Christmas is Coming!
With Christmas right around the corner (can you believe it?!) I wanted to share a few really inexpensive gifts that you can your kiddos. We all know they have the newest Playstation or Nintendo Switch on their list, but there are also really reasonable gifts that you can add to their list too!
Books
I LOVE books. I LOVE libraries. I am a little obsessed with checking out lots of books at one time and I feel like any questions or problems I come across as a parent, I try to find a book to help guide me through. Does anyone else wish there was just one Parenting Handbook that came home with our babies from the hospital?!
In honor of our recent election, I thought this book was appropriate to share. My kids had a lot of questions and if I am being completely honest, I don’t stay up to date on the news or who is running for office. I liked that Voting with a Porpoise helped me explain and open up the lines of communication with my younger kiddos about what an election means and what it is all about.
In this book, the voting process is brought to life for children of all ages when a charming underwater community comes together to illustrate the importance of participating in your community. A pod of dolphins can’t find enough food in the reef where they have always lived and are faced with an important decision: stay in their long-time home or move on to more fruitful waters. Looking to the group to vote on what their future would hold, the pod’s leader, Finn, doesn’t want Petey to vote because “he’s just a porpoise.” However, when Finn finds himself with a 6-pack ring wrapped around his beak, which Petey helps him remove, he has a change of heart. With Petey’s vote, the pod swims off for a new reef where they happily find plenty of food and a prosperous new life.
On one end of my parenting journey I have a 3-year-old and First Grader who this book is perfect for. On the other end, I have a son who is almost 10 and reaching, dare I say it, PUBERTY! We have checked out many books from the library on dare I say it… Sex and boys bodies that are age appropriate for them.
I know a lot of my friends haven’t had the talk yet with kids my same ages, but I have always been very open with my kids and just want to have as open a line of communication about all things with my boys as I can. My next thoughts have been getting books on Puberty. Since I am a woman and I have all boys, there is a lot of gray area for me on the topic. So I found a book that is thorough and easy to understand for parents! It walks you through puberty, what your kids are going through, boys or girls, and what to look for when your child is going through Puberty from pre-puberty and every stage after.
Going through puberty in 2018 is very different from it was when you and I were 12. Social media, cyber bullying, increasing environmental toxins, and new brain science studies mean that most parents have yet to catch up with what it really means to be a teenager in now vs. then. Dr. Kowal-Connelly’s book helped me navigate those tricky waters! I liked that it gave me an overview, so that when I do get age appropriate books from the library for Cody, I can feel like I know what I am talking about when he asks me alllll the questions!
I also love going to the library sales and you can get books for as little as a QUARTER! Great time to stock up! You can also check out some of the other books I have read over the years for even more ideas.
Toys
Techno Kids Stack & Spin Gears Mega Set
Are there any future mechanical engineers out there? With The Learning Journey’s Techno Kids line of products, kids as young as two years old can start exploring those engineering skills! One exciting addition to this line is the Techno Kids Stack & Spin Gears Mega Set, which lets kids build and then play with the toy they just built! Simply connect the base plates in any configuration, then add-on the gears. The two different gear sizes allow kids to stack and sort in any configuration they like, to create an amazing kid-powered machine! These gears are perfect for open-ended exploration of simple mechanics, all while building confidence as kids design gears that really work!
Made from durable plastic, the mega set comes with 36 colorful gear pieces and 24 base plates. The exclusive set sells only at Costco for a limited time for just $16.99! My 3-year-old and my 9-year-old and his friends also enjoyed playing with this toy! There are endless possibilities your kids can come up with and configure.
Who Did it
We have 3 boys. 3 BOYS! Life is crazy, it is loud and it’s a whole lot of FUN! We love games and dance parties and anything that makes us laugh. If you are like us, add this one to the list! I mean the cards are stored in the Poop Emoji LOL!! How great is that!!?
Players race to get rid of their cards so they can avoid the blame of owning the animal that pooped. Quickly find your card, be the first to throw it down, and then blame someone else! I liked that this was easy enough for my littlest guy to play along, but fun for the entire family! It’s quick so it’s a great one to keep in the car or suggest for the kids to play while they are eating for dinner to get finished. Anything that allows you to be silly and gets you to laugh is a plus in my book!
At the end of the day, Christmas is not about the gifts, although it is a lot of fun to give and receive so I hope this will give you some ideas! I love the idea of gifting adventures instead of gifts as well.
One thing that has been great for my kids over the last several years, is that we go through our play room and donate all the toys that we don’t play with to make room for the new toys that will be coming in. I think it teaches them how blessed they are and to always give back. They have seemed to enjoy it as well.
I would love to hear how you celebrate the holidays and if there is anything that you would add to this list!
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