An afternoon with the niblings - How to make it fantastic?

November 6, 2022 10:45 AM

I'm visiting three sets of niblings (nieces and nephews) this holiday season, and I'd like to give them gifts that we can use together, totally consume, and leave very little mess / cleanup / waste. STEM-related activities are a plus, and I would be delighted to take a shopping list to the hobby store as well.

I have three age ranges that I am visiting with:
- 4 and 7 years old
- 8 and 10 years old
- 12, 13, and 15 years old

The real gift I want to give is the gift of an adult paying attention, taking time, and showing wholesome care to these kiddos. That's why I'm prioritizing experience over material substance. But I'm also trying to live my values of education, environmentalism, and self-esteem.

I'd love to find an activity gift kit I can give them where we can use it together for an afternoon, and they can keep using it later on.

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posted by rebent to Shopping (13 answers total)

For age 4 & 7 - Get three grocery store gingerbread house kits. Make sure to get one per person, don't make the children share, because the 7yo will be mad if the 4yo "wrecks it" and then it won't be fun.

Pick up a little bit of extra candy & decoration like M&Ms and Shreddies, and also get a little pack of "Scribblers" mini icing tubes since the 4yo won't have the patience or motor skills to tile out a Shreddies roof but will greatly enjoy making huge globs of icing mess with the mini-tubes. Lay out all the candy on plates and each person gets to make their own house and then take photos of them together. It's so fun and easy. The kits are super cheap, usually about $15 each. Right at Xmas they get way cheaper, too - I got some on Xmas eve last year for $5 each.

Gingerbread is pretty inert so they don't go stale, so I always get a few extra when they go on sale, and keep them around for rainy days - super fun for play dates and a massive hit. The gingerbread is kinda dry so it isn't really for eating - they'll pick candy off it for a week or so and then the parent can just throw it away surrepticiously, or put it outside for squirrels.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 11:32 AM on November 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

The Zoom, Fly, Bolt, Blast STEAM Handbook: Build 18 Innovative Projects with Brain Power by Lance Akiyama and
Collage Workshop for Kids: Rip, snip, cut, and create with inspiration from The Eric Carle Museum by Shannon Merenstein are both EXCELLENT. I've given multiple copies over the course of the pandemic!

Instead giving them with a commercially available craft supplies kit, however, I've instead assembled a mini craft supply bucket from scavenged and thrifted items (tissue paper saved from gifts, cardboard tubes, single use straws, plastic trays good for mixing paints, buttons purchased from the scrap/reuse store) along with some new-bought supplies (glue gun and pipe cleaners for the handbook, watercolors for the collage book). Both books include supply lists, if I recall correctly.
posted by spamandkimchi at 11:32 AM on November 6, 2022 [4 favorites]

Oh! For the older niblings, what about a thrift store scavenger hunt (here's another example) or just regular gift buying? 12, 13 and 15 are in the age range of caring about clothes and fashion, but also might enjoy looking for the silliest mug or the warmest sweater.
posted by spamandkimchi at 11:40 AM on November 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

I tend to suggest museum, zoo or garden membership as a family gift when there's an age range.

I don't know where your niblings are located but if you were in my area, I'd suggest:
Bronx Zoo
New York Botanical Garden, or Wave Hill
NY Transit Museum

Having membership would let you take the niblings there while you're visiting and then they would be able to visit with their family on other occasions. Not having to pay admissions is incredibly freeing and makes it so you can take short visits more frequently.
posted by sciencegeek at 11:45 AM on November 6, 2022

There are a lot of suggestions for activity kits in The Kid Should See This Gift Guide.

I love these wind-powered toys, based on Dutch artist Theo Jansen's "strandbeest" sculptures:
https://www.amazon.com/Elenco-EDU-62221-Scientist-Strandbeest-Model/dp/B00E9DILBE/
https://www.amazon.com/Elenco-Rhinoceros-Mini-Beest-Science-Kit/dp/B00E0I4DGA/

And if the kids are really interested, they can check out Jansen's excellent YouTube channel for videos of giant strandbeests in action.
posted by neushoorn at 12:05 PM on November 6, 2022

Are there any science museums in their area? These often have fun activity-type stuff for kids in their gift shops (e.g., simple microscopes, field guides to bugs or minerals etc complete with magnifying glass or rock hammer, etc). A trip to the museum would be a nice day's outing and they could choose some activity-thing from the gift shop, which you play with together at home.
posted by Quietgal at 12:50 PM on November 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

Nature print paper is more STEAM than STEM, but it'll get you and the kids outside. Maybe there's a garden, arboretum, or just a park with good educational signage, that you could visit.

You could probably pair it with some other age-appropriate papercrafts (maybe origami for the older kids, quilling for the middle, and paper chains for the younger?), have a full afternoon of activities, and leave them with extra supplies, secure in the knowledge that it's all recyclable.
posted by box at 1:23 PM on November 6, 2022

They can be a little more costly, but Kiwi Crates are legit fabulous. You can select a build at a level that fits the kids, and once you're done building there are STEM activities and often games that go along with it. (You don't have to buy a subscription - can buy individual crates at the store.)
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 3:37 PM on November 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

For younger kids, I've gotten wind-up rubber band powered balsa wood airplanes or gliders. Good for going outside if you have good weather.
The older kids will be a challenge. Don't be surprised or hurt if they want to just hang with their friends. If not, are they into board games? Betrayal at House on the Hill is a very well done dark horror game. You explore an Eldrich Horror type house and over time you all start to go mad. When one person loses their sanity, the game enters a new phase which is the haunting. The sane players try to escape while the insane player (and whatever dark power has them) tries to prevent their escape. There are a LOT of haunting types in the game so the replay value is very good.
Castle Panic and Mole Rats in Space are good co-op board games - you have to collaborate to win the game.
Zombie Dice is fun as a brief time-filler game - quick to learn.
posted by plinth at 5:02 PM on November 6, 2022

What about making a little stop motion animated movie together? You could get a clay kit like this one, assemble your own, or just use legos or found objects.
posted by juliapangolin at 6:00 PM on November 6, 2022

Slime, floam, play dough for the two younger sets. You can either get kits or look up recipes. Most of the ingredients can be had at a grocery store and quick trip to craft store. Also, it’s a great time to buy the plastic ornaments that click together into two halves to use as storage for the results. Bonus points if the kiddos have enough to share with their friends. I know my 8 year old would love to be able to give some slime to friends.

For the older kids, maybe cooking something that has some steps? Sugar cookies that are rolled out and iced with different colors? Roasted and sugars nuts could be fun too. You can talk about the maillard reaction either way. You could also do something like make 4 different recipes of chocolate chip cookies - like one that is crispy, one that is less sweet, one that is vegan etc. Put on a classic holiday movie to fill the silence. My experience with teens is that they talk more if there is something happening in the background.
posted by MadMadam at 6:09 PM on November 6, 2022

This is the sort of thing that used to be done at schools and kindergartens, but if they haven't already, growing microgreens like cress is fun, and produces somerhing edible within a week or so. Just sprinkle the seds on a layer of damp kitchen paper and keep them moist and in sunlight, then cut the stems off when they are about an inch tall. Most seed companies sell larger packets of different seeds for this.
posted by Fuchsoid at 7:00 PM on November 6, 2022

For the teen-team escape rooms can be thinky and cooperative. When you're finished y'all walk away keeping the shared success buzz. Go Unk!
posted by BobTheScientist at 11:57 PM on November 6, 2022 [2 favorites]