Tech Savvy Mama

Parenting in the Digital Age

2022 Gift Guide: Best Gifts for Early Elementary Ages (grades K-2)

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The links in this best gifts for early elementary ages post are affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on a link. 

Years before I became a middle school teacher, my first teaching job was as a first grade teacher. As challenging as it was to capture the attention of my energetic 5 and 6  year olds at times, it was thrilling to watch their eyes light up with new learning every minute we were in the classroom together.

Teaching this age group and witnessing their development was incredibly rewarding. My students always had a wide range of knowledge and skills which is typical of early elementary ages.

BEST GIFTS FOR EARLY ELEMENTARY AGES (AGES 5-8/GRADES K-2)

Kindergarten through second graders experience huge growth in their social, emotional, and academic skills. Kids this age grow physically, emotionally, and academically by leaps and bounds. The best gifts for early elementary ages should allow them to be kids while allowing them to practice what they know and learn new things about things they love.

Here are some of my favorite gifts for early elementary ages this holiday season.

Osmo Creative Starter Kit for iPad (currently $48.30 from PlayOsmo.com, regularly $69)

Nuture the artist in your child with the Osmo Creative Starter Kit while fostering creative confidence, visual thinking, problem solving, and drawing detail and speed. The Osmo Creative Starter Kit blends real-life doodles with on-screen action by blending art tools and cutting-edge technology. The kit includes a creative board and specially designed dry erase markers that use Osmo technology. Three games inspire kids to use their imagination, invent, explore and play. Monster brings drawings to life when kids draw something on the board. In the Newton game, kids practice physics in a fun way by making onscreen falling balls land on targets by drawing obstacles on the board. Masterpiece transforms any image into simple-to-trace lines so kids can create amazing works of art or cool time-lapse videos. Osmo Creative Starter Kit for iPad or Kindle Fire builds your child’s creativity and communication skills while fostering endless imagination. Best for ages 5+ 

Little Passports Kitchen Adventures (from $24/95/month)

Little Passports Kitchen Adventures allows kids to explore cooking traditions from around the world. With each month’s box, kids will get a kid-friendly kitchen tool and family friendly recipes that encourage young palates to try new flavors. Kids will build practice skills as they help shop, measure ingredients, and follow recipes. Kitchen Adventures is a great way to spend time cooking, learning, and playing together as you explore cities such as Rome, Crete, Beijing, Paris, San Salvador, Barcelona, Addis Ababa, Osaka, and more. Best for ages 7+ Get 20% off sitewide with the code November20

Speak & Spell ($24.99)

The Speak & Spell you might have loved (or coveted) as a kid is back in all of its 80s retro glory. Speak & spell was the first educational toy designed to help children learn to spell over 200 commonly misspelled words using a speech synthesizer and it’s just as effective for today’s kids. It features multiple play modes and challenge levels to keep learning how to spell fun. Best for ages 7+

Kindle Fire Kids Tablet ($199)

With a wealth of educational content and the ability to encourage kids to read more, the Kindle Fire Kids Tablet makes a wonderful holiday gift. It includes access to more than 20,000 age appropriate and hand curated books, Audible books, movies, TV shows, songs, apps, and games, including thousands of titles in Spanish. The purchase of a Kindle Fire Kids Tablet includes 1 year of Amazon Kids+ (all-in-one digital subscription packed with fun and educational content from PBS), parental controls, a kid-proof Case, and 2 worry-year guarantee. The 2-year worry-free guarantee ensures that if your Kindle Fire breaks, just return it and Amazon will replace it for free. Easy-to-use parental controls allow you to filter content and set educational goals and time limits. Parents can give kids access to more apps like Netflix, Disney+, and Zoom via the Amazon Parent Dashboard. Best for ages 5+

Osmo Detective Agency (currently $39.99 on Amazon, regularly $49.99)

Young learners will have fun running their own detective agency as they solve mysteries about missing pets and capture villainous thieves around the world. Kids will travel to six famous cities, inspect hundreds of clues with their magnifying glass, and learn about geography and cultures around the world. As kids are exploring the world, they’re also developing focus, observation skills, and attention to detail. This set comes with 8 maps, a map holder, and a magnifying glass. Requires Osmo base and either an iPad or Kindle Fire for play. Best for ages 5+

LEGO Star Wars 2022 Advent Calendar (currently $35.99 on Amazon, regularly $44.99)

The fun of this advent calendar is opening a door to find 24 different LEGO Star Wars toys behind each one. It includes vehicles (Republic Gunship, Droid Trifighter, ARC-170 Starfighter, Bad Batch Shuttle, Luke’s Landspeeder, T-16 Skyhopper, V-35 Landspeeder, B-wing, TIE Interceptor and Hoth AT-ST), 8 characters (C-3PO and R2-D2 in festive outfits, Darth Vader in a summer outfit, plus Luke Skywalker, a Clone Trooper Commander, Snowtrooper, Battle Droid and a Gonk Droid), and 6 minibuilds. Your elementary aged child will love unveiling a Star Wars LEGO piece every day to create their own Star Wars adventures. For ages 6+

Hot Wheels Track Set with 3 Corkscrew Loops (currently $47.17 on Amazon, regularly $58.99)

There’s no better way to learn about beginning physics concepts like gravity, potential energy, and kinetic energy than with the Hot Wheels Corkscrew Crash Track Set. The unique corkscrew design sends cars flying around the track and as they try to conquer the triple loop. This interactive, skill-based set drives problem solving as kids try to launch cars without them crashing. This set is great fun for one or two players and connects other Hot Wheels for more car track fun. Best for ages 5+

R2D2 Star Wars Multi-Sport Helmet ($24.99)

Kids this age are active so protect their heads while letting them embrace their love of Star Wars with this awesome R2D2 multi-sport helmet that they can use for biking, scootering, and according to some users via the comments section, even skiing and snowboarding. I’m also a fan of BB8. Anyone else wish they made these in adult sizes? Best for ages 5+

KIWICRATE (3, 6, 9, AND 12 MONTHS AVAILABLE STARTING AT $23.95/MONTH OR $18.50/MONTH FOR 12 MONTHS)

Full of high-quality materials and kid-friendly instructions, KiwiCrate is a fun way for ages 5-8 to explore art, science, and engineering. Each box contains explore! Magazine that includes comics, experiments, games, and more plus all the materials needed to inspire kids to see themselves as scientists, artists, creators, and makers. Best for ages 6+

Glow in the Dark Rock Painting Kit ($14.99)

Early elementary ages will love exercising their creativity to paint unique glow in the dark painted rocks. This arts and crafts set comes with easy to use waterproof fluorescent and glow in the dark paints and 10 rocks.

Best for ages 6+

Colorful Writing Tablet (currently $47.17 on Amazon, regularly $58.99)

One of the best ways to practice fine motor skills is to draw, write, or doodle on this colorful writing tablet that feels like writing on paper. The travel-friendly 8.5” LED screen is great for road trips, flights, or to write notes to family members at home. Best for ages 5+

2022 Holiday Gift Guides

2022 Holiday Gift Guides

AGE APPROPRIATE GIFT GUIDES

SPECIALTY GIFT GUIDES:

FAVORITE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDES FROM LAST YEAR

2019 Holiday Gift Guides

Need other ideas? Here’s a look at last year’s gift guides :

I hope you enjoy this year’s picks and wish you happy and stress-free holiday shopping!

Samples were received to facilitate this post and affiliate links are included. No compensation was received for this post and all opinions are my own.

Note to PR: The period for accepting items for age specific gift guides has ended but I am happy to accept items for review to consider for specialty guides. Please be specific about the products you’d like me to consider reviewing in your pitch and thanks for understanding I’m on a short deadline to get most gift guides wrapped up before Thanksgiving and do not have the bandwidth to return samples during this extremely busy time of the year.