Melissa and Doug Scoop & Serve Ice Cream Counter: This has been the BEST purchase! My girls and boys love it and they’ll play for so long, taking turns with who serves the ice cream, etc. Such an adorable wooden set!
Bird Bingo: We play this every day at least once and I love hearing my kids pronounce the names of the birds! It comes with a book of facts about each bird and the illustrations are gorgeous. I’ve bought a few versions in this set for gifts and even purchased the Ocean Bingo for my son for Christmas! You can’t go wrong with this game!! (The Bird version is not available right now but I’ve linked to the Ocean version of the game that I bought for Christmas!)
Playmobil Farm Advent: My 6 year old son is obsessed with horses and really likes the Playmobil horses. The sets are very detailed with a lot of small pieces that he usually doesn’t play with much but he plays with the horses and fences around the house and sets up farms EVERYWHERE! $Various prices but the horse advent calendar is a great deal!
DK Animal! book: My 9 year old son enjoys reading non-fiction books about any animal, reptile, dinosaur, ocean creature you can think of. He saw this book at a bookstore this summer and has devoured it! So many facts and interesting information in this book with great pictures!
Dynasty Toys Laser Tag: This was a Christmas gift for our boys last year and it’s been so fun! It gets used outside in the summer and inside in the winter. Their friends love to come play-we just need more guns!! Buy additional guns
Magnatiles: I’m sure you’ve seen these before or some version of magnetic blocks but this brand is #1 on my list of things to recommend. We were gifted our first set and loved them so much we purchased another. I recommend the 100 piece set if you have more than 1 child. They are a little pricey but totally worth the money!!
Plus Plus blocks: My boys build with these for hours. They are small pieces in the shape of 2 plus signs put together and can be put together to build anything you can think of. They get pulled out while I’m making dinner or when my kids are finished with their work.
Extreme Dot to Dot: These are seriously amazing! Think dot-to-dots on steroids with some pictures having over a thousand dots. My son asks for these all the time and finishes them so fast!!
Little Tikes Slide: My three youngest are playing with the slide as I type this and it’s so fun because they come up so many things to do with it. We use it as a water slide in our blow up pool in the summer too!!
KidO Free Play Magnatab: A magnetic board with a pen that allows you to make all sorts of pictures with small beads that pop up as you trace over with the pen, then use your finger to erase the board and start again! A great travel activity and they even have alphabet and number tracing boards that my kids love as well!!
Bilibo: Weird name but such a fun open-ended toy. They have been used as sleds in the snow, igloo builders, baby cradles, and they have even been used on the slide mentioned above. There are so many things these can be used for-we love them!
Safari Ltd. Toobs: A tall plastic tube filled with coordinating figurines. There are so many different ones (Zoo babies, Rainforest animals, Horses, Ocean Animals, Dogs, Insects, etc.) and my kids love to use them in the bath or just for playing. We use them a lot with our schoolwork and they’re great for hand-on retelling of stories and books! There will be a few of these in our stockings this year!
Sleeping Queens: A great game for even the youngest kids where you try to be the first to collect the most queens. The rules are simple to follow and the games are fairly quick! We’ve gifted this many times and it’s always a hit when Grandma comes to visit!!
From Jennifer Tracing boards: These boards are beautiful and great quality. We use them ALL THE TIME in school and I find my kids pulling them out to use with Play-Doh or as a rubbing board! check out From Jennifer on Etsy!
Do-a-Dot markers: Washable dot markers that make a great addition to any arts & crafts collection. Great for toddlers too! There are also tons of FREE dot marker coloring pages online to print that my kids love!!
I hope this list helps you get some creative juices flowing as you buy gifts for those wonderful kids in your life. I’d love to hear any favorites you have in the comments below!
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