By Courtney Cagle
In our tech saturated world, electronics seem to be the only gift to give, which greatly limits our ability to give individualized gifts that go beyond screens and buttons. This holiday season, let’s lead our kids toward empowering and educational gifts that foster creativity, intellectual growth, and overall health!
We’ve compiled several gift ideas you can give or make for your children this holiday season that can be empowering for the whole family. These gifts will help your children gain confidence and mental dexterity, improve hand and eye coordination, stretch themselves creatively, and inspire them to be better people, as well as provide opportunities for family time.
Put together an outdoor basket. Outdoor baskets are a great way to keep kids outside and active, and they will provide fun for the whole family. Here are some suggestions: water slides, climbing center kits, supplies to build forts, a ziplining kit, a swing, a trampoline, and there is much more; check out this website for supplies. Some other suggestions are: a gardening kit with seeds, trowel, and watering can; mud pie kit with plastic dishes and pans; a kite flying basket. Make it your own, and have fun with it!
Go on an outing to a museum, play, or musical. This is a great way to spend time as a family. It teaches kids about many different fields including art, music, history, science, and more! It all depends on what you decide to do as a family. It can help children to discover their interests and increases family connections. Make a disposable camera and scrapbook a part of the gift, and then work together as a family to make a memory book of the experience.
Create a building and construction basket. Help build your child’s hand-eye coordination in a fun way. In this basket, you can include toys like LEGO, K’Nex building sets, building blocks, and much more. Construction and building toys are fun and help kids develop their fine motor skills, while feeling accomplished by the creations they are making. These are for both boys and girls (Olden, 2018).
Put together a journal kit. Teach your kids their words matter, so much so they should be written and kept for posterity. Plus, writing in a journal each day helps to reduce stress, understand your thoughts and feelings better, know yourself better, resolve arguments, and solve problems effectively (Purcell, 2018). It’s best if we can get them started as soon as they are able to write a few words, usually first grade. Get them a journal, pen, and maybe some stickers (if they are younger). Have a time each day or week when the whole family can dedicate five or 10 minutes to writing in their journal.
Create a yoga gift basket. This basket can include a yoga mat, athletic clothes, a yoga block, a yoga video or membership at a gym or studio, a yoga towel, and any other yoga-necessities. Do yoga with them and learn the basics with them. Teach them how to meditate and use yoga as a tool to relax the mind and the body (Orden, 2018).
Create a fun puzzle basket. Give them puzzles of all shapes and sizes. Puzzles are great for the mind and help kids to pay attention to detail. You could make a fun scavenger hunt out of the puzzles for a fun game on Christmas. They can look for the puzzle pieces, and once they put the puzzle together, it will tell them where their gift basket of puzzles is hidden. It will get them excited to do puzzles (Orden, 2018).
Create a music basket online. Give them the option to download classical music, sheet music, and any other music online that is beneficial to helping them learn or progress in the instrument they play. If they don’t have an instrument but are interested in one, you can buy them one. It can be expensive, but there are options to obtain an instrument without breaking the bank. Instruments can often be rented or even purchased second hand. Playing a musical instrument is great for kids. It requires focus, dedication, and practice and is a phenomenal way to get your kids to do something more meaningful and explore their talents.
Put together a craft basket. This is a basket you could really go crazy putting together; the possibilities are endless. You could gear it more toward sewing, which could include needles, thread, sewing templates, and fabric. You could pack an art basket to include paper, colored pencils, paints, brushes, canvas, and an art book. Even younger children will enjoy a simplified version with crayons, glue, glitter, scissors, and paints. If there is anything crafty your children may be interested in, pack it up in a basket, and get their creativity flowing.
Create a book basket with empowering books. Give them books to educate them and inspire them to be better. We have great books that will empower your kids. For a book about media literacy, check out Petra’s Power to See: A Media Literacy Adventure. We have two body image books, one for boys and one for girls: Messages about me: Wade’s Story, A Boy’s Quest for Healthy Body Image and Messages About Me: Sydney’s Story, A Girl’s Journey to Healthy Body Image. Kids love technology, so if you do decide to give in and purchase electronics, make sure to include our book Noahs New Phone: A Story About Using Technology for Good in their book basket. This will help your kids understand how they can use technology to do good in the world. These books will help guide your children to making positive decisions that foster happiness.
Engaging stories, great discussions!There are so many innovative and personal gifts to give your kids this Christmas season. Take the time to give a gift that will help educate and inspire your children. Don’t feel pressured to buy them the usual tech just because, “That’s what everybody is getting this year.” Think outside the box and foster your child’s creativity!
For ideas of what to get them, check out these websites:
Great Educational Gifts for All Ages, 2017–18 Edition
Courtney Cagle is a senior at Brigham Young University-Idaho graduating in Marriage and Family Studies. She loves kids and wants to help create a safe environment for all children to learn and grow.
Citations:
Orden, T. V. (2018, January 14). Finding the Perfect Gift for Your Kids this Holiday Season. Retrieved July 7, 2018, from https://educateempowerkids.org/finding-perfect-gift-holiday-season/
Purcell, M. (2018, March 22). The Health Benefits of Journaling. Retrieved July 9, 2018, from https://psychcentral.com/lib/the-health-benefits-of-journaling/
