Where can I find some inexpensive and unique birthday gift ideas for kids?

Kids are probably the easiest age group to buy for, but buying inexpensively can still be difficult. When your child wants to buy an iPad for their friend’s birthday, you’ll have to be armed with some pretty awesome and unique inexpensive ideas to dissuade him. :) Luckily, I have just such a list for you.

These birthday gift ideas for a child are categorized by price. There are ideas under $5, under $10, and under $20 so you can browse according to your budget. These inexpensive ideas are great for friends, siblings, nephews, nieces, or just for a low budget birthday. You’re sure to find a unique gift idea that will make any kid happy.

Birthday Gift Ideas Under $5

• Homemade play dough with a rolling pin (I’ve seen one like this at Hobby Lobby for $3) or cookie cutters
• Wood Painting Kit (you can almost always find a birdhouse or a kit like this in the dollar bins at Target, Micheal’s, Walmart, etc.)
• Lego Set
• Plastic Bugs (also look for these at the Dollar Tree)
• Homemade shoebox “home” (for dolls, animals, or Little People)
• Puzzle (check the Dollar Tree)
• Flat Marble Alphabet
• Play Jewelry
• Squirt Gun
• Bubbles
• Popsicle Stick Bow and Arrow
• Shower Curtain Car Town
• Watercolors and printed coloring pages
• Origami Book
• Stickers
• Telescopes
• Homemade Crayons
• Mini Sensory Bin (use an old diaper wipes container, then just add a base and a few trinkets)
• Finger Puppets
• Slinky
• Bath Letters
• Sidewalk Chalk
• Grow Capsules (like these, but they almost always have them at the Dollar Tree)
• Yarn Balls
• Small Lego Set
• Fun Bandaids
• Bubble gun (this one is nice, but I’ve always been able to find a good one under $5 at Target)
• Paint with Water pictures (Also check the Dollar Tree for these)
• Sticker Book
• Silly Putty
• Puzzle Balls
• Window Clings
• Punch Balloon
• Dinosaur Eggs

Birthday Gift Ideas Under $10

• Toy Cars
• Bouncy Balls
• Homemade Jewelry Set
• Little People Set
• Wooden Puzzle
• Book
• UNO
• Trains for a Train Set
• Play Makeup
• Nail Polish
• Scrapbooking scissors (my boys LOVE using these and they are great for cutting practice)
• Marbles
• Homemade Bathtub Crayons
• Binoculars
• Mini Erasers
• Sunglasses
• Stampers (50 cheap stampers, high quality stampers)
• Themed Rubber Duckies
• Jump Rope
• Frisbee
• Dominoes
• Color Puzzles
• Sand Toys
• Don’t Spill the Beans
• Perler Bead Set
• Pop Up Book
• Mr. Potato Head
• Crystal Mining Kit
• Bubble Wrap (What kid wouldn’t love it? Wrap a $1 toy inside if you feel like the bubble wrap isn’t enough)
• Wind Chime
• Bathtub Paint
• Nerf Gun (don’t forget the bullets)
• Hi Ho Cherry-O
• Fun or Crazy Shoelaces
• Flashlight
• Lip Gloss
• Jacob’s Ladder
• Fabric Paint and a plain shirt
• IQ Twist

Birthday Gift Ideas Under $20

• Dot Markers and Printables (here and here or follow my Dot Marker Pages pinterest board)
• Connect 4
• Let’s Go Fishin’
• Color Code
• Shaped sponges and paint
• Dinosaur Dig Kit
• Microscope (not quite under $20, but soooooo cool)
• Boggle Jr.
• Alphabet Stamps (see 5 ways to use them here)
• Pattern Blocks (these go perfectly with my Pattern Block Activity Pack)
• Rubbing Plates (to use for crayon rubbings)
• Kids’ Cookbook
• Magna Doodle (a long-time favorite of my kids)
• Piggy Bank
• Lego Building Kit
• Shape Quiet Book (This  is even cheaper if you have a home laminator!)
• I Spy Book
• Balance Board
• Play Tunnel
• Magic Set
• Gymboree Bubbles (these bubbles are hard to pop and are supposedly the coolest bubbles)
• ZOOB (or ZOOB Jr. for younger kids)
• Smencils (Smelly pencils for the uninitiated. These crack me up, but kids love them)
• Wood Blocks
• Marble Run
• Safari Ltd TOOB (we just got this knights and dragon set and it’s a huge hit!)
• Geoboard
• Sensory Balls (see how these foster brain development)
• Wikki Stix
• Polished Rocks
• Ticket to a local Zoo, Aquarium, or Museum
• Candle Making Kit
• Wooden USA puzzle
• Etch a Sketch
• Magnet Set
• Dress Up Bear Puzzle

Like this post? Please take the time to share it on facebook, pinterest, or twitter. Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter for more kids’ ideas! To make things easier for you lovely readers, I made this one page shopping guide with a list of all the ideas. Print it off and take it to the store with you as you shop. :)

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Why use sensory bins?

If you’ve been on my site at all, you know that I love sensory bins! I feel like they are such a great learning tool. When my kids use them they are super engaged, notice more detail in things around them, and even get better finger and hand strength. The results are obvious, but I’ve still always had a hard time explaining why those results come from sensory bins. But then! I was talking to my friend Adam who is an occupational therapist and he said he loves sensory bins too. I asked if he would write me a post about why and how sensory bins make kids smarter. He did and I was not disappointed!! Read on for an expert look at the importance of sensory bins.

The Importance of Sensory Bins by Adam Perkins, OT

What is sensory integration?

Imagine you wake up in the middle of the night. As you wonder what it was that woke you, you notice that each of your sensory systems are firing and sending you the following information:

• Vision: You see wisps of smoke entering between the cracks of your bedroom door.
• Hearing: You hear a loud crackling sound.
• Smell: You smell the strong smell of burning.
• Touch: You feel heat emanating from your bedroom door.

Each of these separate sensory signals are being sent to different parts of your brain simultaneously. The brain almost instantaneously pieces that informational puzzle together and develops an interpretation: FIRE! You rush to safety out your bedroom window.

Sensory Integration is that process of experiencing sensory input (i.e., seeing smoke, smelling smoke, feeling heat, hearing crackling), interpreting that information (i.e., “FIRE!”), and acting upon the interpretation (i.e., “I have to get out of my room”). Each day, we experience this process thousands of times (though hopefully in less extreme ways than our house burning down). It is so automatic that we don’t even realize we are doing it.

We are able to do this instantly because from the time we were born we have been exposed to various senses and our brains learned how to interpret them one step at a time.

Some children experience sensory input differently than others. They may yell or flinch when being touched, plug their ears to seemingly “normal” sounds, or slam doors and push on crayons and pencils too hard. They are experiencing the senses, but not accurately interpreting the information. This causes them to act or react in undesirable ways.

If your child shows these or similar signs, providing them with sensory opportunities (like sensory bins) helps them learn to make sense of sensory information. Even if your child doesn’t show any of these signs, they still need frequent sensory experiences to develop, learn, and grow. Sensory bins provide a myriad of tactile (touch) input for kids to experience! Wet, dry, squishy, hard, pointy, soft, etc. Signals are being sent to the brain, and the brain is put to work making sense of it all. This helps foster appropriate brain development. Most importantly to the kids, it is FUN and provides social opportunities for kids to participate in.

Adam Perkins, University of Utah OTS

Thank you so much Adam for this perfect explanation! If you’re like me, you probably want to set up a new sensory bin right now. Download this free pdf with 8 Sensory Bin Ideas.

Please share this post on facebook, pinterest, or twitter. For more teaching ideas head over to the sidebar and subscribe to Moms Have Questions Too.

How do I teach my child shapes?

I am pleased to announce another activity pack for sale now in our store! This is a shape activity pack and it’s chock full of great shape activities for toddlers and preschoolers. If you’ve been wondering how to teach shapes to your toddler or preschooler, then look no further than this shape activity pack!

Some of the activities and printables for this activity pack come from the blog. If you’ll only be using one or two of the printables, feel free to print them for free. Otherwise, you can purchase the activity pack for only $1.99 and have easy access to all of the activities in a curriculum format. Plus, there are 2 bonus printables found exclusively in the Shape Activity Pack!

Activities and Printables Included

• Shape Sensory Bins
• Decorating Shapes (printable included)
• Popsicle Stick Shapes (printable included)
• Shape Quiet Book (printable included-This is still one of Smiley Man’s favorite books!)
• Find the Shape (printable included)
• 5 Games for Shape Cards (printable included)
• Two Part Shape Puzzles (printable included)
• Shape Sorting Cut and Paste (printable included)
• Shape Lacing Cards (printable included)
• Shapes Cutting Practice
• Shape Pizzas
• Shape Patterns (exclusive printable!)
• Shape Tracing and Drawing (exclusive printable!)

The activity pack is a digital download. So, you will need a printer (I have this one), a laminator (I have this one), and laminating sheets. Laminating is optional, but I totally recommend it. It definitely makes things more durable for a toddler or preschooler. See my Scotch Thermal Laminator Review if you’re in the market for a laminator.

We also have a great activity pack to teach colors and one for pattern blocks. These activity packs have lesson plans with preparation ideas, instructions, and variations for each activity. They are great if you want to teach your  child, but don’t need an entire curriculum. They are also great if you just want to teach something specific like colors or shapes. Buy Now and enjoy these shape activities for toddlers!

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What’s a fun flag craft my kids can do for Independence Day?

My kids are loving collages at the moment. I think they just love to glue things. Since I had so many extra red, white, and blue items left over from our 4th of July banner, I thought we should use them for a flag collage.

Make Your Own Fun Flag Craft

• Gather red, white, and blue items to use for the collage. Scroll down for a complete list of the items I used plus even more ideas.
• Draw a simple flag outline on a piece of construction paper.

For younger children, use crayons to quickly color each section so your child knows what color that section should be. For older children, write the color each section should be. For even older children, just leave it blank. You can see that for Smiley Man, I used crayons to color the different sections. For Little Bear I wrote the names of the colors and I wrote them all with one color of marker.

• Have your child use the red, white, and blue items to decorate their flag however they want.

Little Bear decorated his flag with do-a-dot markers and white flowers. Smiley Man got sick of the activity after 2 seconds, so I finished his for him. Haha! He is getting more defiant these days, but since this project was just for fun, I didn’t push it.

• Let flag dry completely and display as desired.

Supplies Used

1. Construction paper
2. Red, white, and blue flowers from a 4th of July leis
3. Red, silver, and blue star stickers
4. Red, silver, and blue glitter glue
5. Red, silver, and blue sequins
6. Red and blue do-a-dot markers and a white crayon

More Supply Ideas

1. Red, white, and blue tissue paper
2. Red, white, and blue felt
3. Red, white, and blue beads
4. Red, white, and blue foam stickers
5. Red, white, and blue pipe cleaners
6. Red, white, and blue craft sand

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What is an easy kids craft for the 4th of July?

I really felt like our house needed a little festive decor and since I’m not big on decorating, I thought I’d make my kids do it. Haha! A+ parenting right there. I thought of this easy kids craft that is perfect for the 4th of July. This craft also helps to build fine motor skills and creativity. Because of all the small pieces, fine motor skills are needed to glue and place the items. Plus, the craft is very open-ended which leads to tons of creativity. See the steps below to make your own 4th of July banner.

Make a 4th of July Banner

1. Cut triangles from red, white, and blue construction paper. I just freehanded these and you can tell, they aren’t super straight. They don’t need to be perfect.
2. Gather red, white, and blue materials and set them out. I put our materials in a divided food tray from the dollar store, but you could also put the materials in bowls. Scroll down for a complete list of items we used and links to buy them.
3. Set out triangles, materials to decorate the triangles, and glue. Let your children decorate to their heart’s content.
4. Let the decorated triangles dry completely.
5. Tape the triangles to ribbon or yarn. I used two pieces of tape for each triangle for extra stability, but one would probably work too.
6. Hang banner in a prominent place and enjoy your 4th of July decor.

Supplies Used

• Construction paper
• Ribbon
• Glue
• Red, white, and blue flowers from a 4th of July leis
• Red, silver, and blue sequins
• Red, silver, and blue glitter glue
• Red, silver, and blue star stickers
• Mini paper flags
• Red and blue do-a-dot markers and a white crayon

Little Bear and Smiley Man really enjoyed this craft. I was surprised by how much they got into it. The glitter glue was definitely their favorite material to work with, followed closely by the sequins. I think their favorite part of this easy kids craft was that it was so open-ended. They enjoyed making designs in whatever way they wanted.

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