Choosing great gifts for girls shouldn’t be that difficult.
But it seems that it is. While you may know what your child likes, others may not and often they will revert to the same tired stereotypes of “what girls like”.
One of the things I want to achieve with my blog is broadening the spectrum of what people think will appeal to girls. So I thought it might be handy to detail some of the great things my daughter has enjoyed over the past year, as potential new ideas for gifts for girls.
These suggestions are of course fine for boys too, but I just wanted to counterbalance some of the traditional gift guides I see aimed at girls. However, as a former boy – and I love all the things on this list too, so I have no doubt they will appeal to them too.
I’ve mostly used Amazon affiliate links, but all these items are available from a variety of other retailers too.
1. Kano – the DIY Computer Kit for Kids
If you and your family purchase only one present for your child, I would strongly urge it to be this one.
Kano is a fantastic build-it-yourself computer and coding kit. While intended for kids age 6-12, younger (like my daughter) and older (like her parents!) will love this too.
This is a wonderfully simple yet complex product. As opposed to the pretend computers that kids often have, this is an actual bona-fide computer for kids.
With this, your child will have a wonderful journey of discovery, and will also be engaged in the fundamentals of our increasingly digital culture.
The kit contains:
- Raspberry Pi 2 Model B, ARM 900MHz Quad-Core CPU and 1GB RAM
- 8GB micro-SD Card preloaded with the latest Kano OS full of projects and games
- Kano books, illustrated and intuitive
- Wireless Kano Keyboard and mouse (USB RF & Bluetooth)
- DIY speaker
- Custom case, stencils and stickers!
- HDMI cable
- Wifi dongle
- Mini-USB power supply (UK plug)
You put the computer together in LEGO-like fashion (no soldering required), connect it to a screen (via HDMI), fire it up, and you’re ready to go.
It is also a great family activity – my wife and I are as excited about using it as our daughter.
If there was any justice in this world, the Kano would be the number one toy this christmas.
The RRP is £119.99 – but you can get it for a holiday price of £89.99 until 31 December 2015.
It’s available from the Kano website and Amazon.
2. LEGO
Everyone loves LEGO, right? It’s probably one of the greatest toys ever invented, LEGO is certainly a perennial plaything at our house. When considering LEGO gifts for girls, please don’t assume you have to limit yourself to LEGO Friends.
We’ve had some exciting new sets this year, but our highlights were these ones that also featured some great female characters.
We loved Rey’s Speeder from The Force Awakens. It’s a simple set with a really funky looking vehicle.
Other LEGO Star Wars sets we had included the Imperial Shuttle and Imperial Assault Carrier. Both were wonderful sets that each featured important female characters – Sabine Wren from Star Wars Rebels, and Leia in her non-slave Return of the Jedi look.
With a little LEGO invention, you can also make this Leia look a bit like General Leia from The Force Awakens. (Han looks pretty good with a beard too.)
But our top set is Jokerland. It gets played with the most and also has the most female minifigs.
Jokerland is a wonderfully loopy LEGO Batman set that features a theme park taken over by the Joker and his criminal pals. The set features 8 minifigures, and the female ones are Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and Starfire. As well as Joker, you also get Batman, Robin, The Penguin, and Beast Boy.
Having female figures in these sets is important. For my daughter, it helps hook her into playing with these sets. But once she does, she enjoys both male and female characters alike. She’s a big fan of Batman and Robin at the moment.
3. Lottie Dolls
We love Lottie Dolls. From their childlike appearance to the range of outfits and accessories , my daughter is constantly playing with them. The other day she professed that they were her favourite toy!
Choosing a favourite Lottie Doll is like choosing your favourite child (though I only have one of those to choose from), but my top ones would be Pirate Queen and Rockabilly.
To be honest they’re all great, and the key for us is the range of outfits and accessories you can get. They lead to great imaginative play, and show that girls can be dancers, engineers, athletes, or whoever they want to be.
Lottie is a doll that isn’t defined by being one thing. That is a great message for children to learn.
These are the dolls we have:
And these are the accessories:
4. The Films of Studio Ghibli
Our lives would be culturally bereft without the joys of Studio Ghibli movies.
If you haven’t seen them, I cannot stress enough how utterly magical and glorious these films are. I am immeasurably grateful that they exist, and that my daughter gets to experience them in her childhood.
Some are more age appropriate than others, but bear in mind I will happily watch any of these with my 3-year-old daughter (who adores them).
Kiki’s Delivery Service, My Neighbour Totoro, Whisper of the Heart, and Ponyo are our most watched.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Spirited Away, and especially Princess Mononoke may be too intense for younger children – but I say again, my 3-year-old loves watching them.
We also have story books of Kiki’s Delivery Service and My Neighbour Totoro, which have been excellent ways for my daughter to engage with these stories without constantly watching the movies (it would be every day if I’d allow it).
We also bought her this great Kiki dress up outfit.
While it’s simple, it’s a high quality outfit (unlike most kids fancy dress outfits).
The dress is nicely tailored in cotton, and the bow is delightful.
My daughter always gets smiles whenever she’s out wearing this – mostly from people who have no idea who she’s dressed as.
You can top the outfit off with a Jiji cat toy too.
5. Katie Morag – books and TV show
My daughter was actually the one who introduced us to the wonderful Katie Morag books, stumbling upon one at a charity shop.
These delightful picture books, written and illustrated by Mairi Hedderwick, are all set on the Isle of Struay, off the coast of Scotland, and center around the independent minded Katie, and her family and friends.
Our favourite books are:
- Katie Morag Delivers the Mail
- Katie Morag and the Dancing Class
- Katie Morag and the Tiresome Ted
- Katie Morag and the New Pier
I was pleasantly surprised to find that a live action Bafta Award winning TV series had been made, which captures the spirit of the characters and stories perfectly.
You can get series one of Katie Morag on DVD.
6. Tara Binns
The Tara Binns series of books are a fun way to introduce different professions as valid choices for little girls to aspire to.
So far there are three books in the series, and in them the hero of the title explores the likes of being a pilot, and engineer, and a doctor.
They are fun to read and have already sewn the seeds of big ideas in our little girl.
7. Star Wars – Little Golden Books
Like many parents of a certain age, Star Wars has been something I have introduced my daughter to from an early age.
However, I know some parents – while wanting to introduce their child to Star Wars – feel that the films are inappropriate in terms of action and violence for very young children.
These Star Wars Little Golden Books are a perfect solution. With pared down narratives, simple prose, and cute illustrations, this series of Star Wars books for kids is a wonderful way to introduce a small child to the galaxy far, far away…
These Star Wars books for kids are available individually or as a boxset.
8. LittleLife Gruffalo and Spider-Man Backpacks
A cut above the usual cheaply made kids backpack, the LittleLife collection are well made, with thoughtful designs that look great and are comfortable for your child to wear.
The Spider-Man Kids Daysack is a great looking bag, that has enough room for the essentials a 3+ yr old would need to carry.
We also had a Gruffalo Toddler Daysack, for kids age 1-3, with a rein that some parents may find useful, plus there is a Gruffalo Kids Daysack for children age 3+. Both are wonderfully designed bags that will please any tiny Gruffalo fan.
9. Clothes from Sewing Circus
We are big fans of Sewing Circus, who have a great range of skirts, dresses, tops, and accesories. The themes include dinosaurs, science, space, superheroes, and much more.
Founded by Francesca Cambridge, as a campaigner for unisex clothing (Let Clothes be Clothes) she would likely balk at being included on a gifts for girls list. Just to be clear – boys can wear her clothes too.
My daughter is the proud owner of the Star Wars skirt pictured above, that was the basis for a ‘How to make a Star Wars skirt‘ tutorial Francesca guest blogged here. I think it must be the most worn item of clothing in her wardrobe this year.
Some of my other favourites on the Sewing Circus site include this Batgirl dress, an Iron Man pinafore, and a Marvel Comics skirt.
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These are my alternative ideas for gifts for girls. What are yours? Please comment below.
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Thanks for this – we have boy/girl twins and are constantly looking for more cross over in toys/colours etc. For our two to share. Love the lottie dolls, especially the pirate queen – will add those to the Christmas list for our 21 month olds.
This year my 18 month old is getting a Thomas the tank engine train set and a little people farm set.
The next time I read a blog, I hope that it does not disappoint me as much as this particular one. After all, Yes, it was my choice to read through, nonetheless I really thought you would probably have something useful to talk about. All I hear is a bunch of moaning about something that you could fix if you were not too busy looking for attention.
Great list! We have a Lottie Doll, it’s really lovely! #TriedTested
This is just great! I love this list because people really do think that girls like pink and boys like blue and everything that falls under the stereotype lists. My girl looks Star Wars and the Sewing waists clothes are just great.
Lovely idea for a list
#triedtested
Hurrah for non pink Lego and Katie Morag – a fabulous, strong girl character 🙂
Thanks for sharing your review on #TriedTested this week x
I have heard great things about Kano, and Lego is always a hit here too. I love the sound of the Tara Binns books too. Thanks for linking up with #TriedTested
I’ve been following #manvspink for some time trying to understand where are you coming from. I think we have a lot in common. My mother was a working horse. She didn’t know how to be a woman, she didn’t like anything pink and too girly. I grew up just like her, love hard work, and hate men. Following mom’s advice I really tried to raise my daughter as a superhero for the first 4 years. I’d never buy her anything pink, encourage her to climb greatest heights, always proud that she is better than boys. She cut her hair short when she was 3, yes just took scissors and snapped it all. She started programming at 4. How cool is that! Her favorite cartoons were Star Wars and Octonauts. Until one day I finally decided to stop and just look at her, see her as an individual human being, who has her own thoughts and desires, who should be allowed to chose her own colors, toys, cloth. I realized that what I was doing is what you call “mental” abuse. A girl should not be taught to dislike pink and like Star Wars. It does not make her a stronger woman, but to the contrary, it convey a message that being girl is bad, shameful, and somehow inferior to being a man. There’s no pinkification of our girls, there’s no secret plan, girls love pink, that is until they start to hate it and love blue, and then black. It’s part of growing up. Ask any mom whose daughter is a teenager now, she’ll tell you all the colors of growing up. ManvsPink is in reality Man vs all feminine, I understand it, often feel WomanvsBlue myself, but it it the right direction? Shouldn’t we be FOR something, not against?
P.S. we did go to Force Awakens, and you know what, it’s a piece of s***. Empty pointless waste of time.
Sorry you felt compelled to comment this way. You clearly haven’t understood my approach at all – and it is nothing like the parenting you describe. On a basic level, my daughter’s upbringing is about choice. She is not taught to like Star Wars and dislike pink. She likes Star Wars because she chooses to. She likes pink too, but among many other colours, and she chooses what she wears every day. I am regularly accused of being anti-feminine by conservatives, which is nonsense. My daughter revels in being a little girl, and if you can’t see that then I can only assume you have a very narrow view of what ‘feminine’ is. Your denial of pinkification reminds me of those who claim man-made climate change is a myth – the evidence is plain to see, yet many have an agenda that makes ignoring it easier. The internet is full of little girls saying how much they love pink, princesses, LEGO Friends, and Barbie (some parents even have revenue generating YouTube channels based on it). My only agenda is offering an insight into other ways raise little girls too. You write of being FOR something, then immediately share what you are against. Glass houses and all that…