As an art teacher, I’d like to encourage you to give gifts that inspire creativity in children.  Instead of more plastic trinkets, stuffed animals or electronics, how about something that will get your kids building and creating?  An art kit is always a great idea.

Things to include in an art kit:

1.  Paper such as the Strathmore Visual Journal or a watercolor pad. I love this watercolor paper from Target.

2. Neon Gel Crayons:  I love the smooth feeling of these gel crayons and I love the bright colors.  I use them in my own art journals!

3. Angora Watercolor Pan Set:  A very nice set of watercolors with a wide variety of colors (what I use in my journals).  For little kids just starting out, the Crayola ones work fine too.

4.Pentel Color Pen Set:  Drawing with fine line markers are just more fun.
5. Sakura Moonlight Gel Pens:  These are the best gelly roll pens that I’ve tried.  They work nicely on black paper.  You have to get the Moonlight ones though, as I’ve noticed other types don’t show up as well.

Other ideas to inspire creativity and learning!

These are not necessarily for an art kit, but just some fun ideas for gifts that I recommend to encourage conversation, learning and creativity.

6. Blocks: This is what we bought for our 7 month old, but also my 5 year old daughter is excited to play with them: Melissa & Doug Blocks.   I also love how these patterned blocks look.

7.  Magna-Tiles.  My daughter loves these magnetic tiles at preschool.  She begged for us to buy them for her at home, but because they are a little pricey (and she already has a ton of toys) we just decided she could play with them at preschool.

8.  Zolo Playsculpture Sets:  I love these creative sculpture building sets.  Someone shared a link to these on Facebook and I fell in love with them!  I bought a large set for my classroom when they were on a huge sale at Zullily.  I don’t know when or if they will be on sale again, but if you do find them less expensively they are a cool building toy to have.

9. My daughter has been loving these crafty Perler Bead Sets.  I would use them with kids aged 5 and older.  Yes, I know they are crafty (and we art teachers have mixed opinions on crafts), but there’s nothing wrong with kids playing with crafts in their free time.  It builds manual dexterity and fine motor skills, improves concentration and in my opinion, is way better than watching TV or playing video games!
10. Beads:  Jewelry making is always a great activity for kids.

11. Brain Quest cards My daughter got Brain Quest cards for her birthday and just loved them. She asks to do these with us all the time. They have three questions per card involving counting, letter sounds, math concepts and more.

12.  And of course, I have to mention LEGOs (they are a CLASSIC.)  My daughter is into the LEGO Friends sets but there is a huge selection of LEGO sets and themes.   Many of them come in preplanned kits that the kids can put together by following directions, which seems to not allow for much creativity, but really the kids can put them together however they want and I’ve noticed my daughter spends far more time coming up with imaginative story lines than actually building.  If you are interested in LEGOs, check out my husband’s blog where he reviews sets and talks about collecting LEGOs.

Well, there you have it!  My recommendations for some holiday gifts.  These are affiliate links, so I receive a small amount of compensation for purchases, BUT I do feel very strongly about encouraging creative play!