The premise of the 4 Gifts way of giving is to give:
-something they want
-something they need
-something they'll wear
-something they'll read
Last week, I shared some ideas in the
want and need category for myself. This week, I thought I'd switch to the kids. First up is the wear category and I thought I'd pick one item that each of the kids would choose for themselves.
{dress- Target, hoodie- Children's Place, soccer pants- Adidas}
EJ loves a party dress, especially if it's covered in sequins. This one is not, but I think it has the appropriate amount of fluff and hot pinkness to keep her spinning and smiling!
Olivia lives for hoods. She'll choose a windbreaker over a winter coat on a cold day (if we'd let her), just for the hood. I think she would flip over this fleece hoodie given that it looks warm, it has a pink cheetah print and it has ears...perfect.
Jack would live in athletic pants if we'd let him (he'd actually choose shorts if we'd let him, but it's cold here). He also is most comfortable in soccer clothes/uniforms, so I'm sure these soccer speed pants would top his "wear" list. None of these items would be on my list to gift them, but it was fun to think from their perspectives.
The "read" category is much easier to know which books they love and that I love them as well!
{Violet Mackerel series, Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew series, The Critter Club series}
EJ loves to read mysteries (Nate the Great, A to Z Mysteries), animal stories, and non-fiction. These are EJ's current favorites and all three are from series of books, so they could be gifted in sets. All are perfect for kids just starting out in bigger chapter books and I love that each series depicts strong girls with a myriad of interests. Each series is very different, but EJ loves them all very much.
{Swindle, Plunked, The Land of Stories}
Jack's reading interests jump around a bit but he tends to mostly read realistic fiction, suspense/adventure, and sports fiction.
He loved every book in the Swindle series and really loves Gordon Korman's writing in general. He's currently reading his way through everything Korman has written and hasn't been disappointed yet.
Plunked was a book I found for Jack as a new sports fiction option (they are reading specific genres this year and it's been tough to find new books for some categories) and he really enjoyed it. As I was putting the pic up, I saw it was recommended by Gordon Korman, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
Last on Jack's list is The Land of Stories which is a fairy tale with a twist of adventure and fantasy. It was written by Chris Colfer (who acts on Glee and is a young man himself) and it's a big book. I got it from the library for Jack on a whim, he read it and loved it and then read the sequel. Yay, Mom!
{Henry Huggins series, The Chicken Problem, Henry and Mudge series}
Livie is in that weird time where she is old enough to listen to chapter books, still likes reading picture books with me and is starting to read on her own. So, I picked one of each for her list.
We recently finished reading all of the Henry Huggins books at bedtime (one chapter a night) and both girls really enjoyed them. We read the Ramona books first and those were big hits, but the girls laughed out loud at the stories about Henry and his dog, Ribsy. They've still been asking me to get the next book forgetting that we've already read them all.
The Chicken Problem was a book I found in our library's "new" section and Liv really liked it. She was super excited when, a couple weeks later, we saw the premiere of a new show on PBS, called Peg + Cat, that is based on this book. The show is really cute and both incorporate math into silly situations.
Henry and Mudge, as well as Annie and Snowball (Henry's cousin who has her own set of books), have been big hits with all the kids as they learned to read. The stories are simple, but interesting, and they books are arranged in "chapters" so Livie feels as grown-up as her brother and sister. I think this series and the Frog and Toad books are out absolute favorites for beginning readers.
So, what are you wishing for this holiday season? Link up here to share your picks for wear and read!
