Holiday season is here and with it comes the consumerist hellscape of buying presents.
Young children are by far my favorite individuals to buy gifts for! There is something so joyful about strolling the kid’s department trying to imagine which toy will bring the most excitement.
In this post, I share my top 5 top gifts for children aged 2 to 8 years. While I have included different options for various budgets and ages, all the gifts listed below promote children’s creativity throughout art!
1. Osmo – Starter Kit $79-277 USD (3-10 years old)
Osmo is an educational game that runs on iPads and Amazon Fire tablets. It features a suite of applications such as drawing, numeracy, literacy, puzzles, and coding games that all promote children’s creative and critical thinking. Kids use physical objects such as tiles and blocks that are picked up by a mini camera that sits on the tablet to interact in the screen-based activities.
I really like the Osmo kits as all the games are very open-ended. At the same time, they also teach children cognitive skills and encourage the development of fine and gross motor skills. Osmo has a range of Starter Kits for children aged 3 and up. They do also have very good sales from time to time so keep an eye out for that!
2. Moulin Roty – Les Popipop Magnetic Shape Game $22 USD (3 years +)
Moulin Roty is a French children’s brand that makes beautiful, playful gifts. Their magnetic shape game features colorful shapes, visual prompts, and a magnetic board that children can create different pictures on. I love the playfulness of the colorful shapes combined with the ‘blank canvas’ of the magnetic board. This is a great activity to have on hand if you are traveling or if going out for a meal with children!
3. Makedo Explore Jnr Kit $20 USD (4 years +)
If you have been following this blog for a while, you will know that I love Makedo. These plastic screw sets are fantastic for doing any sort of cardboard construction activity with kids. The Explore Jnr Kit also features a plastic screwdriver and kid-safe box cutter. For inspiration on what you can make, check out my blog post ‘setting up a cardboard art activity for kids.’
4. Playon crayons $14 USD (2-4 years)
Crayons and markers of any sort are a great gift for children. What I love about the Playton crayons is that they have been specially designed for little hands, making them perfect for 2-4 year-olds who are learning how to draw. This set comes in an assortment of colorful shapes that can be playfully stacked on one another. These crayons would go great with a nice drawing pad.
5. The Nature Atelier’s Little Artist Kits $30.00 USD (2 years +)
Based in Portland, Oregon, The Nature Atelier is a children’s art studio and online store that is all about connecting kids with nature. The Little Artist Kits feature materials and instruction for doing different process art activities at home. The Nature Atelier is also offering a special discount to readers of this blog – enter ‘ARTPLAY15’ for a 15% discount at the checkout!
Happy holidays everyone!
I will be taking a month’s break over Christmas and look forward to re-connecting in 2021.
Let’s hope next year is better than this one.
Louisa x
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