5 Holiday Gifts to Help Kids become Smarter
Educational Presents for Kids That Will Make Learning Fun
As a teacher, Maria Beatty, author of visual grammar books, is all about interactive and educational gifts for kids. If her students can stay occupied and have fun while learning, she considers that a major success for her unique style of creative teaching! However, sometimes the line between visual active learning and traditional “educational” entertainment can be hard to distinguish, — that’s why we worked hard to put together an amazing list of truly visual and educational gifts .
When searching for interactive and educational gifts, look for something that supports your kids to actively participate. Bright, expensive toys that recite the ABCs or that only require kids to press on buttons sometimes appear educational, but they provide little engagement or learning. From books and toys that develop essential reading skills to those that help develop communication skills to trivia games that put your bigger kids' knowledge to the test, here are 5 educational gifts that you can feel good about giving to children.
Montessori Tree Threading Toy
The Montessori Wooden Tree Shape Threading String Toy is a great way to encourage early learning in young children. The toy helps to develop sensory and motor skills, as well as hand-eye coordination.
Great grammar book for kids
The Language Theater is an appealing, imaginative textbook that simplifies the grammar learning process using a unique approach, creating thinkers rather than shortcut users. The Language Theater grammar book is geared towards children in school but is practical for all ages. Visually centered, it is perfect for those studying English as a Second Language (ESL), home-schoolers and students with disabilities. Additionally, it provides an excellent visual reference/story-time tool for parents.
Mega Cyborg Hand
Target
Kids build a hydraulic cyborg hand, and when they're done building, they get to play with it. This helps develop skills like engineering and robotics. Work with hydraulics, pneumatics, and robotics with your very own huge hydraulic hand! Using over 200 pieces and piston tubes that you fill with water, build an awesome mechanical cyborg hand that uses hydraulic power to simulate the movements of a hand.
A Language Theater Encore: FLASHCARDS of the Parts of Speech!
Buy now
Test and refresh your knowledge of English grammar in a quick and easy way with these cooler FLASHCARDS: a Digital Download (PDF with 9 cards) you can use on any device over and over again. These FLASHCARDS enact the role each Part of Speech plays, acted out by each Language Theater Part of Speech "character".They are designed to be printed on one side of a sheet of paper, cut and then folded into 5” x 5” squares. Or go ahead and print them out “as is” for classroom display!
...I Should Have Known That! Trivia Game
Amazon
This trivia game for teens will teach kids facts they probably should known but didn't. Which hand does the Statue of Liberty use to hold her torch? Right or Left... What city in South America is least populated? The guessing game features a good mix of easy and difficult questions, making it accessible and fun for a great learning experience.