and a pear.
• Bravo Carol! ☺ (Do not forget to praise each time) But I also bought some other things. Today I bought an apple, a pear, and grapes from the market. What did I buy?

A growing list will push her memory after a while. Mental skills are developed by pushing them (training a lot) just like muscles. Repeating constantly the updated list like “apple, pear, grapes, banana, and melon” contributes to memory development of your child.

This game is quite effective for short-term memory loss, reasoning and sustained attention skills.

3. Number Blocks

You can teach your child to count numbers with numbered and coloured blocks by using fun methods. This activity is suitable as one of the greatest educational games for 4 year olds.

You can even use the toy blocks you bought before by sticking numbers on the toy blocks, and also this saves you from spending money for a new toy. If you can afford, it is more effective to buy a new set which is designed in big and small sizes according to the number on the block.

Number 1 is written on the smallest block; number 10 is written on the biggest block. When your children build these blocks according to their sizes, they will sort the blocks in the correct order. In this way, while learning the quantity and magnitude concepts that are expressed by the numerical values, they also learn counting the numbers effectively.

This toy is also effective for establishing a correlation between different concepts. Therefore, they foster mathematical intelligence development. Coloured and numbered blocks are a very useful choice in the category of educational activities for preschoolers.

This game is quite effective for short-term memory, comparison, and counting skills.

4. Remote-Controlled Car

Remote-controlled cars, which are among the most favorite educational toys for kindergartners and toddler boys, are very important in the category of learning games for 4-year-olds. In order to help your child, you can assign some tasks.

Example: You may want them to drive their remote-controlled car under one table and park it under another table. A simple remote-controlled car is very important in 4-year-old children for reflex and reaction time development, attention, and imagination.

Also, it is scientifically proven that parking develops skills in mastering geometric calculations. This toy is also suitable for children older than four. However, kids younger than 3 cannot use these toys effectively, so it can be classified as educational toys for 4-5year olds and olders.

This game is quite effective for calculation, focus and visual attention skills.

5. Spot The Difference Game

Spot the Difference games are one of the best games for 4 year olds online.

You and your child can start to play the spot the difference game with simple images. You can choose to play cards that are very similar but have little differences in colour or accessory.

For example: “Let’s find the different turtle.” (You probably remember the play cards in which all turtles have a similar appearance but one has different shell colours, glasses and no glasses, tail and no tail, etc.).

This game is quite effective for visual intelligence, analysis skill, and attention development.

Group Activities & Games for 4 Year Olds

6. Hot-Cold Game

This is one of the 4 year old games that can be played with a group of children or family members. One of the children closes her/his eyes, and someone else hides a toy somewhere. Then, the child opens her/his eyes and tries to find the hidden toy by looking around randomly.

If the child comes closer to the hidden object, others say 'hot'. Likewise, if the child moves away from the hidden toy, then other people say 'cold' as a clue for the child. When the child finds the toy, then she/he chooses someone else. So, the game starts all over again with the new player.

Thanks to games to play with 4 year olds, children can be both socialized and have fun, and they learn to follow instructions and evaluate clues.

This game is quite effective for aural memory and visual-attention skills.

7. Night-Day Game

This is one of the most popular games for 4 year olds at home. The game starts when one of the children gives the instructions.

When the child says 'night', other kids close their eyes by going down to the table and putting their forehead to their wrist. Then, they stand upright and open their eyes when the child says 'day'.

You’re gonna love the night-and-day game is if you looking educational games for preschoolers! As the game speeds up, chances of making mistakes increases. The children who go to the wrong positions will be eliminated during the game.

This game is quite effective for recognition, aural memory, and decision-making skills.

8. Indoor Games for Preschoolers

Indoor PE games that we have also mentioned in our previous articles is so important because these kinds of games contain many mental learning games for 4 year olds.

They aren’t rule-based and children can act as any characters and take any responsibilities they want.

While this game is tiring out the children physically, it also relaxes and restores them mentally. For children, being physically active means developing muscles and growing up healthy.

Some benefits of playing games for 4 year olds at home are:

• Improving creativity
• Developing of vocabulary skills and linguistic performance
• Developing a sense of responsibility
• Expressing thoughts easily
• Improving the ability of composition
• Development of attention and focusing on an object

Solo Games for a 4-Year-Old Child

9. Puzzle

We always talk about puzzles for 4-year-olds because there are many options for all ages. Adults might have puzzles made of thousands of pieces. However, for children, puzzles mostly consist of 10-20 pieces. As children grow up, the number of pieces of puzzles also increases.

Puzzles improve children’s problem-solving abilities and analytical thinking skills. Also, they are one of the best memory games.

10. Playdough

This is also suitable for many ages and provides various benefits. Playdough develops creativity, design and artistic skills. Of course, it also helps handcraft skills. For children at the age of 4, playdough is a brain developer. On the other hand, it is used to develop hand muscles and get them ready for writing for children at the age of 5-6.

Learning Activities for 4 Year Olds & Preschoolers

11. Reading Books Together

Read all kinds of books to your children. Every new book will open a new door in their minds. Books are one of the best educational games for 4 year olds, as well as for all ages, even if your child does not know how to read yet.

This activity will lead your child to develop many logical connections in their minds about the words they hear, the pictures they see, the harmony of the pictures with the words, the use of the words or the feelings they trigger. They will also strengthen their social skills by these kinds of learning activities for 4-year-olds.

Its positive effects on imagination have also been proven. With every new book, your child will dive into a stream of events that he has never experienced in his life. Moreover, you no longer have to buy many books, pay a lot of money for them and use a huge library. You can also find free eBooks on the Internet.

12. Sing Counting Songs

Here’s another great example of activities for 4-year-olds at home. Singing not only helps children improve their speaking and listening skills, but also makes them have fun with words. You can turn the singing activity into one of the best games for 4-year-olds! Counting songs, like ‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5 … Once I caught a fish alive’, can help your child have fun and also learn numbers.

You can easily find different alternatives from different sources on the internet. For example, songs such as 'Ten Green Bottles' or 'Three Little Frogs' go in reverse order. This can help them refresh their knowledge, especially when young children begin to perceive adding and subtracting.

Let your children use their fingers to count and establish an unforgettable link between numbers, rhythms and visual intelligence.

13. Cooking With Kids

Best games for 4 year olds are the ones that blend creativity and fun with taste!

Yes, we are talking about cooking! Cooking with your children is not only a fun and delicious activity, but also a unique game with which they will learn math knowledge without even realizing it. How many eggs are in the recipe? How many spoons of flour should you add? So how are these units of measurement different?

Let your child ask questions. You are in no hurry. Your cake may not turn out very well, but this fun game will perhaps make it tastier and more instructive. You can also have a pleasant time with educational games for 4-year-olds.

Development Checklist 4-Year-Olds

Answer "Yes" or "No" according to your child's performance in the development areas in the checklist below.

If two or more of the answers you give for each section about your child are "No", consider talking to a specialist.

Does your child have difficulty with:

	Skills	Yes	No
Physical development	Climbing the furniture without assistance.
	Catching a ball with hands instead of using arms and body.
Social development	Running with control.
	Safely performing a forward roll.
	Standing on one foot for up to 5 seconds.
	Playing with mechanical toys.
	Talking about their feelings.
	Using symbols in their play such as a stick for a sword.
	Playing with 2 or 3 children in a group.
	Engaging in games with simple rules (e.g. hide and seek).
Brain development	Following three-part commands.
	Sorting objects by shape and color.
	Correctly naming familiar colors.
	Recognizing and identifying common objects and pictures.
	Pretending and fantasizing creatively
Language development	Understanding longer, more complex sentences.
	Using past participle
	Using possessives like 'Mommy's bike’
	Using 3rd person singular like 'The Dog wants a hug
	Comprehending quantity concepts: 4; most; few by the age of 4.

Should Your Children Play Online Games for 4 Year Olds?

Children who are constantly surrounded by various technological devices will eventually want to play pc games for 4 year olds because of their curiosity, or their tendency to adapt to life around them.

This is sort of a need for children living in the technology age. Experts think that it is okay for children to have a certain period of time and play online games for 4 year olds with technological devices in their daily life. You can evaluate this screen time by providing them with even safe baby games or games for 4 year olds that have no ads.

Most kids like cartoons. However, children who watch cartoons are not in an interactive process and do not think about what must be done because everything is already prepared. That’s why playing proper computer games for 4 year olds can be more beneficial than watching cartoons.

Of course, relaxing and having fun are necessary for children so cartoons can be helpful for it. Still, it is also important to talk about more useful technological alternatives in terms of online learning games for 4 year olds.

The Importance of Educational Games for 4 Year Olds

Four is the age when dynamism and questioning reach the highest level. Therefore, while choosing learning games for 4-year-olds, it would be a good idea to choose the games that require energy-consuming, wondering and attracting.

As you know, children do not only need games for fun, but they also need games for a healthy development. We have already mentioned that learning games for 4 year old is important on many levels, so it is good to make a short reminder.

Preschool education starts in the family before kindergarten. And the educational games for preschoolers is an essential part of. Both family games and educational toys for preschoolers that children play with each other foster mental, physical, language, attention, social and emotional development.