I am stumped this year as to what to get my girls for xmas.
They recently have seemed to have grown out of everything and I need ideas to help keep them busy without resorting to disney to help entertain them and keep them engaged through out the holiday period as we have 8 weeks off of school over the xmas period.
SO I am all ears on (educational)DVD selections/ books/crafts/ outdoor activites/ Art/ anything to keep them busy as they grow bored quickly.
Thanks for any ideas.
Kimba
Lego! I paid too much lol for a big set of girls Lego with horses etc for my girls and they just haven’t stopped playing with them. Lego grows with the child so you will have it for years. 4/5 is a good age to go up to big kids Lego and possibly earlier with some EL fine motor skills.
Have you got oil pastels? My girls Love them. They are Big kids crayons ( crayola make washable ones too!) bright bold colours.
Note pads, a clip board, a trampoline and a toy kitchen were my next best purchases at that age I think. The dolls house is popular but I can’t say it extends them all that much…
At that age my kids got roller blades too. 3 is the best age to teach kids to skate and its much harder after age 6 so if they haven’t already teach them soon.
Love the skates idea and its perfect too because hubby plays inline hockey. SO he can teach them. Have had the toy kitchen and neither play with it anymore so it is going.
I’m going to add more to the craft corner and science stuff. but other than that I had not thought of anything else.
Any other ideas would be much apperciated.
My son will be 5 in November and then Xmas…I have the same problem. I’ve just started to look around and found a talking microscope. It seems interesting, something different and educational at the same time. Last year we also bought an ant farm for him. It was a lot of fun watching them building their tunnels, sleeping…
Board games like 'Double Shutter", “Qwirkle” are popular with my 5 and 4 year old boys. Also things like “fake snow”, growing marbles is entertaining as well.
On the weekends they like to go to “Trampoline Place”, “Roller Skating”, “Ice skating”, “Rock Climbing”, “Swimming”.
Building a marble track is a popular activity in our house as well. It’s called “Quercetti Skyrail Mini Rail Rollercoaster, 150 Pieces”.
I would also recommend a battery operated train track! We got ours from “RadioShack”-it’s great!
Also “Magna Tiles” is a big hit!-the most played building toy!
I’m not sure if this will help or not, but my Niece is 4 and loves arts and crafts! I do photography and always am putting together scrap books and let her help sometimes. So for this Christmas I got her, her own scrapbooking bok, utensils, stickers, and everything along to go with it for her age.
Thanks for all the ideas.
Yes Soccermom Arts and crafts are a big hit but I have delegated the arts and crafts to grandparents. I love the idea of a marble run so think I am going to put that on the list. Also I have purchased Roominate and Goldie Blox for the older one but stuck for the younger one.
Thanks for all of your suggestions.
Kimba
No problem, I am using a couple of these ideas for some gifts as well! Very helpful! Hope everyone has a merry Christmas!!! :biggrin:
I just recently found out that you can make self propelled cars using K’NEX building sets and rubberbands. Google K’NEX Rubber Band Car. It looks like a lot of fun and educational too.
My kids have loved their magnifying glasses for many years. I’ve even had to replace a broken one. We bring them to the beach and on nature walks. We have a plan to see if we can make s’mores by melting the marshmallow with the magnifying glasses and the sunlight in the spring.
They also like their compasses, magnets, and cameras.
I’ve been thinking about boomwhackers (brightly colored plastic percussion tubes) but I’m afraid that I might regret it later when I can’t stand the noise. I don’t have any carpeting on my main floor and the noise can echo.
It sounds old fashioned but my kids still play with wooden blocks occasionally. You can build ramps and buildings. You can add cars and plastic figures and be lost in your own world for hours.
My 6 year old plays Jenga and Tic Tac Toe with a wooden set (more fun than paper and pencil) regularly.
The 3 yr old might love a balance bike. My daughter can ride a 2 wheeler now (at age 6) but she still hasn’t been ready to give away her balance bike (low light weight bike without pedals). The child learns to coast and balance on it so it is an easy transition when they are ready for the regular bicycle.
Good Luck, Lori
I looked that K’nex up LORI YOUR AWESOME!! Thank you so much for that it’s great!!!
Lego Passenger Airplane
Lego House (various)
GeoPuzzle Europe
American states wooden puzzle
Zoom Zoom Mosaic by Alex
Brainquest flip books
I just got my boy some zoobs and some plastic flexible meccano. They were a good price so I got far too many pieces. lol which probably still won’t be enough!
My boy loves mobile and marble runs too.
We don’t have Knex yet. I thought they were better for older kids? I might be very wrong.
I need some small cheap stocking fillers. I bought all the kids Lego. Lots and lots of Lego that’s what they all want. 
Magnifying glass! Yes we need more of those! I also got a jewellers eye piece of ebay for $3 that is a great magnification tool!
Stuffed toys are okay.
My 4 year old recently had a birthday and here are some gifts that he loves.
Snap circuits (my number 1 recommendation)
Play doh
Lego.
Somethings I am getting him for Christmas are
Compass
Magnifying glass
Pocket watch
Puzzles
Waffle Iron (he randomly asks to make waffles for breakfast a lot)
A hot wheels car track.
And lego… Never can have too much lego right?