If you’re like me, the holiday season is somehow slipping from your grasp and your shopping days are limited. What’s more, you want to find just the right gift for each person on your list, although – let’s be honest – some are nearly impossible to please and you’re really trying to steer clear of the plastic gift card route.
In life, I’m big into intentionality, so when I gift, no matter what the age, I go for:
- Unique
- Practical
- Aesthetic
- Budget-friendly
- Lovingly made or expertly crafted
Check out the following 10 supercool hi-tech-meets-lo-tech gift ideas for kids and teens that I’ve personally sized up. Each is sure to make everyone’s spirits merry and bright!
Unbored: The Essential Field Guide to Serious Fun
A 350-page DIY “activity guide and curiosity-sparker” for all things fun. The book is geared toward ages 8-14, but many activities involve adult participation, and you’re definitely going to want to play! Top 10 reasons I love Unbored. ($16.50)
Roominate
GOOD calls it the Dollhouse 2.0, and says, “Roominate lets girls play architect, designer, and technologist” all at once. With Roominate, a girl can build any room she can imagine. ($59-$225)
Tabletop Moviemaking
Easy, fun, and palm-sized! Tabletop moviemaking shrinks production from months to hours and down to table-size scope, all captured with an iPad or handheld. Kids sketch, color, cut, paste, tape, sculpt, stage, film, and edit their own tabletop stories. So Awesome! ($49.95)
littleBits
From CNN.com: “littleBits are like electronic Legos. Kids can build little machines with the various circuit boards. The pieces snap together and have different functions, such as making sounds, lighting up and acting as motors. The company has a special $49 holiday kit for making ornaments and other decorations.”
Portable Ping-Pong Set
This travel-size set is a game changer for any get-together! Materials are well made, net is sturdily built and stays taut, and paddles are really responsive, so slice away! The ping-pong set fits on any table and comes in a handy black travel bag. ($39.95)
Skullastic School Supplies
“School supplies that don’t suck.” These guys are kickass! Each subversive, custom- designed notebook and accessory encourages kids big and little to ‘color outside the lines,’ ‘question authority,’ and ‘raise a little hell.’ My personal faves: spiral-bounds for lefties and the new “He-Man, Mathter of the Univerth.” ($1-$30)
Cricket Magazines for Kids and Teens
These award-winning educational children’s magazines are the gift that keeps on giving. Fiction and nonfiction choices are available at each age level. Try Babybug for 6 mo.s- 3 years, Click for 3-6, Ask for 6-9, Cricket or Muse for 9-14, and Cicada for 14+. Order digital editions in time for the holidays, with the promise of a print version to come! ($34)
Kindle Fire HD
The device that’s revolutionizing the book industry and definitely boosting reading skills! The Kindle Fire lets you sync audiobooks with Kindle books, bookmark across both text and audio formats, track reading by highlighting in real time or going ‘bimodal’ (audio + visual), and set time limits on use of items like games, apps and videos. (starts at $135)
Echopen & Livescribe
The ingenious Livescribe Pulse smartpen is the best thing to ever happen to your student’s daily school supplies. Along with its hi-tech companion notebook, the pen records everything you write, hear or say, and replays your lectures simply by tapping on the notes. Built in wifi on the newest model means that print and audio notes are automatically synced to organized files in Evernote. Pencasts are usable and shareable in multiple formats for future study. (Echo smartpen: $90. Sky wifi smartpen: $150)
Sessions Songwriting and Music
If you’re in the LA area, you’ll want to get a gift certificate for Sessions Songwriting and Music, “a safe, musical space for kids to comfortably express, experiment, create, and most of all, have fun!” Sessions offers workshops for all ages and abilities in songwriting, piano and guitar, and also features Parent and Me, College Bound, and seasonal camp programs. Sessions has a stellar lineup of teachers and I’m so excited that they focus on both words and music! ($20-$245)
Where to purchase everything:
- Unbored: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781608196418
- Roominate: http://www.roominatetoy.com/
- Tabletop Moviemaking: http://www.tabletopmedia.org/
- littleBits holiday kit: http://shop.littlebits.com/products/holiday-kit
- Portable Ping-Pong Set: https://www.uncommongoods.com/product/portable-ping-pong-set
- Skullastic school supplies: http://www.skullastic.com/
- Cricket Magazines: http://www.cricketmag.com/
- Kindle Fire: http://www.amazon.com
- Echopen & Livescribe: http://www.livescribe.com/
- Sessions Songwriting: http://www.sessionssongwriting.com/
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Tags: creativity, educational gifts, educators, free time, inspiration, Kindle Fire, learning styles, OBSERVE, parents, reading, school supplies, self-expression, storytelling, students, unique, writing