Favourite gifts for young kids

[Cuwins]

What were the best received presents for 3/4/5 year olds?
Looking for inspiration for DD's 3rd birthday in 6 weeks and also next year!
Favourites here:

• Binoculars (literally has barely put them down)
• take apart car with an electronic screw driver (brought in a charity shop for £3!)
• frozen cup/plate/bowl set
• a paint your own money box
• a Father Christmas tin to keep her 'goodies' in as a copy of 'grandads goodies box'
• DK anthology of intriguing animals, absolutely gorgeous book which she spent ages looking through
• Magnifying glass

Last year: V-tech Kidizoom, the one that prints.

This year: Little Live Pets Mama Surprise

My dd loves her funlockets, lots of little doors to open with jewellery inside.

Barbie campervan bought second hand for £4.50 was the big hit here.

Not such a “wow factor” hit but used nearly every day is the tonie box bought last year.

Big hits in our house were:
A remote control car
A jewellery box with music and spinning unicorn inside
Paint sticks
Dressing up clothes from vinted

Not all given this Christmas or indeed for my current 3yo, but these are the items that got most use in my house at that age

Doll carry cot
Doll high chair
Toy kitchen
Tea set
Bruder truck (the flatbed one is good for moving around other toys)
Kinetic sand
Aqua doodle mat
Marble run
Doctor set (this is my favourite if I get to lie on the sofa being the patient!)

For next year, sylvanians and playmobil

Mine is 3 at the same time as yours @Cuwins and this Christmas a sylvanian bus that transforms into a nursery has been the biggest winner by far. Of course including some figures. She's also really liking her yoto, as is her big brother.

Hit of the day for 4yo GD was a mermaid barbie (but to be fair she could play with it in the pool as it is Summer here - might not work so well in the UK though she could play with it in the bath). She also loved a set of magnatiles and a particularly cuddly toy puppy.

Age 3 - Remote control Gravedigger monster truck, paintsticks, binoculars, my first magic painting, magnetic tiles, brio train set

Age 4 -Yoto player (biggest hit), Fossil dig set, pirate treasure dig set, playmobil, lcd kids drawing pad, Hulk playdoh set, foam bow and arrow, kids knex

Gabby dollhouse.
It was a wild card item as it wasn't on the list but I knew she desperately wanted one (to be honest it wasn't on the list because I've had a bit of a moan about them every time she brought it up because it's ridiculous to spend £50 on the house and then another £10-£20 per room on top but she was sooo excited - she loved it.
She's just turned five, she wanted one last year too.
I also got some sylvanians off Facebook marketplace and Amazon mixed up and she loves them - I focused on the nursery and baby playground bits.
For her birthday she got a missy kissy doll (birthday in December) and that hasn't had a lot of play really despite her desperately wanting it.
Oh and something called n Owleez that was a 'hit toy' back in 2019 and she saw it on the iPad and I had to track one down on eBay. It's actually pretty cool you can teach it to fly.
My parents got her a microscope that you hold over stuff like a magnifying glass (it's digital) and we all spent the afternoon having a good look at the fabrics of our clothes ☺️

Just turned 5 year old - yoto player; child size fishing rod from grandad.

2 year old - enormous box of Brio-type train set (secondhand off FB marketplace). He already had some but now he has enough to build complicated tracks all around the dining room.

Both of them have loved Hungry Hippos, well actually the John Lewis version which is Snappy Crocodiles. You would have thought this had quite limited play value but they somehow played with it non-stop for 2 hours this morning.

The 5 year old got the Orchard Toys bus stop game for his birthday which they did the same with.

2 year old got Happyland farm for his birthday, again secondhand, again very well loved and his older brother helps him play with it too.

Last year the older one (so 4 yo then) got a projector light for his room which shows pictures of the solar system/constellations on the ceiling, which he still uses most nights.

The year before that when he was 3, his best present was a child size litter picker and hi-viz jacket! He picked up all the wrapping paper from Christmas and we spent many Saturday mornings in the park dutifully picking up litter.

Other big presents have been scooters/balance bikes/pedal bikes and the accessories - for his fourth birthday we added light-up handlebars, lights, a bell and a windmill to DS1's existing micro mini scooter and I think that might have been the best-received present I've ever given either of them.

Jurassic World Lego set for DS(5). It was for age 9+ so I was dubious about whether or not he'd lose interest even with DH helping him build it, but he's spent hours and hours on it and has done the bulk of it by himself. He now wants more Lego for his (January) birthday, which I'm more than happy to get him

Biggest hits for my 4 year old: kiddizoom camera, Minecraft pickaxe toy and a goojitsu stretchy toy.