Toy Suggestions

So this might be for when your kid is a bit older, but my kids loved this thing called the Perplexus -- it's a plastic sphere with a maze on the inside and you have to keep a small metal ball on the maze without it falling off the track. It's made by a Canadian company. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perplexus  I think there are different skill levels, not sure of the youngest target audience.

Here are some areas you didn't mention (these are general ideas to start your search rather than specific brands because there are many options in each that are not made in China) :

Dolls

Musical instruments 

Puzzles

Dramatic play (kitchen, tools, doctor, etc.)

Sensory play (check out blogs/websites like Growing a Jeweled Rose for ideas)

Gross motor equipment (play structure, swings, trampoline, bike, scooter, etc.)

Science toys (magnifying glass, bug keepers, light box, child's scales, measuring cups, magnets, tweezers lots of natural objects to explore, etc.)

Lacing/sewing kits for his age

Balls

Puppets

Books

I don't know if this is actually what you are looking for, but  we have been getting the KiwiCo boxes in the mail on a monthly basis, which are very well thought out and have fun activities for parent and child. You can pick your box by age and, as kids get older, by topic (art/engineering). They use nice materials, like felt and wood, so that there is not a lot of plastic involved. 

I also stumbled across Green Pinata Toys, which is a monthly toy rental service - you get four toys (ages 0-5) chosen from their catalogue each month for a subscription fee of about $25, and you can return them at any time for a new set (kind of like the Netflix model when Netflix actually sent you a disk). We haven't used it yet, so I can't testify as to the service, but it might be worth checking out to see if they have toys in their catalogue that meet your criteria. Good luck, and I hope you get some great ideas!

I have 2 ideas: 1) Around 4 y/o is when kids can actually play memory games, so they get really fun - we love our Memory Card game from Pinhole Press, which I made by uploading photos of our family members (and cats!) to personalize it. https://pinholepress.com/c/memory-games It's the classic 24 tiles, turn over 2 cards, if it's a match you keep going. But this way it's: Uncle Cole and... Uncle Cole! Totally adorable. 

2) We had an unexpected win with a recent impulse buy of a globe from a vintage shop on Piedmont - it's just like one we would have grown up with, and it spins, and it's textured, and my kids LOVE it. We can cuddle on the sofa and spin it and look at it and talk all about different places around the world... 

How about magnatiles?  My kids have played with these for years and they build structures for their action figures/ animals to reside in.  

I highly recommend simple paper/pencils or chalkboards, etc., and teach him letters, the sounds of them, how to hold a pencil and write his name.  Also, numbers 1-20, and simple math games.  Then, BOOKS!  It's never too early.  Kindergartners can hit the ground running if they know the basics of pre-reading.  

You might like the Bernstain Bear books.  Our kids love them, and they usually have a good moral lesson at the heart of the story.

Hello,

First, is it your or your child that needs the awesome toys? A simple shovel and some dirt or sand and the imaginative toys can be enough for a lot of 4 year olds

. There are great "recipes" online for making home-made play doh. Let your child help measure , add the colors. This will introduce them to numbers, color mixing, a basic intro to chemistry, really. Or find a "recipe" for making colored rice at home. This substrate becomes a wonderful tactile toy, it became roads for small toy cars, trucks, trains or a haul for the bigger trucks. A small inflatable pool can become a target for ball throwing, a contained area for a lot of colored rice, dirt, sand and, of course, water! Marble runs are great, and if you want to add to the fun, make them out of paper towel or toilet paper tubes. Paper mâché is fun, especially since it involves messiness! A balloon or even covering a box to become a treasure chest. This is about as low-tech as you can get!

My son and I still do treasure hunts in our house from easter eggs we've saved and you could figure out all sorts of ways to hide things! Help with the alphabet/phonics by asking for a treasure hunt of things that start with the letter "B" for example after a little bit of practicing the letter sounds. 

As for awesome, I would say go on eBay and look for a Lite-Brite from the 1970's early 80's, make sure it comes with some of the black paper needed and a good number of the colored pegs. (your can probably get some of the specific paper online but that might be from China..) It was made by Hasbro and, if it was made in China at that time, think of it more as a re-use instead of being thrown away type toy.

Remember that YOU are the most fun for the afternoons and weekends! The toys are the icing on the cake! 

Have fun!