Hello friends! As I recently wrote in my post about how can we give our kids the best birthday without getting into debt, I wholeheartedly support getting your kids experiences instead of toys on their birthday, Christmas or other occasions. However, I am also a firm supporter of getting your kid a toy or two if they are going to serve your cause - that is help him/her experience and learn through play time. Since we are soon reaching Easter, here are some of my suggestions for gifts that can serve both fun play and learning experiences. Here are six types of creative Easter gifts for kids.
Six types of creative Easter gifts for kids
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Six types of creative Easter gifts for kids
1. Wooden box of treasures
We love being outdoors every chance we get. My little one loves nature, and we spent almost every weekend and holiday in the forest or the country side. Natalia loves to collect leaves. She is mesmerized by their colors, their texture and their different sizes. We never leave the forest without a bunch of leaves, some acorns if we can find any and a few pine cones too. She also loves rocks and who am I to fault her being married to a geologist and all?
I needed a safe place for her to put all these treasures in and I was delighted when I found the perfect personanizedwooden box by Cufflinksgalore on etsy. These guys can personalize just about anything but these boxes are my favorites! They are very sturdy and of great quality, yet lightweight enough for my little one to handle. The clasp that closes the box is of such quality that I was impressed at first. It's not going to fall apart like some cheap ones from China, that's for sure!
Natalia loves her box and every little treasure ends up in there. I love to be able to support her need to come close to nature, learn about it and bring a piece back with her. A wooden box is one of the type of gifts you can give your kids for a creative Easter and beyond. It will be theirs and their alone and it's really important for a young kid to be able to "hide" something in a place only she/he can reach. Among other things it also teaches them their right for privacy.
I find this a great gift choice for the upcoming Easter where you are bound to spend some time outdoors! It is also really affordable as the best things for kids should be!
Six types of creative Easter gifts for kids
2. Flower press kit
Ever since we discovered how much Natalia likes to collect leaves, we've been searching for a way to help her preserve them, thus the wooden box of treasures above. We are also trying to teach her not to cut the flowers and just smell them but it's often unsuccessful.
So we thought that getting her a flower press kit will at least preserve those flowers and not let them die in vain. I am not being dramatic because I am not against picking up wild flowers, I just want to teach her to love nature and not destroy it. Anyhow, when I spotted this amazing flower presser kit by Secret Caravan on instagram I knew I've found one of her future gifts and you should consider it too.
Helping your kid make his own herbarium is a very nice Montessori activity that will help them get closer to nature and possibly also science.
Six types of creative Easter gifts for kids
3. Versatile crayons
I know that some of you will frown upon reading this thinking "Just crayons? How can this be a nice gift for Easter?" but please bare with me. I am not talking about "just crayons". I am talking about the Stabilo 3 in 1 Woody pencils3 in 1 Woody pencils that are way and beyond any common coloring pencil or crayon. These chubby wooden pencils are mutli-talented. They are colored pencils, wax crayons and water colors all in one! We absolutely adore them in our house.
It's very easy for little hands to draw with these crayons you see. It takes minimum force for a nice thick full of color line to be formed and kids love that! But that's not all these babies can do. My favorite feature is their ability to write on glass. We have a three-meter wide glass door in our house and it has become Natalia's best canvas. She draws effortessly on the glass and with just a bit of a wet paper towel, the paint is gone! I will write a separate post about how to use this feature to it's full potential in a few days, but rest assured it is a life (and money) saver. I don't need to keep track of how many white pages are left in her coloring book anymore! There is always room on our door!
And don't fret about getting it out of clothes (or the couch) cause it's water-soluble and easy to clean too! A perfect creative gift for kids this Easter, that will keep them happy and playing for a long time!
Six types of creative Easter gifts for kids
4. Personalized soft toy
See? I am not against toys for Easter! However, I tend to get gifts for Natalia that we can use as a learning medium (and I am not talking about learning to read or write or count). A personalized soft toy like the cute sleeping doll by CEcrafts1 on etsy is a great way to help your kid learn by placing himself in the doll's place.
It has her name written on her so Natalia knows which doll I am referring to when I say, let's see what Natalia has been up to, shall we? So I start a conversation with the doll (obviously I do the talking) but my daughter listens. So I can talk about Natalia the doll needing a diaper change, let's go change her! And then we can chance your diaper too right? Or I can talk to Natalia the doll about things I want my daughter to hear. It works wonders for my kid especially when you want to use positive discipline for your kids.
It's also a very well-made doll and my little one uses it often as a bed companion. I am writing a piece on the importance of a comfort toy for little kids so stay tuned for more on that in the future.
Six types of creative Easter gifts for kids
5. Craft books
Any book is a creative gift in my opinion and even more so if the book is about kids crafts! In the pinterest era one might think these books are not so useful but I tend to disagree. I don't allow ANY screen time for my daughter yet so in order to let her choose what craft she would like us to do together, a book is all I could use really. She is a regular bookworm as I've said before so getting her hooked on crafts through a book was a piece of cake, lol!
There is a wide selection of books with kids crafts out there. We have been reading and using a series of books for kids crafts in Greek that Natalia really likes. There are called "Little crafters" (Μικροί δημιουργοί) and there are five books in the series. A book with crafts using toilet paper rolls, one for finger painting, one with simple paper crafts, one for peddles painting and one for crafting with paper cups. All the books are written by Pia Pedevilla and they are available by Kentikelenis editions.
We've been saving the toilet roll papers and have made the mermaid and a pencil case so far. As a crafter myself, spending time with my kid doing crafts is the ultimate happiness. Oh, and just a note: don't go looking for perfection! Just make a mess and make SOMETHING! Kids are not born knowing how to glue, draw, cut. They need to learn but you don't need to set up a classroom in your house! Just play with them and they will learn!
Six types of creative Easter gifts for kids
6. Building blocks
Another great activity to use for kids to get creative and learn at the same time is building blocks. Do you remember how fun it was to play with Legos when you were a child? How about taking it to the next level?
Gigi Bloks is a great educational toy for kids. They are large and as such they are perfect for your child to create amazing real size constructions! Think castles and cars, dinosaurs and other animals in real size. They are very sturdy and can hold a lot of weight so you can even step on them and sit on them too! This is what I am getting my kid for Easter. Just a bunch of craft colored paper blocks, lol!
Stay tuned to find out what we are going to do with them!
Six types of creative Easter gifts for kids
So there you have it! Instead of going for the latest plastic trend you see advertised, reach for a gift that will help your child participate actively, create, learn and spend quality time with you, away from monitors!
What are you gifting your kids this Easter?
