Whether you’re looking for a birthday gift or something for a special occasion like Christmas, the suggestions below make great gifts for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage, promoting different skills and spanning different areas of learning.
1. Magnetic tiles
There are a variety of different names for this toy but it is essentially a construction set of tiles that connect together using magnets. It sounds very simple but these toys are popular with young children and adults alike, the magnetic connection makes construction feel very satisfying and requires careful lining up and balancing. These tiles can build imagination, co-operation and motor skills, and are a toy that will last for years.
2. Grimms Rainbow
Grimms rainbow has become somewhat of a cult item in recent years, and rightly so! It’s an open-ended beautifully made toy that encourages children to use their imagination and construct in different ways. Whilst this piece is fairly pricy it holds it’s value well and can be played with in different ways throughout childhood. Younger children may enjoy making tunnels, or turning the pieces upside and using them as boats for small figures, or simply experimenting with stacking them in the correct order whilst older children can experiment with the variety of ways to balance and construct with the pieces.
3. Tickets to a local attraction
If you’re not keen on adding more ‘stuff’ to the house then an experience gift might be the way forward. Buy tickets to a local attraction you think the child would enjoy (farm, zoo, space museum, aquarium) and give these as a gift instead. Children learn so much from days out, and having hands-on experience, and the memories can be treasured without cluttering up the house, or later, landfill.
4. Watercolour paint set
Give the gift of creativity but without too much mess! In the age of squeezy ready mixed paint watercolours seem to have almost been forgotten but they are really simply for children to use independently and don’t create nearly as much mess as the ready-mixed stuff. Watercolour paints and an artist’s pad can be easily stored in the home and promotes creativity, motor skills and pre-writing skills too.
5. Age-appropriate board game
We are so lucky to have such an array of board games for children on the market, and board games are great for promoting pro-social skills such as co-operation, turn-taking and winning and losing well! Matching games are great for children in the EYFS, and anything involving a dice adds an extra element of mathematics and counting. There are plenty of skills that can be gleaned from playing board games together.
6. Doodle boards
These come in many different varieties from simple whiteboard and dry erase marker, to magnetic pens and boards to some that light up with neon pens, but the concept is largely the same; a special board that encourages drawing and writing. Mark-making is an important activity in the Early Years Foundation Stage for improving fine motor skills, control and pen grip as well as the concept of representation and writing. Anything that encourages your child to write or draw, preferably freehand rather than tracing, is a positive thing!
7. Balance bike
Balance bikes are great for teaching children to learn to ride, the idea is that children build up their core strength and balance and are able to progress straight to a two-wheeler with pedals, skipping the stabiliser phase altogether. Children love the fun of propelling themselves along on balance bike and learning to take risks and take their feet off the floor to balance. The physical skills children learn through balance bikes include balance, speed, and the ability to turn and manoeuvre out the way of obstacles.
8. Threading toys
Threading or lacing toys are in abundant supply. From board with holes and laces to thread through to wooden bead sets, threading and lacing toys are brilliant for improving concentration and fine motor skills and with such a wide range on offer it’s easy to tailor this gift to the child’s age, stage and interests.
9. Books
Books are a classic gift for children with good reason. They don’t date as quickly as character toys from TV shows, and most children enjoy listening to stories and looking at pictures. Children who are read to regularly have better vocabularies and language skills, and older children can begin to build awareness of rhythm, rhyme and alliteration.
10. Remote control toy
Remote control toys are widely available in a variety of designs (and price ranges!!) and are a great introduction to ICT and cause and effect. Children will have great fun learning how to control their toys, and will learn from this too.
The great thing about children in the EYFS is that they learn through absolutely everything that they do, and really there are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ gifts to give them. There’s nothing wrong with treating a child to models from their favourite TV show and they will most likely surprise you with some of the play narratives they create. However, on the whole, open-ended toys that can be used in a variety of different ways tend to come with greater learning opportunities and produce a higher quality of play which is why these are suggested.
