Christmas is one of our favourite times of the year, drinking mulled wine, relaxing by the fire, meeting up with family and friends over dinner and baking festive cookies.  We are here to help you find the right non-gaming gifts for children which will help keep them entertained for hours in child-led play while you relax.

In this guide, we share five unique game/toy ideas for kids starting with a 1000 piece Farm Puzzle from Kikkerland.  Next, the AirBrush Plush Unicorn by Canal Toys is not only cuddly but children can decorate it over and over again. The Geomag Magicube Word Building is a fun yet educational game for little ones while the Table Hockey Set is perfect when you want to keep children active indoors on a wet and cold day.

Finally, George’s Marvellous Experiment Kit by John Adams is the ultimate gift for any science and Roald Dahl fan. Hope you enjoy reading this guide and stay tuned for more guides coming along your way.

Farm Puzzle

Puzzles are a great way to keep kids entertained and busy when you are trying to keep them away from electronic gadgets especially on a cold and snowy day. As a family, we have always found doing puzzles relaxing and a great way to spend quality time with each other.

When our children were little, we started out with a 10 piece puzzle set and have since worked our way to 500 piece puzzles. I am sure the 1000 piece puzzle is going to be challenging for them but the fun farm-themed design would be something my two will enjoy putting together.

Designed by Studio Job Group, this eye-catching puzzle is not only attractive but long-lasting as it is made from good quality material.  Measuring 70 x 50cm when completed, it is great to fit on top of your coffee table or the dinner table (especially if you have a puzzle rolling mat to help you move it around).

This puzzle is available from Kikkerland and reasonably priced at £15 and is something I know that grandparents, parents, teenagers or older children will enjoy putting together over the Christmas and winter holidays when kids are stuck at home.

Canal Toys AirBrush Plush Unicorn 

This is the perfect gift to get your child this Christmas if he/she loves to decorate and personalise their toys.  The gift box comes with a Unicorn plushie, chalk-based coloured markers, a battery-operated airbrush tool, stick-on stencils and cloth to help give the unicorn a makeover.

Perfect for children aged 6 and above, the soft plushie is such a cuddly toy that also allows children to be creative as they spend time creating fun designs on their 25cm high unicorn.  I found that my daughter who is very arty could easily spend a good hour decorating the unicorn by adding shapes/print designs on the plushie such as tie-dye effects, cosmic shapes or animal prints by hand.

Additionally, the playset also comes with an airbrush tool where kids could choose colours and then spray the unicorn.   The pet would of course need to fully dry before you can play with it.

Geomag Magicube Word Building

 If you’ve got children who started school this year you’ll likely be spending a lot of time working on phonics with your 3 and 4-year-olds. As they start to learn and recognise letters, this fun set from Geomag is a great resource in adding a fun element to learning.

There are 16 magnetic cubes and 61 magnetic attachments made up of letters of the alphabet, multilingual characters and pictures included in the set which can be used to help children create simple, three-letter words as they begin learning to read.

Also included is a leaflet with examples of games and activities you can play using the building blocks and pictures of construction activities which all proved a big hit. Margot is 3 and can recognise and write most letters but sometimes struggles with understanding sounds so we’ve been using the blocks to encourage picking out the letters and saying the sound they make.

The letter tiles are colour coded with blue being consonants and red being vowels which helps as they begin to construct words so they’re a really great tool in encouraging children to read and think about words and how they’re made. This is a fabulous kit for children around 3-5 years as they begin their learning journey. Thumbs up from us!

Priced at £35.24, you can purchase this set and other Geomag sets from Amazon here.

Table Hockey Set

Getting kids presents during Christmas which are a bit different can be often a challenge, but I find that Buzz Retail is a great place to start. They have loads of easy to store away Christmas gifts that are perfect to keep kids entertained over the holidays. This Table Air Hockey set is a good example of what types of toys are available on their website.

Getting the Buzz Retail Table Air Hockey set means that you won’t be spending a fortune on arcade games this winter! And what’s more, you can use this on any flat table in your house, so no need to have a large and cumbersome air hockey table either! You can set this up with ease and play it at home and then when you need your regular table again, it will easily store away in the box it came in or in a drawer, you have at home.

I love these types of toys, as it means you can have fun with other members of the family.  Equally, when your kids have friends around, they can also play it together, especially if it is rainy outside and you still want them to get up off the sofa!

The Table Air Hockey Set is available for £20.  This is the ideal gift to get as a family present, rather than buying lots of little gifts this can be bought as one for everyone, especially if you have a limited budget and lots of people to buy for.

Roald Dahl George’s Marvellous Experiment Kit

This science kit is just the thing if your son/daughter is a huge fan of Roald Dahl or George’s Marvellous Medicine Book as they will get to do fun-filled experiments just like George Kranky did in the book.

The box contains 15 safe and fun-filled science experiments inspired by Roald Dahl’s terrific tale.  Children will get to use safe household ingredients to see how chocolate can make George grow or make a chicken shrink. Kids will also enjoy launching Grandma in the air like a rocket.

As a parent, I find educational gifts such as science kits are more fun for kids and they get to experiment with things and bring out their creativity as well.  Suitable for children aged 8 and above, this experimental kit is priced at £29.38 and you can purchase it from Amazon. The kit contains a saucepan, measuring equipment, test tube, George model mould, syringe and tubing, Grandma rocket and George lava lamp.

You may also want to read this:

Christmas Gift Guide – Gift Ideas for Children

Christmas Gift Guide – Gifts for Kids

Christmas Gift Guide – Gifts For Kids

* We were sent these gifts in return for a feature. All opinions are our own.