With families preparing for the festive season, finding the perfect gifts for children of all ages is top of the to do list. Our team at Carfax Education has put together a list of their top picks for Christmas presents which offer fun and creative ways to get your children learning something new or building on topics they have learnt at school.
For the ‘Early Years Elves’
Young children hate learning to write and practice their motor skills, but they love pretending to be the teacher and writing on a whiteboard or easel.
Mehreen, one of our Early Years' experts, has found that letting reluctant writers use a whiteboard and play teacher was an absolute game-changer for practising fine motor skills, confidence building and re-enforcing what is covered in school. We recommend Cra-Z-Art Large Deluxe Easel.
Keeping with motor skills, Leapfrog, who have been teaching children phonics for generations, have recently come out with an innovative smartpen. Their new LeapReader Reading and Writing System is giving children control over their own learning so they can start to learn to read and write their phonics, even as ‘early years elves’!
For the ‘Twinkly Tweenies’
The Pre-teens is the perfect age for children to build their spatial reasoning and planning abilities. Adeeba, our Maths and Science tutor, has loved incorporating Gravity Maze Marble Run Brain Game and STEM Toy into her lessons to develop these skills and says her pupils can’t get enough of it. This fun and exciting game is a great introduction to science and engineering, with built in ‘stealth learning’ for young players.
If you would like to focus on more practical skills such as sustainability and the science of nutrients, food groups, photosynthesis, the life cycle of different plants, with a bit of entrepreneurial spirit thrown in, we recommend the Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre book. This book is a great guide to any young budding gardeners, environmentalists or scientists. George, our Maths and Science tutor has loved working with his homeschoolers as they grow plants, it also teaches a great sense of responsibility to look after the plants and record their growth. George and his homeschooling students love using the vegetables they grow to create recipes, looking at the measurements and ratios of ingredients.
If your child is more into computers the Educational Learning Games - Math, Spelling, Creativity & More, is a great computer game with competitive challenges for all academic skills. Who knew that playing on the iPad could be even more beneficial than reading a book?
Treat the Teens
If you have a bigger budget and are keen to embrace the technological skills of the future, Duc, our coding and robotics tutor suggests the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 31313 Robot Kit with Remote Control for Kids. This is a great way to teach coding, building, and programing. This robot is not like other robots, as the learning capacity is endless with multiple extension packs so that you can grow the robot as you grow your skills in robotics and programing.
For more old fashioned fun, then why not try a family games night, featuring our current craze ‘Catan’. James, our Head of Operations explains “The opportunities are endless. Catan is a board game whereby players collect resources to build settlements, all based on the numbers rolled on a dice. This teaches probability and ratios”. This is also a great game to learn about colonization, conflict, economics, exploration, and strategy.
For more information on how best to have educational fun with the toys listed above and more, please contact Carfax Education at enquiries.uae@carfax-education.com
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