Thrifty (but Unique) Holiday Gift Ideas for Young Children
 by: Dian Dewi

It’s December, and as the holiday season drew closer, you found your preschooler saying this to you, “Mom, I want this and that toy …My friend is going to get those from his mom. ”

When you went and checked the price online, you were shocked with the price. You couldn’t believe that a child toy can be that expensive. To make things even worse, you doubted that those toys would make a good buy and did not feel good about giving them to your precious little one.

Does this situation sound familiar to you ?

If your answer is yes, don’t despair ! Chances are , almost every parent, have come across this situation. In one hand, you want to make your children happy, but in the other hand, you know that you dislike those toys and buying those expensive toys will definitely create a huge dent in your pocket.

The question is, how are you going to deal with this situation ?

These are some strategy you can use to deal with this situation and at the same time dramatically decrease your spending on toy and other gifts during the holiday season. The key are: skillful budgeting, advance planning and creativity.

To begin with, figure out your budget for each child. If you don't like your child's choices of toys, you can do either of these followings: not buying the toys that your children want, but replacing them with toys that you know your children will definitely like. buying one toy that your children want, and add some more toys of your choice.

To find out which toys are the best buys , I suggest you to jot down previous toys your children got during the holiday celebration. Make note on how often those toys are used and the estimated price. By doing this, you can roughly determine the cost of use for each toy. You may find that something like board games or construction toys are the best buy. In this case, plan on buying a different version of these toys. Chances are that your child will also love them.

To decrease the spending, you may want to add homemade gifts to the mix. The beauty of the homemade gifts are that they can be unique and more personal. These features are something that the store-bought items cannot compete with. And of course, price-wise, they are cheaper.

In making homemade gifts, always try to make use of what you've already had at home since this can decrease the cost even further. And don't try to replicate any store-bought toys because you may not be able to compete in that area. Instead, go for uniqueness and personal touches.

Here are some ideas to make your creative juices flowing:

Personalized scrap book.
Personalized apron for girls.
Personalized draw-string bag for girls with some jewellery and home-made hair accessories.
A couple of 'coupon' for: one day outing, staying up late, one chore-free day and so on.
Customs for pretend play.
Doll accessories: clothing, blanket, towel, diaper.
Home-made wooden blocks, felt puzzle or personalized wooden puzzle.
Home-made bedroom decoration accessories or a bedroom makeover.
Home-made car mats for boys. To make one, get 1 yard of canvas fabric, seam the edges. Paint the roads, stores, stadium, and so on.
Home-made sock puppets.
Old toy make over. This includes: repainting an old bike and adding 'bells-and-whistles' to it.
Personalized treasure box.
Audio casette of your own voice reading aloud your children's favourite book. The other variation of this item is to tell a story using your child as the main character.
Homemade dolls and stuffed animals.

One of the best idea for a homemade toy gift is: gathered items for pretend play. To do this cheaply, you need to plan in advance.

For instance, you can make a doctor office set by putting an eye dropper, syringe (with no needle), popsicle sticks (as tongue depressors), store-bought toy stethoscope, office supply, bandage, X-ray film imitation (use black construction paper with cardboard backing. Draw skull on it), flashlight, and many more.

You can also make other set such as a store set, detective set or other set which you know your children are interested in. The nice thing about home-made pretend play set is that you can use real items and is often more complete than the store-bought one.

Finally, I would like to encourage you to think that expensive does not mean better. In fact homemade gifts can be as satisfying as the store-bought one. And more importantly, they are much less expensive.

About The Author

Dian Dewi is a reseacher and a busy mother of two young children. She is the webmaster of Best Child Toys, which provides information on how to choose toys which are fun, safe and educational.

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How To Enhance Learning With Melissa And Doug Toys & Building Blocks

Building blocks are one of the best development toys that you can purchase for your children. Child development experts believe that the use of creative play, such as building blocks, help children excel throughout their life. As a parent, you should learn how and when to use different blocks to enhance a child’s learning.

Kids have played with wooden building blocks long before there were video games or electronic toys. One of the great things about blocks is they are powered by a child’s imagination, not by batteries or electricity. Today, building blocks are available in age ranges from babies and infants to older children who can build castles and other architectural structures. Popular brands include Melissa and Doug Toys, Maxim and Citiblock.

Soft blocks are recommended for infants from twelve to fifteen months because they are large enough for little hands and provide a safety cushion should the child fall on the blocks. Young children will learn spatial recognition skills while they learn to stack the blocks into a tall tower or smaller columns. Even at this age, you can begin to teach a child math skills by counting the blocks as you build towers.

For toddlers over the age of fifteen months it is important to instill both personal and group play. At this age, kids are just beginning to be able to grasp the idea of using the blocks to create 3 dimensional structures, such as a barn. Add some wooden animals, and your child can build his own farm, moving the animals into and out of the barn.

Wooden building blocks also enhance learning skills for preschool and school-age children. Creating a multi-level garage, farm, or dollhouse from blocks teaches a child independent thinking, fine motor skills, and mental creativity. Melissa and Doug Toys offers a set of wooden construction vehicles which allows your child to learn spatial recognition, how to use toys for movement of items, and the building of complex buildings and sites.

Children do not have to build things in order to obtain enhanced learning skills. Counting, color identification, and sorting are additional skills that will be developed with the use of wooden bu
1000
ilding blocks. Simple games, such as putting the blocks into piles of two (or more) help a child learn to count. If you have room in your home, you can make a tower of blocks and let the child roll a ball towards the tower until it falls down. This game helps kids develop hand-eye coordination.

For maximum benefits, choose age-appropriate blocks. Melissa and Doug Toys are a popular brand that offers a huge selection of blocks for kids of all ages. Older kids require tougher challenges that come from using smaller pieces, with mixed colors, shapes and sizes. Encouraging them to tell you about their building blocks creation can also promote development of communication skills as they attempt to verbalize what they have done in a logical manner. Mixing small and large wooden building blocks allows for intricate designs and fine tunes motor skills. Adding flat, round, and rectangular blocks allows for complex block playing, which further enhances a child’s learning ability and can be used to develop math skills they will carry throughout life.

Playing with wooden building blocks can instill a sense of accomplishment in your child and motivate them to learn, grow and build more than just a stack of blocks.

By: Kanooga

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Joe Kanooga is a father of two kids, a successful business owner and the author of numerous articles about Melissa and Doug toys. Click here to download our free building blocks guidebook filled with helpful tips, ideas and information.

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