If you ware looking for some home school gifts, this list highlights some of the best educational and fun homeschool Christmas gift ideas for homeschool families.
When it comes to great gift ideas or Christmas gifts, these are ones that the whole family will love. Educational gifts during the holiday season are always a good idea. If you’re a homeschooling family, check out these holiday gifts that will make any homeschooling mom have a fun time when shopping.
When it comes to Christmas shopping, any of these would be perfect for a homeschool day! These are some of the best homeschool gifts that are great stocking stuffers, a fun way to check out local attractions, and to help everyone have a wonderful time learning!
This article contains some paid insertions, but all opinions are my own.
The Perfect Gifts for Homeschool Kids
We’ve been homeschooling for several years now, as we’ve always been homeschooled, and our oldest, twin girls, are now in 4th grade.
With five kids, and education and learning top priorities for us in our home, and no funds from our local school district to pay for schooling supplies, curriculum, or extras, we often double up homeschool-related items with gift-giving.
It’s why I look for homeschool gifts when Christmas rolls around, and perhaps even birthdays. It’s learning items that are also fun!
Really, doubling up this way is just a big win, especially for the many families who do the want need wear read gift ideas. Homeschool curriculum and supplies are “need” items!
But, many of the items on my homeschool gift guide are also fun experience gifts for kids as often our kids don’t really need more toys, and we’d rather splurge on taking them to cool places or having them try new things or learn new stuff.
These gifts for homeschool kids give you a lot of great options, no matter if your homeschool girls or boys are preschool-aged or high-school aged.
I asked in some homeschool groups I’m in for this list of top homeschool gift ideas too for this article, so I hope you’ll find it well-balanced and comprehensive.
Have fun shopping!
Books Gifts for Homeschoolers
Bookroo
A great way to encourage homeschool kids to fall in love with reading, is to gift kids books!
A fun, easy way to encourage more reading and build your library is through a kids book subscription box like Bookroo!
Bookroo wants to help your child build their library, discover new books, and fall in love with reading. They focus on high-quality illustrations, stories, messages, and re-readability.
Bookroo is like a book club for kids and loves sending board and picture books that are hidden gems rather than classic stories, which you may already own, but their chapter books are one classic and one hidden gem.
What is so fun about Bookroo is that they individually wrap each book they ship to you each month! In case getting mail with their name on it wasn’t enough, they also get the joy of unwrapping the book too!
Bookroo offers 1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-month personal and gift subscriptions with the following options:
- Board books (ages 0-3), 3 individually wrapped books included per box
- Picture books (ages 2-6), 2 individually wrapped, hardcover books included per box
- Chapter books (ages 7-10), 2 individually wrapped books per box
Right now you can get 15% off your order with code MERRYFAGANS. But, this code ends in a week so act fast!
Magazine Subscriptions
Another great option to get kids reading more is a Highlights Magazine Subscription.
Highlights has been around since 1946 as a fun and easy way to get kids learning, reading, and having fun.
There are four different Highlights magazine subscription options based on your child’s age:
- Hello Magazine (for ages 0-2)
- High Five Magazine (ages 2-6)
- High Five Bilingue Magazine (ages 2-6)
- Highlights Magazine (ages 6-12)
Right now you can get 50% off any yearly subscription (12 issues) plus 2 free gifts which include a hidden pictures book and 2020 Calendar and Fun booklet.
Keep in mind too that Highlights also offer book clubs for kids which include their Hidden Pictures books, Puzzle Books, Mathmani Books, Top Secret Adventures Books, and more!
You can try any of these book clubs for free ($1 shipping) and receive a FREE tote with select clubs.
Other magazine subscription ideas include magazine subscriptions to:
- Ranger Rick by National Wildlife Federation
- National Geographic Kids
- Sports Illustrated Kids
- OWL Magazine
Books Series Sets
Nothing gets kids reading like a great book series that captures their imagination, their reading level, and makes them want to keep reading!
It’s a fun idea to gift some popular book series to your kids as fun homeschool gift to them. It sometimes even makes it more affordable to buy the series versus buying them individually too, and come in fun cases.
Some popular book series for homeschool children include:
- Harry Potter
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians
- Magic Tree House and Merlin Missions
- The Boxcar Children
- The School for Good and Evil
- The Chronicles of Narnia
- The Little House Series
- Anne of Green Gable Series
- Who is (Who was) Series
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid
- Dr. Seuss’s Beginner Book Collection
Book Light
I feel like one of the only acceptable way for kids to stay up late, is if they are reading. Make it easy on them with this homeschool stocking stuffer gift idea – a Clip-on Book Light!
Amazon Kindle Kids Edition
You may forgo the book light, and purchasing several of those book series, if you gift your child their own Amazon Kindle Kids, a Kindle without games, ads, or vidoes – just reading!
Plus, this purchase comes with 1 year of Amazon Kids + (a $35.88-$59.88 value), and a 2-year worry-free guarantee. You can choose from four different skin/pattern options for the cover, too.
The added benefit of an Kindle Kids ereader, is that it allows kids to highlight words they don’t know and have the definition pull up for them! Get one here.
Game Gifts for Home Schoolers
Board games and card games are super popular homeschool gift ideas for kids because they incorporate so much learning, strategy, planning, and sometimes additional skills like math and geography facts.
I have a great post full of educational board games for kids if you are looking for some great recommendations and a specific post all about scientific board games for kids!
ThinkFun and Ravensburger Games
Some of our favorite fun and hands-on learning and logic games are from ThinkFun and Ravensburger. This year they sent us some STEM-focused games to review (and one to giveaway – see giveaway at the bottom of this post!).
Domino Maze
Dominos are always fun for kids to stack up and knock over, which is why Domino Maze is great in that it challenges kids to not only play with dominos, but think logically about how to complete the challenges using only a set number of pieces.
What makes Domino Maze really fun is that the paths split, you can go up and down to a platform, and more, as you use different pieces to solve the puzzle challenge card you select.
My kids enjoyed this, and so did I, though it wasn’t as challenging as the next game they sent. You can get it from Amazon.
Putty Maze
My kids had never really played with Putty before playing this Thinking Putty Puzzle Mind-Stretching Logic Game, and they really enjoyed the Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty that this came with.
This game is way more challenging than I thought it would be (even for me as an adult!).
You select a puzzle challenge card that shows you two dots of the same color in different parts of the grid. The object is to connect those two colors with putty of the same color, without crossing the path of another color. You end up stretching putty across the entire grid, and sometimes use additional pieces like bridges and blocks to make it more challenging!
This game was really fun, until we accidentally mixed some of the putty colors together, which is far too easy given what the game asks you to do.
You can get this game on Amazon.
GraviTrax
GraviTrax is a Marble Run & STEM toy for kids that is a 2019 Toy of the Year Finalist.
While technically not a “game” as they don’t give you challenge cards to complete (they supply you with an instruction book with multiple fun step-by-step mazes to set up), our family managed to turn it into a game.
We place the starting piece (3-way marble launcher) and end piece on the board, maybe with some other “mandatory” other pieces, and challenge each other to create tracks so that the marbles will make it to the end piece.
My 6-year-old son absolutely LOVES this STEM toy/game (it’s recommended for 8+ though). I love doing it with him! It’s fun to use your brain in this way, and to challenge each other, and to play with marbles and even a magnetic launcher piece. It’s super cool and a ton of fun.
I highly recommend it! It’s provided us with hours of entertainment already! Plus, this is just the starter set. You can purchase Gravitrax expansion packs with more pieces too.
Gravitrax is available on Amazon!
Gift Homeschoolers Subscription Boxes
I have written a lot about subscription boxes, especially educational subscription boxes.
The reason for this is because they are convenient, they include everything you need, and they give your kids extra, extensional learning, sometimes completing them independently.
But, even with adult supervision, these hands-on projects are things I would never actually take the time to put together on my own, and often explain concepts in new and fascinating, real, hands-on way. THAT I love and that has a tremendous value to homeschool parents!
Gifting a subscription box service to a homeschool family is great because they’d often love these boxes, but they’re “extras” for their main homeschool curriculum and they can’t always swing it.
Creation Crate
A really great STEM gift subscription box is Creation Crate!
This one is for the older homeschool kids, ages 12+.
Each month your child will get an electronics project where they learn how to program and build electronics through online courses that pair with hands-on projects.
This STEM subscription box teaches coding (C++), circuitry, engineering, critical thinking, and more. The cool thing too is that the projects become progressively challenging each month.
We just got the first months’ box (even though our oldest are only 9 – it just meant I needed to help out a little bit more). And we built a mood lamp! Order by December 31 to get this same box!
Get the Creation Crate on Cratejoy!
Check out the posts below for a list of great subscription box options in various categories and for different ages.
8 Best Educational Subscription Boxes for Kids
Cooking Subscription Boxes for Kids and Baking Kits for Kids
11 Arts & Crafts Subscription Boxes for Kids
Letters from Afar
One subscription box I hadn’t heard of but was recommended to me was Letters from Afar, which is only $6, and you receive a monthly letter, written as if from someone from another country. A great way to learn about places around the world the old fashioned way!
Universal Yums
Another box recommended to me is Universal Yums! Each month you get a box full of different snacks from a different country! It’s a unique and fun way to taste different cultures and find new favorite flavors! It starts at just $14/box. You can sign up here.
Talent-Based Gift Ideas
There are a lot of great gifts for homeschoolers that work to develop a child’s talents and skills! These are great gifts because they aren’t toys, they are tools! They are instruments and lessons. They are kits and set and supplies to make beautiful things.
What you give your homeschool child is totally up to what your child is interested in, but here are some great ideas for gifts for homeschoolers that let them build creative skills.
- Sewing Machine
- Beginner sewing kits/books
- Easy Sew Kits for Kids (like ornaments etc)
- Instrument books (guitar/uke chord book, Christmas uke songs, etc)
- Art/drawing books
- Jewelry making supplies
- Tye dye kit
- Karaoke microphone
- Digital camera
- Spin Art set
- Violin
- Music Lessons (Check out Groupon for deals locally!)
- Loog Guitar
- Guitar Lessons Online through Gentle Guitar (Free first lesson)
- Watercolor paper and paints
- Wiki sticks
- Horseback Riding Lessons
- Modeling Clay
Active Gifts for Homeschoolers
Homeschool kids need plenty of active playthings! They need tools and equipment to use outdoors, or in, to burn off that little kid energy!
If this is something you’d like to gift homeschool kids, check out my list of outdoor gifts for kids to find the perfect gift!
Another item recommended to me was a Waldorf Wobbel board!
Her nephews turn it over and make it a tunnel, climb on it like a bridge, and their favorite thing to do is put cars in the middle and then rock them back and forth. It’s just a curved piece of wood, but it is sturdy and can handle all the kid abuse! Get a version from Amazon.
STEM Gift Ideas for Homeschoolers
STEM – Science Technology Engineering Mathematics – Gifts for homeschoolers are a great gift! Not only are they challenging and creative in their own right, but they also encourage fine motor skills and learning.
Here are some great STEM gifts you can gift your child.
OSMO Games
We have several OSMO games, and they are so fun! It combines hands-on learning with technology. The games use physical pieces and drawing utensils but then give instant feedback and involvement through the game interface on the app. It’s pretty awesome.
They have the following STEM games (note you need an iPad or iPad mini or Amazon Fire 7+ to use OSMO):
- Osmo Coding Awbie
- Osmo Coding Jam
- Osmo Pizza Co Game (works on math skills/money)
- Osmo Detective Agency (explore the world)
- Osmo Hot Wheels MindRacers
- Osmo Creative Set Monster Game
- Osmo Genius Number Game
- Osmo Little Genius Sticks & Rings (ages 3-5)
I am giving away a copy of Codie Awbie and Coding Jam in the giveaway at the end of this post! Be sure to enter to win!
Building Sets & LEGO Gifts
There are lot of really great building gifts perfect for homeschoolers, best known of which is LEGO! They are one of those classic kids toys that kids will play with again and again for years to come!
The best places to shop LEGO sets are:
Other great building sets include:
- Snap Circuits
- Bridge-building kit
- Magnatiles
- Brain Flakes
- Makey Makey
- Wiki sticks
- Woodworking Kit for Kids
Classroom Learning Gift Ideas
If you need to spend the money anyway, why not double up on some classroom and learning items by gifting them to your child.
These would be more expensive learning tools and perhaps even curriculum.
Here are some great gifts for a homeschool classroom:
- Chromebook
- Tablet
- Fish tank
- Computer games (Oregon Trail, etc)
- Microscope
- A handheld microscope (good stocking stuffer!)
- Magnifying glass (stocking stuffer idea)
- Extra slides for the microscope
- Telescope
- Imagine stabilized binoculars
- LeapFrog LeapPad3
- Invisible Ink Pens (great stocking stuffer)
- Bone-Shaped Pens (stocking stuffer idea)
- Art smocks
- Craft supplies
- Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition (can set limits and use free time, and restrict language, etc)
- Spirograph
In terms of homeschool curriculum or subscriptions, there are some good options for that too like:
- Gift 1 Year of ABCmouse for 49% for Only $59.95!
- AdventureAcademy.com – Get 1 Year for $59.99! – Click here!
- Free Trial of ReadingEggs – The Online Reading Program That Kids Love
- Gift your child their most creative year yet! For a limited time only, Bluprint’s just $59.99. Start your free trial now and get making!
- Rosetta Stone Language Learning
Attraction Memberships
Like I mentioned earlier, doing an experience gift for kids is awesome for homeschool kids so they can keep going back to their favorite places to run, play, explore, learn, create, and have fun, all year.
- Zoo Membership
- SeaWorld Membership
- Association of Science and Technology Travel Passport
- America the Beautiful Passes (National Parks & Federal Lands Pass)
- North American Reciprocal Museum Association Membership (Art Museums, gardens, children’s museums and more)
- Bounce House or Trampoline Park Membership
- Movie Passes (like to Alamo Drafthouse)
I hope that this list gave you some great ideas for toys, games, tools, and projects you can gift homeschool students this year for Christmas, or birthday, or whatever occasion!
I’d love to know if I missed some good ideas, so leave a comment if I did!
Homeschool Gift Guide Giveaway! (ENDED)
Thanks to Osmo and ThinkFun and Ravensburger, I have a great giveaway for you!
Enter in the rafflecopter widget below for a chance to win one of 3 prizes: a board game from ThinkFun/Ravensburger, Osmo’s Coding Awbie, or Osmo’s Coding Jam!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
You may also enjoy these other gift guides!
- Gift Ideas for 8-year-old Girls
- Want Need Wear Read Gifts for Kids & Adults
- 50+ Toy Advent Calendars
- Christian Elf-on-the-Shelf Alternatives
You may also be interested in the following homeschool posts:
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