APTOS, Calif., Dec. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Academics’ Choice today congratulates all winners of the Fall 2021 Academics’ Choice Awards, a prestigious seal of educational quality, reserved only for the best mind-building media and toys. The winners include teacher-approved, brain-boosting products from Scholastic, VTech, Educational Insights, SAM corporation, Ningbo Mideer Toys Co., DMAI Animal Island Learning Adventure (AILA), FoxMind Toys & Games, SimplyFun, Vijua, Ashe Books, Think Tank Scholar, Make-A-Fort, Plus Up, LLC, FlowLab, BYJU’S FutureSchool, Project Learning Tree, Help Me 2 Learn Company, KneeBouncers LLC, hand2mind, Learning Resources, LeapFrog, and more! The full list of winners is posted online at http://www.academicschoice.com/2021.
The Academics’ Choice Advisory Board consists of leading thinkers and graduates from Princeton, Harvard, George Washington University, and other reputable educational institutions. Product-appropriate volunteer reviewers, combined with the brainpower of the Board, determine the coveted winners. Entries are judged by category (i.e. mobile app, toy, book, website, magazine, etc.), subject area, and grade level, and evaluated based on standardized criteria rooted in constructivist learning theory.
“Super Star by Help Me 2 Learn is honored to have been awarded the Academics’ Choice Award for ‘Numbers – Counting’. We appreciate that Academics’ Choice recognizes outstanding educational products that are so important to the development of education for kids. Thank you Academics’ Choice for all your support and thank you for the kind words from your reviewers – we look forward to continuing our mission to make education fun and engaging! We appreciate Academics’ Choice for helping us spread the word about ‘Numbers – Counting’ and how ‘Kids will Love Learning with Super Star'” – Dan Sheffield, Director, Help Me 2 Learn Company
“As a family-owned start-up business, the Academics’ Choice Award brings credibility to our positive parenting device and gives parents the confidence that Goodtimer works as advertised and that not only will parents, caregivers and teachers love it, so will kids! We appreciated the quotes you shared from your testers, which made us feel like you really put Goodtimer through its paces and that it excelled for you! It’s very clear your testers opened the samples we sent, read everything we included and appreciated the details we baked into our product. Thanks for doing such a thorough evaluation job for us!” – Adam Ashley, Founder and CEO, Plus Up, LLC | Goodtimer
Many of the products that are evaluated by the Academics’ Choice Awards team are donated to a variety of worthy charities including the Kids In Need Foundation and the Toys for Tots Foundation.
About Academics’ Choice:
Academics’ Choice helps consumers find exceptional brain-boosting material. Academics’ Choice is the only international awards program designed to bring increased recognition to publishers, manufacturers, independent authors and developers that aim to stimulate cognitive development. A volunteer panel of product-appropriate judges, including parents, educators, scientists, artists, doctors, nurses, librarians, students and children, evaluate submissions based on educational benefits such as higher-order thinking skills, character building, creative play, durability and originality. Only the genuine “mind-builders” are recognized with the coveted Academics’ Choice Awards.
Code Ninjas Center to Focus on Interactive Learning through Game-Building, Robotics and More
HACIENDA HEIGHTS, Calif., Dec. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Code Ninjas, one of the fastest-growing kids coding franchises, is set to open their newest location at 17142 Colima Rd. Unit D on Dec. 8. Code Ninjas will serve the local area by offering computer coding courses for kids. The courses will allow kids to problem-solve while they build video games and collaborate with other children their age. This new learning center will establish an environment where kids and teens can learn about technology while having fun.
Code Ninjas Logo (PRNewsfoto/Code Ninjas)
The Hacienda Heights location is owned and operated by local entrepreneurs David and Irene Yu. David has 25 years of experience in IT networking while Irene spent 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry before becoming a stay-at-home mom. David and Irene tried several methods when it came to teaching their kids how to code, including online programs and coding tutors. It wasn’t until Code Ninjas that they found the right fit; fun, engaging courses teaching essential skills. It was due to their positive personal experience that the Yus decided to bring Code Ninjas to Hacienda Heights.
“Coding is an invaluable language for kids to learn and Code Ninjas allows for kids to hone their abilities in an interactive and social environment,” says David Yu. “Technology has made its way into almost every job and we want to give kids the skills they need to succeed. The best part about the Code Ninjas curriculum is that kids have so much fun while they learn new subjects.”
Hacienda Heights children (ages 5-14) can look forward to the new Code Ninjas center where they can learn how to code in a fun, safe, and social environment. At Code Ninjas, gaming is celebrated, and STEM is cool. Everything about their centers – or Dojos – are built around fun, which keeps kids coming back. The center also provides the results that parents are looking for, as their children gain coding and problem-solving skills they’ll need in the evolving job market.
“At Code Ninjas, kids are developing social skills in addition to learning how to problem solve,” says Irene Yu. “Code Ninjas combines screen time and social interaction in a way that is productive and beneficial for kids. Making education engaging and enjoyable for them is what will truly help them succeed in school and in their future career.”
Code Ninjas offers a robust, game-based curriculum made up of nine belts, just like martial arts. The courses are self-paced, but not self-taught; kids get immediate help and encouragement from Code Senseis (teachers) and fellow students as they advance from white to black belt. The program keeps kids motivated with little wins along the way, and “Belt-Up” celebrations where they receive color-coded wristbands to mark their graduation to the next level. By the time a child finishes the program, they will publish their own app, available to the public in an app store.
Code Ninjas also offers a variety of opportunities for children to get involved, including a flexible weeknight drop-in program, camps and Parents Night Out events on weekends.
About Code Ninjas Founded in 2016, Code Ninjas® is the world’s largest and fastest-growing kids coding franchise. In hundreds of Code Ninjas centers, kids ages 7-14 have fun building video games while gaining life-changing skills in coding, robotics, and problem solving. Kids have fun, parents see results®. For more information, visit www.codeninjas.com.
Media Contact: Allie Bertrand, Fishman PR, [email protected] or 847-945-1300
Social and emotional learning is the latest trend at your child’s school. It sounds beneficial, but that’s a disguise. In truth, social and emotional learning indoctrinates kids with extremist ideas many parents don’t condone.
On Nov. 22, the Hartford Courant reported that West Hartford, Connecticut, elementary school parents are in an uproar. They’re complaining that teachers are putting words such as “nonbinary” on the chalkboard and telling kids, including kindergarteners, they can live life as a gender different from what they were assigned at birth. Parents were told by school authorities that they can’t opt their children out.
Most Americans think parents should have the final say on what children are taught. From Treasure Valley, Idaho, to Greenwich, Connecticut, school board candidates made social and emotional learning an issue in elections earlier this month.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita encouraged parents to speak up and cautioned that social and emotional learning programs shift “the role of teachers from educators to therapists.”
Fighting social and emotional learning is an uphill battle because it’s not only favored by the left-leaning educational bureaucracy, it’s also big business. “The SEL ecosystem today is flush with dollars,” reports Tyton Partners, social and emotional learning industry consultants.
Billions in federal COVID-19 relief money for schools are being used to buy social and emotional learning programs and fund instructors of it. Advocates and companies that produce the materials lobby Congress and the federal Department of Education to ensure legislative language precisely matches what they’re selling.
Nationwide, sales of social and emotional learning materials shot up 45{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} in a year and a half to $765 million in 2021, reports Education Week.
But parental opposition is also surging. Attorney General Merrick Garland asked the FBI to look into parents protesting issues like social and emotional learning at school board meetings. His son-in-law is a co-founder of Panorama Education, a company raking in millions selling social and emotional learning materials to school districts. Conflict of interest?
And what about the billions of dollars the Democrats’ Build Back Better legislation allocates to child care and pre-K? Will that money pay to indoctrinate even younger minds? Likely, “yes.” At least a dozen states, including New York, have already adopted social and emotional learning standards for preschool.
As for elementary schools, gender dysphoric kids make up less than 1{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} of the school population. Protect them, of course, from bullying and discrimination. They need to feel safe. But don’t brainwash the rest with one-sided, repeated lessons about gender issues.
West Hartford is reported to hammer away grade after grade, starting with a kindergarten-level book about a teddy bear who knows in his heart he is a girl teddy, not a boy teddy. Then, a book about Aiden, who knows the sex he was assigned at birth is “wrong.” Then, a book about choosing pronouns. And another about a girl named Jazz who changes her gender identity. Are kids reading that many books about the U.S. Constitution?
One Arkansas father objected that his fifth grader’s teacher showed a video of a transgender activist’s speech. Then, the teacher, wearing a “Protect Trans Lives” T-shirt, invited the class to a pride celebration: “I’ll be at Pride from 1-6! I hope to see you there!”
Social and emotional learning was originally sold as training children to control their emotions, manage their time, and make good personal decisions. Teachers have always tried to instill these life skills. They’re the same American values Benjamin Franklin proselytized in his autobiography 200 years ago.
But recently, social and emotional learning purveyors, including the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, have openly revised their goals. The collaborative advocates for “transformative SEL” to promote “justice-oriented civic engagement.” Translation: Make your kids into activists.
A South Bend, Indiana, school district adopted social and emotional learning two years ago to curb substance abuse and bullying. Now, parents, recognizing the radical messaging, are demanding more oversight.
Who’s in charge of what your child learns? Parents need to take control. It’s not an easy fight against the combined forces of educational profiteers and left-wing activists. But the stakes are too high to accept defeat.
COPYRIGHT 2021 CREATORS.COM
The Daily Signal publishes a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Heritage Foundation.
Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email [email protected] and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.
It’s almost time for gym class, and my fifth grader can’t find her tennis ball.
“Adrienne, did you take it?” she demands of her younger sister, who swears she didn’t (though she probably did).
“How about a soccer ball?” I ask. They’re practicing dribbling skills.
“No, Mom,” she says firmly. “We’re indoors.” It has to be a tennis ball. She searches under the coffee table and behind the couch; scours her sister’s cluttered room. No tennis ball.
This is what remote phys ed looks like in our house.
And this is what it sounds like: Thundering footfalls from the bedroom above my office, as my third grader jumps over virtual dinner plates, dodges pixels of pumpkin pie and karate-chops cartoon carrots in a Thanksgiving-themed online fitness game that her PE teacher is using as a warmup.
The coronavirus pandemic and the resulting widespread shift to remote learning have brought major changes to phys ed in the United States. Gone are the team sports played in wide-open fields behind the school. In their place are Turkey Ninja Warrior and water-bottle bowling, solitary pursuits conducted couch-side, in spaces as small as a studio apartment. Rolled up socks and laundry baskets have replaced balls and nets, as schools seek everyday alternatives to stranded sports equipment.
The author’s daughter, Emma, 11, practices water-bottle bowling in her living room. Credit: Kelly Field for the Hechinger Report
The PE instructors I spoke with said the students seem to be having fun — the ones they can see on video, at least. Privacy policies in many districts bar teachers from requiring students to keep their cameras on, and some students don’t.
But it’s hard to gauge if they’re getting the same benefits from online PE as they did from in-person classes. Some students lack the equipment, space or parental support to participate fully. Instructors say it’s tough to teach and assess motor skills, like catching and kicking, online.
Meanwhile, public health experts say kids need exercise more than ever.
“PE is so important, because our kids are sitting from 8 to 3,” said Michelle Huff, a high school PE teacher in New Jersey.
In a majority of districts, students are spending some or all of their school days online. They’re missing out on recess and extracurricular sports, many of which have been cancelled for safety reasons. And they’re eating more junk food, according to research from Ireland and Italy. Public health experts here are worried about unhealthy eating too. Compounding these issues, many students around the country live in crowded apartments or in neighborhoods where it’s not safe to exercise outside. In some cities, parks are closed due to the pandemic.
If school closures continued through the end of this year, childhood obesity rates would climb by more than 2 percent.
If school closures continue through the end of this year, childhood obesity rates will climb by more than 2 percent, according to estimates in a recent study by a researcher at Washington University in St. Louis.
And though there’s little hard data on how much exercise kids are getting right now, the anecdotal evidence is that they are not moving as much as they should. In surveys Huff conducted this fall with 200 students at Metuchen High School, students said they had headaches from staring at the screen, that their backs hurt from sitting, and that they weren’t retaining anything.
Related:How a growing number of states are hoping to improve kids’ brains: exercise
School-age children should get an hour or more of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Students in elementary school should spend 150 minutes a week in PE while students in middle and high school should receive 225 minutes a week of PE instruction, according to recommendations from the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE), which represents PE and health instructors.
The benefits of exercise for children are well-established. Children who are aerobically fit are not only physically healthier than their sedentary peers — their brains are more developed, too, said Charles Hillman, a psychology professor at Northeastern University. His research indicates that fit children appear to have more mature prefrontal cortices and hippocampi — the parts of the brain associated with attention, memory and self-regulation, and by extension, academic achievement.
Exercise can also alleviate depression and anxiety — conditions that have intensified in many students during the pandemic. And it’s critical to combatting childhood obesity, which affects one in seven kids between the ages of 10 and 17 nationally, with even higher rates among low-income children and children of color.
“You have to keep them moving, because if they aren’t focused, if they have too much energy, they aren’t going to learn anything.”
Leslie Monterrosa, a second-grade teacher in Concord, California
Yet, even before COVID-19 shut down schools, fewer than half the states set any minimum amount of time that students must participate in PE, according to SHAPE.
With much of PE now online, some kids are getting even less time in class than before. In March, California’s governor waived the state’s time requirement, prompting some districts to eliminate PE as a stand-alone class or make it an elective. At least two Massachusetts districts have eliminated elementary PE altogether this year, according to the president of the state’s SHAPE chapter.
Portland, Oregon nearly laid off all its elementary adaptive PE instructors, who work with children with disabilities, before teachers defeated the move. Neighboring Hillsboro, a diverse city, was less lucky: The district reassigned all but one of its 15 elementary PE instructors to classroom positions to meet Oregon’s pandemic class size guidelines. That left the lone remaining gym teacher to teach 11,000 students asynchronously by creating Google slides for them to use.
Advocates for phys ed fear more cuts could be coming, as districts grapple with looming budget cuts stemming from the current economic downturn. And if the Great Recession is any guide, those cuts could fall hardest on high-poverty districts, where students already have less access to afterschool sports than in wealthier ones.
“Not all students have the privilege of taking ballet classes or sports clubs,” said Julia Stevens, the president of Oregon’s SHAPE chapter.
Related: Immigrants find hope in soccer, but some states won’t let them play
For now, though, PE instructors are focused on finding creative ways to keep their kids engaged. They’re sending kindergarteners on scavenger hunts that have them running around their homes to collect items. They’re challenging high schoolers to “beat the teacher” by performing more push-ups in a minute than their instructor.
“We’re disguising fitness,” said Brett Fuller, the president of SHAPE’s national board of directors, and a curriculum specialist for health and physical ed within Milwaukee Public Schools. “You can’t just do a fitness class, because kids will say it’s no fun.”
Back in New Jersey, Huff is working hard to make her classes fun. She’s created Tik Tok dance and exercise challenges, some of them with her sister, a PE teacher in another school. (And she’s not the only gym teacher embracing Tik Tok.) She’s also teaching students movement and mindfulness exercises they can perform, even during Zoom classes.
Since most kids don’t have a whole lot of gym gear in their homes, SHAPE’s reopening guidance recommends that teachers ask students what they do have on hand and provide a checklist of common household items that could be repurposed as sports equipment.
Some substitutions are simple — cut plastic gallon milk cartons for catching, or unopened canned soup for weights. Others are trickier. Kyle Bragg, an elementary school PE instructor in Scottsdale, Arizona, said he’s yet to find an acceptable alternative to a jump rope; nothing rotates at the same speed. He’s told kids to ask their parents to buy one, but he can’t force them. So for now, he’s stuck with some students jumping over pillows.
“It’s kind of like taking a pencil away from a classroom teacher,” he said. “It’s nearly impossible to meet a jump rope standard without a jump rope.”
Some districts are purchasing take-home kits containing jump ropes, balls and bean bags. But the kits can be pricey, and not all districts can afford them. In normal times, the median budget for PE equipment and supplies is just $764 a year per school, according to a 2016 report by SHAPE.
So some teachers are soliciting supplies online, through sites like DonorsChoose.org. Between July 1 and Dec. 1, teachers submitted 860 requests (out of 181,000 total) that referenced virtual PE, according to Christopher Pearsall, the website’s vice president for brand and communications. The most sought-after items, by far, were jump ropes.
“It’s kind of like taking a pencil away from a classroom teacher. It’s nearly impossible to meet a jump rope standard without a jump rope.”
Kyle Bragg, an elementary school PE instructor in Scottsdale, Arizona
One of the requests came from Leslie Monterrosa, a second grade teacher in Concord, California. She knows her low-income, English language learners tend to live in small apartments and have busy working parents, so she asked for equipment they could use on their own, in small spaces — jump ropes and bean bags. A donor stepped up within days.
“You have to keep them moving, because if they aren’t focused, if they have too much energy, they aren’t going to learn anything,” she said.
Some instructors are offering students choices: If they don’t have the equipment they need for one activity — say soccer — they can try another, like running. The alternative might not target the same skills, but at least it gets them moving.
And in the midst of a pandemic that has upended nearly every aspect of education, some standards may simply need to be set aside for a bit, instructors say.
“You gotta be OK with OK,” David Daum, an assistant professor of kinesiology at San Jose State University in California, said he tells teachers. “If you are trying hard, your students will see it. Just do your best.”
The hardest things to teach and evaluate online, instructors say, are the skills, strategies and collaboration involved in team sports. There’s just no way to play soccer alone in your living room.
Related: Ed tech can transform physical education classes, too
That’s why online PE courses — which have existed at the high school and college levels since at least the late 1990s — have historically favored fitness-based instruction, like interval training and biking, over the development of gross motor skills like jumping and throwing. Covid-era classes seem to be following the same trend, said Daum, who researches online PE.
This neglect of motor skills in online PE courses has been one of the chief criticisms of the delivery of classes via the internet. In its guidelines for online PE, SHAPE argues that the development of motor skills competence is “the highest priority of physical education,” and should be a “central component of any online physical education course.”
During the pandemic, some teachers have been asking students to send short video clips of themselves performing individual skills, like jumping rope. (Cooperative skills, like passing a ball, are harder to measure, since not everyone has a partner.) But there are limitations and drawbacks to that approach: Some parents aren’t comfortable with their children sharing videos of themselves and some students send clips that are far too long. With dozens of students per grade, reviewing the submissions can take an instructor hours.
The alternative is to conduct assessments in livestream classes, but that can open students up to ridicule and cyber-bullying. Some districts have policies stating that students can’t be required to keep their cameras on.
In such districts, it can be hard to tell if students are participating at all. They might be doing jumping jacks, or they might be watching YouTube.
To gauge participation, many instructors are asking students to answer a question in a chat box or complete an exit ticket with questions about the lesson and their own performance. Some schools with fully asynchronous PE are relying on the honor system, with students using logs to report how much exercise they get each day.
It’s unclear how many students are actually doing the portions of PE that aren’t livestreamed. Are busy working parents enforcing it? Given the hassle involved — one lesson in our house required my daughter to collect no fewer than seven household items — should parents just send their kids out to play instead?
No, said Stephanie Morris, the CEO of SHAPE America. Outdoor play is great. But PE is about more than just being active, she said. It’s about “learning skills to be healthy.”
Related: Schedules for distance learning are all over the place (and it’s making parents crazy)
Despite the challenges involved in remote learning, Fuller, SHAPE’s president, sees the pandemic as an opportunity to show that PE is not only about team sports. Teachers are learning technological skills that “none of us ever dreamt they’d have,” he said. And students are discovering that fitness can be fun, even without group games.
“Sitting on a couch in front of a computer may be some people’s dream job, but it drives me crazy.”
Andrew VanDorick, an elementary PE teacher in Maryland
“I see this as an opportunity to do things differently, to really showcase what we should be about,” he said, “and that is developing physical literacy: the skills, knowledge and attitudes to be physically active for a lifetime.”
Still, many PE instructors said they’re eager to return to the gym and sports fields.
“I became a PE teacher because I needed to keep moving,” said Andrew VanDorick, an elementary PE teacher in Maryland. “Sitting on a couch in front of a computer may be some people’s dream job, but it drives me crazy. I can’t wait to be back in front of the kids.”
Oh, and that missing tennis ball? Turns out it isn’t essential after all. When it vanishes again, just in time for water-bottle bowling, my 11-year-old substitutes a lacrosse ball — and rolls a spare.
This story about phys ed was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter.
The Hechinger Report provides in-depth, fact-based, unbiased reporting on education that is free to all readers. But that doesn’t mean it’s free to produce. Our work keeps educators and the public informed about pressing issues at schools and on campuses throughout the country. We tell the whole story, even when the details are inconvenient. Help us keep doing that.
LAKE NONA, Fla., Nov. 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Code Ninjas, one of the fastest-growing kids coding franchises, is opening their newest location at 10743 Narcoossee Rd. on Nov. 29. Code Ninjas will serve the local area by offering computer coding courses for kids. The courses will allow kids to problem-solve while they build video games and collaborate with other children their age. This new learning center will establish an environment where children can learn about technology while having fun.
The Lake Nona location is owned and operated by local entrepreneurs Brock and Elissa Horton. With a background in digital animation and game production, Brock developed a passion for coding. Elissa spent over three years as an elementary teaching assistant working in special education and found it to be one of the most rewarding professions. When Brock approached her about opening their own coding franchise for kids, she was all-in.
“Coding is an invaluable language for kids to learn and Code Ninjas allows for them to hone their abilities in an interactive and social environment,” says Brock. “We provide kids with knowledge they can take with them for years to come. This is truly one of the most rewarding opportunities you can have as a business owner.”
Brock recently lost his father and decided he would use his inheritance to create something meaningful. He decided that opening a Code Ninjas learning center was a great way to honor his dad; providing educational opportunities for a new generation of kids.
Lake Nona children (ages 5-14) can look forward to the new Code Ninjas center where they can learn how to code in a fun, safe, and social environment. At Code Ninjas, gaming is celebrated, and STEM is cool. Everything about their centers – or Dojos – are built around fun, which keeps kids coming back. The center also provides the results that parents are looking for, as their children gain coding and problem-solving skills they’ll need in the evolving job market.
“At Code Ninjas, kids develop problem-solving and social skills, and they build confidence in an encouraging environment,” says Elissa. “Code Ninjas combines screen time and social interaction in a way that is productive and beneficial for kids. And once they level-up through all of the belts, they get to proudly take home their very own video game.”
Code Ninjas offers a robust, game-based curriculum made up of nine belts, just like martial arts. The courses are self-paced, but not self-taught; kids get immediate help and encouragement from Code Senseis (teachers) and fellow students as they advance from white to black belt. The program keeps kids motivated with little wins along the way, and “Belt-Up” celebrations where they receive color-coded wristbands to mark their graduation to the next level. By the time a child finishes the program, they will publish their own app, available to the public in an app store.
Code Ninjas also offers a variety of opportunities for children to get involved, including a flexible weeknight drop-in program, camps and Parents Night Out events on weekends.
For more information about the Lake Nona Code Ninjas location, please visit www.codeninjas.com/lake-nona-fl or call 407-203-3006.
About Code Ninjas Founded in 2016, Code Ninjas® is the world’s largest and fastest-growing kids coding franchise. In hundreds of Code Ninjas centers, kids ages 7-14 have fun building video games while gaining life-changing skills in coding, robotics, and problem solving. Kids have fun, parents see results®. For more information, visit www.codeninjas.com.
Media Contact: Allie Bertrand, Fishman PR, [email protected] or 847-945-1300
The shopping event of the year is upon us. With shipping delays wreaking havoc over the holiday season, it’s best to buy now. The best STEM toys encourage the kids in your life to develop their interests, skills, and creativity. But why would we want to limit ourselves to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics? Let’s say “STEAM toys” and include the arts too. We’ve curated the best Black Friday STEM toy deals. We plan to update this story regularly as more bargains emerge.
Updated November 27: We’ve added a few more deals, like Kinetic Sand and Snap Circuits.
WIRED’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday Coverage
We test products year-round and handpicked these deals.Products marked (Sold Out) are sold out or no longer discounted as of publishing. We’ll update this guide throughout Black Friday weekend.
If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more.
Toy Deals
Lego Classic Bricks and Plates
Photograph: Walmart
This might be out of stock depending on your location. When your kids are old enough (Lego suggests 4 years and up), there are few toys that offer such unbridled creativity. This Classic set includes 1,500 pieces in all with four base plates and a range of colored bricks that can be built into anything your little ones can imagine.
This selection of cute animal figurines comes with special non-toxic washable markers, so your kids can develop their art skills by drawing designs on them. When they get bored with the current look, they can simply wash the colors off in the sink and start again. My daughter loves these and spends hours scribbling new designs and playing with them.
Colored sand that can be molded into different shapes is fun for kids aged three years and up, and both of my kids enjoyed playing with it. This set includes a range of plastic tools to help them sculpt the sand into interesting patterns and structures. The only thing that might give you pause? The sand tends to get everywhere.
Both my kids played with this sturdy table that has room inside to store the large bricks. This is a great toy for toddlers who aren’t ready for anything too small or fiddly yet, and it will encourage their inner architect. The legs lock into place for play and can be folded away when they’re done.
Hobby Deals
National Geographic Hobby Rock Tumbler Kit
Photograph: National Geographic
Interesting rocks can be found just about anywhere, and budding geologists will get a kick out of this National Geographic tumbler, which turns rough rocks into dazzling gemstones. It comes with some rough rocks, grit, a strainer, and jewelry settings. It is a bit noisy, so you may want to keep it outside. Target is also offering 30 percent off a wide range of other National Geographic science activities and kits.
Packed with different circuits that can be snapped together, this is a great way for kids to learn about the basics of electronics and get a taste for putting things together. There are more than 60 parts including resistors, a microphone, a slide switch, and wires that can be used to create a lie detector, AM radio, and more.
Blending the digital and physical worlds, Osmo’s innovative kits appear in our Best STEM Toys guide. Kids mount their iPad or Fire tablet on the special stand and engage in educational puzzles and games by interacting with pieces on a tabletop. Your tablet’s camera picks up on the action and provides onscreen and audio feedback. Games develop skills like adding and multiplication, spelling and vocabulary, puzzle-solving and physics, learning to draw, basic coding, and more. There are fun and imaginative kits for different ages, from preschoolers up to 12-year-olds.
For newcomers to Osmo, a starter kit is the best way forward as it includes a base for your iPad or Fire tablet. The Little Genius Starter Kit is for preschoolers.
One of our favorite family board games, Ticket to Ride challenges you to plot rail routes across North America. It’s recommended for kids aged 8 years and up, as there’s a lot of strategy involved and some math, but it doesn’t take too long to play and is a lot of fun. Ticket to Ride Europe is also on sale for $18.
Creating matching groups of tiles to get the maximum possible score from your game board sounds simple, but Azul has enough strategic depth to challenge your kids’ math, planning, and puzzle-solving skills. This is another one of our picks for the best family board games.
We have all had enough of the actual pandemic, but the board game is a family favorite. The beauty of this one is that it’s cooperative, as you adopt different roles and work together to beat the deadly viruses scouring the globe.
Tablet and Kindle Deals
Kindle Kids Edition (2019, 10th Generation)
Photograph: Amazon
For reading, devouring educational apps, playing games, or watching documentaries, a tablet can be an excellent buy for kids. While you can read on tablets, e-readers are more comfortable for the eyes and allow parents to ensure their kids are reading rather than gaming. Check out our guide to the Best Kids Tablets for more options.
A portable tablet with a protective bumper, a year of Amazon Kids+ subscription, and a two-year worry-free replacement guarantee adds up to a great deal for families with young kids (8/10, WIRED Recommends). There are lots of educational apps and games, videos and books, and solid parental controls.
If your kids are getting a little old for the “baby tablet” with the rubber bumper, this is an upgrade they won’t mind being seen holding. It offers all the same benefits as the smaller HD 8, including educational content from the likes of National Geographic, Rabbids Coding, and LEGO. And there’s still a protective case, though it’s a bit sleeker and has a handy kickstand.
This small, lightweight ebook reader (7/10, WIRED Recommends) is the perfect size for kids and comes with a folding cover, a year of Amazon Kids+, and a promise that Amazon will replace it if it breaks within two years. It’s easy to load up ebooks, or just check them out from the local library.
An upgrade on the basic Kids Kindle above, the Paperwhite boasts all the same benefits but also has a backlit screen for reading in low light or at night and the ability to withstand a short dunk in water.
Subscription Deals
Looking for more discounts on subscription services? We’ve rounded more up here.
Yousician Premium for iPad
Photograph: Yousician
Learning to play an instrument is a worthwhile pursuit for any child, and this clever app uses the built-in microphone on a smartphone, tablet, or laptop to provide feedback as they play. Check out our guide to the Best Sites and Apps to Learn Music for more information.
With a range of themed packages for different age groups, these play-based science and geography kits are packed with toys and activities that are delivered monthly. Each contains art and science activities to get stuck into, from deep sea and dinosaurs for wee ones to a road trip around the USA for older kids.
Speaker Deals
Amazon Echo Dot Kids (4th Gen)
Photograph: Amazon
The Kids version of the Amazon Echo Dot gets a cute animal makeover as a tiger or panda. It’s a full-fledged smart speaker that enables children to ask Alexa questions, play music, listen to audiobooks, and even try educational skills. Like the rest of Amazon’s Kids range, it comes with a year of Amazon Kids+ subscription ($3 per month after), solid parental controls, and a two-year worry-free guarantee.
This might be out of stock depending on your location. With songs and stories featuring some of your kids’ favorite Disney and Pixar characters, this durable kid-friendly speaker is a great alternative to screens. Children place a plastic figurine, like Woody from Toy Story, on top of the speaker to trigger related content. Additional packs with other character tie-ins are available for everything from Disney princesses to Sesame Street characters. You can also record your own stories and songs or have grandparents record so they can read to your little ones from afar. The basic Toniebox Starter Set is also on offer for $70 ($30 off) at Amazon.
Other Deals
Photograph: SBenitez/Getty Images
This tempting Target promotion allows you to pick three items from a wide selection of books, video games, and board games, but only pay for two. There are a few educational options in there and lots of things to encourage creativity and puzzle-solving.
Got a Yoto Player (7/10, WIRED Recommends)? It’s a cute-looking speaker that kids can insert cards into to play stories and podcasts. The speaker itself isn’t on sale, but Yoto is offering 10 percent off cards and accessories, which can be handy if your kid needs a batch of new content.
More WIRED Black Friday and Cyber Monday Coverage
Retailer Sale Pages and Coupons
Want to browse the Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2021 sales yourself? Here are a few places offering deals. Be sure to check out our many buying guides and gift guides for additional ideas.
