Educational Toys for Christmas

While it’s easy to slip into the buying frenzy of Christmas, I think most homeschool parents would prefer educational toys for Christmas because it fosters learning.  At our house, I find that most of the toys that are bought end up just sitting around cluttering the house up because they just aren’t that interesting anymore.

My son has a whole shelf unit full of toys, but usually prefers to “build houses” with our camper cushions or use pieces of fabric wrapped around to make clothes for himself and others.

Here are my ideas for educational toys for Christmas that your children might play with more than a few minutes.

Rock and Mineral Mining Kit or a Crystal Growing Kit. Here is a more complete Crystal Growing Kit. These would probably best be used with children over 10, but if you have a budding geologist that really wants to grow minerals and you have the time to help, then go for it!

Othello- This has to be one of my favorite games of all times.  I love it because you can play with a 4 year old or a 90 year old – or a 90 year old can play with a 4 year old.  The rules are very simple, but there is a lot of strategy that can be used throughout the game.  Like it says on the box – “a minute to learn… a lifetime to master.” This is truly a classic thinking game, in my opinion.

Guess Who  – Another classic game that my children choose over and over again. This game requires 2 players who each choose a person out of the box.  Then you have to guess the other person’s choice by process of elimination.  You ask questions like, “Does your person have blond hair?” If they say yes, then you eliminate all the people on your board that don’t have blond hair so that you can narrow down your search and guess the correct person. This is another great thinking game that can be played by a wide variety of ages.

Legos – If you’ve been homeschooling for any length of time, I’m sure you are familiar with Legos.  It’s such a classic toy that you can use over and over again in so many different ways.  We use them a lot in our reading time.  They play Legos while I am reading. Here is the Lego set that my son is asking for this Christmas. I would love to be able to get him this one or this one, but he might be a little young for it.

I’m running out of room here, so I will post more next time.  I hope you enjoyed these ideas. Let me know if you have some ideas too!