Are you looking for great gift ideas? We love gifts that support math and learning. There are hundreds of games and gadgets that promise to teach your child a variety of math skills. However, even the most educational game doesn’t teach anything if it stays at the bottom of a closet!
We suggest you first consider the interests, age, and abilities of the child for whom you are shopping. What some kids will love, other kids will turn their nose up at. This article is arranged by interests so you can find what your child will use again and again for maximal learning and fun!
1. Gifts for Young Chefs:
Cooking is a great way to reinforce and expand math skills such as measuring, proportions, and fractions. If your child likes to cook consider these gift ideas.
Cookbooks
Choose one that features foods your child likes. If your child doesn’t read well yet, take a look at the cookbooks on these sites:
https://www.kids-cooking-activities.com/non-reader-recipes.html
https://www.fantasticfunandlearning.com/cookbooks-for-kids.html
If your child reads well, just choose a cookbook that matches their cooking skills and taste buds. Cookbooks based on popular movies from Disney, Harry Potter, and others may entice your child to try a new recipe.
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Books-Childrens-Cookbooks/zgbs/books/2655476011
Kitchen Tools
Have you ever tried to use a tool that simply didn’t fit you? Kitchen tools made for smaller hands make measuring, rolling, cutting, and basting easier and more fun for pint-size chefs. Curious Chef, MasterChef Junior, Williams Sonoma and Pottery Barn all sell kitchen tools perfect for smaller hands.
Kitchen Fun Every Month
What kid doesn’t love getting packages in the mail? We found two businesses that send recipes, kitchen tools, and lots of extra goodies that young chefs love. You can buy just one kit or a get a subscription.
Kits from Raddish https://www.raddishkids.com/pages/inside and Kidstir https://kidstir.com/join/ will put a smile on your young chef’s face. Raddish boxes cost between $20-24 depending on the length of commitment for the subscription. Kidstir boxes costs between $16.95 -19.95 again depending on the length of commitment.
2. Gifts for Kids Who Like to Build
Building things is a great way to reinforce and expand math skills such as measuring, geometry, proportions, and scale. Lego and K’nex make a ton of fun and themed building sets. We also like some of these simpler and more affordable building toys.
Magna-Tiles and Magformers are great because they don’t require a lot of manual dexterity. Even adults enjoy building with them.
Keva planks are deceptively simple blocks that will keep the entire family entertained for hours.
Classic wooden blocks, such as the ones sold by Melissa & Doug, are a perennial favorite with kids six and under.
If you want to go all out for the maker in your house, consider a 3D printer. Check out this webpage for advice about kid-friendly 3D printers.http://www.avatargeneration.com/2016/09/7-best-kids-3d-printers-for-home/
3. Gifts for Kids Who Like Electronics:
Does your child get excited by things that light-up, make noise, and move? Building circuits is a great way to reinforce and expand math skills such as rate, proportions, logic, number sense and scale. There are many incredible kits for electronics available. Some things to consider when choosing include:
Does your child like kits that have a specific product outcome, like a radio, or would she prefer a more exploratory kit?
Is your child ready to try soldering? If not try a snap-circuit kit or breadboard kit. Check out this webpage for specific gift ideas for electronics http://www.techagekids.com/p/top-picks.html
4. Gifts for Kids Who Love Screen Time
If your child loves computer games, why not infuse some coding and programming into the fun? Coding is one of the skills predicted to be most needed for the careers of the future. Coding is a great way to reinforce and expand math skills such as logic, patterns, arithmetic, and algebra.
Try one of these coding websites
https://scratch.mit.edu/ (FREE!!!)
https://www.fractuslearning.com/2011/12/14/programming-for-kids/
5. Future Fashionistas
Get your child a sewing machine. Sewing is a great way to reinforce and expand math skills such as measuring, geometry, number sense, proportions, patterns, and scale. Check out this webpage for advice on buying a simple and safe sewing machine. http://sewingmadesimple.net/sewing-machine-reviews/best-sewing-machine-for-kids-my-top-picks/
6. Gifts for Kids Who Like Robotics
Robotics kits infuse coding and electronics into one fun package. Robotics is a great way to reinforce and expand math skills such as patterns, rate, proportions, logic, arithmetic and algebra.
We love this website for gift ideas about robotics.
https://www.homesciencetools.com/science-gifts/
The website also has gift ideas for science lovers. You can filter results by interest, age, price and more.
7. Gifts for Kids With Too Much Stuff
If your child can’t stuff one more thing in the closet, consider getting tickets or a membership to a zoo or museum. Your child probably won’t do any math at these attractions. But a visit might spark an interest into a field that uses math. We recommend finding as many “hands-on” exhibits as possible.
8. Gifts for Kids who “Hate” Math or Say it is Boring
These kids may not write “Mathnasium” on their list to Santa, but enrolling these children at our center may just be the best gift your child gets. We teach math in a way that makes sense to kids of all abilities. Best of all, when their math skills improve so does their confidence and enthusiasm for math.
Call us today for more information. 303-840-1184
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Easy Gifts for the Reluctant Mather and Math Lovers in Your Life
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