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If you’re like me, the last thing you want in life is more “stuff” – and when someone asks you what your kids want or need for a birthday/Christmas/holiday gift, the urge to say “NOTHINGGGGGG” is strong. Experiences are the gold standard, and we welcome the swim lessons, dance classes, zoo passes, and movie tickets over just about anything else. But what about the well-intentioned friend or family member who *insists* on gifting something tangible? That if you don’t provide very clear instructions, they’ll go rogue and BOOM, more stuff?
Here is my #1 go-to in that situation.
Suggest they build an “Invention Kit” as a gift.
Using a tackle box sort of vessel, ask them to include every sort of supply your kiddo might like to create with. In our house, bandaids and tape are such hot commodities we have to ration them and so we’d include those for sure. Scissors, string, pliers, buttons – the possibilities are endless. All the little craft supplies your kids could use for their inventions.
Examples:
- Scotch tape
- Electrical tape
- Cotton swabs & cotton balls
- Scissors
- Kraft string
- Plastic straws
- Pipe cleaners
- Glue dots
- Tissue paper
- Buttons
- Feathers
- A ball of yarn & crochet needle
- Beads of varying sizes and colours
- Glitter
- Sandpaper
- Needle & thread
- Elastics
- Scraps of fabric
- Band-aids
- Gauze
- Binder clips
- Safety pins
- Paper clips
- Thumb tacks
- Pom poms
- Toothpicks
- Popsicle sticks
- A cordless hot glue gun
- Zap straps
- Rubber bands
- Paracord in fun colours
- A spool of ribbon
- Letter and number stickers
- Mini stapler
- Googly eyes
- Twine
- Clothes pins
- A pack of printer paper
When my daughter was about 5 or 6 years old, she got a book called Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty , a story about a little girl who dreams about becoming an awesome engineer and starts to bring her ideas to life at night in her room when she’s alone. She never allows anyone to see them for the fear of embarrassment and failure, until a visit from her awesome great-aunt Rose who teaches her that a first flop is actually something to celebrate! For every kid who has the most creative worlds playing out in their imagination, this box is a key to unlock that story.
My kids have always loved “creating”, especially with things mama kept off-limits usually, like band-aids or paper clips or tape, lol. Extra newborn diapers? Those went on the dollies. Old sleepers? Those got cut up for clothes and blankets for stuffed animals. So, a box of invention supplies would be the best gift ever for my children.
The best part of this gift is that it doesn’t have to be expensive. Even a plain old brown box filled with supplies (most found at your local dollar store, thrift shop, or big box craft shop) is enough to excite most kids. A canon event I’m sure we all remember is when the kids were small and we all joked that they’d rather play with the tupperware, the empty boxes in the recycling bin, and the tv remote control over all their carefully curated toys. Turns out, part of that never really goes away.
Does your child like creating without the crafting? Consider an alternative invention kit that leans more towards building with things like bolts, screws, a measuring tape, painters tape, sticky tack, a mini hammer, a wrench, pliers, a flashlight, a paint pen, etc.
Whether you call it an invention kit, a tinker toy box, a robot building station, or an imagination station, this box of open ended items is the BEST gift for kids that keeps on giving.
Want to see my comprehensive tinker toy box kit ideas? Click HERE for Canada, click HERE for USA.
