Children gift ideas

Pictured are items that can be used for a hippopotamus theme story bag.

Walnut harvest is done and we took a much needed day off to do some shopping. What we saw in almost every store was Christmas displays. From the hardware stores to department stores, all are getting a jump on Christmas and it was still October.

Children are making known their wish list. These days top items are electronic, battery operated and lack the need for imagination or a chance to learn. Then throw in the current issue of possible lead paint problems with many toys.

We would like to offer some ideas that are fun, educational and help children be creative. When our children were younger we were introduced to the idea of story bags. This is a cloth bag about the size of a pillowcase filled with items related to a specific theme. One example is things about hippopotamuses.

Items in the bag can include: a stuffed animal, wood puzzle, books with facts about hippos and fiction story books with a hippo as the main character, color books, drawing books, writing paper, pencil, crayons or markers. The items can be age appropriate such as color books for younger children and writing paper for older children to write their own stories.

One idea especially popular with boys is one that includes the book “Backyard Ballistics” by William Gurstelle, accompanied by safety equipment such as ear plugs and goggles to use as they build and experiment with some of the suggested projects. Another book that will intrigue boys is “The Art of the Catapult” by the same author. It gives instructions on how to build seven historic catapults. It will teach them about the physics of levers, force, torsion, tension and traction.

Other story bag themes can be about science topics such as weather which can include a thermometer, barometer, wind gage, rain gage, books about weather and a note book and pen to keep records. Other science topics could be about the solar system, water, geology or animals.

Ideas for other themes could be specific crafts such as origami which could include instruction books and paper to make the different designs. Other crafts ideas could be rubber stamping, paper making, wood crafts or plastic modeling. Included in the bag would be instruction books and items to make the crafts.

Bags could be made for learning to cook, sew, knit, crochet or weave. The ideas are endless. Whether it is for Christmas, a birthday or other special occasion a story bag full of items can spark imagination and learning that can last for years.