2023 Holiday Gift Guide
This is quite possibly one of my favorite things I’ve ever put together. I’ve gathered 10 educational and creative gift lists and I think you guys will love them! I have a mix of gifts for all ages - I tried to keep the items within a reasonable price range AND I have mostly items we’ve actually used on the lists. Now, there are a few higher priced items and some we haven’t tried out yet, but they are ones that are either on our wish list or I know they come recommended! I hope you find this helpful and if you have any questions - don’t hesitate to reach out. Under each category I have at least 10 ideas + sometimes more!
ART MAKES ME SMART MEMBERSHIP: Hands down, this is our current favorite go-to for art tutorials!
PAINT MARKERS: We recently discovered these and they’re my kids new favorite thing to color with.
PAINT BY NUMBER: If you’re looking for a ready-to-go paint kit, I picked this one out for my animal loving girls.
WATERCOLOR SET: We love this set because it’s easy to take on the go, but still functions perfectly around our home.
CHALK PASTELS: These are messy, but some of our favorite creations have been done with this medium.
DRAW, PAINT, SPARKLE: Recently, we’ve been using lots of Deep Space Sparkle projects so this book made my wish list.
WATERCOLOR PENCILS: I love to use these too! They pair well with WATERCOLOR PENS.
THE WATERCOLOR SCHOOL: With all these watercolor supplies, this art school is FULL of tutorials!
ART CADDYS: Wouldn’t it be so cute to fill these up with supplies for your little artists? We love a good caddy!
TODDLER PAINT BRUSHES: This set is nice because it has big brushes, lids to reduce spills, and reusable paint pallets.
WATERCOLOR DETAIL PAINT BRUSHES: The right tools for little details.
FAVORITE ACRYLIC PAINT BRUSHES: We’ve tried a few and really like these ones.
TEMPERA PAINT: A must-have in any little artist’s home. Don’t be afraid to mix these with a water to make them last longer!
COLOR PENCILS + SKETCH BOOK: These are my go-to recommendations for quality supplies. We like the 7x10 size for sketching and notebooking.
AWESOME SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS FOR KIDS: This is a handy book to have on hand for science lovers!
GENERATION GENIUS SCIENCE SUBSCRIPTION: You could skip everything else on this list and get this because it is packed with so many fun experiments!
GLOW-IN-THE-DARK CRYSTAL GROWING KIT: I mean, what kid doesn’t love growing crystals?
MAGIC SAND: This hydrophobic sand is so fun to play and learn with!
ROCK TUMBLER: My kids went through a rock phase and absolutely loved making our own river rocks.
THE ELEMENTS BOOK: I wish I had something like this when I was learning about the elements.
SPACE SCIENCE KIT: We have a similar one to this, but I like this one better.
MAGICAL MIXING HANDS ON SCIENCE: My early elementary kids loved this kit!
ELECTRICITY & MAGNETISM EXPERIMENT KIT: Another fun experiment set!
ERUPTING VOLCANO FOR LITTLES: A must-do at least once!
TV SCREEN MICROSCOPE: How neat are these? The TV screen makes it so much easier to see what’s under the lens!
THE BIG BOOK OF BLOOMS: The Big Book series is one of our very favorite series of books in our school room.
CAMO ADVENTURE SET: My little boys love our adventure sets like this!
BUTTERFLY GARDEN: We’ve done this kit multiple times and it’s so magical.
POCKET MICROSCOPE: These tiny microscopes are perfect to hang on a backpack and take out in nature.
SPROUT & GROW KIT: This kit is unique because you can see the roots growing which is so fun to observe.
TREKKING THE NATIONAL PARKS: Definitely a fun game for older children and National Park lovers.
FLOWER PRESS: We’ve played around with flower pressing and this is something that will make the job so much easier.
MAGNIFYING INSECT CONTAINER: We keep these in our nature packs and they always come home with lots of treasures.
JOYOUS BLOOMS TO COLOR: I even love coloring in this one.
SLOW DOWN: A must-have book for the nature lover!
NATURE SCHOOL: This is a new release this year and looks amazing.
CAMELBAK BACKPACK: If you follow us closely, you know we absolutely love these hydration packs.
AMERICA’S NATIONAL PARKS: This is our very favorite National Park Book.
NATIONAL PARKS SCRATCH OFF POSTER: We added this to our school room and can’t wait to cross more parks off our list.
NATURE’S ART CLUB: We’ve been using this membership all year with our nature studies and it’s been perfect!
LIBRARY BOOK BAG: My older girls have library bags and use them every week.
YOTO PLAYER & ACCESSORIES: I have a full review on the Yoto Mini + our favorite cards and accessories listed HERE. And, THIS link will also get you 10% off your first order
PERSONALIZED BOOK STAMP: I’ll be honest, this is on my wish list!
FOR THE LOVE OF BOOKS: The twins started this journal this year and are loving it.
BOOK STICKERS: We added these stickers to go with our book journals, but they’re fun for notebooks and water bottles.
DIY BOOKMARKS: We love making our own bookmarks and adding a little ribbon.
ILLUSTORY’S CREATE & PUBLISH YOUR OWN BOOK KIT: We did this and got a fully published book back - so fun for the kids.
READ-ALOUD FAMILY JOURNAL: This is one of my new favorite things.
FAVORITE SCHOOL ROOM BOOKS: This Amazon list has all our favorite reference books we love to keep close by.
BOOK LOVER SOCKS: These fun socks are going in my girl’s stockings this year.
WATER BEADS: Out of all the sensory materials, I think water beads will always be our favorite.
SPACE SENSORY BIN: We used this during our space study last year and it’s been a hit.
PLAY FOAM: These are fun to mix it up for a little different sensory experience.
WOODEN SENSORY TOOLS: I love these because they’re so versatile.
MONTESSORI SAND TRAY: This is perfect to practice letters in or just let your kids draw in the fine sand.
INSTA-SNOW: Another favorite we love to pull out at all times of the year.
AIR DRY CLAY: This clay is fun to shape all sorts of creations with.
KINETIC SAND: The sand that doesn’t make a mess! We have this castle building set and it’s perfect!
PLAY-DOH TOOL SET: It’s helpful to have a set of play-doh tools. We add these into our other sensory bins all the time.
PYRAMID DIG KIT: We used this during our ancient Egypt study and it was a blast! Great for any time of the year.
TIMELINES OF EVERYTHING: There is a timeline for everything in here!
ARCH BLOCK KIT: Building this arch is harder than it looks, but we love learning about keystones with this set.
WORLD LANDMARKS PUZZLE: A puzzle that can spark some good conversation about history.
GUESS IN 10 COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD: Guess in 10 is one of our favorite games and this spin is all about countries.
LITTLE KID’S FIRST BIG BOOK OF WHO: I love how simple these books are and I am a fan of the real photography in it.
TIME MACHINE TRAVEL GAME: A great way to become more familiarized with popular historical events.
DIY LEONARDO DA VINCI INVENTIONS: A great one for young inventors!
GIANT FAIRY TALE CASTLE CARDBOARD BOX: I have had this in my Amazon cart for about 6 months. They look so fun!
ANCIENT HISTORY BOOK LIST: Last year we studied Ancient History and this is a compilation of our favorite reads.
MIDDLE AGES BOOK LIST: This year we’re studying Middle Ages so we’re pulling from lots of these books.
EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY BOOK LIST: A few years ago we studied early US History so, again, lots of favorites here.
CRUNCH LABS SUBSCRIPTION: This is currently my son’s very favorite thing. THIS link will get you $10 off your first box!
SNAP CIRCUITS: A favorite all my kids love.
CRAFT STICK CREATIONS KIT: We have a craft stick extraordinaire in our home so this idea book has given him a few more fun projects to work on.
LEGO SPACE CENTER CREATOR KIT: Lego has so many fun creator kits!
HOT GLUE GUN: Wrap up a glue gun, some craft sticks, and a whole bunch of wooden cubes and your little engineer will go to town. We always make sure our glue guns have duel temp so we can use the low heat settings!
DAVINCI’S INVENTIONS: Another fun spin on putting together some of DaVinci inventions.
ROSIE REVERE ENGINEER BOOKS: These are such fun picture book stories!
THE QUESTIONEERS: And this chapter book set is great for a little bit older children.
LEGO BOOST: We researched tons of robotic toys and Lego Boost came in number one! My kids have gotten hours out of this little guy and it’s been great for exposure to programming.
WOODEN BLOCKS: This is a foundational classic and helps support early childhood development.
MAGNATILES: Another classic and one of the best open-ended toys that my kids come back to over and over.
WOODEN DOMINOS: We got these last year for our kids and they love setting up long pathways of legos to knock down.
MATH CUBES: We have these as math manipulatives, but I can’t tell you how many times my kids imagine and find other ways to play with these.
NUMBER BOARD: We start using the number board around age 3 and it’s perfect for little ones who love to work on counting and recognizing number patterns.
77 WAYS TO PLAY TENZI: Tenzi is a super fun game for early elementary and this set includes another 77 ways to mix up the rules.
SLEEPING QUEENS: Hands down, our most played game.
SLEEPING QUEENS 2: And, this comes in at a close second.
ABACUS: I like this set up because it comes with some visuals.
WOODEN SUDOKU: This is a fun way to take the sudoku to the next level.
PATTERN BLOCK SET: There are so many fun and free templates you can use with these.
KABOOMA: This game doesn’t look like much, but it was so fun and helped my girls master their multiplication tables.
COVER YOUR ASSETS: This is one of those games I actually really enjoy playing with my older kids.
DOMINOS: Every home needs a classic set, right?
TODDLER FLOOR PUZZLES: We have so many of these and my youngest loves to do them while I do our family read alouds.
EARLY ELEMENTARY FLOOR PUZZLE: The next step up!
I CAN BE A MATH MAGICIAN: I bought this for my little girl who loves math!
MATH DICE: This is a super simple, but fun game for early elementary kiddos.
LATCHKITS: A great handicraft my girls love to do while listening to audiobooks.
CLAY BRACLET KIT: These are actually super cute bracelets and fun to make.
WEAVING LOOM: This is a simple beginner set.
FRENCH KNITTER: My mom gifted these to my girls and they are SO fun and easy. They’ve made all sorts of little things for their doll house with it.
ULTIMATE CRAFT SUPPLY KIT: A one stop for all the basics to have on hand.
MOSAIC + POTTERY + MARBLING KIT: We did mosaic stones last spring and this set includes even more fun projects!
PERLER BEADS + PERLER BEAD BOARDS + IDEA BOOK: This whole set up will get you going on these! It’s great for fine motor development.
FIRST SEW STUFFED ANIMALS: This is one I’m looking at for my girls this year.
BEGINNER SEWING KIT: Great for a little bit older kids who are ready for the real deal.
FIRST CROCHET KIT: Crocheting, sewing, cross-stitching…I don’t think you can go wrong with any of these.
BEADING FOR LITTLES: Another great activity to start working on fine motor skills in early toddlerhood.
SCHLEICH TOYS: We are a big fan of the Schleich toys because they are such great quality.
RAINBOW WOODEN PEOPLE: These people can be anything your littles dream up them to be.
BARN HOUSE: We LOVE this barn and have a whole bunch of Schleich animals and trucks and trailers to go with it.
CAMPER SET: I think this is the cutest set for a pretend campout!
DRAMATIC PLAY SCARVES: These can be capes, dancing scarves, baby doll blankets, or dress ups.
TOWN RUG: Another favorite that my kids have loved. We pair it with magnatiles, wooden blocks, toy cars, or our farm!
CASH REGISTER: From pretend stores to real lemonade stands, this cash register has gotten a lot of use in our home.
CALICO CRITTERS: I can’t tell you how many hours my kids have played pretend with these cute little fuzzy critters!
COMMUNITY WORKER DRESS UPS: There are so many directions your kids can go with these vests!
LET’S PLAY HOUSE CLEANING SET: Technically this is for pretend play, but my kids always used it to help with house chores.
That’s it friends—if you’ve found this helpful, feel free to share and thank you so much for shopping through my links!
Happy holidays!!!
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