If you are looking for a convenient place to get ideas for gifts this holiday season, then gift guides are your answer.  Many bloggers create these lists by taking polls on social media, getting lists from popular retailers (like Amazon), working with brands or just list out what they personally love as an easy solution to your shopping.

Below is a list of new toys or books I have received samples from companies that I want to tell you about!

If any of you have these products – I would love some feedback on if you love or hate or recommend yourself as a great gift for those little ones this year!

New Toy Ideas for Kids:

The ALEX DIY Paper Swirls Swirl Station – introduces young craft enthusiasts to the world of quilling; making art with rolled paper strips. Make art, cards, toys, jewelry and more with 200 colorful strips of paper. The Swirl Station makes quilling easy by rolling the strips in seconds, with the push of a button. The instruction booklet teaches you how to make lots of suggested shapes, or you can swirl around body forms to make bigger creations. The creative possibilities are endless. Ages 8+.  My craft daughter is going to LOVE this!

Geomag Classic – The Geomag Classic Sets are available in sets of 22-104 including colors from glow-in-the-dark, glitter, black and white, color and so much more. Children will learn how to control invisible magnetic forces and anyone can easily build abstract sculptures, futuristic buildings and spectacular 3D structures. Made up of magnetic rods, steel spheres and different shaped panels there are endless building possibilities!

Drop It! –  One at a time, each player drops a shape into the vertical game board’s drop zone. Players earn points for the highest level that their shape reaches when it lands and extra points for touching bonus circles. But be careful not to break the Landing Rule! The shape you drop is not allowed to touch matching shapes or colors after it lands. If you break a landing rule, you will go away empty-handed. The winner is the player or team with the most points at the end. Drop It! is recommended for ages 8 and above.  This has been the go-to game at our house as of late!  I play with my 9 year old and my 5 year old keeps track of the score.  😉

Gear Club Unlimited 2 – Microïds and Eden Games reveal new images for and confirm its worldwide release on December 4th 2018. This racing game exclusive to the Nintendo Switch will offer players a vast area to explore with more than 3000 km of races. On the mountainside, through a nature park, in the middle of the desert or along the coast, they will discover 250 races, including championships, missions, and challenges.  As they progress through the game, players will need to upgrade their vehicles to climb the rankings, using the seven workshops in their specially equipped garage – the performance shop. Here, they will also be able to visually customize their vehicles by applying paint and personalized stickers, and changing the bumpers, hood, side skirts or spoiler. Gear.Club Unlimited 2 will feature a roster of 51 cars from 22 big-name manufacturers!

Bob Books and VersaTiles – provides children with everything they need to start learning to read
Includes 1 set of 12 Bob Books, 1 VersaTiles answer case, and a 20-page VersaTiles workbook with 20 hands-on activities
In this set, children add to their knowledge of the alphabet by learning 2- and 3- letter phonics words
Children can practice their reading skills with VersaTiles puzzle-like answer case and workbook that makes reading feel more like a game
Perfect for Preschool, Kindergarten, and 1st Grade (Ages 3-6)

I SPY Eagle Eye – Encourage the visual discrimination skills kids need to master basic math and literacy concepts with this fun I Spy game! Players race to spot an item on their card that’s also on the board. Find it first and ring the bell! MSRP $21.99. Ages 5+

Botley the Coding Robot – helps your child learn early STEM skills while playing and having fun. He teaches kids to code with active, screen-free play that’s perfect for promoting critical thinking and problem solving skills.  Botley is ready to code right out of the box and will have your kid coding in minutes!  Botley features completely screen-free coding; no phone or tablet required. Botley’s easy-to-use remote programmer transmits your commands and sends him rolling
Botley’s smart logic lets him detect objects in front of him and avoid them. He can also follow looping commands, take on obstacle courses, and follow black-line paths. He even has hidden features to unlock!  My engineer husband is going to grab this toy before my girls do, and it will be great for all of them to play with together!

STEM at Play® BOOM! Combustion Science Lab Kit:  Become an expert in things-that-go-boom! The fact-filled lab guide is chock-full of pictures and information for hours of fun in your own combustion lab!  STEM at play kits bring science concepts to life through hands-on activities designed to spark interest, inspire confidence, prompt creative critical-thinking skills while fostering collaboration between children and adults. STEM at play kits provide materials to support scholastic goals while keeping at-home learning fun. This kit comes with these activities:  Fizzy bombs, Inflate a balloon without blowing, Lava lamp, Birthday cake sparklers, Rocket balloon…and more!

As a former science teacher, I know my daughters and I will have a blast (pun fully intended) with this one!  I’m considering using this kit and hosting a Science BOOM Birthday party where my oldest daughter and myself can put on these science demos for my younger daughter and her friends!

Animal Friends Sticker Art – Follow the color-coded dots to apply the correctly colored sticker. Peel and stick the dots to complete an owl, alligator, tiger, monkey, lion and peacock! Once completed slot the animals together and display them in front of the bright and colorful landscape background. Perfect for play and display.  Use promo code HAPPYDEAL to save 15%!

Wooden Pull Toy Jumbo Jumping Elephant – A classic pull toy with a modern look.  Little walkers will enjoy taking this sweet elephant for a stroll. Watch him jump up and down and sway his wiggly ears as he moves.  Use promo code HAPPYDEAL to save 15%!

Books & Music:

Highlights The Big Fun Second Grade Workbook helps kids learn in a way that’s fun, by blending lessons with puzzles. Grade-appropriate exercises are incorporated into Hidden Pictures® scenes and other activities that help kids succeed and feel confident in school. They’ll love the kid-friendly art and giggle-inducing humor, so they’ll stay engaged longer, building persistence and attention to detail. And when they finish the book, a certificate of completion at the end reinforces their achievements. Lessons include: Cursive writing, Vocabulary, Reading, Addition and subtraction, Multiplication, Map skills and more!

Highlights Learn on the Go Practice Pads – are perfect for engaging kids ages 3-6 in activity-based learning by blending skill practice with fun puzzles. That’s Silly™ and Hidden Pictures® puzzles are among the activities that will engage and entertain kids and build their confidence as they practice essential learning skills. Available in four specific activities: Tracing, Colors and Shapes, Writing Letters and Learning Numbers.

The Cow Said Neigh: A Farm Story – A cow that neighs, a horse that quacks, a sheep that oinks – all characters in a new, fun and humorous tale of farm animals wondering if things might be just a bit better on the other side of the fence. The Cow Said Neigh!: A Farm Story (ISBN: 9781400311712, picture book and board book) is the first children’s book from performer, filmmaker and bestselling author Rory Feek, and is available now, wherever books are sold.

Picturing America: Thomas Cole and the Birth of American Art- published last month by Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, is the first picture book about Thomas Cole, founder of America’s first major art movement, the Hudson River School of landscape painting. This beautiful picture book is a valuable tool for parents interested in expanding and developing their children’s interest in art.

In his unique style of storytelling, Talbott combines his own paintings throughout the book with those of Cole’s to illuminate Cole’s life. Picturing America tells the story of an immigrant from England who arrived in America 200 years ago and – through his passion for art, landscape, and the Hudson River Valley and the Catskills – came to define America’s visual identity and set in motion an artistic legacy that continues to impact art and culture to this day. By introducing young readers to the role of the artist, highlighting Cole’s passion for the environment, and celebrating a love of painting, Picturing America inspires young readers to draw and paint what they see around them.

Ara the Star Engineer – 

Google engineering program manager Komal Singh was taken aback when her four-year old daughter proclaimed, “Engineers are boys.” So she decided to do something about it — team up with peers and leaders at Google to bust that bias for all kids.

This is a STEM book and more! An inspiring, inclusive, whimsical way to learn about computers and technology from real-life trailblazers.

Ara is a young girl who loves BIG numbers. She wants to count all the stars in the sky… but how? This is an upbeat adventure of Ara and her sidekick droid, DeeDee (“Beep!”). They use smarts and grit to solve a BIG problem and discover an amazing algorithm! A quest that takes them through a whirlwind of intriguing locations at Innovation Plex — Data Centre, Ideas Lab, Coding Pods, and X-Space. Along the way, they encounter real-life women tech trailblazers of diverse backgrounds, including a Tenacious Troubleshooter, an Intrepid Innovator, a Code Commander, and a Prolific Problem Solver. They tinker-and-tailor, build-and-fail, launch-and-iterate, and in the end discover an amazing algorithm of success — coding, courage, creativity, and collaboration (“Beeeeep!”).

The Giggly Guide of How to Behave – Mind your manners! There’s more to good manners than just saying “please” and “thank you”! With simple rules on how to behave, and how not to behave, this giggly guidebook shows you exactly what it means to have good manners, and what happens when you don’t follow the rules of good behavior… Kids and their parents will giggle their way through this clever and colorful guide on polite behavior.

The Book of No Worries – An essential guide that covers a multitude of worries and anxieties that a young person may face while growing up – from peer pressure to puberty and all the worries in between.

This friendly and funny book aims to reassure tweens that their worries and fears are normal and offers practical tips for managing anxiety and stress. From problems at school to relationship woes, body image issues to troubles at home, all worries are recognized and case studies and questions from real-life anonymous readers offer positive tips and advice to help young people survive angst and stress that can bring them down.

Porcupine’s Pie – Porcupine can’t wait to share Fall Feast with her woodland friends, so when everyone she greets is unable to bake their specialty due to a missing ingredient, Porcupine generously offers staples from her pantry. When Porcupine discovers that she, too, is missing a key ingredient, the friends all work together to create a new Fall Feast tradition. A recipe for “friendship pie” can be found at the end of the book.

Giant Kite –  by bestselling author, Alan C. Fox.  Children will adore the story of Benji and his passion for kites — especially a giant orange one.  Parents will love the lessons the book teaches about perseverance, dreams, and letting go.
Children and parents alike will enjoy the beautiful illustrations, chock-full of hidden treasures, including bumblebees, shells, and mice munching on blueberries.

The Kid’s Awesome Activity Book- is a parent’s best friend, guaranteed to entertain your backseat travelers during those endless summer road trips. Readers can create their own comic strips, write a hit song for the hedgehog hoedown, decode pirate word scrambles, and help a little leprechaun find his pot of gold. All they need is a pencil and their imagination!

The Magic Of My Name – In this book we use the principles of empowerment philosophy to assign each letter of the child’s name with a positive attribute, and behind each of these attributes is a magical and custom adventure.
This book is so special because the entire story is based on the individual’s name, and you can choose a protagonist that resembles the child. The unique combination of a personalized storyline and personalized illustrations makes it different from anything else in the market.

Hillsong Kids DVD Can You Believe It? – “Can You Believe It!? – Songs of Truth” is both a question and a challenge… a statement of gratitude to a loving God and an invitation to explore the very foundations of faith. Classic songs like “My Best Friend”, “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” and “What A Beautiful Name” (my personal favorite on the DVD) join brand new declarations of faith such as “As The World Shakes” & “Heaven Is Our Home”. We pray that this collection of fun and vibrant songs, help children around the world to declare biblical truths about God’s love and grace for them.

Check out this video trailer of the DVD HERE!

Looking for age specific toy gift guides for kids?  Check these out:

Gift Guide For Ages Newborn to 24 Months!

Toy Gift Guide For Ages 2-4

Gift Guide: For Ages 5 Through 7

Check out my Ultimate List of Gift Guides OVER HERE!