 Hey everybody, welcome to Waldoch Way. I'm Jessica. Today's video is part of the homeschool show and tell series. The homeschool show and tell series is an open collaboration each month that's hosted by Abby from Rooted and Rest and myself. So each month, a group of homeschoolers come together to share about a specific topic. So this month, we are all going to be sharing about our favorite educational toy. So if you are joining us in sharing a video, all you need to do if you're having any issues with the playlist, because we've been told that there's been issues in the past, is leave a link to your video in the comments down below, whether on my channel or on Abby's. Just let us know in the comments that you're joining and here's your link, and we'll get it added to the playlist for you. If you're here to watch the collaboration, you're gonna wanna click right here to watch the playlist because there are going to be tons of homeschool mamas sharing all of their favorite educational toys. And trust me, you're not gonna wanna miss it. I am super excited to see everything that everybody has in store. Also, here's a spoiler alert. Make sure you stay tuned to the very end of this video because Abby and I have a special surprise for you guys. All right, so I have been sharing gift guides like crazy on my blog the past few weeks. I have an educational gift guide that has over a hundred plus gift ideas. I have gifts for the whole family, gifts for the homeschool mom, just gifts galore. So if you are looking for tons of gift ideas, click the link in the description box down below and head over to my blog and check out all of my gift guides. But for this video, I wanted to do something just a little bit different. I wanted to share something that was different than just all of the ideas. That was more kind of the favorites in our house and our homeschool. And I wanted it to be more than just, I don't know, stuff. So what I'm sharing with you guys today is a top 10 educational toy favorite. Some of these are going to be things that have stood the test of time. So they have been in our house for three or more years and are still going strong and are very well loved. Some of them are gonna be things that we have absolutely loved that have we've gotten tons of use out of in our homeschool lately. And other things are gonna be things that we find ourselves buying over and over again because we just love them so much and it's gifts that we give over and over. And so that's what you're gonna be saying is our top 10 things that have stood the test of time that we absolutely love and that we're buying over and over. The first educational toy I have for you is one that has stood the test of time, you guys. It is the Learning Resources Cash Register. This cash register was purchased when Emily was three years old and she is now eight and it is still going strong. It is a working calculator. It has large numbers for little hands and it is a great way to get in some math and money experience. It is also super fun to add to pretend play and it's just a great way to have your kids learning while playing. The second gift I have is another one that has stood the test of time and it is this two in one globe. We have had this for four years and my favorite part about it is that it's like almost indestructible and that when you push this button down here at the bottom, it changes into the night sky. So you're getting two, almost two completely different globes in one. So it is just a super fun globe that has just been an amazing addition to our home school. The third toy we have that has stood the test of time is Snap Circuits. Now this specific one is the Break Structures which is a recent addition to our home school and one that is for a little bit older kids. But what I love about Snap Circuits are there are so many different things. It's kind of like Legos. They have the junior version and the light up version and the arcade version and then this one that incorporates Legos and Snap Circuits. So there is something out there for every age range, for every kiddos interest. It's a great educational toy. If you don't believe me, just head over to Abby's channel because I guarantee you it's in her favorite educational things because she's been sharing Snap Circuits for five plus years. We both absolutely love them. Both our kids have loved them over the years. It is a really, really awesome educational toy. It's a great way to keep little hands busy. It's a perfect way to challenge them. It's just amazing. So find a Snap Circuit that you think would interest your child and pick one up today. The last thing I have that has stood the test of time in our house is this Art Kit. So this Art Kit is one of the really awesome wooden ones that has the option at the top that folds out into an easel. So it stores your art and is a place for you to create art all in one. It comes with amazing different art pieces like markers and crayons and oils and pastels. And then you can even replace those things later as you use them up. If you have a little artist or somebody who likes to create in your household, I highly suggest picking one of these or something similar to it up because it is made very well and it will last a long time and it will get tons and tons of use. Next up we have a toy that has been an absolute favorite over the past year and that is Coding Botley. We love any kind of coding activity. We have the spheroes, we have Folt, we have the Code and Go mouse, we have the Code and Go Caterpillar when it first came out. Learning Resources is a great option for coding for younger kids. Botley has been really fun because they have the activity packs you can buy. There's tons of things you can do with it. If you have a kid who likes coding, this is a great way. It's a perfect introduction and I really, really like this doesn't have to also have a screen. So we love Sphero and we love Bolt but those are app based so she has to have a phone or a tablet to use that. But with Botley it comes with the remote. So you don't have to have anything additional. So you don't have a phone or a tablet. She can just code Botley with what it comes with and I really, really like that. I like this, doesn't need anything additional. She can just grab the box, Botley his activity kit and have a blast with him. She's coded mazes through the house and all kinds of really fun things. He's just a really fun robot to play with. Next up we have another thing that has been an absolute favorite recently in our household and that is the National Geographic Science Kits. This specific one is the Air Rockets which Kevin and Emily had a blast with. They have been in and outside with them repeatedly. They light up so it's a really fun to do at night. There are multiple other kits from them that we have really loved. A crystal growing kit, a volcano kit. There's a really awesome slime kit that they have. All of their kits are really well done. They're a really great quality. I mean, like I said, they've used these Air Rockets multiple times over the past few months and they're still in great condition. The lights still work, the stomp part still works. I just am really impressed with their quality and I absolutely love when kits like this are fun and bring us all together kind of at the same time. The next thing I have is something that I find us buying over and over again and it is Beaswax candle kits which are perfect if you have like a little artist or creative person in your life because you can create all kinds of different really fun candles. This specific one is a Christmas one that I just recently purchased for us to do for the Christmas season we have done multiples of these over the years. The really big kits are my favorite because they come with like 12 pieces of wax and it's more for you to be able to use. I'm really excited to make some at Christmas ones with this one. Next we have another thing that I keep finding that we're buying over and over again and that is puzzles. Our absolute favorite puzzles though are the puzzle sets from Us Born. The quality is fantastic and one of my favorite things is they are puzzle and book combinations. So you get a puzzle and a book and most of the puzzles are educational puzzles. So you see here this is the periodic table and then it also comes with a book that talks about the periodic table. So it's a great way to sit down and have some fun logic while building the puzzle either together or by yourself and then after you've built it open that book and read more and learn more about it. They're great quality and I absolutely love them and it's something I find myself buying over and over again like literally every time they release one I instantly buy it and last year every kiddo in my life got a book and puzzle set from Us Born as a Christmas gift. Next is the thing I know you've all been waiting for and that is a game which definitely is something that I find us purchasing over and over and over again and if you want game ideas I have got you covered on game ideas but for this video I only picked one and my favorite game the one I buy over and over and over again is Quirkle. This is my favorite game to gift and it is one of my favorite games to play. Anytime I'm given the choice I'm pulling Quirkle out but the reason it's my favorite game to gift to others is because it requires absolutely no gaming skills so even if you're somebody who doesn't enjoy gaming or knows nothing about gaming or you're just not a gamer you can play it. It's super easy to pick up and just start playing and it's the perfect game for all ages because there's no reading required you don't have to know how to do math. Literally as long as you know your colors and shapes you can play it and you can even play it without knowing your colors because I have a few friends who have color blind people in their family and what they did is write a letter in permanent marker on the block so like the red had R's, the yellows had Y's the blues had B's, things like that. So really you just kind of need to know your shapes and you can still play this game but it is just the perfect all-around family game. It also can play two to four players so small families up to medium families and then we have even bought two boxes and played up to eight players if you have double the tiles so it can also be played with super large families if you have more than one box. There is gonna be a book set that's bought for somebody and gifted so it is definitely one of my top 10 favorites. So those are my top 10 favorite gifts that have either stood the test of time been used a ton lately in our home school or things I find ourselves purchasing over and over and over again. Please tell me in the comments maybe your favorite educational toy so that again I can add to that growing list make sure you check out that playlist to see everybody else's favorite toys and here's the exciting part. Me and Abby have teamed up to give away a $50 Waldoch Way gift certificate and a $50 Osborne gift credit to two different people. So two people are going to be able to win $50 to Osborne and $50 to shop the Waldoch Way. So make sure you check out the description box down below for the details of that giveaway because obviously you're not gonna wanna miss it. It would be the perfect way to shop for your gifts as well as set your home school up for the new year.