Gift ideas (that don't suck and won't drive anyone crazy) for a 4-year-old girl

I have this thing with gifts: I hate when they suck. I twitch a little if I give a gift I know just isn't right for whatever reason. Gift-giving is my love language, it makes me tick, it fills me up. Christmas is my favorite holiday in part because I get to spend a crazy amount of time thinking up and seeking out the perfect gifts for people I love. The preoccupation makes giving gifts a little bit of an ordeal, with lots of brainstorming and research. But I love it.  I have no idea where this comes from, because I'm definitely the only one in my family who puts all that much effort into matching the right thing with the right person. But here I am, crazy gift-giving obsession and all.

E turns four next month, which means--you guessed it--a gift! Kids are tricky, because they'll like anything you give them for about five minutes, but you really want to get the thing they'll come back to again and again. You also want something that won't make your own skin crawl or head explode. And because of our growing interest in Charlotte Mason, I wanted to get her something that would be CM approved. Unfortunately, the typical gift guide for kids usually has things that would never earn that label and would, in fact, make my head explode. Ugh. 

Of course, gifts weren't something that Charlotte Mason ever actually discussed (at least, not to my knowledge), but her ideas about the kind of life a child should live, the things she should know, and the books she should read are a good starting place. Starting there and doing a little looking, I eventually gathered a list of good ideas, and I thought I'd share them here, since I did the work and all.

So here we go. These are all based on my particular 4-year-old, of course, but I think they'd work well for lots of others, too. And, even if the family receiving the gift isn't into Charlotte Mason or even homeschooling, they would still be appreciated. Happy shopping!

+Thornton Burgess's animal stories
(E loves books and animals, so stories about animals = total slam dunk.)

+ I Spy art books (animals, numbers, alphabet)

+ Maestro Classics CD set (or individual CDs)
(We've been listening to classical music around the house and in the car, and I think she would really enjoy these--they come with activity books, too!)

+ Grimm's pastel rainbow forest
(E has this old rock formation from an army man set C had as a kid, and she loves playing with her Schleich animals on it. I think this little forest would thrill her, and it's high quality and beautiful.)

+ Anything from Sarah's Silks (fairy dress, crown, princess veil)
(We have play silks that get a lot of love, and what 4-year-old doesn't love playing dress up?)

+ Schleich animals (NA forest babies, farm world, NA forest dweller)
(Schliech animals are an absolute favorite in our house--probably the only toy that gets played with every single day without fail.)

That's a fairly short list, but we've covered a lot with those items: nature themes, living literature, good music, imaginative play, beautiful art, and quality materials. None of them make noise or light up or are painful to look at. Most of them won't take up much space. All foster imagination and good taste. They tick all the boxes, folks!

What would you add to this list? What does your 4-year-old love?