Got a pre-school age girl (2 to 4 years old?) - OK, you've got to have dress-ups.  Girls love this stuff!  Based on my experience with our daughters Blair (19 months) and Eliza (almost 4) - see picture below, I've learned that Dress-Ups rock as far as providing hours of healthy entertainment/creative play!

There are a few categories:

1. Princesses and Fairies... At this age girls love this stuff.  You'll want the requisite magic wand, shoes, capes, simple necklaces, tiaras, dresses, hats. Yes, the Disney Princess Dress-Ups stuff can be kind of overwhelming and obnoxious, but girls do love it.  When the kids come over for a play date, within 15 minutes everyone is dressing up as a fairy, princess.

2. The Cowgirl. This is a new trend, and we're not sure where it came from, but we're encouraging it. It started with a love of horses which we visit at the stables in nearby Marin county.  eBay has some great deals on Breyer Horses.  Well, you'll also want to get some cowgirl boots, hats, vest and a bright red handkerchief. 

3. The Ballerina. You are also going to need everything for the little ballerina, including tutus, ballet tights, and ballet slippers.

4. Halloween Costumes.  OK - here you can go nuts!  eBay is great for Halloween costumes for grown-ups and children.  Just pick your theme or character and you'll find it.  They have Dora costumes, batman costumes, buzz lightyear costumes and I could go on and on, but you get the idea...

When you have all the dress-ups ready, the next thing you need is the right music to set the mood. 

Princesses and Fairies?  You've got to go with the Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, no?  There is nothing cuter than seeing your toddlers dance around in tutus pretending to be the sugarplum fairy... 

Cowgirl music? Well this is trickier, but the theme from Bonanza is great, as is Rawhide.  The girls really get a hoot out of this. 

Ballerinas - well there's lot of ballet music out there, but I don't know this as well.  My wife generally picks the music for this stuff.

Halloween? Gotta go with Monster Mash.

I hope you've found this helpful. 

Eliza and Blair's Dad!