Toys for four-year-olds: the year before school
What matters in the year before school, five toys that build it, and how it became Year Four of Chapters.
In the year before school, parents start to worry about letters and numbers, and the toy aisle responds with worksheets in disguise. In the kindergartens we've supplied since 1989, the four-year-olds who walk into Prep confident are usually the ones who have handled a lot of letters, numbers and shapes with their hands. Here is what that looks like, and how it became Year Four of Chapters.
What Four-Year-Olds Are Learning
Letter formation (the direction a letter is drawn, not just what it looks like), counting with meaning (five objects, not just the word 'five'), fractions and comparison (halves, quarters, taller and shorter), and first spelled words. Underneath all of it: sitting with a task for ten minutes and finishing it.
Five Toys We Recommend
- Grooved tracing letters. Capitals first, traced with a finger in the direction school will teach. The groove does the correcting.
- An abacus. Still the best counting tool at four, now for adding and taking away.
- A fraction board. A whole circle that comes apart into halves, thirds and quarters and must be rebuilt.
- Fraction cups in a second shape. Squares next to circles: the idea of 'a half' survives the change of shape.
- Something to spell with. Picture cards and letter tiles for first words, when they're ready.
What to Avoid at This Age
- Worksheets. Save the pencil-and-paper for school; build the hand and the idea first.
- Toys that reward speed. The skill at four is sticking with it, not racing.
- Anything that spells or counts aloud for them.
Year Four, Chapter 1: The Tracer
Year Four · Chapter 1: The Tracer is this list, made in our own factory from solid wood, with a printed play guide that says what each toy teaches and three ways to play with it:
- Trace Me English Uppercase Letters: grooved capital letters to trace with a finger, the way they'll write them.
- Counting Abacus: slide, count, add. The oldest maths tool there is.
- Natural Fraction Board, Circle: a whole, halves, thirds, quarters: fit them back together.
- Natural Fraction Cups, Square: square halves and quarters to compare with the circles.
Bought on its own, the box is $99 every 3 months on subscription (Chapter 2, The Mathematician, follows automatically and you can cancel from your account at any time), or $109 as a single box, delivered anywhere in Australia. In a Chapters membership, this box comes with a solid-wood table and chair at your child's height, which are yours to keep, and the next chapter follows every 3 months. Membership is $149 every 3 months or $499 for a year upfront. We send the next chair and table legs free as they grow, and members get 15% off everything in the shop. Tell us their birthday and we'll show you where to start.
Made by Edu Fun in our own factory since 1989. Packed and sent from Pakenham, Victoria.
A table, a chair, and a new chapter of play.
Chapters: a solid-wood table and chair at their height, with the next size sent as they grow, and a new box of wooden toys for their age every 3 months.
