5 Simple Gift Ideas For Preschoolers
For Play-Based Learning, Less Is More!
It’s that time of year again! As parents, we can’t help but share our little ones’ joy and wonder as they take in the holiday lights, music, and get swept up in the swirling excitement of the season. Yet that excitement can so easily morph into pressure and overstimulation for all of us.
Last December, we shared our favorite strategies to sidestep the overstimulation pitfalls and simplify your holidays—we still highly encourage and recommend all of them! This holiday season, to accompany those tips to simplify the holidays, we’ve put together a handful of our favorite simple gift ideas for you to give your littles—they are the kinds of materials children enjoy playing with at Harmony every day, along with easy ideas for how to use them in your home.
Though we’re sharing links to retailers we’ve sourced these from ourselves, Harmony gets nothing from this—just the joy of sharing a few of our favorite things with you, and hopefully helping to dial down the hustle-bustle of your season. From our families to yours, we wish you the Happiest Holidays!
Note: If your children are still inclined to put small objects in their mouths, of course, just remember to supervise them while enjoying these!
Glass Gems
With glass gems, you can create the easiest activity in the world—and the natural sparkle of the gems is irresistible to children. Simply grab some bowls, cups, scoops, and spoons, fill the container of your choice with glass gems, and leave this setup somewhere that your child will discover it. Usually, by simply setting the stage for play like this, your preschooler will instinctively begin scooping, pouring, and rearranging the gems into different containers and patterns. Bingo! Play-based learning at work! If your little ones appear unsure what to do, you can model playing with the gems, and before you know it, they will become immersed in play of their own. This activity is great for kids to work on strength, focus, and coordination.
If you have glass gems in different colors, a fun play variation is to mix all the colors together, and wordlessly begin sorting the gems into different color piles. Your child will quickly pick up on an exciting new play path, and will likely get lost in the activity. Again, by simply modeling play (without verbally directing ideas), you are indirectly fostering your child’s independent play skills.
As small business owners ourselves, we always recommend shopping small and local if you can, but we also find great assortments of glass gems here, at Michaels.
Pipe Cleaners + Pony Beads
Threading with beads is a fantastic activity to promote fine motor development in young children. It requires concentration and thinking skills, encourages the use of the pincer grasp between the thumb and forefinger, and naturally strengthens the small hand muscles that are vital for eventually holding a pencil to write with.
A pipe cleaner is perfect to thread the beads onto as it doesn't bend (unless you want it to)! Simply make a loop on one end of the pipe cleaner so that the beads don't fall off while your child is working (and their little fingers don’t get poked).
Another festive pipe cleaner activity we love: Re-use the wooden stand from your child's ring-stacking toy to create a holiday tree. Wrap pipe cleaners around the stand to create a pine tree and decorate with the pony beads. Tip: place a rubber band at the very top to keep the pipe cleaners on the stand.
If you can’t shop small and local for these, try Target for your pipe cleaners and pony beads!
Wooden Peg Dolls + Rings
The basic design of wooden peg dolls naturally lend themselves to storytelling and imaginative play. Because they’re unfinished, it's up to the child to decide on each doll’s character. It could be a mom, dad, child, baby, doctor, firefighter, dancer, shopkeeper, superhero, etc.
Add wooden rings to the mix to usher in a different element of play. Together, they can be used for counting, stacking, making patterns, etc.
We love the quality of wooden peg dolls and solid maple craft rings made by Palumba.
Dice + Playing Cards
Dice and playing cards aren't just for organized games. Children are fascinated with both of these materials. Paired with simple items from nature—acorns, small pinecones, seashells, rocks, and so on—the world of mathematics opens up naturally for little ones.
Roll one die or pair of dice, or choose a number card, and then count out that number of nature items. Roll the dice and find the matching number card. Your play possibilities are endless with these simple toys.
Shop small and local for your child’s dice and playing cards, or order these rainbow dice and basic playing cards from Walmart.
Felt Dolls
Ideal for nurturing a child's imagination and to use for small world play, felt dolls provide children an opportunity to explore new materials, act out scenarios from real life, build language and social skills, and gain an understanding of the world. Add blocks, fabrics, paper towel tubes, decorative stones, gems…and watch your child create his or her own imaginative world. Felt dolls fit right inside your children's pockets so they can easily travel with them as they go on adventures. Perfect pocket pals!
Bella Luna Toys makes the most beautiful assortment of little felt dolls, in a variety of skin tones.
Wishing you all the most beautiful, relaxing, simple holidays with your families—and a brilliant new year!
We’d love to see any Harmony-inspired moments you capture along your child’s early years journey. Tag us (@HarmonyNLC) on Facebook and Instagram, and use the hashtags #HarmonyNaturalLearningCenter #TheHarmonyApproach #HarmonyNLC
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Interested in introducing more of The Harmony Approach to your preschooler at home? Check out Harmony at Home today (FREE activities available).