Even our youngest four year old grandchildren crave electronics. We can give what grandchildren crave by asking them what they want in electronics, but it is likely they have everything already. No harm in asking though.
Another alternative is to think real toys and games for grandchildren and for game nights for the whole family. When selecting toys, real toys, for holiday gifts, this Grandma first goes to the best resource, the Oppenheimer Toy Awards at Toy Portfolio. In 2019, I wrote a blog post on how to use their website to search for holiday toys. In that post, I wrote, “I first went to the Awards tab on top of the website, to Blue Chip Classics. The toys I am searching for are Platinum Award winners, the highest category, in its day, which is about a decade ago. I did not find it, but smiled at Fisher-Price Brilliant Basics Corn Popper, a true beloved classic, which, this year, was entered in the Toy Hall of Fame.. . .” The Oppenheimer Toy Awards at Toy Portfolio should be on every grandparent’s top sites for gifts for grandchildren.
Seeing my mention previously of the National Toy Hall of Fame, I thought this year 2022, I would introduce grandparents to this other great resource, Toy Hall of Fame nominees and winners. According to Wikipedia:
“The National Toy Hall of Fame is a U.S. hall of fame that recognizes the contributions of toys and games that have sustained their popularity for many years. Criteria for induction include: icon status (the toy is widely recognized, respected, and remembered); longevity (more than a passing fad); discovery (fosters learning, creativity, or discovery); and innovation (profoundly changed play or toy design). Established in 1998 under the direction of Ed Sobey, it was originally housed at A. C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village in Salem, Oregon, United States, but was moved to the Strong National Museum of Play (now The Strong) in Rochester, New York, in 2002 after it outgrew its original home.”
The seventy-eight award winning toys that have been entered in the National Toy Hall of
Fame are listed and described on the National Hall of Fame website.
They include gifts for every age and price point for gifts for the holidays 2022.
The twelve finalists for this year’s induction to the National Toy Hall of Fame were Bingo, Breyer Horses, Catan, Lite-Brite, Masters of the Universe, Nerf toys, piñatas, Phase 10, Pound Puppies, Rack-O, Spirograph and the spinning top. The finalists for induction into the 2022 National Hall of Fame include one game that I knew I was definitely going to include in this 2022 holiday blog post! CATAN. Our preteen and teenage grandchildren introduced me to Catan, and I am hooked. I even bought the board game for my house so the grandchildren did not have to lug theirs to me. This is a great game for family game night, but I must admit it took this grandma a bit of time to learn strategy from my eleven year old grandson, the self pre-claimed Catan family wizard constantly contested for that title by our fifteen year old grandson. See, “Families Stuck At Home Turn To Board Game Catan, Sending Sales Skyrocketing, NPR" by Rob Schmitz, August 7, 2020.”
Buy Catan for $30 at Amazon.
Buy Bingo (that dates back to the 1500s!) Best Seller at Amazon.
Buy all varieties of Breyer Horses starting at $9 at Amazon.
Buy Nerf toys (sold by age groups) at Amazon. This Grandma is not a fan of the Nerf guns, so here is a link for the Nerf football.
Buy piñatas at Amazon.
Buy card game Phase 10 for $10.99 as a stocking stuffer at Amazon.
Buy Pound Puppies, classic stuffed animal plush toys, which start at $12.99, at Amazon.
Buy Rack-O, a 50 year old card game still popular, for $14 at Amazon.
There are different spirograph art sets for different age groups.
Spirograph Jr. — Jumbo Sized Gears — Arts and Craft Design Kit for Smaller Hands — Ages 3+ for $28 is Amazon’s choice.
For ages 8 and up buy Spirograph Original Deluxe Spirograph Art Set for $25 at Amazon.
The three 2022 winners, great holiday gifts and information about the qualifications and history of each in the links below, include:
The Spinning Top in all its variations.
Buy spinning tops for toddlers at Amazon.
Spinning tops for kids at Amazon.
Spinning tops for adults at Amazon.
Lite-Brite electric light toy. Buy the number one best seller at Amazon for $20.
Masters of the Universe action figures. These start at $9 each on Amazon.
While I was finalizing this blog post, my eleven year old grandson was visiting. He admonished me that I was leaving out a category of gifts that he thinks are the best holiday gifts and introduced me to “cool gadgets.” He did not know the dictionary definition of gadgets, now does know the definition, (“mechanical or electronic device or tool, especially an ingenious or novel one”) but could find the websites for the best ones for 2022. Yes, this Grandma agrees that gadgets make great holiday gifts. The ones he directed me to are fabulous, as he is, and I intend to try some for myself. He recommends, “23 Hottest Cool Gadgets That Are Going to Sell out This November,” by Douglas Jones, Best Tech Trend, November 14th, 2022. For more expensive tech gadgets, check out another he found, The 50 Coolest Tech Gadgets of 2022 Prove That the Future Is Now,” by John Velasco, Taylor Galla, Adrian Covert, Spy, November 8, 2022.
Happy Holiday shopping for award winners and gadgets 2022!
Joy,
Mema
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