E & I's Favourite Things 2009

As the holiday giving season gears up, I wanted to offer up this years list of the twins' favourite things. I do realize that lots of the items are products we've featured in the past, but I think that just illustrates their longevity:

Wooden Train Set:
Playing with this is easily Elijah's favourite way to spend his time. I love that his play has evolved from just pushing the trains around the tracks to building increasingly elaborate scenes that involve the use of other unrelated toys. Wooden blocks have become cities that the train travels through, schleich animals decorate the landscape, and bilibos make fantastic tunnels. This train set has enabled fine and gross motor development, as well as encouraging problem solving (micro-engineering) and sparking imaginative play.

Haba Cash Register:

Another favourite toy. The twins' pretend play has really exploded this past year, and they are absolutely loving this cash register (in fact, they loved it so much that they broke it! Haba's amazing customer service sent us a brand new one!). Their favourite game to play is "ice cream shop", though they also enjoy playing "restaurant".

Puzzles:

We especially like Eeboo and Ravensburger and Melissa & Doug puzzles, but puzzles of all kinds have been getting a lot of use around here.

Automoblox:

We've had this adorable puzzle car for a while now, and the kids have always liked playing with it. But now they seem to really "get it" and are pros at taking it apart and putting it back together (Maybe it ties in with the puzzle thing). These are among our favourite gifts to give!

Mudpuppy Spend, Save, Share Banks:

These adorable banks are practical, stylish, and affordable. See this post for how we're using them.
*note: you can't necessarily tell from the picture, but the ballerinas on the pink bank are multicultural, which was important to me.

Tea Collection Clothing:

Easily our favourite kids clothes. Comfy, vibrant, fun, easy to layer or mix and match. (And their sales are fantastic!)

Green Toys Tea Set:

Adorable, food and dishwasher safe, and made of recycled milk jugs. We've had a lot of fun with this one!

Musical instruments:

We have lots of them, but our favourites include drums, guitars, a keyboard, various shakers and boomwhackers.

Books:
Barefoot Books: Fantastic Selection of books that focus on diversity and illustrate the beauty of this big old world we live in. We especially love the Laurie Krebs books that take us on journeys around the world.
The Goodnight Train: It's about trains (something they love), and going to sleep (something I love). Enough said.

Marvel all in one Play Kitchen:

They've really started using this in fun, creative ways this year as their dramatic play has blossomed. They've hosted their own cooking shows, made dinner, played restaurant, and so on and so forth.

Charlie & Lola:

I've talked about Charlie and Lola before. E+I adore it (to the point that they've begun speaking with British accents and asking me for "ice lollies"). I appreciate its focus on creativity, beautiful design and thoughtful treatment of common childhood conundrums.

Eeboo Tell Me A Story Cards:

Another really great gift idea. Each of the cards in these packs is loosely related to a central theme, but they can be shuffled and put into any order. Kids choose a card and then tell a story linking the cards together in the order they're chosen. The illustrations are lovely, and these cards encourage early literacy skills, storytelling, creativity, and making connections between the cards.

Art Supplies:
This year we've really started getting creative, and my goal is to do something artsy with the kids every day (most days that's just drawing pictures). Nobody needs me to tell them what art supplies to buy, but I will share a few of my favourite websites for kid friendly art projects and general creative living:

The Artful Parent
Plum Pudding
Kids Craft Weekly
Martha Stewart Kids
Kiddley
Soulemama (I also love her books: The Creative Family & Handmade Home. You can enter to win a copy of The Creative Family here.)

Other Gift Ideas: (things we've seen & loved but don't actually own)

Magformers / Magnatiles:

Colourful magnet shapes allow kids to build very cool structures, explore basic math and geometry concepts, and play with colour theory.

HaPe Double Rainbow Stacker:

A cool new twist on the classic toy.

Wonderworld Rainbow Sound Blocks:

I thought these were very cool. Different shapes, colours and sounds for little ones to experiment with.

Eeboo Matching Games:

I love the whimsical and colourful illustrations, as well as the diversity reflected in these games.

Eco Friendly Lunchboxes:
I really love the whole bento thing, and these are really great, flexible lunchbox options.

Laptop Lunches:

These were the first bento style lunchboxes I saw (thanks to Vegan Lunch Box), and I fell immediately in love with them. Colourful, cute, easy to wash and maintain (so I hear).

Yubo Lunchboxes:

These are totally flexible and fun. You can change out the images on the boxes, both sides open, and they have a variety of different accessories and containers for your food.

Goodbyn:

These are super cute and have been generating a lot of press lately. They come standard with a drink bottle (unlike the previous two options), and they also come with stickers that your kids can use to customize their lunchbox. These are the least flexible use of the three options, as the food is contained in permanent wells, but this design also means that kids have fewer pieces that can be lost. I think these might be best for older kids because I would imagine little ones might have a hard time putting the lid back on.

Go Green Lunchboxes:

These are the only ones I haven't seen in person, but I really like what I see with the design of these. They also come with a stainless steel drink bottle, and a carrying case available in a variety of patterns.