The Best Gifts for Kids That Are Fun and Educational

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Are you looking for what to get your elementary aged kids that are both fun and Educational?

I am a huge proponent of getting my kids gifts that are fun and practical. In this case, gifts that are developmentally educational. I love games and toys that help my kids learn new skills, and encourage creativity and imagination while they play with them. Thankfully with the STEM or as I Prefer STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Mathematics) movement, there are soo many more engaging toys and games available on the market for our kids. Here are 10 of my favorite! 

A Ream of Paper

As funny as this gift sounds it was actually one of my favorite growing up. My siblings and I were always working on various crafts, drawings, and projects that dealt with paper, but my parents would get annoyed if we were asking for too much paper too often.  They thought we were wasting the good printer paper. Then one year my parents decided to give each kid their own ream of paper for Christmas telling us we could do whatever we wanted with our own ream and they wouldn't complain. My brother decided to test my parents and said, "What if I want to make 500 paper airplanes." They said he could do anything he wanted. So he went ahead and made 500 paper airplanes which he tested flying down our stairways for days. I used mine for drawing pictures and cutting up for crafts. The paper was such a hit that it became a yearly standard gift.

You Can Get Reams of White Paper Here

Kindle Fire

Buying Kindle Fires for our kids last Christmas was a real game changer. There are soo many awesome apps, and ebooks available for free or a small fee that are lots of fun for kids and educational at the same time. If you have Amazon Prime or Netflix you can have access to some great educational movies for your kids as well.  Kindles have a sd card slot allowing for expanded memory. (We put a few of our favorite movies on the sd cards which make it great for travel.) I highly recommend getting the K.indle Fire Kids addition with a case.

You Can Buy The Kid's Kindle Fire and Case Here

Story Cubes

This is such a simple yet fun game where you roll these fun little dice covered with little action images. Then you put the images rolled together to make creatively fun stories. The possibilities for the stories are endless as the dice kick start your creativity and get your imagination into motion. I could easily see how these could lead to hours of fun for my kids. (especially my daughter who already is a story teller.)

You Can Buy Story Cubes Here

Find more gift guides for STEM gifts for curious kids (for your Elementary Aged Kids) then check out this gift guide over at  Pennies and Playdough

Brain Teaser Toys

I always loved these as a kids. Oh , ho am I kidding? I still love them as an adult. I love pitting my mind against those crazy teaser toys. First to beat them, and then to see how quickly I could beat them. These toys are great for developing problem-solving abilities and critical thinking. And they are super fun to boot.

You Can Buy Some Fun Brain Teaser Toys Here. 

Snap Circuits

Do your kids love to build things? How about building electronic things that really work? With various parts that just snap into place your kids can make tons of different projects then see them work. Flashing lights, moving parts and more. Get your kids excited about engineering and science.  I know my kids will love this.

You Can Buy Various Snap Circuit Sets Here

Scrambled States Game 

Geography is a subject that many kids (and to be honest adults) struggle with. Probably because the subject is often taught in boring ways. I am all about learning through games which was why I was soo excited when I learned about this game. I bought the book the Scrambled States of America several years ago and loved the fun way it taught about the different states in the US. This game is based on the book my children and  I love so much.

You Can Buy  The Scrambled States Game Here. 

If you are looking for great gift ideas for Kids who love to travel (for Elementary Aged Kids) then check out this gift guide over at  Books Kids Travel

Magformers 

This is such a seriously fun toy where you build shapes and structures with these colorful Magnetic Geometric shaped pieces. My older kids loved making complex structures and my youngest loved making simple structures and then smashing them flat before starting again. This is such a great toy for imaginative creativity and geometric awareness.

You Can Buy Various Magformer Sets Here

Osmo & Games

The Osmo is a cool device that works with IOS devices via a special base, and Game apps that work together with a series of the coolest interactive games. (you can read about my experience here) There are a series of games available for the Osmo. Each one focuses on developing different skills in a crazy fun way.  Seriously my kids love this and beg for me to get more games. Even I enjoy playing with it.

You Can by the Base and Games Here.

If you are looking for great gift ideas for Kids who enjoy Harry Potter (for Elementary Aged Kids) then check out this gift guide over at Paper Angels

Magnetic Gears

When visiting the Air and Space Museum in San Diego my kids loved playing with the magnetic gears in their kid's area. These toys are super fun and can stick to any magnetic surface.  This toy is great for developing spatial reasoning, problem-solving skills, fine motor control and more

You Can Buy a Great Magnetic Gears Set Here

Bananagrams

I love this game so much more than Scrabble. You create your own words then rearrange your tiles to make more words as you add new letters to your pile. This is great for working on wordbuilding skills. I have the original Bananagrams which is great for older kids and adults but discovered there is a kids version with larger colorful letter tiles that is great for early readers.

You Can Buy the Kids Version of Banagrams Here

Since I have only soo much time to create these recommended gift guides I have teamed up with other great bloggers for those of you looking for great guide recommendations for your kids. Check out all the other gift guides for Elemen Aged Aged Kids Here.