Gifts For Kids

This is the perfect time of year for playing outdoors, and I found a great gift idea for those afternoons when you get several kids over and need to disengage them from the TV and computer and get them outside.

Potato Sack Jumping Bags

You don’t even have to get them into a potato sack race (although that is certainly always an option!) Just hand over the bags and watch them hop around giggling. This wonderful set has numbers printed in large clear font over the sacks, along with illustrations, so you can actually use it to teach young children a thing or two about numbers.

I think these would make a great gift when visiting another family with kids. Let yours and theirs mingle while hopping around - can’t beat that!

The Green Angle

Well, they’re sturdy and have years of use in them. I’m afraid I don’t know about the fabric they’re made of, or which colors were used to dye the sacks with.

My son just got back inside after playing with these:

Halex Rack-it-Back Paddle Game

So, just a quick post recommending this real nice set. At under $10, it makes a great gift for kids that like batting balls around. Gives them a nice exercise and a good practice to improve hand and eye coordination. Not suitable for young children, I’d say you have to be at least 7-8 years old (or else exceptionally good with this kind of game).

My kids always ask us “Mom, what’s this stat? Is this Mars?” Fortunately, my DH can identify the planets in the night sky, but if you’re as star-challenged as I am, you’re going to love this nifty gadget.

Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium

What an amazing gadget this one is! Absolutely a must for curious young astronomers - I just wish we had stuff like this back when I was growing up! In a nutshell, what this strange looking miracle does is this: you hold it up to the sky and look through it’s telescope lense at a star. This smart box has a built-in GPS that can locate your position here on earth, calculate the angle at which your looking and tell you exactly what it is your looking at! How amazing is that?

Want more? it comes with built-in tours that guide you with arrows through the night sky, wherever you are. Or, you can “ask” this smart telescope stuff like “Where’s Jupiter?” and it’ll guide you with arrows on its screen until you find it in the sky. Pretty amazing and a perfect gift for kids. Older kids and teens will be able to use this one by themselves, while younger ones will definitely need guidance, but hey, what a perfect family evening out!

Click for more about the Personal Planetarium

I was sitting with my husband and kids the other day, talking about shopping for some toys. I noticed how electronic gadgets were high on their list, and so I got into internewing the kids about the topic. Us parents kept talking about it some more, and it all boiled down to a list of 10 tips or guidelines that we felt would make a nice article for this blog. Since it’s longer than a regular post, I decided to turn it into a fixed feature, accessible from the pages navigation menu. Here’s a direct link though -

Gadgets for Kids - 10 Shopping Tips

We have a very large backyard and we’re fortunate to be living next-door to my in-laws. Guess what Grandpa’s favorite game with the kids is? It’s the perfect mild exercise, combined with a fun challenge for any age: Croquet!

The concept is simple enough, and with the right rule adjustments, even toddlers can play. With summer weather gradually getting cooler, I think this beautiful set of animal-shaped Croquet for kids can be a perfect late-summer gift for families with kids. The colorful animal characters stand out in any backyard and are very attractive for all ages -

Animal Croquet by Anatex - check it out here for details and pricing