The Christmas List - Year 2

Last year I wrote a short list of cool toys the babies had on their very first Christmas list. It turned out to be one of the all-time most popular posts on this blog, so I thought it might be fun to make it an annual thing. I'll try to avoid the really obvious stuff and make this more of a fun, not-everybody-is-talking-about-this-toy list.

Without further ado, here it is:

Some Cool Stuff from Linus and Veda's Christmas Wish List

1. Pirate Sandbox - Having a sandbox as a kid is cool. Having a cool boat to play pretend with in your yard makes it even cooler. I'm also digging the built-in sun shade. Not digging that it doesn't come with a cover, but that can be remedied somehow, I'm sure.



2. Melissa and Doug Magnetic Fishing Set - Veda has been OWNING her peg puzzles lately, and Linus is pretty good at them too (when he actually sits still long enough to work on them). This puzzle adds another dimension of motor control to the puzzle game. And also, I love Melissa and Doug toys so much. They're super high quality and always cute. It's more like the stuff we grew up with, as opposed to all of the dime-a-dozen plastic crap being manufactured now.


3. Retro Play Kitchen - I must have looked at every play kitchen available on the Internet before I landed on this one. Isn't it GORGEOUS?! The Amazon reviews are great, and it sounds like if there's ever a problem, KidKraft has great customer service, a rarity these days.



4. Kumon First Steps Workbooks - This year we'll start working on preschool skills. Former teacher me wants to tell you that young children learn best and develop the healthiest attitudes about learning through play (not drill-and-kill, not lecture, and not flashcards). At the same time, I like having a little structure to get me through the days.These handy little activity books seem like the perfect addition to our current arts and crafts time. In addition to the cutting paper title, there are also titles for folding paper, pasting, and coloring. In case you can't tell from the picture of the cover, these books are incredibly colorful and cute.


5. Season passes/memberships - Who says that kids have to only receive things for Christmas? Getting a membership to your local zoo, children's museum, amusement park, or aquarium will provide an entire year's worth of fun. Bonus: You don't have to find room in your house to store adventurous outings.