Gift Guide 2013: Themed Gifts
I have spent hours, HOURS, looking through gift guides, trying to figure out the perfect gifts that are age-appropriate, quality, affordable, and something that will be played with long after the ripping of wrapping paper is over. Jake and I decided to go with themed gifts this year. We played around with several theme ideas before deciding upon the perfects ones, so I’m going to share with you the best that I found in the themes that we worked through:
Math
1. Books
- You Can Count on Monsters: The First 100 Numbers and Their Characters (this one is about prime factorization)
- How to Be a Math Genius
- Go Figure! A Totally Cool Book about Numbers
2. Games
- Colorku + expansion packs
- Logic Links
- Big Brain Academy for Wii (p.s. I would advise buying used from Gamestop or something of the like– we got our copy for a tiny fraction of the cost there!)
- Math Dice games
- Somoku
- Ravensburger Labyrinth
3. Geoboard + extra rubberbands
4. Tangrams + puzzle sets
5. Snap Cubes
6. See and Solve Visual Calculator
Arts and Crafts
1. Googly Eyes
2. Pompoms
3. Pipe Cleaners
4. Paper Shape Cutters (Friskars puts out a super affordable and simple product; get these at your local craft store with a coupon and they become even more affordable!)
5. Glitter Glue
6. Fun paper (scrapbook, construction, etc.)
7. Bead Sets (Melissa and Doug have some wooden beads, but your local craft store will have some fun bead box sets too).
7. Books
- Don’t Let the Pigeon Finish This Activity Book!
- Scribbles, Doodles, and Squiggles
- Usborne has a huge amount of activity, coloring, drawing and sticker books. We’ve gotten some from the library about mermaids/fairies, princesses, cars, etc. I really like using these with the kids!
8. Alex Craft Sets- We have the Eco one (love it!), but they have a lot of other ones, ranging from Preschool to Elementary school-age kids.
9. Stencils– I must admit that I’m not quite sure why kids like these (I think they are boring), but the kids can’t get enough of them.
10. DIY paint sample notepads
Food
1. DIY eggs
2. DIY Pizza Kit
3. DIY menus/notepads
4. Alex Toys has this pretend restaurant kit.
5. Gift card to an ice cream store down the road. Get some ice cream with your child AND ask if you can bring home an empty container or two to play with afterwards.
6. Cash Register- we love this one from Learning Resources
7. Learning Resources’ Candy Construction Kit
8. Kid Kraft Kitchen Play Set
9. Etsy has a bazillion examples of cute felt food. Of course you could make your own if that’s your thing!
10. Ikea has some super cute plush food sets that we LOVE (fruits/veggies, breakfast, ice cream, etc.)
Exploring/Camping
1. Tent
2. Sleeping Bag
3. Smores Kit- Real!
4. Smores Kit– Pretend 🙂
5. Learning Resources Exploration/Camping Set
6. Kid-size Binoculars
7. Bug-catchers
8. Butterfly Nets
9. Campfire (or build your own!)
10. Trail Mix Learning Set (from Learning Resources)
11. Flashlight (wind-up or a cute animal one)
12. Magnifying Glass
