Top Five Gift Ideas for Creative Kids

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birthday gifts creativity Providence Moms Blog

Top 5 Gift Ideas for Creative Kids

 When your gift list is a mile long, it can be easy to click ‘buy now’ on this years hottest new holiday toys. But as a mom and an artist I know With that as my goal, I use these gift ideas for creative kids to keep my gifting intentional. (And fun!) These are great for birthdays too. Sometimes it feels like my kids have a party almost every weekend! Thankfully these five gift ideas are great for any occasion and can spark creativity in any kid!

  1. Encourage Creativity in the Kitchen: If you know a curious culinary kiddo, Genuine FRED has tons of cute, kid friendly kitchen utensils and gadgets to inspire participation in the kitchen! This idea can work for a variety of ages too. Try gifting some of their cute cookie cutters with a recipe-in-a-jar for a nice pairing that enables an easy-prep baking adventure for the whole family.
  2. Spark Curiosity Through Crafting: Create a Craft Crate. Go to the dollar store, find a fun box, and then meander through the aisles and add in crafty components (stickers, markers, paper, glitter, glue, etc.) It’s easy, inexpensive to fill up, self-contained, and it will inspire hours of imaginative thinking for the lucky little recipient.
  3. Build their Book Collection: Search the collections of Andrea Beaty and Peter H. Reynolds. Beaty’s books, Rosie Revere, Engineer, Ada Twist, Scientist, Iggy Peck, Architect and Artist Ted are wonderful stories about young kids (and a bear…Ted is a bear…) finding their passion and becoming confident and true to themselves despite internal doubt and external criticism. Reynolds’ books The Dot, Sky Color and Ish are an imaginative trilogy that share uplifting stories about kids discovering their abilities to create art and that creative inspiration can come from anywhere and anyone.
  4. Support Local Creativity:  research local independent book stores and museums. Then buy gift cards from them! Here are some great RI bookstores to support. (Peter H. Reynolds also has a bookstore in Dedham, MA!) You can also check with your local library about discounted museum admission tickets. Give the gift of an educational/creative experience to your birthday buddy!  It’s a wonderful feeling (for kids and parents) when you can find a connection to creativity within your community. Help make that happen for your next birthday bash!
  5. Explore the Creativity Around the World:  Experience creativity from other cultures with a globally minded gift! Luckies of London makes scratch off maps of the world.  This is a perfect gift for a family who loves to travel (or simply loves the idea of travel)! The maps can be used to mark where you’ve been, where you want to go, or just to help engage in a dialogue about any and all the countries in the world. (It’s also super fun to scratch off the gold foil to reveal a new color and country info underneath!) Pair it with  an old school paper journal where they can handwrite or draw to document family excursions!

There are a lot of potential gifts out there that will make kids happy, but the best (and most memorable) gifts are ones that engage our kids, get them learning and spark their creativity! Happy shopping, happy gifting and happy learning!

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Kim Votruba-Matook
Kim Votruba-Matook is the proud mother of a three-year-old son and a fifteen-month-old daughter, wife to her high school sweetheart, a professional holding down a full time job in the nonprofit sector, AND an entrepreneur as founder of The Artful Educator. Kim's primary motivation for everything she does stems from the belief that there is always a way she can help make someone’s life better. She was raised within a close-knit, quirky, huge, creative family (and then married someone who has an even larger family!) that is now and will always be an integral part of her life. Her world revolves around traveling within Southern MA and Northern RI to say "hi!" to them all. When not working on her business, Kim loves researching and borrowing books, ranging from graphic novels to fiction to biographies, from her local library to read with her kids. She loves chai lattes with almond milk, tea, and baking any carb-tastic treat. Her all-time favorite recipe is her Gram’s baked macaroni and cheese, which she could easily eat every day. Her exercise routine is chasing, picking up and carrying her kids across driveways and parking lots and up and down stairs so she isn't late to family events or church. She seeks out new, local diners for monthly Saturday brunch with friends and restaurants that make amazing burgers and/or macaroni and cheese entrees for date nights. Also, she really likes mac and cheese…in case that wasn’t clear. She loves Motown dance parties with her kids, watching movies with her husband, checking out local craft fairs, embarking on her own craft/sewing projects, and empowering her kids to make their own art. And sometimes she manages to get some sleep.