Great Gifts Ideas for our Children this Holiday Season
One of the first things to look for in finding a good toy is the age recommendation on the toy packaging. Manufactures spend time and money researching fun and appropriate toys for different age groups. Looking for the age recommendation is one way to find a toy for your child.
Another way to find a good toy is to consider your child’s interests. If your child loves to build things then building blocks, Lincoln Logs or Legos/Duplos are a great way to encourage the engineer (and support early math and science concepts) in your child. Plus, these types of toys encourage imagination. Blocks can be a tower, a road, a city, a castle, a train and many more ideas. Small dolls that represent families and occupations can also lead to strong imaginative play. And, these characters can be added to vehicles and block communities for longer and more detailed play.
Encouraging Your Child’s Imagination
All young children enjoy imitating adult activities so play items such as tools, play-food and utensils, and costumes may be a fun way for your child to explore real life situations. Young children can spend hours with simple activities such as paints, crayons, and play dough. Play dough can be home-made or store bought and what a child can create with play dough is endless. A container holding play dough, a few cookie cutters, and a small rolling pin would make a perfect gift.
Encouraging Daily Movement
Another idea for gift giving is a toy that encourages movement. With child obesity on the rise it is important to consider the amount of exercise your child gets on a daily basis. Items such as scarves for dancing, mini-trampolines, trikes, or mini jungle-gyms are ways to encourage your child to move. It is also easy to purchase a large mat for rolling and tumbling and even a pull up bar that is secured lower to the ground will help with upper body strength. Or purchasing a family pass to the recreation center and/or pool will support everyone in the family to move.
