When it comes to Christmas it can be so hard to know what to buy the kids, especially if you are trying to limit the amount of wasteful gifts they get, the stuff they say they want but then after 5 minutes never look at again. Which is why we try and advocate for gifts that fall under 3 categories
Sustainable Gifts – an item or experience that is ethically made, environmentally friendly, and socially responsible. These gifts are often made using renewable, recycled, or biodegradable materials, supporting and encourage minimal waste or long-term use.
Gifts they need – there are some things that aren’t sustainable but also aren’t wasteful as they are needed like sports equipment, coats or shoes etc. We try and buy these as gifts as often as we can instead of just treats throughout the year as they are often costly and it means they can get the ones they want and will (hopefully) appreciate them more.
Educational Gifts – these are the gifts that will help the child either academically or socially, encourage them to develop the skills needed to succeed in life whilst also having fun. If you are buying for a family who aren’t necessarily focused on sustainability and you are unsure what the child needs then educational gifts are the best option and here are some of our recommendations.
Educational gifts for kids
Rainbow Pebbles
The Edx Education Rainbow Pebbles are such a versatile toy and they are great for learning activities. You can use them to help your little one practice
- colours
- size difference
- counting
- building and
- balancing
They are also great for creativity, making patterns and pictures and having lots of fun.
Miniland Dolls
Miniland have a selection of educational baby dolls that are great for promoting role play skills, enhancing empathy and care giving traits and encouraging imaginative play. These specific dolls are beautifully hand-made and celebrate diversity through different ethnicities, genders and physical conditions, helping children explore and embrace the rich variety of human identity. It’s all the fun of a doll with a the opportunity for learning thrown in too.
Staying with the idea of role play and learning through acting out scenarios in a safe environment we recommend the Casdon toy range. They have some brilliant role play toys and we have used lots of them over the years. They have the instantly recognisable Henry Vacuum Cleaner for those that love to copy their parents with the cleaning. What’s great is that this particular toy vacuum has real working suction that’s strong enough to pick up items like small bits of paper! Your little ones will love feeling as though they’re making a difference around the home!
As well as some lovely Heinz items, including an all day breakfast, that they can use to recreate at home cooking, school dinners, restaurants or fast food chains – the possibilities are endless.
The set includes
- a squeezy heinz tomato ketchup bottle,
- a toaster that pops up just like the real thing,
- a saucepan and lid
- beans,
- egg,
- sausage,
- and bacon
The Very Hungry Caterpillar™ My First Stamp Art
Another great way for children to learn is through arts and crafts, it gives them the chance to get creative but also practice their fine motor skills, enhance their imagination and learn various topics too. These Very Hungry Caterpillar stamps are adorable and great for learning colours and when used with the included Hungry Caterpillar activity book they can also help
- remember the different days of the week
- identify food items
- learn about the life cycle of a caterpillar and
- enhance related vocabulary
The Very Hungry Caterpillar™ My First String Art
The Edx Education® The Very Hungry Caterpillar™ My First String Art is a fun and creative resource designed to support early artistic expression and skill development, teaching them how to grasp, thread, and design with ease. It’s a great way for them to develop fine motor skills, hand–eye coordination, and pattern recognition whilst having lots of fun.
The set includes
- 6 activity cards featuring playful characters
- 2 baseboards
- 8 laces in 4 different colours
- 2 string pens
Dig Kits
For children a little bit older and who have an interest in gems, dinosaurs or fossils then these dig kits by National Geographic are amazing. They are brilliant for helping them learn STEM skills and opening up conversations about archaeology, dinosaurs, fossils, gems and so much more.
Dino Fossil Dig Kit
This dino digging kit allows your child can see what it’s like to become a real palaeontologist and experience the thrill of discovery as they use the provided archaeological digging tools to excavate a life-sized replica of a 8cm T-Rex tooth!
Gemstone Dig Kit
Alternatively they can reveal three spectacular hidden gems in the Gemstone Dig Kit. This set takes about 30 minutes and they will discover amethyst, quartz and tiger’s eye that they can display with pride for all to see.
Koko the Koala Gift Set
Give the gift of a brighter smile this Christmas with a gift set from Spotlight Oral Care. The Koko the Koala Gift Set is perfect for encouraging children to take responsibility of their own oral health care and teaching them the importance of cleaning and flossing in a fun way.
This gift set contains:
- Electric Toothbrush for Kids
- Toothpaste for Kids 100ml – Strawberry Cake Flavour
- Floss picks for Kids – 50 pack
- KoKo A5 Journal
- Koko Sticker Pack- 5 vinyl stickers
Readly Subscription
For children a little bit older we recommend a Readly subscription. This allows the child to have access to numerous magazines online for as long as the subscriptions last. They can read for fun, enhancing their reading ability and vocabulary, or read for educational purposes as they discover new topics, fascinating facts and deeper insights into the world around them. Readly also has numerous Disney stories and magazines that you and your child can enjoy together too so no matter where you are as long as you have your device with you there is always a bedtime story on hand.
Yoto Player
We also love the Yoto Player in our house. It is the ultimate screen-free audio player that has been built to inspire imagination and independence. You can buy individual cards to go with them that tell stories, play music, share learning and adventure opportunities all age appropriate with no microphone, no camera and no ads, so perfectly safe for younger kids too. Our current favourites are Barbie, Demon Hunters and Phonics but you can also get Disney stories, language first words and various quizzes and so much more.
