Gift Recommendations for children ages 0-2 years old

Lalaboom Rainbeads

These are one of the most versatile toys we have every picked up! The colourful beads are uniquely designed to grow with your child and embody the principles of the Montessori method, inviting children to learn at their own pace through experimentation and play. Pop, twist, mix, stack, and lace along 5 STEP-BY-STEP activities designed to develop essential motor skills

It is a wonderful open ended loose part set so your children can experiment with building, matching colours, threading the beads, stacking and more. 

Domestic Animal Family Match

 These cards have clear detailed photographic images of real domestic animal adults and their young. There are 14 pairs of smooth and tactile beech plywood square tiles that are easy for small hands to grip, rotate and turn over. 

Children will enjoy playing whilst developing several aspects of learning, including descriptive language, mathematical language, collaborative play, fine motor skills, imaginative play and understanding the wider world around them

What is great about these cards is you can use them identify animals and show the different parts of the life cycle. You can ask children to identify the animal or match them with figurines, ask where you would find it, match which animals belong together "mommy and baby" or even which ones are inside vs outside animals.  You can also flip them over and make it a memory match game!

Monkey Around Game

This is a brand-new game for us this year and it is a huge amount of fun! It is all about movement and having fun so both your children would be entertained. It has cards that prompt you do to movements together like high fives and simple gross motor development activities like hoping, balancing, jumping, etc.

Let's Begin 2pc Puzzles

Crocodile Creek Let’s Begin puzzles are perfect for a toddler’s very first learning experience! Each puzzle set is cleverly packaged in a sturdy canister that holds ten 2-piece colorful puzzles. All puzzles pieces have colored edging on front side that will help them complete the puzzle but will also allow them to learn their first colors. If puzzles are flipped on the backside, they can quickly start to match up pieces in a reverse fashion.

Rainbow Blocks Set of 24 

These are my go to recommendation for blocks! They are a set of 24 rubberwood blocks in 6 shapes and with 4 different transparent coloured acrylic inserts for building, comparing, shape recognition, colour mixing and for use on a light panel. 

Whale Music Fountain by Hape

Make bathtime magical with this wonderful musical whale fountain! Children can choose between watching the fountains dance to music or play each whale like the keys of a piano! Simply stick to the bottom of the bath with the attached suction cup and have fun!

Dena Rainbow

Have you ever thought of a toy that grows and evolves with your baby? The Dëna Rainbow is a wonderful loose part that has a design that is 100% safe silicone material, your little one can use it from a very young age (+0 m), adapting it to their developmental stage and their needs, from a teether to a baking mould. Each rainbow includes twelve multi-coloured pieces (they are also available in the same colours as a set of 6)

You may only see a rainbow, but children find endless possibilities for play and learning. They are fun and safe toys that facilitate free play and creativity!

Dimpl by Fat Brain Toys

 

Little fingers can't resist these beautiful buttons! Built safely into the sturdy plastic frame are five vibrant silicone bubbles in varying sizes and colors. It's so simple, yet oddly, so brilliantly fun, fascinating, and impossible to put down.

 

Push them all the way in to pop them through to the other side. Delve into the simple delight of poking them with your fingers and build motor skills. It's a perfect sensory adventure kids can take with them everywhere they go!

 

 

Gift Recommendations for children ages 3-5 years old

Rainbow Pebbles Activity Set

This Rainbow Pebble Activity set is perfect for early childhood development and play! It is ideal for developing fine motor skills while allowing for creativity. How many pebbles can you stack before they topple over? Encourage visual perception, sorting, counting, colour recognition, sequencing, stacking and more!

The wonderful tactile experience of the smooth, rubbery pebbles in six different colors will delight the senses. Set includes 48 plastic pebbles in 4 sizes and 6 colors and 12 double-sided full-colour activity cards!

Excellerations Singing Tree Marble Run

The Marble Singing Tree is a wonderful toy that is the gift that keeps on giving! Make the tree sprout an array of notes simply by rolling the different sized balls from the top of the track and be enchanted with soothing tones and mesmerizing movement. This toy will help to develop hand-eye coordination in young learners while being fun and interactive! Children can experiment learning different tones, discussing colour and cause & effect as they change the petals to different positions or remove them entirely - does it change the tone?

The singing tree marble run is made of wood so it's a durable toy that can be used and enjoyed again and again

Kinderfeets Balance Board Natural

The Kinderfeet Balance Board that was created to help children develop a sense of balance, stimulate their vestibular system, and gain a deep sense of awareness of their body! Watch the child’s imagination take over once their Kinderboard arrives. It becomes a seesaw, a balance board, a slide, a step stool, a boat, a resting place, a doll bed, a puppet stage, a tunnel and many more opportunities for them to explore. The possibilities are endless—and truly up to them!

The German beechwood Kinderboard is Dutch designed and is excellent for stimulating child development—both physical and cognitive—and offers open-ended play opportunities for children of all ages! The Kinderboard has water-based lacquer and can be used both indoors and out, perfect for rainy and sunny days at home or in a school environment.

Alphabet Island Game

Alphabet Island is a new game that is a fun, fast-paced way to build letter recognition skills! It is all about building early literacy skills and having fun as you play. 

Join the island adventure where players race to match upper- and lowercase letters. Watch out for the hungry shark, or you'll lose a letter! Keep your eyes peeled for the helpful crab and tricky starfish. Collect the most letters, and win!

For an added challenge, flip the lowercase letter discs over to reveal picture words, and match beginning sounds to uppercase letters. A fun, fast-paced way to build letter recognition skills!

Magna-Tiles Clear Colours 32 pcs

The Magna-Tiles® Clear Colors 32-Piece Set is a wonderful essential set for any child as they spark hours of unstructured, free play in children! There is no right or wrong way to use them – instead, this vital play encourages children to explore their imagination while helping them develop essential skills, such as: Colour theory, shape recognition, matching, design and architecture, fine and gross motor skills, balance and symmetry, problem-solving , etc.

Monster Math Scale by Hape

Make math fun with the Monster Math Scale by placing the little monster weights on the scales and join this funny monster family to learn about basic mathematics including weights, measurements and balance! 

Includes 9 larger weights and 11 small, soft weights. Great for learning about simple addition and subtraction, and provides a perfect introduction for children to the concepts of weight, measurement, and balance.

My Rainbow Globe

 

This was one of my favourite new products we brought in this year! My Rainbow Globe features beautiful bright colours and so many learning opportunities all rolled into one toy. A puzzle and sorting toy combined, children can use their creativity to sort colours, or design patterns filling up the puzzle with their favourite coloured wooden or felt balls, both of which are included in this set.

 

This is perfect aid for recognising colours and developing those fine motor skills. As children become more confident the Rainbow globe can be used to engage children to develop early math skills such as practice counting, pattern making, fractions and other basic mathematical concepts.

 

The set includes 90 wooden balls, 90 felt balls and 4 large wooden puzzle piece bases.

 

My First Microscope by Educational Insights

This microscope is a wonderful way to get preschoolers excited about science and introduce them to the miracles of magnification! Magnify any small object – flat or dimensional – at 8x with this real, working microscope designed especially for little kids!

Learning Skills:

• Encourages scientific exploration
• Rewards curiosity
• Introduces kids to a key scientific tool

 

Gift Recommendations for children ages 6-8 years old

 

 Rainbow Lab Playing with Color

This unique activity set merges STEM and art as it is designed to encourage open-ended play, trial-and-error exploration, teach problem-solving, and allow children to lead their play experience. There's 24 experiments intended to help kids apply STEAM principals to the world around them.

Start your journey by understanding colour, then investigate with a bunch of colour absorption experiments and then explore colour & craft together. This set encourages hands-on fun and unplugged creative play!

Each set contains:
24 STEAM experiments
3 x food colouring bottles (yellow, red, blue)
2 x stackable rainbow crayons (8 colours)
1 x white crayon
1 x pencil
1 x paint brush
2x pop out sheets

 

KEVA Brain Builders by Mindware

 

Approach building with KEVA from a whole new angle with this interactive STEM tool! Brain Builders combines 20 KEVA planks with a set of double-sided puzzle cards. Each stimulating card features a 2-D challenge on one side and its solution on the other. The goal is to recreate 2-D patterns into 3-D structures.

Manipulate your KEVA planks to successfully duplicate the balance, proportion, composition and geometry featured on each card. Once you think you've solved the blueprint, flip it over to check the solution—try to resist the urge to peek! As each build becomes more challenging, patience and confidence is gained through trial and error. 

Dig It Up! Dinosaur Excavation Kit

This is the perfect kit for an aspiring paleontologists! This kit includes everything a little paleontologist needs to explore: 3 big dig eggs, an explorer’s vest and 5 tools based on real paleontologist instruments. Read the fun-fact cards to learn about the dinos you uncover. How long ago did they live? What did they eat? Did you know that “Stegosaurus” means “roofed lizard”? It’s an exciting discovery set – perfect for little dinosaur lovers!

I AM Puzzles

These unique animal shaped puzzles are fun and educational! 
Each puzzle comes with an educational Fun Facts insert. On one side is a fold-out puzzle image to hang as a poster or use as a reference. On the flipside is a wealth of amazing facts!

Perfect for any child who loves animals and is curious about learning more!

Two Bros Bows

The perfect combo set to get you started on your Two Bros Bows  adventure and bring out your inner Robin Hood! Get outside and run around with this kid tested, mother approved bow and arrows set.

Two Bros Bows provides children with endless opportunities for discovery-based play and expressing themselves. Through touch and sight they build their coordination skills, creating obstacles and shooting ranges for longer, more difficult shots. They can also use this amazing product for imaginative play, like becoming a medieval hero. Children will practice their social and emotional skills while working together to find the perfect spot for the target and competing to see who the best shot is. Two Bros Bows is the perfect product to get kids outside for active play!

Each Two Bros Bows  Deluxe Package comes with 1  decorated bow, 2 arrows, and a trifold hangable target. 

Empower Flower

It's all the little things combined that make you extraordinary! This craft allows you to celebrate yourself with a stunning work of art as unique and special as you are. Create the flower design with iridescent foil, gold foil, and colorful strips, then personalize it with 250+ words that describe YOU. Finish it off with a shaker bubble filled with metallic confetti to let your personality shine.

Sparkle Formations 

Everything you need for this easy and fun science project is included. You can watch the process of crystallization over the course of 24 hours as your three animals grow amazing crystal spines on their backs. They’re a spectacular feat of science – display them in your favorite space when you’re done for a brilliant pop of color.

Student Desktop Globe

This ten-inch acrylic globe with geopolitical boundaries gives you an informative overview of Earth’s surface right at your fingertips. Find answers to questions such as: Where is Tanzania located? Which sea surrounds New Zealand? What’s bigger: Europe or Africa? What is above the Arctic Circle? Country borders and geographical features of the individual landmasses can be grasped intuitively while you learn about the useful features of the globe such as latitude lines, longitude lines, and time zones. Explore your planet with the Student Desk Globe!

I hope reading through this guide you found some great ideas!