Non-Electronic Holiday Toy Gift Buying Guide for Preschoolers and Kindergartners

Are you looking for some relative peace and quiet this holiday season? Are you tired of batteries and those obnoxious electronic sounds? Are you tired of finding and removing 20 wires from a box to get one blasted toy out of the packaging? If so, consider joining me on my non-electronic holiday toy crusade this year for your preschool and kindergarten aged children.

The preschool age is a fun time, filled with discovery and wonder. Electronic based toys can be great fun, but I find that many children grow bored with the toys after only a few hours. Why? The electronic toys do not always inspire imagination-based creative play. Non-electronic toys will encourage your child to use his or her imagination to keep the toy or game more exciting for longer periods of time. Plus, parents and grandparents will experience the bliss of listening to a child's excited voice rather than pre-programmed electronic bells, whistles, and beeps.

This article will give you a few ideas to get started on your non-electronic toy buying crusade. Seek out independent toy stores for the best selection or go online to find the best prices.

Note: Many of these toys contain small parts that are not recommended for children aged 3 and younger.

Non-Electronic Holiday Toy Buying Guide

1. Marble Run or Super Marble Run by Galt

Average Price: About $20 for Marble Run or $45 for Super Marble Run

Where to Buy Online: Amazon

Marble Run is a great toy to help your little one build a structure to get a marble to move continuously. The toy comes in bright primary colors and contains 6 chutes, 6 curves, 9 tubes, 3 bases, and 3 marbles. You can help you child combine the parts in numerous configurations to move the marbles from the top of the structure to the bottom. The toy is very easy to put together and to take apart for easy storage.

Super Marble Run contains more pieces and parts including a snake pass, a rotary drop, a paddle wheel, and a roundabout to combine for more possibilities.

2. Globalmorphs by River Dolphin Toys

Average Price: About $35

Where to Buy Online: Brain Station Toys

The Globalmorphs play set contains approximately 50 interchangeable animal body pieces. Your children use their imagination to create new and fascinating creatures by connecting different bodies to different limbs and different heads. The animal body parts are made from colorful plastic and snap together easily and can be interchanged with other "morph" sets.

Other "morph" sets range from $16 to $35 per set and include the following:

Dinomorphs

Farmmorphs

Fossilmorphs

Insectmorphs

Mythmorphs

Rainforestmorphs

3. Georello Kaleidogears Gear Set by Quercetti

Average Price: About $25

Where to Buy Online: Play Fair Toys

This is a really fun toy to foster cooperative play between children as they use the interlocking plastic plates and gears to build a functioning arrangement. Children use problem-solving skills and their imaginations to create unique combinations. First, children build a base using the brightly colored plastic pieces. Then, they add gears to create a functioning mechanical system. When the gears are placed together, your child can spin one and watch all the gears turn as a unit. This toy is easy to take apart and store.

For even more gear fun, you can also purchase themed sets such as the Movin' Monkeys by Learning Resources for about $36 from the same website. This set contains about 16 pieces and enables your child to build a jungle from gears, cranks, connectors, and bases.

4. Magnetic World Pastelles by Geomag

Average Price: About $9

Where to Buy Online: Fat Brain Toys

For more construction and shape learning fun, try a magnetic building set. These sets contain various rods and spheres that connect to each other magnetically. You child can explore his or her imagination by creating shapes and structures for hours. This set contains four pastel colors - pink, lilac, blue, and lemon.

5. See Me Teepee by Small World Toys

Average Price: About $32

Where to Buy Online: LB Toys

One of the hottest play collapsible play structures for preschoolers and kindergartners is a teepee. The teepee can be used indoors or outdoors and will spark physical playtime for your child. This particular teepee features bright fabrics, a window, and can connect to tubes and other tents to expanded play.

If you're creative, you can purchase a teepee sewing pattern and fabric at your local craft store and make your own. A handcrafted teepee tent would be a very personalized gift that you can treasure and keep in the family. Customize your teepee by choosing a fabric in a theme that your child will love and decorate it with trims and paint.

6. Bead Sequencing Set by Melissa & Doug

Average Price: About $20

Where to Buy Online: Sensory Edge

This unique toy will help your child with color and shape recognition. The set comes with 5 dowels, 45 beads, and 10 different patterns. Patterns grow in difficulty as your child gets better at figuring out how to place the beads on the dowels to match the pattern. This toy is great as an individual toy or to foster cooperative play between children. This toy comes in a wooden case with a plastic lid for easy storage.