Gifts For Kids

Don’t let the name deter you - this is not just for teaching the alphabet. It is a great gift for much younger children, actually. As young as 1-2 years old, actually, and they will have years of fun with this train - guaranteed.

This one is a colorful large plastic train, with 26 double sided letter blocks to be stored in the carriage and a cute movable elephant as the designated driver. It has large buttons with numbers on them too, and even a little book with six pages to turn and more features on the train itself - to keep any kid entertained. They learn in the process too, but don’t tell them that.

For the younger ones, it’s the colors and movement that provide the attraction. As they learn to walk, this one is a great solid walker to push around. Later on, they can learn to ride the carriage to, making this a great ride-on.

Packed with activities, this one is a great choice for a ride-on, or just as a great toy for birthdays of any kid aged 1-4. Priced at just under $50 on Amazon, it’s hard to go wrong with this one.

Click for the product page on Amazon

What an awesome gift for artistically inclined children - and if you hurry, you can still have it shipped to them by Christmas.

So, what does this board do? It’s a special lights-on board, where kids draw with six glowing neon markers and have their creation lit up like a real neon sign. Yes, it uses electricity to light up the picture, operating on three AAA batteries (make sure you get them in advance, as they’re not included).

Kids absolutely love this electronic board. Not hard to see why, either. As a Mom one thing I noticed is how kids love anything that shimmers, shines or glows. They love gold and diamonds (fakes will do just as well) and they love neon lights and bright colors. Up until the Glow Board, they could never create in their favorite style, but now it’s finally possible. Light up the pictures!

Of course, the drawing board is reusable, so kids can use the red, blue, yellow, green, orange and pink again and again, wiping off a previous design in favor of a new creation.

I can definitely see why this is a hit - and with the Crayola logo you know you can be sure of good quality. If you’re a late shopper in need of a gift for kids, it’s hard to go wrong with this one -

Click here for the Amazon page of the Color Explosion Glow Board by Crayola

Following the last post about Littlest Pet Shop Playsets, I figured I should also mention the .com alternative: playing in the LPS online world with your own unique character, while snuggling the plush representation of  that character.

I guess you could say this is a webkinz kin, as the concept is very similar. A plush toy, cute and cuddly, that comes with its own unique ID number. Log into the Littles Pet Shop website and enter your code to have your new pet show up as character in that world.

This line is also known as the VIP line, where VIP stands for Virtual Interactive Pet. There’s a large selection of pets already, with the most popular being the LPS VIP cat:

And yes, they all come with that typical wide-eyed look that is quite fashionable these days. Kids like it, and many grownups too. There’s more than just the cat, obviously, with some cute turtles, bunnies, dogs, panda bears, monkeys and more, all awaiting their new owners.

Click here for the LPS VIP cat or  here to see more VIP pets by Littlest Pet Shop.

My bottom line? A cool gift for kids, at very affordable prices. These VIP pets will cost you anything from $8 and upwards, and that includes not just the plush toy itself, but access to hours of playtime on their website - quite a good deal IMO.

When writing about gifts for kids, I am often faced with the gender dilemma: should I label a game or a toy as gender specific?

With this particular computer game, the problem has been solved by the makers. It’s proudly called “Girl Tech” and marketed for girls only. A shame, in a sense, for all those fashion conscious boys who dream of becoming the next Versace, if you ask me.

So what is the Girl Tech Stylin studio game? Essentially, this is a computer game that comes with its own digital camera and touchpad console. The girls (or boys, I can’t resist), use the camera to take their picture, then use the software for a digital makeover, including make-up, hair, clothing and accessories.

A cool combination between dressing up dolls and being a digital stylist, or using one of those applications that lets you check out different hairstyles. I remember myself as a teenager, some twenty years ago, spending hours upon hours with a page of different hairstyles, each with a cut out space for placing your own photo inside. I can only imagine how addictive the Girl Tech Digi can be for young girls today!

Great gift, gadgety and girly at the same time! This one isn’t too cheap, priced at $99 at Amazon, but it does include both the camera and the touchpad console, so I guess you have to pay for that.

Click for full details on Amazon - you can still order this one for the Holidays!

Hasbro’s Littlest Pet Shop series is a major hit this year, high up on the lists of bestselling toys on Amazon. It’s a nice little twist on the old concept of a dollhouse, with miniature pets replacing human-like dolls, and a variety of “houses” including a pet shop, medical center, gym and even an entire “town” for the miniature pets.

The playset featured here in this post is a good option for an all-in-one Littlest Pet Shop playset, providing both the environment and two unique pets to inhabit it with: a guinea pig and a little cat.

This works as a great gift for a child that already collects LPS (Littles Pet Shop) sets, or as a first piece in the collection. Either way, it provides long hours of play, with dozens of little items that can be operated around the “shop”. The entire set is very reasonably priced considering you have a full set here.

The “problem” with this line of products? I can see a kid getting addicted to the concept quickly enough. For kids, this could be toy heaven, with a multitude of products available to feed that addiction. For parents, this could be consumers hell… unless you don’t mind spending a few hundreds more on the latest fad.

Check out the available playsets on Amazon - they are pretty cool:
Littlest Pet Shop Playsets

Or click to read everything about the set featured in this post - hurry up and you can still have it shipped in time for the Holidays.