In preparation for the start of shopping season, I sent copies of the Mindware catalogue to the grandparents. It has lots of great puzzles and games:
www.mindwareonline.com

I also picked up a game at Target called Castle Logix made by Smart Games. It was a hit.

We're hoping to have a "less is more" Christmas with fewer gifts than the "wretched excess" of the past. I'm looking for things that kids will enjoy for a long time. In addition to my daughters (ages 4.5 and 6.5)I'm shopping for nieces and nephews (ages 8-14). Please share your good ideas.

I too like Mindware toys. Look around you can sometimes find them cheaper at different sites.

I love Muggins! math games
http://www.mugginsmath.com/

www.educationallearninggames.com is a great source of board games

My dds are so not into traditional toy magaizines! Their eyes light up when they get the Discovery Store Catalogue, Fat Brain, and others like that!

I am enjoying the webpages offered on this thread so far!!

I'm bookmarking like mad! Thanks!

I like this site, lots of wooden toys for little ones;
http://www.oompa.com/

ps, we are going for less is more too: we are planning a book exchange among family and close friends - my sis thought of it and I just love it, being a book-a-holic.
(pre-read books are ok too!)

Thanks for all the good ideas so far!

www.mathartfun.com has some neat stuff, especially for puzzle-y, pattern-y kids.

We have also had good luck at Lee Valley Tools (www.leevalley.com ), for nice old-fashioned things.

Best of all at our house, though, are books--lately we are really liking the books from the New York Review Children's Collection, and from Jane Nissen Books in the UK.

We try to keep Christmas more about time together and time helping others than about stuff, so we've always kept a bit of a lid on the number of gifts. Frenchie and I give the kids three things each, pretty much--something to read, something to wear, and something to play with (plus some little funny bits in stockings). We also have a house rule that everybody gives somebody something homemade, so that the gift is of one's time and talent, and not just treasure.

minnie

Target has these fun science kits...

We recently got the Eyeclops - microscope that plugs into the TV. Great for kids who may not have the coordination for a microscope but otherwise ready for one. It still requires a steady hand but my ds5 is doing O.K. with it. Much more versatile than a regular microscope because you can point it at anything (like in your ear, nose, the carpet, etc).

My DS8 won a Klutz Battery Science kit in the school reading rewards program (they let the kids save their tickets for better prizes). Since then he's made any number of battery operated-contraptions. Klutz stuff can be a lot of fun, especially because they sell a wide range of things.

He also discovered an electronics kit at school. He absolutely MUST HAVE one of these kits for Christmas. I'd be grateful for recommendations for a nice electronics kit.


Val

http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/shop.htm

Cool gifts and you can support the site as well.

Kcab: Can you give more details about the rocket kit? My DS8 has been obsessed with making rockets for about 6 months now. He started with building some of the easy snap-together models from the local hobby store, and then progressed to the build-them-yourself from kits. He is now into cutting out his own designs for tail fins from balsa wood and substituting those for the kit tail fins. We launch rockets every few weeks, and I would love to find something for him for xmas. Note: We are using the engines from the hobby store, such as A's, B's and sometimes a few C engines.

Also, does anyone have any strategic board games suggestions for an 8 year old boy who loves strategy and conquest. We gave him Risk for his 8th birthday, and he found it fairly easy. We just received Axis and Allies as a present from a grandmother who likes to dote , and that was pretty easy too. (although it has inspired a love of WW II history!) Can anyone think of other games that your kids have enjoyed that he might find challenging?

How about the hydrogen powered cars people bought last year? Were they a success?

http://www.discoverthis.com/young-scientists.html

These are very cool. I bought kit 1 - 13 for my girls and they LOVE them!!! They come with everything you need to do the experiments and a sheet to record observations etc just like a real scientist. My favorite is the kit that lets you grow bacteria and then kill it with Neosporin :-) We also have the Sciology Card game which is fabulous! It is the Scientist version of Go Fish.

Ooopss!!

This is the proper link for buying the group of kits that I bought. You can buy from the other site but this is the original.

http://www.theyoungscientistsclub.com/

I like Fatbraintoys.com. This year Santa is bringing Qwirkle, Amazing Labyrinth and plasma cars.

Settlers of Catan isn't so much conquest, but there is quite a bit of strategy in it. My almost 7 yo son loves it, and it's good for parents, too.

http://www.amazon.com/MayFair-Games...-and-games&qid=1226803920&sr=8-1

Yes! We like Settlers of Catan too! In fact, my DH and I used to play it to pass the time away while I was on bedrest. Good game!

I found this website and ordered a couple of beginning robot kits for MrWiggly:
www.electronickits.com

Great stuff!

You can go to Hoagies and click through to this website and others. I think then the website gets a bit back for being the linking site.

Anyone else tried the muggins games? They are pricey, but they look like that were made for my DS4. He would LOVE it probably for years to come. What are other's experiences with it?

My kids enjoy playing Stare and Stare Jr with their friends. It is essentially like playing memory but is much harder. Several of the pictures are from the world of both modern and fine art. Stare game Also, Apples to Apples is a hit (comes in Jr version too). Board games can be lots of fun!

I love that!

It works pretty well for us, especially now that even Chico is old enough (3) to do something, too. I know some of the secrets this year, but not all of them: Harpo (7) is writing poems for his brothers (he's been planning the metre and jotting down images and metaphors he'd like to use, and will get the poems together soon), Groucho (5) is going to make everyone some fudge (of the non-boiling the sugar on the stovetop variety, methinks!), and Chico is drawing pictures for people. I've been knitting like mad--made a blanket for my mom, and hope to have mittens or slippers for everybody else in time for the big day--if I don't get them done, I'll write everyone his own special song, I think (it's very helpful to have a loving, uncritical audience!!). I usually make a Dundee cake for an old friend who emigrated from Scotland a long time ago, and misses home during the holidays. Not sure what Frenchie's doing this year...he's full of surprises!

We've worked hard to keep commercialism out of the boys' lives as much as possible, and I think they seem to have their heads on straight so far. We were so pleased with their (joint) letter to Santa this year, because their only requests were for information (Santa, is there a tailor elf who makes your clothes? Do you wear different clothes in different climates when you are making your deliveries? Do the reindeer live in your house with you, or in a barn? Is your house an igloo? Is the barn an igloo barn? What snack should we leave for the reindeer? etc. etc.--it amused us quite a bit!)

peace
minnie

PS I should have put this in the other thread, but I'll just mention here how much I liked your Jeff Buckley link--what a beautiful voice. What a sad story, too--makes you want to just clasp every moment of happiness to your heart.

Thanks! Kcab! That is really a wonderful suggestion. We usually go to our local Hobby store too. Unfortunately, the economy is so bad that they recently went out of business. So finding an on-line source was really quite helpful! The object in the catalog just below your suggestion, the Altitrak, looks fun too. It lets you measure how high up your rocket goes. Of course, I can never spot the apogee of the flight, but that is just my poor eyesight!

Anyway, thanks for the rocket suggestion. I appreciate it!

On sale and free shipping, general and organic chemistry molecular model set: http://www.mypearsonstore.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=0139554440

DS8 loves it (and yes, I couldn't wait for Christmas).

We seem to have similar ideas, Minnie. One of the reasons we chose DD4's preschool is because it does not allow commercial characters in the classroom or on the playground. That means that the kids are not allowed to wear clothes or bring lunchboxes, backpacks, etc. with commercial images on them, and the schools' toys, playground equipment, etc. are generic and often wooden, which avoids a lot of cheap plastic stuff all around.

We have been able to limit DD's exposure to commercial images pretty well and have been trying to educate family members on this as well as materialism in general. For the past few years, the adults on both sides of the family have been making holiday donations to charities in the names of family members in lieu giving gifts. We have also tried to set a limit on how much DD gets from grandparents and other relatives during the holidays and for her birthday. This year, we had a "giftless" birthday party for DD, and she didn't miss the presents at all. All the kids brought handmade cards, and she loved them. We just wanted to focus on having a good time and sharing in the celebration, not on getting more "stuff," KWIM?

My friends and I typically make things for each other. I make jewelry, so I'm in the process of beading earrings, bracelets and necklaces for the holidays. I also bake bread and make jam for our close neighbors.

Thanks for sharing your boys' joint letter to Santa--priceless! What great parents you are!

Brace yourself for the commercialism in the elementary schools. It can be like second hand smoke: your child may not be watching the commercials at home but they get the message indirectly through the peers. Sometimes they even get even direct messages from the teachers, principal and PTA. Uggh! To counter some of it, I'm planning to give charity gift certificates to the children in our extended family. Here's the link:

http://www.charitygiftcertificates.org/

Your preschool sounds great--it shocks me sometimes, the extent to which children are targeted for marketing, and the fact that so many people don't see any problem with it, thinking the characters are just cute and fun. I heard an interview with Benjamin Barber ("Consumed") on CBC radio last week, and he had some really horrifying statistics about the percentage of small children's vocabularies that are brand names; what really blew me away was that the interviewer really didn't seem to get it ("but shopping is fun!"). I'm going to get his book from the library--it sounded very interesting.

I know the lads will have to live in the "real world" some day, but I don't see anything wrong with protecting them from forces that seek to manufacture desire in them for "stuff" (not all of which is necessarily good for them) before they are old enough to have developed the ability to resist some of that manipulation. I also want to get them used to the idea that every purchase has some potential costs of other sorts--it's important to me that they think about whether the person who made the thing in question got paid properly to make it, in a place that was safe and healthy for the workers, for instance.

Your daughter's birthday party sounds perfect! I think we'll try the same thing this year.

Wish we lived close enough to get together for a cuppa--but this is the next best thing!

peace
minnie

Quesions, you bad bad poster. Now I HAVE to buy it for DD8!

It comes with the molecule building set, yes? Not just the book.

Thanks Minnie,
I added Consumed to my library queu.

I'm sure you're right about the commercialism in the schools, inky; that pressure was certainly there at our university (I was always really grateful to be tucked away over in artsy-fartsy humanities land, where nobody had any real expectations that our research could be shoehorned into something commercially viable! Not much fiscal support for our research, but nobody breathing down our necks, either.)

Avoiding this kind of stuff in the schools is not one of the reasons we're homeschooling, but it certainly does seem like a nice side-benefit of that choice, I must say.

minnie

PS Thanks for the link! I've used the gifts at Foster Parent's Plan several times, myself, which are nice, too (books for schoolgirls in Haiti, or beehives for Egyptian farmers, etc.).

Oh, yes, indeed, Incog! It's great. Can make either ball and stick models or space saving (is that what they're called?) models, single and double bonds, etc. Last night, he made water, ethanol (I think, don't really remember), benzene and vanillin. Nice plastic atoms predrilled with the correct number of holes for bonds, it comes with a little tool to help pry them apart, which DS8 can handle (and he was the guy who had a fine motor delay).

Enjoy! I read on some review somewhere that most chemistry students end up buying two sets so they can make more complicated models.

ps - join as a member to get your 30% discount.

We bought our DD the pianowizard for X-mas. She is into music and though she wants a violin and has told me numerous times I thought it would be better to start with a piano. I don't know if anyone else has used the pianowizard or have heard of it but it has received many awards and is IMHO brilliant. There is a keyboard that hooks up to a computer and software. The kids learn through a video game and it has 4 levels. By the 4th level they are reading sheet music.

Another cure for the commercialism aspect of the holidays - actually buy your child one of the toys (preferably the least expensive one) that you keep telling him will not be that great in person. He'll soon realize that mommy and daddy are right about how the commercials are fibbing...

DS4 certainly still likes to watch commercials (for anything - not even toys), but he doesn't ask for anything anymore. I am having the darndest time getting the kid to write a christmas list!

(Of course, this all depends on your child's personality too.)

I know I'm a little late to this thread, but I wanted to put a plug in for another charity organization that I've used with my kids to offset the commercialization.

markmakers.org

I thought the site was very visual and although it doesnt have as many choices as some other similar sites, it was very easy for the younger kids (5 and 3 at the time) to really see and compare how they 'spent' their donation. There are a few charities that might require some, shall we say, uncomfortable explanations, but that's been the case on every similar site I've seen.

I've also always involved my kids in making their own donation to Heifer Project as well. It's one of the main uses for the charity money they save from their allowance. My DD6 last year even went so far as to raid a substantial portion of the money she had set aside for spending to be able to pick the donation she wanted. Very concrete examples and the specific stories can be used for a variety of education opportunities as well.

I see what you mean about the visuals and thanks for sharing it Prissy. We haven't started allowances yet with our daughters but DD6 liked getting wooden nickels at Whole Foods because we brought our reusable bags. She got to pick which local charity benefited and chose forest preservation because she likes trees. Hopefully these kinds of ideas will catch on.

I happened to see this thread last night as I was headed to the markmakers site to purchase the gift certificates. After I posted, when I went to make a purchase I noticed that they were not taking any new orders this year. The site apparently was run by a family and they didn't get enough participation to continue the investment so are shutting it down.

Sorry for the confusion!

Too bad the investment didn't work out. I'm going to show the site to my daughters before it shuts down. It's empowering to see all the different ways they can choose to help. It ties into the article Rosie wrote in another thread called the behaviour of gifted children:

I'd like to put in a plug for one of my favorite gifts for the gifted. Zome Tools has just undergone a makeover and they are now more durable. My kids have been enjoying Zome for six years now, ever since we first encountered them at a PG event and had to purchase some. Check out their products here:
http://www.zometool.com/s.nl/sc.7/.f

That Zomepad modeling software looks pretty interesting. We haven't purchased any zometool stuff, although, I've looked at it before.........hmmmmm......

Minnie,
I've started reading Con$umed and wanted to thank you again for mentioning it. Bill Moyers did an interview with the author and I was amazed at how it tied together so many of what I'd viewed as disparate concerns:
turning children into consumers, bottled water, alternative energy, PTA, Wal-Mart, citizenship, public transportation, school vouchers, debt to China, poverty, terrorism, immigration and corporate bailouts.
The amazing thing is that the interview was from a year ago but so much is applicable to our current situation.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/12212007/transcript1.html

I love the focus on gifts that truly come from the heart. That's a great idea Minnie about your children making gifts for eachother. My DS4 isn't into all the commercialism yet...thankfully. He does like his TV shows..but thankfully most of them are DVR'd and we fastforward commercials. He really enjoys wheel of fortune. Anyhow, he told us that he just wants one thing for Christmas...to get a present for his little sister. I almost cried. Clearly he would be disappointed on Christmas if he had no presents...but it was still very thoughtful and he really is selfless most times. He said that he knows it would make her really happy and that's why he wants to get her something. A friend of ours came over and was asking DS what he wanted for Christmas and if he asked Santa...etc etc. I was a little uncomfortable because we didn't go see Santa (he never asked and doesn't seem all that interested) He never made a list or told us what he wants (we know what things he likes and leans towards). It just seems like with so many kids it's all about what they want for Christmas...and I "being good" in order to get gifts. I don't like that focus at all.

I'm going to the Fat Brain retail store in Omaha over Christmas break (I am SO excited!). Anyone have anything from there for preschoolers that I have to check out?

Mighty minds, super minds and rush hour jr.