Awesome Open-Ended Gifts for Kids

Welcome to this Awesome Open-Ended Gifts for Kids Gift Guide, y’all! I’m excited to share these items with you all today! If you’ve been contemplating trying out open-ended gifts for your children, let this list be a jumping-off point to get you going.

These are the first open-ended gifts that we’ve intentionally gotten our kids, so I’ll be learning and growing our collection right along with you. From what I can tell, these items are of excellent quality and will last a long time – not to mention they are more sustainable!

Since becoming a SAHM two years ago, I’ve begun to understand what toys work well long-term and what items seem to have a very short shelf-life. With this realization, we’ve become more intentional about the gifts we give our kids since that’s what we can control.

You can go read about our Simple Gifting Strategy for Kids post here – it’s a good one!

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Awesome Open-Ended Gifts for Kids

A note on open-ended toys

I’m drawn to open-ended toys because I’m striving to attain a “less is more” mentality in our home, while not hindering my children’s’ imaginative play and learning at the same time. Open-ended toys serve this purpose. I also love that they work for a wide range of ages. My kids can play with them in different ways based on their developmental level for many years.

Here’s an excerpt from Sigi Kids Website that helped me to understand the definition of open-ended toys: An open-ended toy is one that can be played with in many different ways. They aren’t bound to one form of play. For example, a video game can only function in one way. You can’t make spontaneous changes depending on your mood. But an open-ended toy can be used to suit your child’s imagination. This nurtures their creativity and developing skills.

1. Wooden Balance Board

Kinderfeets Wooden Balance Board – I’ve taken this thing out of the box already to check it out. It is so cool! It’s huge and both Eric and I can use it. Great quality and I can’t wait to see how the kids play with it – aside from a balance board.

2. Wooden Peg People

Lewo Wooden Peg People – I took these out of the box when they arrived and they are so stinkin’ cute and beautiful! I’ve been wanting to get the kids some sort of figurines to play with and nothing was really tripping my trigger until I came across these. Can’t wait to see what the kids think.

3. Nesting Rainbow Blocks

Lewo Nesting Rainbow Stacker Blocks – This is another highly rated open-ended toy that I’ve had my eye on. So many possibilities for play with these things.

4. Magnetic Tiles

Picasso Tiles – I don’t even know how many articles and reviews I’ve read that claim these as a favorite toy for a wide range of ages. The reviews don’t lie. We finally pulled the trigger on this set of Picasso Tiles. I can’t wait to get my hands on them myself!

From my findings, Picasso Tiles are an excellent option. But if you want the original and “best” magnetic tiles, you may want to look into Magna-Tiles. We went with the cheaper option because I know they’ll still be awesome. I’ve read numerous times that both sets will actually work together if we want to splurge in the future. You do you!

5. Balance Bike

Yelo Balance Bike – “Look Ma, no wheels!” Ha! I snagged this at Sam’s Club on a Monthly Shopping Trip a couple of months ago. This has a ton of great reviews. I’m happy the kids will be able to burn off some energy this winter with it! There are a couple of different sizes depending on your kids’ age/size. (PS -this one isn’t technically open-ended, but still a good one none-the-less)

Are any of these items on your list this year? Since these gifts don’t have a lot of “shock & awe” initially, I’m interested to see how they react when opening these (haha!). There will be plenty of “shock & awe” moments with other gifts from family members, so I’ll wait until the dust settles for them to really get into these. I’m in it for the long-game on this one!

If you like this small (but mighty) list of awesome open-ended gifts for kids, please do me a favor and pass it along to your family members, friends, neighbors… anyone really! I greatly appreciate any shares or shout-outs you can give.

To the Chaos!

-MG

Other Posts You May Like:

• Gifts for the Person Who Loves Tech Gadgets
• Practical Gifts for the Men In your Life
• The Gift of Time – Think Outside the Box this Holiday Season

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