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Life is not normal at all lately, so if some people have not fully focused on vacations, this is completely understandable. (Spoiler alert: they are coming soon.) Even at the best of times, delaying the purchase of gifts is a long-standing danger-which is why the panic button is the loudest around December 23rd. Buy for kids because they are hardly ashamed to let you know what they want, but it usually means something like the latest Xbox or PlayStation. If the prospect of watching your child zombies go to Halo or Call of Duty doesn't excite you, then consider another interactive option that will actually stimulate their creativity: art supplies. In all media, there are a large number of tailor-made for children of different ages. To find something great for your child, check out our suggestions below.
Instant film camera Digital photography should have eliminated traditional cameras, but like vinyl records in the MP3 era, analog film still exists, especially in the form of instant cameras. Fujifilm's Instax SQ1 camera is such a product, and its simplicity makes it a great holiday item for kids. SQ1 is available in three colors-chalk white, glacier blue and terracotta orange-measuring only 5.2 x 4.7 x 2.3 inches. It is very attractive, with rounded edges and ribbed handles on one side, you can easily hold it with one hand. SQ1 generates a 2.4-inch square print from the slot at the top, and a small mirror on the front allows you to frame your selfie. It opens and closes by turning the lens ring, and has an automatic flash function. This set comes with a protective cover and a starter film pack, and is the perfect gift for budding blinds in your home. Purchase: Fujifilm Instax Square SQ1 Instant Film Camera with Case and Film Kit, B&H Photo Video for $144.89
Wacom is the industry leader in digital drawing tablets, and Intuos is the child-friendly cousin of its large professional products. Intuos offers high performance at a reasonable price, with an overall size of 7.8 x 6.3 inches and an active drawing area of 6 x 3.7 inches. It is equipped with a digital pen that provides 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity. Like many Wacoms, Intuos must be connected to a computer to let you see what you are doing, but it supports Bluetooth and provides an easy wireless connection. Intuos comes with software that is compatible with Mac, PC, Chromebook and Android devices. It will add a welcome element under the Christmas tree to aspiring artists aged 12 and above. Purchase: Wacom Intuos wireless graphics tablet, Amazon $199.95
A set of kitchen tools was once limited to little girls playing with easy-to-bake ovens. Cooking for children has become a pursuit of all genders, using actual recipes to make decent food. As Julia Child may have already told you, knife skills are essential. This is where the Little Kitchen Helper Knife Set comes in. This set teaches children to cut, slice, dice and peel safely, including a chef's knife and peeler suitable for children. Both have a ring-shaped grip suitable for small fingers, and this knife has a child-friendly blade, and the tip is shorter and rounder than an adult knife. You will also get an arc-shaped shield to protect the hand holding the food on the cutting board. This is a great way to involve your children in family dinners-more than just complaining about them! Purchase: Small kitchen helper knife set, rare goods for $49.00
Circuit Learning Set Are you looking for suitable gifts for children interested in computer science? Then take a look at the SmartLab Toys circuit set, which promises to bring hours of educational fun to children 8 years and older. Children can build wonderful gadgets and games with 48 components in an array. These components include microprocessors, speakers, battery packs, light sensors, three-color LED arrays, tilt switches, variable resistors, 2 buttons, 6 4 lengths of 4 modular boards and 31 jumpers. A 48-page manual takes the children step by step to complete the construction of 50 different projects, and at the same time teaches them the ins and outs of electronic engineering. Whether children work alone or with their families, Smart Circuits will help them develop an understanding of technology from the inside out. Buy: SmartLab Toy Smart Circuit, Amazon $35.98
Primary color gouache pigments are made in Japan. Holbein gouache pigments are one of the best gouache pigments that money can buy. The colors it produces are deep and lightfast. These versatile water-based pigments can mimic the look and feel of acrylic, watercolor, and oil paints, and can produce a velvety matte surface when applied directly from the tube, or produce a transparent washing effect when diluted. Holbein's Artists' Primary Set is a great way to get young people started, especially in learning how to mix colors. Three pigments are included—magenta, yellow, and cyan—from which all other tones can be created, as well as black and white to darken or lighten the result. (To help kids complete this process, consider buying a color wheel, which can explain exactly which colors should be mixed to produce another color.) A little gouache effect is important, which means these 15 ml tubes can be used Months. Purchase: Holbein Artists gouache set, 5 primary colors, Blick $40.02
Children's activity stool Swoppster is a children's version of Aeris's ergonomic Swopper office stool. It is a good place for children to park their keister while guiding their inner Picasso. Like its larger cousin, Swoppster’s padded convex seat sits on top of a spiral spring bracket, allowing the seater to bend the stool forward, backward and laterally, providing dynamic range support for the body. This positive experience prevents children from fidgeting, as they do on static stools, and helps them focus on creating art. The Jarvis children's standing desk is a perfect match with Swoppster, providing an adjustable work surface that can accommodate children while sitting or standing. Purchase: Swoppster by Aeris, full price $242.25 (original price $285.00)
It is often said that during the holidays, children seem to be more interested in playing with gift boxes than in the gifts themselves. Well, with this kit, kids 4 years and older can take out the cardboard from those boxes and make some neat works. The kit is equipped with tools suitable for children, such as a safety saw for cutting cardboard, and a plastic fastener called Scrus, which is used to put the design together with the Scru-Driver (natch). You will get 36 regular Scrus and 12 super large Scrus, as well as a mini tool that can punch holes in the cardboard, and other uses. It also includes a carry-on tool to hold everything in place. Yes, the whole thing is packed in a box. Purchase: Cardboard Tool Kit, rare goods $20.00
A classic design toy During the Cold War, many baby boomers played Colorforms in the duck and cover days of elementary school. Colorforms was first launched in 1951 and consists of colorful, removable vinyl stickers of various geometric shapes, which can be combined endlessly to create works on the blackboard. Colorforms' design calls for mid-century modernism, which is why they have maintained a retro and cool atmosphere for 70 years, and even have a place in the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York. This special set is a reprint of the 1970 edition and comes with 350 pieces, a five-page spiral bound booklet, a design guide and a 12 x 14 inch game board, all neatly placed in a box in the included storage space. Colorforms are suitable for any hard, shiny surface, including windows. Purchase: Retro primary color set, $33.93 on Amazon
Plastic analog camera Although this cheap Holga medium format camera cannot satisfy analog film lovers immediately with instant print photography, it does have the advantage of using 120 rolls of film. Compared with the typical instant print, it is cheaper and moreover. Can take more photos. Print the package. Holga is also a return to the era when smartphones have not yet played down the impact of photos by making them ubiquitous. Since its debut in 1982, Holga has been admired for producing low-fidelity images with obvious vignetting and field curvature-you don't need to be an expert to use it. Adopting a plastic body structure, a glass lens and an automatic flash, the fool Holga has a shutter speed and aperture setting of 1/100 second, suitable for sunny (f/11) and cloudy (f/8) conditions. It is especially suitable for children and is a fashionable and interesting gift that they will love. Buy: Holga medium format film camera with built-in flash, International Center of Photography $70.00
A complete set of sketches Does your child always draw? If the answer is yes, then Derwent Sketching Wallet is the holiday gift you have been looking for. The Sketching wallet measures approximately 11 x 1.4 x 7 inches, and it can be easily carried anywhere the child wants to go, whether it is a zoo, museum, park or around the house. The set contains six graphite pencils (2H, H, B, 2B, 4B, 6B), three colored charcoal pencils and two water-soluble sketching pencils (4B, 8B), as well as a black charcoal pencil and a Devin A special dark black pencil agate brand pencil. It also includes a sharpener and eraser, and a spiral-bound A5 size (approximately 6 x 8 inches) sketch pad. All of these are neatly stored in stylish folders with Velcro closures. Purchase: Derwent Sketching Wallet, $39.99 on Amazon
Cosmic chalk painting with sidewalk chalk is a great way for children to play outdoors while allowing their imagination to be free. Usually this kind of chalk is a longer and thicker version of classroom chalk, but there are many novel shapes on the market, including shapes like eggs, gems and even macarons. The Moon Chalks by designer Nikolas Bentel is another entry in the novelty category, using Jetsonian design, when you push, pull, rotate and roll them on cement or asphalt, it will produce unconventional marks . Moon Chalks has three soft colors-red, yellow and blue-and three configurations: Cosmic Pollen, a sphere covered with small round particles, leaving staccato lines; Lunar Rake, creating parallel straight lines; And the satellite stack, a series of cone-shaped discs, produces a wave pattern. Moon Chalks are non-toxic and easy to use, providing a way of compartmentalizing familiar childhood pastimes. Purchase: Moon Chalk by Nikolas Bentel, $12.00 each on Areaware
Model kit based on ancient stories If your child is interested in history and mythology, this homemade model of the famous Trojan horse may be a perfect choice. Homer introduced the Trojan horse to the world in his epic poem "Iliad", which has become a symbol of deception: nominally a gift from the Greeks, the enemy of the Trojans, to the Trojans. This horse is a huge hollow. The wheel sculpture, which hides a group of Greek soldiers. Following the trick, the Trojans pulled horses into the walls of their fortress-then with a bang, the game was over. This model uses precision-cut wooden parts and measures 8.25 x 13 x 2 inches-although not as monumental, it will provide hours of educational fun and facts. The kit includes glue and a manual. Buy: Build your own Trojan horse kit, rare goods for $32.00
Blue Edition Printing Kit Blue Edition, also known as Blueprint, aka Sun Print, is one of the oldest techniques of photography, dating back to the origin of this medium in the 1840s. This process first takes a piece of photosensitive cyanide paper, then puts it in the sun and puts something on it. Sunlight on the exposed parts of the surface will cause a chemical reaction. Once the paper is washed with water, it will leave a white image on a dark blue background. The simplicity of the sun print makes it suitable not only for children 6 years and older, but also for adults. The kit contains more than ten sheets of 4-inch square photosensitive paper, as well as an acrylic veneer and instructions; there is also a larger size, with 15 sheets of 8 x 11 inches. You can use objects, negatives, tracing paper or anything else to create beautiful, spooky compositions. Purchase: SunPrint paper kit, $15.99 on Amazon
Monochrome Modeling Dough Most children's modeling clay has bright colors, but this special product will add black color to your child's 3D creation. Including black, white, and gray eco-dough containers; when mixed or molded together, they can produce countless hues, making anything the children concoct look like it comes from a Bogart movie. This will also teach them the importance of grayscale in color theory. Eco-dough is made of all natural non-toxic materials in small batches, which is a fun way to let children experience the fun of sustainable carving. Purchase: Eco-dough Grey Scale 3 Pack, Eco-Kids $18.99
Famous artists’ statues are made of PVC statues by these famous painters, including Claude Monet, Frida Kahlo, Gustave Klimt, Leonardo da Vinci, and René Ma Gretel, Salvador Dali, and Vincent Van Gogh. Each item is 5 inches tall and comes with a transparent base, interesting facts about the artist’s life, and miniature paper cuts of their most famous works that can be displayed on a small easel. Each puppet is customizable: Frida Kahlo wears a floral headband with two other accessories, a surrealist heart and the artist's pet parrot. Leonardo comes with books, feathers and a detachable hat that will glow in the dark, and there is also an unpainted Van Gogh version that can be colored with acrylic resin. These collections are fun and inspiring, and will add luster to your child's room. Buy: Art History Hero Collection, $29.01 each on Amazon
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