(no subject)

[rivka]

I have no ideas for Christmas this year. Zero.

Inspire me. What do you think Santa should bring my kids? What should I ask for?

Comments

[suzilem.livejournal.com]

My two-year-old granddaughter is getting an Aquadoodle mat. I suspect that Colin might be past that developmentally.

You need a gift certificate to a day spa. :-)

I think Alex might enjoy a gift certificate to a book store where she could pick out whatever she wanted without parental intervention.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Abigail Adams books for Alex, assuming she hasn't already read everything available. Maybe some kind of nice pen that she could practice her writing with.

Some sort of truck stuff for Colin. This Melissa & Doug set looks promising.

[eeyorerin]

My dad bought the World's Cutest Nephew, who is a few months older than Colin, this train set, and the look of pure joy on his face when he opened it was a sight to behold. Bridget reports that he also loves the Sit and Spin he got for his birthday as well, which would probably accommodate both Alex and Colin.

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

Luke has a couple of these kits that we got from a thrift store - Snap Circuits (http://www.elenco.com/SC-100.htm)
(http://pics.livejournal.com/ljgeoff/pic/000aeg70/)

I highly recommend them. We spent maybe an hour with him putting together one of the designs, and after that he just improvised, putting things together in all kinds of ways. It's very cool; maybe Alex would be interested?

[geminigirl]

Our kids each get a book and some Chanukah gelt on the first night of the holiday-we give them the book at candle lighting and deposit the gelt into their bank accounts.

Other stuff we've talked about this year-Automoblox (Colin might like these depending on how his fine motor skills are,) a Sit and Spin, a kid sized chair and table set, a Fisher Price or VTech camera for Naomi, a new doll (probably for each of them,) an easel, some art supplies, more Duplo blocks, more toy cars for their garage and dress up clothes.

We'll probably go prowl the toy store some night...maybe get a sitter and do it together, since Naomi is old enough to understand that we put things in the cart, pay for them and take them home.

[naomikritzer]

If Colin does not have a tub full of Play-Doh plus something like the Fun Factory (where you can squish it through a tube into various shapes) or the Dr. Drill & Fill (where you can play dentist), he needs one. Some parents HATE Play-Doh and I've never understood this, since breaking out the Play-Doh kept my kids happily occupied for hours when they were in the 2-4 age range. Heck, I could probably buy them some fresh Play-Doh now for a couple of hours of nostalgic fun and they're 7 and 10.

Alex is old enough for real Legos and I would say something similar -- if she doesn't already have a basic set with a bunch of blocks, she needs some.

She would also probably enjoy the card game Set, if you haven't got it already. Also Quirkle.

For the children

[ailbhe]

Given that I don't know what they have...

- A toy kitchen to share.
- A pedal-car or tractor, with a trailer.
- A globe which talks and/or lights up and/or shows constellations instead of continents when you push the right buttons.
- A mixed vat of Lego, with some base boards to build on.
- PlayDoh, Plasticine and Fimo; I treat playdoh as disposable, because it dries out (and gets into the carpets etc, but we don't have those any more) unless it's kept in very controlled circumstances, and we don't have that kind of house. Plasticine is much more forgiving. Fimo is fun because you get to make things to keep.
- We always got knickers, socks, a magazine, some sweets, some stationery, something edible but non-sugary, usually a new outfit to wear on Christmas Day
- Hama beads are quite fun; my two enjoy them and never get as far as ironing the designs into something solid, so relatively few sufficed for ages, and we also don't have loads of plastic shapes around the house which we'd feel too guilty to throw away.
- Pipecleaners. I still have very fond memories of my pipecleaner people, who had a language, an alphabet, a religion etc. Mind you, my children's pipecleaners are mainly families whose father is dead, these days.
- Cooking things; a sharp knife the right size, a tiny pan light enough to be used safely even when full, silicon food tongs (so that no part of them gets hot), apron, mini oven gloves, that sort of thing. That would be for Alex; Colin could have, um, a mini dishwashing set, with small basin, washing up brush, sponge, teatowel etc? Mini things one can really use are brilliant.
- A real painting set with canvases or canvas boards; there are all sorts of shops here which have these very cheaply, and though the paints aren't fabulous quality they are much better than most children's paints. Some of them come in a box which doubles as an easel.
- A spacehopper.
- An indoor foldaway trampoline.
- A full-on sticky-out tutu for the dressing up box, with matching shoes in both sizes (http://www.auroradancewear.co.uk/acatalog/crystal_tutu_skirt-detail.gif rather than the usual kind which drapes like a skirt). Our tutu said age 3 on it and was worn cheerfully over tshirts or pyjamas or underwear from when Emer was 2 until Linnea was 6, which was fine because it wasn't for the stage.
- A swing set for the garden.
- A hammock.
- A mini picnic table with parasol and two little seats. I've always wanted one.

[carbonel]

For you, do you have or want an ebook reader? That plus credit to purchase books?

For you

[ailbhe]

A babysitter, and a his'n'hers massage, spa and dinner voucher. Or, you know, cinema tickets. A night - or afternoon - in a hotel or B&B getting uninterrupted sleep (assuming you want sleep). Someone to take the children to something - the zoo? the movies? Build a bear? - so that you and M can have time at *home* alone together, even. A hammock. Earplugs. A home chocolate-making set with fancy thermometers and all. A single life-drawing class. A papermaking kit. Calligraphy pens. An ornate notebook in which to store sarcastic and/or cutting things you don't say out loud on the internet, one per page, and a set of coloured brush-pens to write in it. A family photo session at a decent photographers. A space elevator.

[matthewwdaly.livejournal.com]

When my nephew was just a little older than Colin but really into construction equipment, they were selling a computer game with a controller that sat on top of your keyboard and allowed you to virtually operate a front loader or bulldozer or what have you and perform various large-scale acts of construction. I suspect that it was this (http://www.amazon.com/Tonka-Dig-N-Rigs-Playset-Pc/dp/B00002SUW6) and that they don't seem to still be doing it. I hope at least someone still does that, because I will never give Z a present that he will love as much as he loved that program from what I'm told.

[ailbhe]

I'm really sad that Tonka Toys are so unapologetically sexist, because they make great toys.

[matthewwdaly.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear that. I was just looking over the Amazon page for the similar Tonka product that teaches carpentry skills (also out of print AFAICT), and there were comments about how someone's daughter just couldn't get enough of playing with it. But it's true that I couldn't say how many cues she might have had to ignore in order to do so.

Here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxj0fwY-sXw)'s a video of the gameplay I found on YouTube. The foreman is definitely a white guy, but I note that the hands playing the game have nail polish on them.

[ailbhe]

Yeah, my daughters, and my sisters' daughters, and my friends' daughters, would all love playing with them. Some of us emailed Tonka to say so, but the Tonka website is still all about sons, and so are the boxes of the toys. They're not impossible to find second-hand though.

[tendyl.livejournal.com]

My dad kept all my Tonka Trucks and bought a few more at garage sales over the years. My daughter loves them! So yes, buy second-hand or just remove them from the boxes when you give them to the wee one.

[ailbhe]

It occurs to me that you could check out episodes of Outnumbered on YouTube and if you like it get the box set of the first three series. I love it.

[tassie-gal.livejournal.com]

Alex is 5 and Coin 2?
How about getting Alex a massive globe as she seems to like geography so much? As for Colin - maybe Duplo?
I'm useless I dont have kids!

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

Does Alex have a bike, and could she ride it where you live?

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

Also... The boys just spent all afternoon playing with this:
http://www.duluthtrading.com/store/departments/-specialty-shops/toys-and-games-shop/59024.aspx?feature=product_2

We also got the expansion set.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

This is a reprint of a post that I wrote in 2004. This guideline served us VERY well on planning Christmas as the girls were growing up:

I don't recall if I've written about this before, but I thought it might be helpful to other parents to expound a little bit about the five gifts policy that Rob and I use for Christmas, which we have found to be very helpful. My sister Betsy told me about it, and I am sorry to say I have forgotten the author she got the idea from herself. Every Christmas, we get each of our girls five things:

Something to read
Something to love
Something to do with a parent
Something to make them artistic
Something to make them active

It's a very flexible guideline, and we find it helps keep us from going overboard on gifts. In fact, some of the gifts can be very modest indeed. It makes us give some thought to the philosophy behind our gift-giving.

Something to read, well that's obvious. Don't forget magazine subscriptions as well as books--kids love getting stuff in the mail.

Something to love. This teaches nurturing and other responsible social behavior. This could be a doll, or a pet, or a plant, although we've stretched the definition at times to something like a cozy bathrobe that encourages snuggling with mom or dad.

Something to do with a parent. This can be very modest: a puzzle or a board game. Use your imagination: you might give a set of gardening tools and a pack of seeds, and then you can create a garden together. Once it was tickets to see "Cinderella" at the Children's theatre.

Something to make them artistic: paints, paper, crayons, Spirograph, modeling clay, beads, knitting and needlepoint kits, simple musical instruments like a recorder or penny whistle, etc.

Something to make them active: a ball, scooter, stilts, etc.

So, I offer this to all you other parents out there. This has worked really well for us.

[tendyl.livejournal.com]

I liiike that list! Thank you.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm a total lurker on this site, never commented before, but I have something that is super easy for you to make, and both Alex and Colin would probably love it. Did Alex's preschool ever make goop? I teach preschool (but mixed age, so have kids from around 2.5-5), and they all BEG to play with this every day. We also made quite a bit of money selling it at a fair at my old job. Here's the recipe:

2 cups water mixed with 2 cups glue (I usually use Elmer's white glue). If you want color, I've found that liquid watercolors (like from Colorations) are great. Food coloring also works, but the bottles are so small that it's hard to get enough to make the colors really vibrant.

In a separate bowl, mix 2 cups HOT water (should be very hot) and 4 tbsp Borax. Make sure the Borax dissolves completely.

After both these are mixed, pour the Borax solution in with the glue and water, then knead it with your hands until you have a big glob, and the leftover water just seems like water, without any glue or anything. Take the glob out of the water and set it in a container with a lid. Let dry for 20 minutes-1 hour, or however long you need. Then play!

It doesn't last forever, but it actually lasts a good long time. My kids like to cut it with playdough toys, like scissors, cookie cutters, or pizza cutters. SUPER fun, and a great sensory experience because the texture is so different from playdough.

[toadnae.livejournal.com]

Books which Alex might like - the Betsy/Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace. They do a great job of growing the complexity with the characters.

For Colin's age, I got my niece a bat/teeball combo, but the ball was attached to the tee. It simply swung around in a circle. I think this might be the one I got her: http://www.amazon.com/Playskool-Swing-N-Score-Baseball/dp/B000G6Y6R6/ref=sr_1_43?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1290378152&sr=1-43

This was nice because it could be played indoors with relatively little potential for actual damage to things or people. She loved the thing.