Christmas is coming! It's one of my favourite times of year, and I absolutely love choosing the perfect gifts for both of my children. Ethan is six and he is a real little thinker, I would love to know everything that goes on in his head all day! He is very inquisitive and wants to know how everything works, he loves building and creating and has a fantastic imagination when he immerses himself in his play. So of course I'm trying to find some great educational toys to challenge him and keep him playing and learning every day.
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Creative Development Gifts
Ethan loves to create things and change things from their original form to become something else. We have had a few Aquabeads sets before, but never a 3D one! So Ethan is going to be so excited about this Cars 3 3D Lightening McQueen Aquabeads set, he is great at following instructions to follow through with a task, so I will be interested to see how this set's instructions will differ. He's going to love creating a 3D car and then being able to play with it once it has dried!
He will also be getting this Transforming Dinosaur toy that he can change from a robot to a dinosaur. This way he'll be able to use it in his imaginative play to be a part of all sorts of different situations, I look forward to hearing the stories that he comes up with!
Some other ideas of toys to help develop creativity would be an art set, a play dough set or some musical instruments.
Language and Literacy Gifts
Ethan is now in Year One at school and he is starting to bring home writing homework as well as just writing for fun, so it's great to keep all of his writing things together in this great Personalised Pencil Case from Bags of Love. I was able to choose different photos for each side of his pencil case as well as add text to it. It's so extremely well made out of neoprene (wet suit) material, so I know that it will withstand being through around a bit!
Some other ideas for literacy development gifts would include a good set of books at his reading level, a set of books for us to read him at bedtime, or a set of fun character pencils.
Mathematical Development Gifts
We are big fans of all sorts of number games and try to incorporate problem solving into all sorts of activities, so I am really excited by this PLYT game that we've discovered. It sounds absolutely fantastic as it is adaptable to each of the players in the game, so Ethan will be able to be challenged at his own level even as his math skills improve. I can't wait to get started and watch as his maths abilities continue to grow.
Some other great maths development toys for six year olds would be counters, sorting and matching toys, or a Bingo game.
STEM Development Gifts
We are already loving our SmartGlobe Explorer AR which we reviewed last month. It's fantastic for learning about the world, including facts about different countries, about the layers of the earth's core and even about space. It would make the perfect Christmas gift.
Some other toys that help develop science, technology and engineering skills would be a circuit kit, a telescope or a coding toy.
Some other toys that help develop science, technology and engineering skills would be a circuit kit, a telescope or a coding toy.
Physical Development Gifts
Ethan's very favourite thing to do is to build Lego sets, so he is going to love this Lego City Coast Guard Sea Rescue Plane. Lego is great on so many levels, but one of the benefits is fine motor skills which are so important at Ethan's age. He does a lot of writing in school now, and that will only increase as the years go by, so it's great that one of his favourite activities, building Lego, helps to build up those hand muscles and improve his writing skills as well. He's going to love this set to play with when it's finished as well, a plane that lands in the water, what could be more fun than that?
Some other great physical development toys would be a sports set, a target game, or a fine motor game.
Some other great physical development toys would be a sports set, a target game, or a fine motor game.
Personal and Social Development Gifts
At six years old Ethan's competitiveness has really increased, so we definitely need to work on his understanding of playing fairly. So this Fairy Snakes and Ladders and Ludo Game Set from Orchard Toys will be perfect. I love that these classic games have a little twist with a fairy theme, and I think that it will be a great way to show Ethan that a lot of these games are pure luck of the dice and if you land on a snake or a ladder. So that he can learn not to get so upset when he doesn't win.
Ethan will also be getting this Superpower Superhero Set from Early Years Resources. He is going to love that it's a set of superheroes that he can make up his own little stories with. They're also great for talking about different emotions and their different personalities will be a fantastic starting point for conversations and dealing with tricky situations that Ethan may encounter. I can't wait to explore all of the things that we will do with these.
Some other social development gifts would include an emotions game or a book about understand other people like We're All Wonders.
I just can't wait for Christmas to play with all of these toys with Ethan!
Ethan will also be getting this Superpower Superhero Set from Early Years Resources. He is going to love that it's a set of superheroes that he can make up his own little stories with. They're also great for talking about different emotions and their different personalities will be a fantastic starting point for conversations and dealing with tricky situations that Ethan may encounter. I can't wait to explore all of the things that we will do with these.
Some other social development gifts would include an emotions game or a book about understand other people like We're All Wonders.
I just can't wait for Christmas to play with all of these toys with Ethan!
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* This is a review post, we were sent these items in order to play with them and write our honest opinions.*
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