Update: The giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Krystal, winner of the BRIO Family House. Krystal writes, "My twins are loving it!"
All year long I have been attending toy shows and getting an
up close look at new toys that will be on the market this holiday season. Last week I posted Part 1 of my Holiday Guide
- Grandma's Hot Toys Holiday Guide and Smartscope Giveaway . This post is the other half of the holiday
Guide:
Toys that Grandparents Will Love to
Give
Every grandchild will have his or her own wishlist and their
parents may even ask you to provide something specific on the list. All well and good. Here is a list of items that you may want to
give. Some are pure fun, some are
educational and some (my favorites) feature something you can do together with
you grandchild.
Everything on this list is available on Amazon and links are
provided below. You may or may not see
them at ToysRUs or the other big box stores but they may be at small stores like
Learning Express.
Of all the thousands –literally- of new toys I looked at
this year, these were my favorites. The
pictures are my own so they are not perfect but I prefer them rather than the
stock photos provided by the toy companies. I am not a business - I am just a grandma with
a notebook, camera, and curiosity about what may delight a grandparent and a
grandchild. I blog because I enjoy it. I
haven't received any compensation for my posts.
I have received some samples and, if age appropriate, my husband and I
play with them with my grandson in order to do a real life review. This holiday
guide is not just pure advertising as many of them are. I have given special attention to items I think are a good value.
Both posts feature a giveaway and I am excited to offer the BRIO
World Family House as the giveaway for this post. See
the giveaway details at the end of the post.
They are simple and straightforward and don’t require that you do 10
things.
For
Infants to Pre-School
 |
| Back Cover of Family House by Brio |
BRIO is well
known for its high quality wooden train sets and now they are expanding to
other themed playsets that are fully compatible with all BRIO wooden railway
sets. You can build the Family House
model according to the plan provided or customize it to make your own
creation. This wood and plastic colorful
set comes with 46 pieces including 4 people figures. The pieces include building and furniture
pieces so it is complete and ready for imaginative play. Set it up next to your BRIO railway set for
extra fun. Look for more detail in a
later post. It is gender neutral and both boys and girls will enjoy playing with it.
 |
| Peek-A-Boo Bear by Gund |
This bear is
soft and cuddly and says 6 phrases when it plays peek-a-boo by holding the
blanket up in front of his face and pulling it down. It is battery operated. It is well made and Gund is known for its
quality. Sure to bring smiles to a baby’s face.
There is also a Spanish language version of this bear.
Dolls
 |
| Miss Grenadine by Corolle |
These soft cuddly dolls with a mild vanilla scent are perfect for a baby or
toddler. They are small, washable,
beautiful, high quality and reasonably priced.
Corolle, a French company, say that they are “specially designed to be
easily cradled in your child's arm.” I
must say my visit to the Corolle booth at Toy Fair NY each year is always one of
my favorites. I gave one of these to my
infant granddaughter.
 |
| Girl Scout Dolls by Yottoy |
These dolls
will be loved by any girl who is a Brownie or Girl Scout. They come with a sash and sticker badges so
the doll can earn the same badges as the real scout. They are multicultural so choose the one that
the girl you are buying for will most identify with. This is a good quality and reasonably
priced item.
Games
 |
| Pop and Zach playing Bugaloop |
Games by Wonder Forge
 |
| That's Me with Wonder Forge Games |
Here I am at
Toy Fair NY with a display of various games by Wonder Forge. My husband and I both love playing games with
our grandson and we keep a big stack of them at our house. He is 7 years old and we have enjoyed many
Wonder Forge games including superhero matching, Peanuts super slides, Busytown
and most recently, Bugaloop with a super hexbug. The picture on the left is of my husband and grandson playing Bugaloop. Choose ones right for your grandchild’s age
and enjoy the wonderful old fashioned joy of playing a board game.
 |
| My First Bananagrams |
My First Bananagrams by Bananagrams
This game is
perfect for preschoolers, early readers/spellers and all Bananagrams
lovers. The letter blocks are larger
than the original bananagrams and there are some two letter blocks such as sh
and oo. You will enjoy playing with this
game with your grandchildren and it is an excellent learning tool in disguise.
Crafts and Pretend Play
 |
| Pretend Play Set by eeboo |
Eeboo has 4
Pretend Play sets - It's Showtime, Best Pals Diner, World Traveler and School. Each set has cardboard and paper props that
can be used to give pretend play some professional touches. This is also an excellent item to have on
hand for an extended holiday visit with grandkids that can be used to engage
with them in pretend play.
 |
| Emoji Maker by Crayola |
Emojis are
all the rage these days and a wide age range of kids will have fun with this
emoji making set. Kids can mix and create their own colors to make 16 emoji
stampers. This is a best seller and can
make a good grandparent – grandchild activity.
It will give you the opportunity to learn about emojis and seem “with
it” at the same time. It is a good activity to do with a varied age group of kids and a nice party activity for older kids.
Building Sets
I admit that
I love and am always attracted to building toys at the toy shows. These sets all caught my
attention. Building sets are wonderful
opportunities for grandparent and grandchild quality time together.
 |
| Mia's Vet Clinic by LEGO |
I like the
LEGO Juniors line sized for between DUPLO and LEGO sizes. This particular set is aimed at the girl’s
market in their Friends line. It has 173
pieces including 2 mini dolls and it is reasonably priced. Take a look at the whole LEGO Juniors line –
you are sure to find a set you like for the 4-6 year olds.
 |
| Day at the Beach by Build and Imagine |
Children who
like magnetic sets will love this storytelling building set. Build and Imagine sets are made up of
magnetic storyboards that can be put together in any way a child would
like. Sets range in price from $35 to
$60. Themes include a beach house, a marine rescue center, a pet portrait
studio and more. This small company is
the winner of many prestigious awards for this creative new product and is nominated for the New Company Toy of the Year Award from the Toy Industry Association.
 |
| Star Wars by Incredibuilds |
This wooden
model are easy to assemble and snap together to form a 3D model of this
favorite Star Wars spacecraft. It comes
with a hardcover book which provides lots of detail about the TIE Fighter. This will be enjoyed by any Star Wars fan and
the final product will be something that a child will want to have on display
in their room. There is a whole line of these models including Harry Potter themes and the Eiffel Tower. This is an excellent
grandfather-grandchild building activity – reminiscent of but easier than the
model cars he put together as a boy.
 |
| Princess Castle by Calafant |
The inexpensive cardboard building sets by Calafant come
with markers and so a child can personalize them with their favorite color
scheme. The cutout cardboard pieces have
an easy interlock system so no glue or scissors are needed. The buildings are a nice size that can be
used with small toy figures that a child already has. These inexpensive sets are excellent value
and grandparent-grandchild working together projects. Great sleepover project.
Giveaway Details
It is
easy to enter and there are two ways. Both ways count as an entry so
you get two entries if you do both. I need to be able to contact you
if you win. If you enter - email me with your email address at
marion@grandmachronicles.com. I
will not use your email address for anything except to notify you if you
win. Grandmother’s Honor.
Two ways to win:
Leave a comment here on the blog
and/or
You
can have two entries by doing both. Deadline to enter: December 8th, 2016 at midnight. This item can be sent to US addresses only.
