10 Educational Gifts That Won’t Be Boring
Opening gifts should be fun . And while everyone has their own idea of what constitutes fun, no one likes gifts that are too functional or boring. Perhaps that’s why you don’t often think about education-related gifts.
However, there are plenty of gifts that can challenge or enrich the recipient, and they certainly won’t be boring. Here are 10 ideas to get you started.
The Best Educational Gifts for Kids
Choosing an educational gift for a child is no easy task. When I was about six, my mother kept praising the Christmas present she was so looking forward to that she made me open it early, on Christmas Eve. It turned out to be a CD-ROM “game” called ” Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing ,” which she happily installed on our clunky old computer before we left for Mass.
I was furious. I dreamed of flashy gifts, gifts with a twist, gifts that even a six-year-old might want. But eventually, I started playing these typing games, and by the next year, I was a master of the QWERTY keyboard, ahead of my classmates and perhaps even paving the way for my current career. At the very least, I type much faster and more efficiently than any of my friends.
All this is to show that, as much as I loved Mavis Beacon at the time, the real gift to me was how it turned learning into a game. So, when choosing educational gifts for children, remember: learning should be fun. Here are some examples of how to do that.
The marble gravity maze teaches hands-on physics lessons and is a fun way for kids to learn how to build with their hands. I think this interactive globe toy is especially cool and useful because scanning it and accessing information about different countries requires additional technology, like a tablet or phone. I love how it combines old-fashioned materials with new technology, showing kids the value of using both methods to find information.
Honestly, anything that retains even a little of these practical, hands-on elements is a good gift. Kids have access to a wealth of information online, but there’s something fundamental about learning through actual building or creating. While everyone else is giving them cutting-edge gifts, consider getting them that mini chemistry set or that root finder . Just do me a favor and ask the recipient’s parents if an ant farm would be a welcome gift. I had one as a child and absolutely loved it, but the outcome will depend on the child’s whims and the parents’ patience.
And this is a good rule of thumb for any developmental gifts you’re considering: remember to consider your child’s actual interests when choosing a gift. In the ’90s, my mom knew I was interested in computers (and wisely bet that they would only become more relevant and important as I got older), so she bought me a game with a printing kit. If the child you’re buying for isn’t into mechanical engineering, skip the robot kit ; it’s only useful if they actually use it.
The Best Educational Gifts for Adults
The goal of educating children is to prepare them for adulthood, right? Ideally, they should be lifelong learners, and hopefully you know someone like that. If you’re looking for cool educational gifts for an adult, try one of these options.
I love learning new things, taking random classes, and diving headfirst into new hobbies—just because I don’t know anything about, say, Brazilian martial arts doesn’t mean I can’t pick it up with a monthly membership. I also enjoy making things with my own hands. Last year, for some unknown reason, I decided to learn how to do hard gel manicures on my own nails. I wasn’t concerned with saving money; I just wanted to see if I could do it. I failed! But I had fun trying, just as I enjoyed making my own shelves and learning how to paint different types of surfaces while renovating my apartment. So when you’re buying an educational gift for an adult, the same rules apply as when buying for children: find out what they’re already interested in or what they might be interested in learning.
Personally, I’d love to receive a DIY Bluetooth speaker kit or country cards . I know nothing about audio and next to nothing about geography, but I’d love to.
Any gift that requires assembly or work is ideal for an adult, because half the gift is the effort of creating it, and the other half is the tangible object that will remain. A motorized marble maze or a mini bonsai garden are excellent options, and the bonus is the opportunity to work on it with your child and create unforgettable holiday memories.