The holiday season always brings out the emotions, and this year is full of "all the feels" as the moms on Instagram say. December 20 will wrap up 30 years in the classroom and I will be tucking away the Legos and the building materials for the last time once the kids leave for their long-awaited holiday breaks. I am taking the winter to enjoy some adventures with family and then will embark on whatever is next in education and STEM. I am only 52 and truly feel like I am going out on the top of my game. Enough about me though. You're in the Christmas crunch and came here for great gift ideas so let's get on with the list.
As a bit of a tribute to the stuff my students learn from every day, and to kind of recap all of the years that I have been doing the list, this is going to be an all-star edition featuring mainly items I have highlighted before with a few rookies entering the mix at the end.
Here's your starting lineup.
1. Lego-compatible bricks and baseplates $10-$25.
It is hard to imagine a world without Lego, but in 2003 the iconic company almost went bust. Luckily some crafty licensing deals not only saved the company but then gave the world fun character-themed sets like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and even the sets of Friends and Seinfeld. Those sets are great, but really fosters creativity and engineering in kids are tubs of un-themed Legos with no instruction books.
I am always a skeptic of buying off-brand, but I am sold on the generic Lego-compatible bricks and sets now being sold on Amazon. 500 Lego-brand bricks sell for $25 on Amazon. That same $25 buys 1500 generic bricks and without focusing on the tiny "LEGO" stamped on the "real ones", it's virtually impossible to tell them from the off-brand. Most come in convenient storage tubs as well.
All of the above holds true when shopping for baseplates and the savings can even be greater. At one point this year you could get ten 10"x10" generic baseplates for the price of 1 Lego-brand baseplate. There are lots of neat color variations and even some that have roadways and bodies of water printed on them. My favorite variation in the classroom are the ones with magnetic backing. For a fun accent in a kid's room or playroom, check out the ones with adhesive backing and easily create a Lego wall.
2. MakeDo cardboard construction tools $8-$88
There's a reason the cardboard box is in the toy hall of fame and that is due to its versatility to become absolutely anything. Now mix in some safe to use saws and hole-punches with heavy-duty fasteners, your kids can create everything from costumes to cat condos to forts so cozy you might not see them much until it is time to go back to school.
Everything we have ever bought from MakeDo in STEM has been super durable as we continue through year 8 of the program, those tools and screws remain in like-new condition. There are starter kits at under $10 to get you going. I personally would buy a couple of screwdrivers so it can be a fun building event with another friend and one of the 180 piece boxes of screws.
3. Worx ZipSnip cordless electric scissors $30.99 While we are on the subject of doing amazing things with cardboard boxes, I would be negligent in my duties if I did not include this magically safe and versatile cutter. We use these with students in first grade and above. The MakeDo tools include a cardboard saw rated for 3 years and up, and it's a whole lot safer than your kids cutting cardboard with a steak knife, but it can get noisy. The ZipSnip hums along through cardboard, posterboard, and construction paper. These will cut a lot of other household nuisances at Christmastime like the bulky plastic packaging and those twisties that hold toys in place inside that bulky plastic packaging.
4. Pyxel: A Coder's Best Friend robotic dog $76.49 Batting in the cleanup spot is the fun tech gift of this year's list. There are a lot of great robots out there for kids like Spheros, Ozobots, and the Tello drone. All have appeared on my lists but are over $100 in most cases. At just over $75, Pyxel allows for fun imaginative play while still allowing for some pretty high-end coding experiences. Educational Insights has loaded this critter up with some really silly antics like a dance routine, tail chasing, and lifting its leg to pee. It all adds to the fun and opens kids up to a world of coding with a very entry-level learning curve. For the money, Pyxel is a great deal when it comes to combining fun and all of the lessons from coding.
5. Fat Brain Toys Timber Planks $39.95 These 300-piece bags of blocks are some of the first materials we purchased when starting STEM from scratch 8 years ago. There isn't a single manipulative item that fosters more fun while working all corners of the brain, small motor skills, and developing social interactions. I haven't even mentioned the creative towers kids build or the cooperative play that comes from building houses, garages, and roads. Made of pine, these planks are super durable and have endured countless hours of use.
6. Straw Connector Building Sets $16.99-$49.99 It doesn't get much simpler than straws and 6-point plastic connectors, but it is pretty amazing what kids can do with them. Towers that touch the ceiling and straw igloos when students get rolling in STEM. What is really fun to see is when structures from the straws get combined with other materials like cardboard to become racetrack ramps or suspension bridges. Sizes range from 600 to 1200 pieces and come in convenient storage tubs. There are lots of varieties available at Amazon and most seem pretty similar.
7. Hot Wheels track $13.99 Here's a rookie making its debut to the holiday list, but it's definitely an all-star and doesn't get any more old school than just straight Hot Wheels track. Sets of 15 feet are currently available for under $15. Sure the themed sets are pretty fun and exciting but so is stretching out the track across the dining room while going up and over chairs, shooting through a box tunnel, and launching off a ramp built from an overturned laundry basket.
8. Hey Clay $4.99-$29.95 The best thing about Hey Clay is that it is neither sticky nor oily. That adds a ton of convenience when it comes to kids playing with the clay and also where you store their masterpieces. From just a few variations of animal kits a couple of years ago, Hey Clay now offers themed kits featuring everything from aliens to unicorns to Christmas characters to heavy construction equipment. Kids download the free app and then a code inside the box connects them to the correct directions. One caveat to understand here is that the clay is intended to be used once to create an object and doesn't really lend itself well to being taken apart or reused. With that being said, several objects can be made from one kit. The instructions are great. The materials are fun and easy to work with and the stuff kids can make is quite adorable.
9. Fail-a-bration $17.99 Every year I try to include a book and this is a great one. Authors and illustrators Brad and Kristi Montague teach us all, not just kids, to celebrate when things don't go quite right. It's only fitting that this book be included on this list, because every toy or item listed here is at its "funnest" you try something big and daring with them. When your extra special creation ends in epic disaster, throw a fail-a-bration instead of pouting or giving up.
The rest of the squad Here are some other all-star picks to round out this year's list and to round out your Christmas shopping.
Hot glue guns $7 and up These pair nicely with the Work ZipSnip cardboard cutters or just a box of popsicle sticks. Give kids as many tools to be creative as you can.
Entina Tina 2 3D printer $127.99 Over the years people have asked about 3D printers and I have been hesitant to recommend any because the learning curve can be really steep as can be the frustration. That all changes with the Tina 2 from Entina. We have these now in STEM and they are actually user-friendly enough that older kids should find them fairly easy to use. The other major factor for including this model is the price. $128 is less than what most of the robots mentioned earlier cost. Entina highly suggests that their brand of filament is used at all times in their printers. Factor in a couple of extra spools to your total purchase price.
Teeter Popper $44.95 Fat Brain Toys offers up this returning all-star and here is their description of what exactly this is.
Hand kids a Teeter Popper and walk away... but don't look away. Seeing the curiosity, the surprise, the concentration on their faces as they attempt new movements is something you don't want to miss. Teeter-popping excitement is catching, (so are their giggles).
KiwiCo Labs Subscription $24/month and up Each month your child receives a package in the mail that helps them build something awesome. Kiwi has grown into the industry leader in these subscription-type services and their activities are consistently engaging with high quality materials.
Save big money at Menards - $5 STEM bin Finally, if you are reading this in the "good ole Middle West" as a favorite Christmas carol of mine calls it, check your local Menards for a $5 STEM kit bin. There are all kinds of activities in them including fun stuff from companies like Goldieblox and Scientific Explorer. If you don't have a Menards nearby or you don't see the big bin, visit their website and see all of the super cheap, yet fun STEM toys available. Also, hurry to get that 11% rebate. Just be sure to send in those receipts.
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