If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you are probably well aware that we have an animal lover in our house (or a few). Each year as Christmas approaches, she comes up with a list of gifts she’s like. All of which are living. This year Maggie told me her Christmas list includes “just one thing, that’s actually 6 things”. When I asked what the “1 thing that is actually 6 things” was she told me she’d like: 6 husky puppies that she could raise and train to be sled dogs. Then of course the list quickly escalated into wanting a dog sled, a dog sled outfit, 6 leashes to walk the 6 puppies and of course a trip to Alaska to practicing dog sled racing.
While it might be fun to get Maggie live animals every Christmas, our house is already a zoo with 4 kids and a dog. So I try and find other cool gifts that my animal loving adventure loving little lady would like. Maggie really loves playing with toy animals and is pretty good at pretending they are real. She also loves travel and going on adventures and is pretty great at pretending to travel when we’re just hanging out at home. So, if you have an animal loving adventurer of your own, here are 20 fun gifts for this holiday season:
We’ve been looking for a toy animal hospital for a long time. I was so excited to see Battat had one this season. Their Terra line is awesome for animal loving kids. It can be found at Target.
Like many animal loving kids, Maggie likes to pretend to be an animal. Since she was 4, she’s been adding to her collection of Opposite of Far animal masks and accessories. These felt masks are wonderful gifts and the shop owner puts so much time and care into making each one.
3. Journal
If your little girl needs somewhere to track all of her adventures a journal from the Etsy shop Zany is perfect. You can add in their name and even create a custom saying if you want. I love this journal I created for Maggie:
4. American Girl Doll & Service Dog
Every time we go to the library, Maggie checks out another book about different types of service dogs. When she asked for “service dog toys” for Christmas, I pictured myself trying to make a service dog vest out of felt on Christmas Eve…. To my surprise American Girl makes a service dog set! This is definitely the gift I am most excited to see Maggie open. American Girl actually has a lot of great items for pet loving kids: different types of dogs, dog beds, leaches, clothes, etc. American Girl has so many wonderful options for girls with every type of hobby and interest along with dolls that you can customize to fit your little girl. Their Truly Me line is all about letting your girl “express herself and explore even more with a new best friend.”
5. Herb Lester
I discovered Herb Lester a few years ago when we were taking Maggie to London. These are the coolest take on city maps I have ever seen. They are very useful when traveling to the different cities and also very fun to look at/ dream of places to visit. They are reasonably priced and make a great gift for travel enthusiasts of any age. They say “Most guides try to tell you everything there is to know about a city, we just tell you how to enjoy it.”
6. Bear Purse
Zutano has the cutest bear purse. It’s soft and the perfect size for kids to take on their next adventure. Zutano has tons of other great gifts too including snuggly bear hats.
Along with loving animals and adventure, my kids love doing crafts. The Creativity for Kids kits are great because they are fun, have all the supplies needed in the box and a lot of them the kids can do on their own. This Designer Doggie set from Creativity for Kids is adorable! These sets make great birthday party gifts too & you can always find them under $20 on Amazon.
8. Schwinn
A bike and helmet is a very special gift or an adventurous girl! Maggie got a bike for Christmas last year and this year she’s getting a new/bigger helmet. We went with Schwinn for a helmet. They have a great assortment of helmets and bikes for kids.
9. Magformers
Building with Magformers and blocks like this have been a favorite in our house for years. This year I found the Magformers Space Wow 22Pc Set which lets kids build spaceships and rockets. It’s perfect for an adventurous astronaut in training.
These new Smartwatches for kids are really neat. My girls first saw them on a commercial and I was pretty impressed when I looked up all that they can do. From being their first watch to taking photos, the VTech Kidizoom Smartwatch does it all. They come in a few colors and are easy to use.
When your little girl wants to fly to her next adventure like a unicorn, she’s going to need a unicorn horn to wear. These unicorn horn headbands from Brooklyn Owl are awesome and come in all different colors. They actually stay on your head too (I tried Maggie’s on to test it!). These are a really cute stocking stuffer idea!
12. Zoonicorns
Maggie is not too into the iPad. While I’m thrilled that she truly loves playtime vs screen time, I also know there are some great apps for learning. I was very intrigued when I heard about Zoonicorns. These zebra + unicorn characters have digital stories and games geared towards learning. Since you can get an actual Zoonicorn stuffed animal to play with I knew it would be an app Maggie would be interested in: so she could play out the stories with the stuffed animals after screen time is over. Details on the app, stories and toys on their site: www.zoonicorn.com
13. Land of Nod
The Land of Nod has so many awesome gifts for an animal loving, adventurous child. Just a few ideas: Horse Stable Playhouse, Scout the Ride On Horse, Fold N’ Go Farmhouse, Domestic Animals Decals and the Executive Zebra Nod Chair.
14. I See Me
I’ve gotten the kids a few I See Me books over the past few years for Christmas. Now that my girls can read on their own, their favorite books to read are their I See Me personalized books because they are “about them”. I wanted one this year with an animal theme, so Maggie is getting “A Christmas Bear for Maggie”. It’s a really sweet story and you can choose to get the gift set that come with a little stuffed bear.
15. Penguin Gloves
Here’s a great stocking stuffer for an animal lover: super soft penguin gloves from Just Pretend Kids. These gloves are so soft and fluffy they are almost like penguin puppets. They’re currently 50% off.
16. Hoot Owl Hoot
Hoot Owl Hoot is a cute, fun and easy to play board game. The kids get to help the owls fly back to their nest before the sun comes up. Hoot Owl Hoot is available at Target.
Have you seen the Our Generation Horses at Target? They are beautiful and big enough for 18″ dolls to ride around on. We have to stop and look at these horses every time the girls are at Target with me. They have all different horses, saddles, accessories, etc. This is a great gift for a little girl that might be asking for a “real pony” on her Christmas list.
One thing on our list of things to do over winter break is to go see the new Disney movie Moana. It’s the story of an adventurous girl with a pet pig and rooster, so I know it will be a hit with my girls. This cute doll Moana doll comes with her loyal pet pig Pua, and her rooster friend Heihei and her shell necklace says movie phrases and sings her song “How Far I’ll Go”.
19. Kamik Boots
If your adventurous girl is like mine, they want to be outside playing regardless of the weather. Maggie would play outside all day, every day if she could. Great winter boots are key and my favorite this holiday season are Kamik. They are super warm, easy for kids to get on and come in really cute styles for girls.
20. MindWare
I recently discovered Mindware and I’m so impressed with their selection of educational toys and their prices. There are so many toys and games I would recommend, but a few favorites for an animal fan: Paint Your Own Butterfly Stepping Stone, Wild Wonders Color By Number Set, Make Your Own Fuzzy Husky Dog and the Super Swing Disc Swing.
Enjoy shopping for your adventurous little animal fan!
Disclosure: We were not compensated for this post. A few of the items listed we did receive for the purpose of review, but all are tried and true recommendations. All opinions are our own.
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