The Childcare is Fun! Christmas wish list!

Over the past few months we have been scouting the internet to find the loveliest, most fabulous gift ideas for you and you family. From teeny tots, to Grandparents, we have found some loveliness that we wanted to share with you in the run-up to Christmas.

 

This is part Two of our Childcare is Fun Christmas Wishlist and some of the items are rather luxurious! (You can check our ‘Under a Fiver’ Christmas wish list here.)

 

Teeny littlies 0-1 years

First Christmases are very exciting, and it’s hard not to go overboard with teenies. However – think to the year ahead. Buy toy and products that’ll last and you’ll be investing rather than wasting this Christmas!

Play and Learn Range

Each toy in the Play to Learn range is designed to awaken, stimulate and encourage a baby’s senses using texture, sound and sight.

We love ‘Dylan’s Activity Apple and Dylan’s Musical Activity Toy’  in particular which ooze quality and design – a perfect present for the littlest member of the family!

 

Dylan Activity Apple

Dylan Activity Apple is a fun bright and textured apple shaped toy with wriggle back dragonfly. With teethers, a mirror, crinkle sounds and an easy grab handle designed for little hands – it’s a perfect toy for teenies this Christmas.

Dylan dragonfly musical activity toy has a Squeaker and mirror activities along with bright colours and textures provide a fun playtime for your little one. Press Dylan’s head to play a soothing lullaby to help relax your baby. What’s great is the linkie allows Dylan to be attached to most strollers and car seats. Great for keeping littlies entertained while out and about!

Christmas cash!  Retailing at £9.95 both the dylans musical and Dylans activity apple come in under £10 (£9.95) and are available from www.suncresttrading.com

Christmas clever? The bright colours and soft textures are great for little ones sensory development while doubling up as a little playmate!

Christmas who? Aimed at the under 2’s, especially babies, the Play to Learn range is Cute, quirky and perfect for Christmas!

 

Littlies 1-2 years

Who loves me? Flash cards

We love these flash cards and had our first set way back when Betsy was a baby. since then they’ve served as flash cards, game cards, language development tools and now are hung on the bedroom wall for her to see her favourite people all the time! You can read our full review of the Who loves me? flash cards here.

Christmas clever? Who Loves Me? flash cards give you all the educational value and interactive fun of a set of flash cards, but with the added benefits that they are unique to you and teach your child about something very important – who loves them!

Christmas cash! The Flash cards start in price at £1.99 for one (great for updating cards as children grow or new family members arrive!)

A pack of 8 is £11.99 or £17.99 for 16. Not bad value for a lasting learning tool that doubles as a keepsake!

Christmas who? Ideal for this age group the Who loves me? flash cards will last for years and can be added to at birthdays and other special occasions!

 

Littlies 2-4 years

 Marble run!

Marble run is an intriguing construction set comprising of 24 brightly coloured pieces in 4 different shapes, plus 6 marbles. Phew! sounds tricky to build? No – not at all. In-fact the whole construction took us (a 3 year old, 2 year old and a mummy) less than 15 minutes so with older children it’ll be even easier/quicker!

 

The giggles and delight that came from putting marbles down the run was a joy to hear, and over an hour later they were still nowhere near to putting it all away! That to us says ‘great toy!’

Christmas cash! Not bad on the Christmas budget coming it at £10.99 Marble Run is (available from Galt)

Christmas clever? A entertaining game that’ll keep littlies amused while mum and dad enjoy some feet-up and mince pie time.

Christmas who? Aimed at both boys and girls – it’s a great joint present and for those looking to buy a great, long lasting gift without going overboard on the budget.

 

Trunki PaddlePak

A PaddlePak is a water resistant backpack ideal for young explorers and very popular with  my two toddlers! The dry roll top seal uses the same innovation as adult outdoor bags to keep belongings protected from the elements.

The backpack features a patent pending, break away safety clip, the Trunki grip to keep sunglasses close to hand, and a tail fin that doubles as a functional pocket for small valuables. PaddlePak is the ideal Christmas gift for any active littlies in your life! We find ours ideal for swimming and trips to the beach in the summer, but really the paddlepack is a great bag for any occasion!

 

Christmas cash! A little steeper in price than most bags at £19.99 but great quality and design.

Christmas clever? A clever little bag for your clever tots! This bag will see them through adventure after adventure.

Christmas who? Aimed at both boys and girls (the paddlepack comes in various designs and colours) it’s a great alternative gift this Christmas for littlies.

 

 The Mini Micro 3in1 scooter

The Mini Micro 3in1 scooter can be used as a ride on scooter by toddlers then transforms into a mini micro scooter! You can read our full review here when we tried one back in the summer.

Christmas cash! More a main present buy rather than little friends or family present coming in at £74.95.

Christmas clever? A great investment for any toddler. This scooter lasts from age 1-5years with it’s clever 3in1 system (Includes scooter,seat,o-bar handle and t-bar handle)

Christmas who? This little funky mini micro scooter comes in a range of colours so great for boys and girls aged 1+!

 

Bigger littlies 4-6 years

FarmVille Hungry Hungry Herd 

 Hasbro has teamed up with social gaming giant, Zynga, to launch physical versions of favourite online games CityVille, Words With Friends and Draw Something this Christmas!

 

Christmas Cash! FarmVille Hungry Hungry Herd is available for£19.99

Christmas clever?  Based on Farmville you need to make your hungry farm animals munch as many marbles as they can. If your animal chomps the most, you win!

 

A great ‘real life’ version of the popular online game!

Christmas who? Great for littlies but also a fun game for all the family!

 

Sylvanian Families

Popular in years gone by Sylvanians are back and loved just as much now by little ones as     they were last time.

This Christmas is a Sylvanian one for us with Betsy falling in love with them at a Sylvanian family party! So popular this Christams are Sylvanians that finding deals has been tricky. Head on over to Tesco and Hamleys where offers are pretty fabulous right now!

 

Christmas Cash! Not cheap if you don;t already have the main collection… Furniture and families are from £9 a set with houses and cottages ranging from £35 right up to £150!

Christmas clever? A great gift idea that you can add to on birthdays or special treats.

Christmas who? Aimed at older girls really, but from 3 years old littlies will have lots of fun and imagination with Sylvanian families.

 

Older littlies 6+ years

The Busbi 7

The busbi 7 is a great value affordable seven inch tablet designed with both children and adults in mind. My husband and littlies were constantly arguing over who’s turn it was, and it’s got my husband wanting a tablet for Christmas now!

Running Android Ice Cream Sandwich along with an easy to handle 7” display, the busbi 7 is the ideal tablet for young children (our 2 and 3 year old used the tablet with ease and I actually thought it gave my ipad a run for it’s money in some respects! However, I do prefer ipads, but of course there is a huge price difference!)  There were some sad faces in this house when we returned it after review!

Christmas cash! The busbi 7 tablet is more of a main present buy than a ‘little’ gift at £79.99. much cheaper than it’s rival tablets that start around £180, it’s a great purchase this Christmas!  (The busbi 7 tablet is available from Dixons & Office Depot.)

Christmas clever? The capacitive display screen and fast processor mean the busbi 7 can cope with the demands of the whole family. 4GB of on-board storage enables the tablet to be loaded with content for a long car journey (this can upgraded by a huge 32GB with a micro SD card). A front facing 0.3MP cameras also allows for fun and free Skype calls with the grandparents, but being only front facing, you can’t take outward facing photos – the only negative we have about this tablet.

Christmas who? A bit of an expensive gifts for younger children closer to 6, but ideal for tweens, teens and grown-ups and a cheaper tablet for the tech-demanding child this Christmas! Our Childcare is Fun! Christmas wish list wouldn’t be complete without the grown-ups, so lets start with mummies! What do you buy the mum who does a million jobs in one and rarely gets time to herself?

 

Tweens

With children being bombarded by loud noise from music players, game consoles and tablets, there is a growing concern about the damage caused to hearing in later life. Being    half deaf my littlies hearing is high up on my prioritites and when they use my ipad to watch movies on the go, I try to ensure the sound is down. However, little fingers often wander to the volume control so what can I do? A fab new product – Etymotic’s ETY·Kids™ Safe-Listening Earphones for Apple products ensure the earphones will not exceed safe levels, so parents, like me, can rest easy.

Christmas cash Etymotic ETY·Kids earphones and headset are Available for £39.99 from www.amazon.co.uk not a bad price for peace of mind protecting delicate ears!

Christmas clever?  Even at the maximum volume setting on portable players, children can listen safely for up to four hours per day. my two are rather little to try them properly, but my hudband and i tried them and were impressed with the volume limit (it didn’t effect sound quality at all!)

ETY·Kids earphones also block out background noise, and provide high-definition sound quality so children will be able to hear every detail, and won’t complain that the volume is too low. How smart is that?! The ETY·Kids3 headset also features a three-button control and a mic designed for use with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

Christmas who? Great for all ages to protect hearing and listen in style to music, movies and playing games!

Teens

 The Pong Rugged iphone case (also available for Samsung Galaxy S III)

 Christmas cash! Not cheap for a phone case at £63.50 but there’s some cleverness to this case that we feel is worth the Christmas cash!

Christmas clever? The Pong Rugged phonecase not only protects your phone from being dropped or scratched, it also offers protection against cellular radiation exposure. Something perhaps not many parents think about.

With a built in polycarbonate chassis, encased in a resilient hard rubber, the Pong Rugged reduces radiation to as low as 94% below international safety limits. Users can relax in the knowledge that both their child and phone are protected while using the Pong Rugged.

 

Christmas Who? Great for the teen who is always on their phone, or for mum, dad or grandparents this Christmas.

 

Mums

 The iPad Mini

The iPad Mini integrates everything you love about an iPad in a more compact, manageable size – A fabulous luzury gift for Mum who’s looking for a sylish tablet this Christmas!

 

 

 

Christmas cash! The ipad mini (16GB) starts at £269

Christmas Clever? The colours are vivid and the text is sharp, but what really makes it stand out is its size. At 7.9-inches, this iPad Mini is small enough to hold in one hand. The iPad Mini is compatible with over 275,000 apps including those from the iPad, making the iPad Mini practically impossible to put down.

Christmas who? An expensive but wonderful gift for mums, dads and older teens looking for a tablet this Christmas.

iPad Leather Clutch  

Made from real leather, this rather gorgeous ipad pouch boasts a soft velvet interior to protect against knocks and bumps!

Christmas cash! This iPad Leather Clutch  is available now from  £59.99 – Not bad for a little bit of luxury for Mum this Christmas!

Christmas clever? The pouch features a unique bevelled outside edge helps protect the screen and the silver-plated chain, leather tassel and fashionable rivets give it the look and feel of a clutch handbag.

Thanks to an extra zip around the body of the case, it will also extend slightly to provide more room for a note pad, mobile phone or even a lipstick if users plan to show it off on a night out.

 

 Dads

 BeeWi Bluetooth car

BeeWi Bluetooth cars and helicopters are a fun gift for any gadget lover! We had lot’s of fun with the BeeWi Bluetooth car which totally confused our little fella Oscar (2 years) to how it was working!

Christmas cash! Not a cheap fun-toy, at £49.99 (from John Lewis and Argos) But clever techy gadgets aren’t cheap!

 Christmas clever? BeeWi Bluetooth cars and helicopters can be controlled by any iOS and Android smart device. How clever is that? For the gadget geek in your life these fun toys are great for Christmas! We were rather sad to give ours back after review!

 QDOS iPhone 5 cases – stylish covers for dads!

Christmas cash! At £19.99 not a bad price for a funky cover.

 Christmas clever? Three styles available; the Smoothies Pure for a simple but bold finish, the Metallics for a shining steel effect and the Racing collection for deep shades with a hint of sparkle.

The crystal clear but ultra-strong polycarbonate finish of these ranges ensures that the iPhone 5 is protected from knocks and scrapes.

The covers also have a unique bevelled outside edge to help protect the screen.

Christmas who? Great for Dads, Funky Grandads or Teen boys who want a bit of style on their phone cover!

  

The Google Nexus

Giving the ipad a run for it’s money, this Lightweight and comfortable to hold tablet, is perfect for life on the go. The Nexus combines all the features you need in a tablet; it boasts a 7″ 1200×800 HD backlit display, 16GB of on-board storage and a 1.2MP front-facing camera. ( Also available in 32GB)

 

Christmas cash? From £180 for 16GB

 

Christmas Clever? The Google Nexus is powered by a NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 quad-core processor and runs on the versatile Android operating system. With the Google Play Store you can access thousands of music, games, social networking and news apps. The Nexus 7 also comes with all your favourite applications including Gmail, YouTube and Google+ Hangouts. Wi-Fi enabled, the Nexus 7 tablet includes a 2-in-1 audio jack and a micro USB port, along with a total of 9.5 hours battery life for convenient all day usage.

 

Christmas who? An expensive but fabulous gift this Christmas for Mums, Dads and teens this Christmas!

 

Grannies

This bracelet comes in a variety of gorgeous colours and the sterling silver or gold plated mini charms can be hand engraved with initials. Using French cursive handwriting, the engraving gives personalised meaning to the gift, and you can even have both sides of the charm etched.

Christmas cash! This bracelet starts at £24 for one charm

Christmas Clever? The size can be easily adjusted with sliding knots, so this piece will fit  any wrist. The dedicated team at Merci Maman will hand craft your bracelet from start to finish and they will lovingly gift wrap your treasure in their renowned orange box sealed with a bow. How very lovely is that?

The waxed cotton braid is distinctive and you can choose from 17 vibrant colours. From baby pink and light violet, to fuchsia, turquoise and everything in between, there is a colour to suit everyone. The braid is then threaded through the charms which measures 1 x 1cm to create your one of a kind keepsake.

Christmas who? A lovely gift for Grandma but any family member would be happy to receive such a personal gift! (I’m hoping Santa brings me one the lovely disc bracelets!)

Grandads 

Classic Book Cover For Kindle (by Klevercase)

The perfect traditional yet modern gift for book and gadget loving Grandads

Christmas cash! £28

Christmas clever? Available in Alice in Wonderland, Sherlock Holmes, Peter Pan, Astronomica, Emma, Jane Austen, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Dracula and Burns’ Poetical Works. and even personalised! A truly lovely gift this Christmas!

Christmas who? Great for any kindle reader who likes a touch of style – but a really lovely gift for Grandads!