As far as electronic devices, the Lunii storyteller is hands down our most valued investment. It’s an audio storyteller that functions much like an old school iPod. You can purchase new stories and choose-your-own adventures in many languages. You can even record your own audiobooks through their app and upload to the device.
We do a lot of long road trips AND our kids tend to get motion sickness when they look at books or screens. This device has always been in heavy rotation for many years.
We now have 4 kids all 2 years apart in age and for the littlest one especially, we are finding that there are few categories of play things that we don’t already have.
So one thing that’s become more important to us is you “sets” that we can keep building on. And our favorites are:
1. Magnatiles. We started with a small set and we have added more to the same set so that kids can build bigger things. The key is to pick a quality set at the beginning and invest into building on it.
2. Train set. It’s amazing how much all the kids have been into the train set. Brio trains, generic wooden tracks, and then some accessories by Areaware
3. Wooden blocks by Kapla. These blocks are shockingly simple and I would have never guessed how much the kids would love building things with these slim wooden blocks.
4. Legos. Timeless. We have mega blocks, duplo sets and the regular Lego’s. Most of them we have inherited from generous neighbors, and we continue to build our collection.
5. Snap circuits. My school age kids love playing with these. And we will likely keep building on our collection. So many possibilities!
We are traveling for Christmas this year and have instituted a no gift plan. Santa will fill stockings, but the goal is to appreciate the time together as the shared gift. It does feel like holidays have gotten BIGGER the past few years. During the pandemic, I know we craved escape and levity, so I was all for making things festive and pressing add to cart. I’m ready for less buying and more savoring experiences this year.
As far as electronic devices, the Lunii storyteller is hands down our most valued investment. It’s an audio storyteller that functions much like an old school iPod. You can purchase new stories and choose-your-own adventures in many languages. You can even record your own audiobooks through their app and upload to the device.
We do a lot of long road trips AND our kids tend to get motion sickness when they look at books or screens. This device has always been in heavy rotation for many years.
We now have 4 kids all 2 years apart in age and for the littlest one especially, we are finding that there are few categories of play things that we don’t already have.
So one thing that’s become more important to us is you “sets” that we can keep building on. And our favorites are:
1. Magnatiles. We started with a small set and we have added more to the same set so that kids can build bigger things. The key is to pick a quality set at the beginning and invest into building on it.
2. Train set. It’s amazing how much all the kids have been into the train set. Brio trains, generic wooden tracks, and then some accessories by Areaware
3. Wooden blocks by Kapla. These blocks are shockingly simple and I would have never guessed how much the kids would love building things with these slim wooden blocks.
4. Legos. Timeless. We have mega blocks, duplo sets and the regular Lego’s. Most of them we have inherited from generous neighbors, and we continue to build our collection.
5. Snap circuits. My school age kids love playing with these. And we will likely keep building on our collection. So many possibilities!
We are traveling for Christmas this year and have instituted a no gift plan. Santa will fill stockings, but the goal is to appreciate the time together as the shared gift. It does feel like holidays have gotten BIGGER the past few years. During the pandemic, I know we craved escape and levity, so I was all for making things festive and pressing add to cart. I’m ready for less buying and more savoring experiences this year.