Play and Learn Every Day

Educational Christmas Gift Ideas for a 6 Year Old

10:03 PM

Christmas is coming! It's one of my favourite times of year, and I absolutely love choosing the perfect gifts for both of my children. Ethan is six and he is a real little thinker, I would love to know everything that goes on in his head all day! He is very inquisitive and wants to know how everything works, he loves building and creating and has a fantastic imagination when he immerses himself in his play. So of course I'm trying to find some great educational toys to challenge him and keep him playing and learning every day.

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Creative Development Gifts

Ethan loves to create things and change things from their original form to become something else. We have had a few Aquabeads sets before, but never a 3D one! So Ethan is going to be so excited about this Cars 3 3D Lightening McQueen Aquabeads set, he is great at following instructions to follow through with a task, so I will be interested to see how this set's instructions will differ. He's going to love creating a 3D car and then being able to play with it once it has dried!

He will also be getting this Transforming Dinosaur toy that he can change from a robot to a dinosaur. This way he'll be able to use it in his imaginative play to be a part of all sorts of different situations, I look forward to hearing the stories that he comes up with!

Some other ideas of toys to help develop creativity would be an art set, a play dough set or some musical instruments.

Language and Literacy Gifts

Ethan is now in Year One at school and he is starting to bring home writing homework as well as just writing for fun, so it's great to keep all of his writing things together in this great Personalised Pencil Case from Bags of Love. I was able to choose different photos for each side of his pencil case as well as add text to it. It's so extremely well made out of neoprene (wet suit) material, so I know that it will withstand being through around a bit!

Some other ideas for literacy development gifts would include a good set of books at his reading level, a set of books for us to read him at bedtime, or a set of fun character pencils.

Mathematical Development Gifts

We are big fans of all sorts of number games and try to incorporate problem solving into all sorts of activities, so I am really excited by this PLYT game that we've discovered. It sounds absolutely fantastic as it is adaptable to each of the players in the game, so Ethan will be able to be challenged at his own level even as his math skills improve. I can't wait to get started and watch as his maths abilities continue to grow.

Some other great maths development toys for six year olds would be counters, sorting and matching toys, or a Bingo game.

STEM Development Gifts

We are already loving our SmartGlobe Explorer AR which we reviewed last month. It's fantastic for learning about the world, including facts about different countries, about the layers of the earth's core and even about space. It would make the perfect Christmas gift.

Some other toys that help develop science, technology and engineering skills would be a circuit kit, a telescope or a coding toy.

Physical Development Gifts

Ethan's very favourite thing to do is to build Lego sets, so he is going to love this Lego City Coast Guard Sea Rescue Plane. Lego is great on so many levels, but one of the benefits is fine motor skills which are so important at Ethan's age. He does a lot of writing in school now, and that will only increase as the years go by, so it's great that one of his favourite activities, building Lego, helps to build up those hand muscles and improve his writing skills as well. He's going to love this set to play with when it's finished as well, a plane that lands in the water, what could be more fun than that?

Some other great physical development toys would be a sports set, a target game, or a fine motor game.

Personal and Social Development Gifts

At six years old Ethan's competitiveness has really increased, so we definitely need to work on his understanding of playing fairly. So this Fairy Snakes and Ladders and Ludo Game Set from Orchard Toys will be perfect. I love that these classic games have a little twist with a fairy theme, and I think that it will be a great way to show Ethan that a lot of these games are pure luck of the dice and if you land on a snake or a ladder. So that he can learn not to get so upset when he doesn't win.

Ethan will also be getting this Superpower Superhero Set from Early Years Resources. He is going to love that it's a set of superheroes that he can make up his own little stories with. They're also great for talking about different emotions and their different personalities will be a fantastic starting point for conversations and dealing with tricky situations that Ethan may encounter. I can't wait to explore all of the things that we will do with these.

Some other social development gifts would include an emotions game or a book about understand other people like We're All Wonders.

I just can't wait for Christmas to play with all of these toys with Ethan!

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* This is a review post, we were sent these items in order to play with them and write our honest opinions.*

4 years old

Educational Christmas Gift Ideas for a 4 Year Old

2:26 PM

Christmas is coming! And as always, I am on the lookout for fun and educational gifts for my two children. Ivy is nearly 4 years old, she is very talkative and inquisitive. She loves running around, whizzing around on her scooter and singing at the top of her lungs! A lot of her play requires nothing at all, but when we do sit still she loves playing games and getting creative. Here are a few of the gifts that I have chosen for her, that are both fun and educational, so that she can play and learn every day.

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Creative Development Gifts

Ivy absolutely loves to paint. She recently had a magazine that came with little figures and a paint set and it was the first thing that she had to do. She carefully painted the different parts of the characters in a way that I hadn't seen her focus before. So this Frozen pottery set from Sports Direct will be perfect for her.

Some other things that she would definitely love and would develop her creativity and imagination would be a play dough set, small world play set, or a karaoke machine.

Language and Literacy Gifts

I can not believe that Ivy will be starting school next year, but we do need to keep it in mind and start preparing her in fun ways. This Alphabet Acorns Activity set from Learning Resources is the perfect way to start. The set is adorable, she is going to love these teeny tiny little acorns, and I love that they have both the capital and lower case letters to help with letter recognition as well as a tiny object that starts with each letter sound to fit inside. This game of opening and closing acorns and finding the corresponding objects will definitely be one that we play a lot!

Some other great language and literacy gift ideas for Ivy would be a writing set, especially something that a white board or chalk board that can easily be wiped away, a set of books to read together (I've got her this Meg and Mog set as it's her current favourite) or a little computer to help with phonics and letter recognition.

Mathematical Development Gifts

At nearly 4 Ivy is doing really well with her counting skills, so now we're ready to start putting those skills into practise. Games like this Cheeky Monkey Game from Orchard Toys put some problem solving skills into the mix and it's just the sort of challenge that Ivy needs at this stage. Now she will have to decide whether to take risks or to play it safe with the bananas that she already has. Plus it's a very cool 3D game board, unlike any other games that we have already!

Some other great toys for math development are an abacus, some fun numbers to play with, or a counting and sorting set.

STEM Development Gifts

For developing Ivy's knowledge of the world around her, what could be more perfect than the Sylvanian Families Starry Point Lighthouse. It will not only be a starting point for talking about the sea and the use of lighthouses in guiding ships, but it also contains a projector which can illuminate the night sky on her ceiling. I can not wait to see her face light up when she sees the stars all over her room. Such a great way to talk about space and constellations and I'm sure open up Ivy's mind to a world of other questions to investigate.

A few other great gifts to develop science, technology, engineering and math knowledge would be some building toys like Lego, a great magnet set, or even a programable robot toy like this Code-a-pillar!

Physical Development Gifts

Ivy is a very active little girl, so we've got loads of outdoor toys to keep her busy in the summer. It's trickier in the winter when it's cold though. So I'll be encouraging her indoor activities with this Personalised Sports Bag from Bags of Love that she can use for ballet or even for swimming. It's the perfect size to fit her ballet clothes and shoes (and even a snack!) and I choose some sweet photos of her doing ballet to put on each side of it. I was even able to put text on it, so I added her name. She is going to absolutely love putting her things in this bag, and she'll be able to carry it herself easily on her back.

We're also looking to develop Ivy's fine motor skills, so these tools are perfect for playing with, or a threading set would be great too!

Personal and Social Development Gifts

One thing that Ivy can never have too many of is dolls, she absolutely loves them. This Tiny Tears Doll from John Adams will be perfect for her as it's so life like. She will be able to brush her hair and bring her to the potty. I like that she's a doll that looks her age, rather than a baby. This will make it great for me to reinforce the things that we're working on by using Ivy's Tiny Tears doll. Ivy will be able to sit still with her doll and brush her hair while I am brushing hers, and she'll be able to remind her doll to go to the toilet when she needs it.

Some other ideas for toys to develop personal and social skills are toys to encourage conversation about emotions, or a toy that they have to care for to keep it well like a Fur Real Friend.

I can not wait for Christmas now, Ivy is going to be thrilled with these toys, and I am confident that the house isn't going to be full of toys that she'll never play with again. Happy Christmas shopping!

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3 1/2 years old

Squire's Christmas Circus

7:00 AM

3 1/2 years old

The Kindness Elves

8:54 PM

Christmas is coming!!! I am a fan of all things Christmas related, but I'll be honest with you, the one tradition that we have not taken up is the Elf on the Shelf. I don't know why, it just doesn't seem like something that would suit our family. But I've seen these sweet little elves around for the past couple of years, and they're a little bit different, they are just what we've been looking for.

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We have got a lot of Christmas traditions, but none are quite like The Kindness Elves. The Kindness Elves are so different to all of our other traditions, they're not about more gifts and goodies for my kids, they're all about sharing with others. There is also no pressure to do them a certain way, you can make their routine suit your family. Maybe they will be there every day in December, maybe just the 12 days of Christmas or maybe just a few days here and there, it's completely up to you.

The Kindness Elves arrive in the cutest little box, which opens up to reveal their little house. There are two Kindness Elves in each set, a boy and a girl. You can choose from different coloured clothing and skin tones for your set. Once they arrive, the fun begins!

The day that The Kindness Elves arrived in our house they got straight to work (but you may want their first visit to be introducing themselves, maybe give the children a chance to name them and learn a little bit about what they are going to be doing.)

Our Kindness Elves arrived with a note asking Ethan and Ivy to collect some of their old toys to give to charity. They were holding some baby toys with the note, which made it easier for Ivy (who hasn't learned to read yet) to understand what it was they were asking of her.

The children happily set to work straight away, taking their Kindness Elves with them (there are no rules about not being able to touch these little elves, they're also really fun to play with!) and collecting lots of our old baby toys that they no longer play with and putting them into bags.

In our house I think that The Kindness Elves probably won't come every day, especially as we've started a bit early, but I do have quite a few other ideas, which I think that the children will be very good at helping out with, and which will help them to understand how wonderful it is to be kind to people and how it makes you feel when you share and help others.

We will definitely be collecting some of our old winter clothes to donate to charity, we will also be baking for neighbours and friends. It also gives us a chance to do so many of the things that we see, but never get around to doing. I'm keeping a list of all these different charities and campaigns and really hoping that we can get to them all.

Not all of the ideas need to take a long time, Ethan's school have mentioned that they need more tissues as it's cold season, so one morning the children will find The Kindness Elves surrounded by tissues and they'll just have to go to the cupboard to pick up a few boxes for school.