Buying gifts for your own child can be hard enough but buying gifts for other children can be a difficult task. This handy gift guide aims to help out with some ideas for any growing child. Whilst the ideas might be applicable to children of many ages, we have aimed this particular gift guide for children aged 5 to 10 years old.
Below you will find some ideas that should appeal to most children but do let us know if you have any great ideas that we haven't covered.
Most children love to get involved in some type of craft activity and there are plenty of options to choose from for different interests. Craft kits can be a great gift for any child and they can range in difficulty depending on the age and level of the child. Kits include making and decorating a money box or a jewellery box, making a shiny colourful picture out of sequins or perhaps a paint-by-numbers kit. As well as craft kits, another present idea is to give craft equipment or materials that can be used to top up a child's craft materials at home – tissue paper, glue, goggly eyes - the type of bits that give them free reign to create their own masterpieces!
At this young age, a child's knowledge is growing exponentially with all that they are being taught and experiencing around them. Some long-standing, family-favourite toys such as Lego, Knex or Meccano sets encourage a much greater level of control and concentration than the building blocks a child might have experienced as a toddler. It also helps encourage creative ideas and the sets can normally be built upon and expanded with additional sets in the future.
Children often love getting messy, and making their own slime or crystals are examples of science kits that can provide a lot of fun and don't require too much help from parents. These kits normally contain the basic equipment to help make items such as a potato powered clock or an exploding volcano, often to the amazement and joy of the young child.
As with children of all ages, books are a great gift idea. As a child's reading develops they obviously begin to get lost in bigger books. It might be that they are already into a particular series of books or enjoy a specific author so you can add to their existing collection that way – find out what they like from other family members and see if there are specific books or genres that would really appeal to them. Alternatively, if you are unsure what books they already have then a book token can be a great alternative – as a child there is always something special about having some money to yourself to go and browse through lots of lovely books.
Some children are more active than others and into different sports and hobbies. If they have a particular hobby then they might want a piece of equipment to support that hobby, such as a tripod for holding a camera or a new accessory for a fish tank. If they are into particular sports, there might be sports equipment that they would love to get that they wouldn't normally buy themselves, for example a pair of goalie gloves for playing football.
Similar to the above theme, you could also consider outdoor toy gifts. Some of these might depend on the time of year for the event you are buying for but all of the ideas are bound to be fun. How about a new football, a swing ball set or possibly a pair of roller-skates Or if it happens to be a warmer time of year, some water-based outdoor toys could be a fun choice, such as a water pistol or some simple water bombs. The obvious other benefit of these gifts is that it encourages your loved ones to be active.
Our last suggestion in this guide would be for a ticket to an experience or event. Live entertainment can often be expensive and so a special treat to see a film, a theatre show, a circus or a musical is likely to be really exciting treat for a child. Clearly, make sure you pick something age appropriate and it may even be useful to talk about what you are going to see beforehand, or read the story if that is appropriate, as it can sometimes help relax a child, and be easier for them to follow if they know what is coming up!
To go along with this list we have our next guide in our new feature of dynamic gift guides. The young child gift guide, and all the other gift guides, allow you to get quick inspiration for ideas and you can easily add any of showcased items directly to your own wish lists.
Whatever you decide to give, we're sure that it will be well loved coming from you. And don't forget to see if they have a Giftwhale list to consult for any specific ideas or themes that they are currently into. Happy shopping!
