Best Preschooler Christmas Gift Ideas

Since Christmas is right around the corner I thought I'd make a post of some of the best children's toys right now.

1. The Calico Critters Town Home Gift Set is one of the presents that I got for my daughter for her birthday. She was very excited to see it. I think it's a great gift set since it comes with 50 pieces and two critters so it's ready to be played with after only a little bit of set up. The town home itself is also great with the lights that turn on and off and movable staircase.

2. Disney Sofia the First Royal Talking Enchanted Vanity. My little girl loves Sofia and I'm betting a lot of other little girls do too. This vanity has animal characters from Sofia the First that can pop in and out of the vanity, and Sofia talks when you press her amulet. It comes with some jewelry and pretend makeup. It's easy to put together and makes for hours of pretend play!

3.  Candy Construction Building Set. I think this building set is just so adorable, and it's perfect for developing STEM skills in preschoolers. Perfecting fine motor skills and using their imagination to build things are important things to happen in preschool. Kids will love it because it looks like candy and they can create.

4. My Little Pony Equestria Girls Radical Hair (Rainbow Dash). I think these new My Little Pony dolls are so cute! My daughter got one for her birthday and though they say for ages 5 and up and she just turned 3 she loves it. It's good for her fine motor skills putting the hair clips in the dolls hair. 

5. Melissa & Doug Felt Food - Pizza Set. My daughter got the pizza/sandwich combination felt food set and she loves it. They come with a lot of pieces to make different sandwiches and pizzas. This provides lots of opportunities for dramatic play with a bit of your help. You can pretend to have a pizza parlor and call your child on pretend phones and tell them what kind of pizza you want. Or pretend to have a deli, etc.

6. Radio Flyer Classic Pink Dual Deck Tricycle. I picked this tricycle out for my daughters wishlist and her great aunt bought it for her! I think it's so much better than the character kind and cheap made ones. It's not too pricey that it's unreasonable to buy either. It's very well made and sturdy and super cute with the tassels and bell. My daughter loves ringing that bell and she really took to riding this tricycle when ones we've been on at other places didn't go as well. Maybe it's just her age and her ability level now, but the style of tricycle may have something to do with it too.

7. Melissa & Doug Flip and Serve Pancake Set. Is this not the cutest? I'm all about providing my daughter with pretend play opportunities so I had to buy this. I got a great deal on it on sale at Toys R Us. She'll be able to use it to pretend she's making different kinds of pancakes. She'll be able to make pretend pancakes for her baby dolls while I make real ones for her, which is always good.

8. Maxell Safe Soundz Head Phones. I'm super excited for my daughter to open these on Christmas because she'll be able to use them with her Leappad Ultra that she's also getting! I was really weary about her using headphones, so I was excited to find some marketed towards her age group and said to be safe for the ears and don't go above a certain volume. I'll be testing them out first to make sure though. I sure hope they work good because it will give her a way to listen to her games, shows, or even music without everyone else having to hear it in the car or airplane or situations like that. 

9. Brain Quest flash cards and books are great, and I got some preschool questions with lots of flashcards for a stocking stuffer for her for Christmas. They are so useful for on the go learning!

10. Sofia the First MP3 Sing Along Boombox with Microphone. This will be so great for my daughters budding singing skills and self esteem. It has one of her favorite characters on it so I know it will get her excited, and I'll be able to play any music she'd like to sing along to on it.

11. Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood Game. Daniel Tiger is one of my daughters favorite shows and this game also, like the boombox helps her develop a strong self esteem which is very important to me. The cards in the game require the players to act things out, it's like charades for kids. I use it for family game nights and it's silly fun that brings the whole family together. She was apprehensive to act things out at first, so we got to assure her how wonderful she is, and then it was great to see her start really trying.

12. I was able to get this at a pretty decent sale price from Toys R Us as part of my daughters Christmas presents. It'll be especially great for her because her grandma is a hair dresser so she'll feel like she's being like grandma, as well as having pretend play and developing imagination. She loves Rapunzel so it's encouraging with a character. 

13. BOB Books. Set 1 for beginning readers is the level we're at right now, but all of the BOB Books are amazing tools for kids learning to read. They introduce letter sounds and have just a few words on each page with those few letters. Really helps with the concept of sounding out words and reading.

14. Melissa & Doug My First Daily Magnetic Calendar. This will be so great for starting home school preschool in January. She'll be able to learn the days of the week and months a little bit better than she does now, although she already references days of the week and such. I also like that it'll be a circle time beginning of the day type of thing to get things started.

15. Barbie Sisters Safari Cruiser. Got this for part of the Christmas presents because my daughter has recently gotten into Barbies and doesn't have a vehicle for them yet, and this one has a special part in the back for the kid dolls to sit, which are her favorite to play with as I assume other kids do as well.

16. Barbie and The Secret Door Princess Alexa Singing Doll. Any Barbie and The Secret Door toys are really hot right now! Kids love this movie I guess, we just have the book which is pretty good and the toys are all cute. I got the doll for my daughter for Christmas.

17. Melissa & Doug 48 piece jigsaw puzzles are so great! They are only $9.99 and that's an unbeatable price. My favorite thing about these puzzles are that they come with the wooden board to do them on when many other brands do not, which is inconvenient for when there's no table around.

18. Animal Babies Deluxe Electronic Plush. These are too cute and my daughter specifically asked for one when we were at the store. I can't find the one I bought for her online, but this one is adorable too. I think they're fantastic for pretend play and different than the typical baby doll.

19. Bell Sports Minnie Mouse 3D Child Bike Helmet. My daughter absolutely loves riding her tricycle in this. I could not recommend it more for any little girl who loves Minnie!

20. Candy Land Game. This is a classic. Along with Don't Break The Ice. Perfect for family game nights with toddlers. Both of these will be under the Christmas tree!

21. Laptop Lunch Bento Box. I love bento style meals for kids and this is the best bento box I've seen. Can't wait to get it and start making my daughter all her lunches in it. They're a great way to make visually appealing and make kids more eager to eat them. They also help with portion control and reminding parents to add all the food groups.

22. Lincoln Logs Building Set - Little Prairie Farmhouse. Yet another thing for the STEM, fine motor, and building skills. I think it's important to have varying things for this area of development in a home school preschool setting, just like a mainstream preschool would have.

23. LeapFrog Leap TV Educational Active Video Gaming System. I'm kind of really hoping that Charlie's grandpa gets this for her for Christmas. I'm normally kind of anti video games and a lot of tv watching, but I like that this involves games with characters kids love and encourages them to get up and be active. The best part is all the while they are learning with the educational games!

24. Vet Transport Crate with Dog. Yet another thing for pretend play opportunities. So important for preschool development. 

25. Melissa & Doug Wooden Stamp Set Deluxe Happy Handles. Any crafty kids would be thrilled with this. They can make some beautiful things with these and learn another fine motor skill.

26. Learning Resources Handy Scoopers. These will be so great for sensory bins! Fine motor skills improving and making sensory bins even more fun.

27. Learning Resources Beads and Pattern Cards Set. These again help improve fine motor skills and also teach kids to follow directions in a new way. They should lace the beads the way the card tells them too, making a great tot tray activity for home schooled preschoolers.

28. Minnie Mouse Remote Control Car. This is perfect for little kids who like Minnie, and I'm sure there's other varieties for kids who like other characters or colors. It's a new experience for controlling something from a remote. How fun!

29. Vtech Kidizoom Camera. This would be so great if my daughter got it for Christmas, it's definitely on her wishlist. She could take all her own pictures of things she wanted to and possibly develop an interest in photography! 

30. National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Animals. This, along with the National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Why are on the wishlist. Very educational books for preschoolers who are learning all about everything.

31. Calico Critters Ice Cream Truck Play Set. This, and the Calico Critters Burger Cafe Play Set are on the wish list. They're good additions to the town home, so the critters have other things to do. These play sets have little pieces of food to put together which is good for fine motor and pretend play.

32. Playdough Tools Set. Very important for the homemade play dough for home school.

33. Barbie Chelsea Doll and Clubhouse Set. My daughter loves this play set because as I've said she's just getting into barbies and prefers the ones that are closer to her age than the big ones sometimes. This play set provides her a little space just for the small dolls. They can bake cupcakes and go up the elevator which all requires fine motor skills.


34. Step2 Light It Up Junior Basketball Set. This is the one of the number one things on our wish list. Step2 products are so wonderfully made and this one is supposed to be be easy to assemble, and able to adjust the heights of it as the child grows. My favorite part about it is how encouraging it is with the cheering sounds and rainbow noises that come on every time they make a basket.

35. Kinetic Sand - Sandbox & Molds. I like this set because it comes with a box to kepe it in, and molds to use it with. It's just another sensory material for my daughter to experience and play with.

36. Glitz and Glam Role Play Melissa & Doug Collection. All of the Melissa & Doug role play clothes are so great. They're a bit pricey but they are well made and come with so many parts to them so they are definitely worth it. There's always several accessories. I chose this one for my daughter's wish list because as I've said I'm trying to really encourage my daughters singing.

37. Melissa & Doug Wooden Sushi Slicing Play Set. This is especially perfect for my daughter because she LOVES going out for sushi, but even if a child didn't normally go out for sushi it doesn't mean they wouldn't enjoy this toy. They get to pretend to slice the sushi and the sushi makes realistic noises when sliced. The box they come in provides a storage opportunity.

Pink Poodle in Paris Birthday Party

I spent months planning my daughter's Pink Poodle in Paris themed 3rd birthday party and it finally happened a few days ago. It went perfectly and I thought I'd share some pictures and how-to tips for anyone else looking to have a party like this!

First, let's start off with the cake. I found a picture of a cake that I really loved when I googled "pink poodle in paris birthday cakes" I gave the picture to the baker at the place we had the party, and she made a cake that looked very similar..and even better!

I didn't make the cake, so I can't say for certain how she did everything she did to make it this amazing looking and taste even better. I can say that the balls were some type of bubble gum, and the 3 was made of white chocolate. The icing was fondant on top. We picked vanilla for the flavor, and had hot pink butter cream icing inside as well.

We didn't just have the cake for a sweet treat though, we also had strawberry macaroons that we picked up from a french cafe.

I left the macaroons in their box. I thought they were the perfect touch to a Pink Poodle in Paris themed party and my daughter loves macaroons anyways!

You can see the small pink cups next to the macaroons, those were all filled with Skinny Pop and sat on silver platters from Dollar Tree for people to grab and munch on. I can't find a picture of that right now, but if I do I will add it to this post.

Now, while we're on the topic of food I guess I'll discuss the drinks.

So, my daughters favorite pink drink is Sparkling French Berry Lemonade from Trader Joe's so we had a few bottles of that out, along with pink plastic cups. We had a bucket of ice next to it as well. Then as you can see we can had water bottles. To make them Pink Poodle in Paris perfect I took off their original wrappers and put some Duck Tape I had found with Eiffel Towers on it on them instead.

Now, for the birthday outfit!

Have you ever seen a more perfect birthday outfit? I haven't! I ordered one last year very similar to this style for my daughter's bug themed birthday party and my mom told me she could make one herself. So, this year she did. I know she found the plain white shirt with the bow on it at Target, and then added iron on Eiffel Tower and pink poodle. She also added the iron on letters of my daughter's name, and iron on rhinestones to make a 3 for her age. I'm not sure where all the iron ons ended up being from, but I know she shopped at Michael's and Joanne Fabrics.

For the tutu she used a tutorial she found on Pinterest and used hot/dark pink and lighter pink tulle (as I requested), and a pink satin ribbon to tie a bow in the front. With the left over tulle she did quite a few other things. She made the bow with the left over tulle, then sewed an iron on pink poodle onto it and added a bunch of stick on rhinestone gems (they come in a pack from Party City for $1, I love them!!!!) The bow was perfect! She attached it to a regular hair clip to put it on and off.

The tulle was also used on this number 3 that you can barely see that's sitting on my daughter's present table.

It was a number 3 cut out of cardboard, and then wrapped with the tulle, and a strand of fake pearls that I found at Hobby Lobby. We also got those balloons from Party City. I chose black and a pink that was a bit metallic looking before it was blown up. Made them shiny! You can't see them in any of these pictures I don't think, but I also had a big silver number 3 balloon, and there were 6 of each color balloons.

But for the present table in general it was just a black table with a pink table cloth on it. She got to sit in an adorable pink chair to open her presents.

For entertainment I hired a mime. It was so worth every penny! I don't know what we would have done without him. The entertainment was great. The kids were amused, and the adults really got a kick out of him too.

For games we had people guess whose birthday is the same as the Eiffel Tower. (It's me). We gave out pink Paris hand sanitizers. We also had a dollar store jar that was really pretty, with a piece of pink tulle wrapped around it, filled with silver Hershey's kisses. Another dollar store jar was filled with pink slips of paper that people all wrote their guesses on for how many Hershey's kisses were in the jar. The winner got to keep the jar of kisses.

For favors we gave out these Eiffel Tower cookies.

They came from the same french cafe that the strawberry macaroons came from. I had them individually wrapped in little bags with pink and black ribbon so they'd match the decor.

Speaking of decor, my favorite thing we had was this banner.

So, the banner itself was purchased from Party City, but the sparkly silver letters were purchased from Michael's. You can't see it put there was also silver Eiffel Towers at the ends that had suction cups on them that we used to attach the banner to the window with. We had it say "OOH-LA-LA CHARLIE'S 3" obviously. 

As far as other decor, there wasn't a whole lot we needed to bring since the place was kind of already themed like what we were looking for. They had the walls painted pink and black with Eiffel Towers painted on them, they had black metal Eiffel Towers on all the tables, we used them to tie the balloons we brought to. 

I'd say if you're having your own Pink Poodle in Paris party at home though buying some metal Eiffel Towers for decor is a must. They have some pink ones and some black ones at Hobby Lobby.

It was such a great party!

Christmas Bath

This bath is really, really simple to put together and gets kids in the Christmas spirit. It really is very simple, but still makes for a fun surprise at bath time.

You'll need:
- green food coloring
- red food coloring
- Christmas rubber duckies
- plastic bowls
- paint brush
- shaving cream

All you have to do is fill up the tub with water, and add in some green food coloring to color the water. While the tub is filling up you can squirt some shaving cream into some plastic bowls, and add green food coloring to one and red food coloring to the other. You mix the food coloring in with the paint brush.
I used the red bath paint to write "HO HO HO!" on the wall of the tub.

Snowman Sandwich

With the cold weather and snow falling down I thought I'd make my daughter a super cute winter themed lunch. It was very simple to make and made her so happy! 

To make this you'll need:
- 4 slices of bread
- a sharp knife
- sandwich spread (I used three different spreads, one for each layer of the snowman. Peanut butter, sunflower seed butter, and chocolate almond spread).
- a carrot
- mini chocolate chips (I used gluten free, dairy free)

I just used the sharp knife to cut out two parts of the snowman with the first two pieces of bread. The other two pieces of bread for the bottom of the snowman. Using a sharp knife you can get some pretty good circles, but they're not perfect you have to take your time and be careful. Then spread the butters/spreads on each part of the snowman. Spread some on the outside for a scarf, then add the mini chocolate chips for a face and buttons, and a sliced piece of carrot for a carrot nose.

Apple Picking

One of our favorite things to do in the Fall is go apple picking. I consider it a home school field trip. This year we went with a play group that we're in. That made it all the more fun for my daughter since there was other kids for her to see and play with afterwards. But, even without the addition of a play date apple picking itself is super duper fun and educational!

Children love eating apples, and see you buy them from the store, but it's a different experience to see them on a tree like that. You can use this opportunity to explain how our food grows.

When you're done apple picking, be sure to let them enjoy eating the apples they picked! My favorite apple dip recipe is here 

Fall Painting: Scarecrow

Need a fun painting idea for this Fall? Why not have your kiddo try to paint something that they are used to seeing in Fall? I put one of our scarecrows out for my daughter to paint. It was actually her idea, so you know it was a child approved one!