Another Good Holiday: Another Good Day Gift Guide 2023
Hello and welcome! We’re so excited to share with you our first-ever Another Good Day Gift Guide—a curated and vetted round-up of toys, books, and Metro Detroit experiences for children 0 through 8 years (ish!) years old.
This carefully curated set of gifts promote social-emotional skills, fine and gross motor skills, early literacy, and other key developmental milestones, all while children have fun discovering their own creativity, imagination, and sense of play.
Whether you’re searching for the perfect gift for your own children, your nieces and nephews, or any other children you care for, this list makes it simple to find high-quality gifts to play, read, and do with the children in your life this holiday season.
This simple, well-rounded list of gift recommendations includes gifts from $10 and up and was created by our team of play experts, which includes a certified early childhood specialist, an early literacy expert, and a kindergarten teacher with a Masters in Teaching and Curriculum. The gifts in this guide are uncommon enough that you likely don’t have them yet, but they cover the themes and types of play that light kids up every time.
Want personalized gift ideas for the children in your life? This holiday season, we’re offering a completely free gift curation service—all you have to do is fill out a short survey about the child and what they love, and we’ll share a personalized list of gift recommendations for them!
We want you to have another good holiday, so hit the link below to fill out the form (it only takes 3 minutes). This free service is available through December 18th—we hope to hear from you!
Curated by the Another Good Day Team
Jessica Wolfe Rodriguez ᐧ Jillian Lukas Rodriguez ᐧ Olivia Najor Acho
Friendly reminder: these gifts are intended to be played with alongside adults—children should always be supervised during play. Please also note that the Amazon links in this guide are affiliate links.
Section 1: Gifts for Babies 0-18 months
Gifts for babies: Ages 0 – 18 months
Move
Pull-Along Musical Bear
Why we love it: Nothing encourages walking like a beautiful and artfully crafted wooden bear that plays music while you pull him along. As he’s pulled, the bear hits a xylophone, even playing different keys if pulled to the side. This wooden bear is bound to become a child’s favorite walking companion as they explore their gross motor skills, and it’ll grow with them as an heirloom item that inspires imaginative, musical play.
Skills: Hand-eye coordination, balance, gross motor skills
Shop it: Amazon, $60.00, Modern Natural Baby, $59.99
Explore
Activity Pyramid and Sensory Ball
Why we love it: A beautiful, sturdy activity pyramid that’s smaller than a busy box with just as much quality, sensory play. Engage your baby in hiding, finding, and spinning to strengthen sensory-motor skills and cultivate a more-active playtime.
Skills: Sensory-motor skills
Shop it: KiwiCo, $54.95
Discover
Hide and Play Hedgehog Tissue Box
Why we love it: Cause-and-effect sensory learning at its finest (and cutest). Encourage your baby to explore object permanence, fine motor skills, and early color recognition with this discovery game. Children will hide and seek nine, multicolored satin clothes tucked inside of an adorable hedgehog made of birch and TPE plastic.
Skills: Color recognition, fine motor control, object permanence, cause-and-effect
Shop it: Kaplan Early Learning Company, $24.95, Amazon.com, $29.95
Grow
Tummy Time See Me Floor Mirror
Why we love it: An absolute must-have for newborns and infants, this tummy time mirror will capture the attention of the littlest baby with its black and white design on one side and a mirror for older infants on the other. As your baby gains the ability to see clearer images, this item remains a familiar staple in their visual rotation.
Skills: Visual development, tactile exploration, self-awareness, fine motor skills
Shop it: Amazon, $25.95
Read
Playmates Soft Fabric Baby Photo Album
Why we love it: Looking for the perfect first birthday or first holiday gift? This soft-fabric photo album is designed especially for babies and features sliding pockets to share photos of family members, friends, and favorite animals. This gift uses real photos to teach early social-emotional skills and is an evergreen gift that stays exciting as you swap out photos with each season.
Skills: Social-emotional
Shop it: HABA, $24.99, Modern Natural Baby, $24.99
Experience
Goldfish Swim School Lessons
Why we love it: Looking for gifts that are experiences rather than toys or products? Goldfish Swim School offers classes for ages 4 months and up, giving even the youngest swimmers a gentle introduction to the water through sensory play and basic swim and safety skills. It’s also great bonding for caregivers and children–a win all around.
Skills: Large muscle motor skills, coordination, balance, sensory play, water safety
Shop it: Prices vary; holiday packages starting at $240 for 8 lessons
Section 2: Gifts for Young Toddlers
Gifts for young toddlers: Ages 12 months – 2 years old
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Move
Playsilks
Why we love it: Playsilks encourage completely open-ended sensory play and tap into a child’s creative potential from the earliest age. Engage your child in tactile movement, and as they grow, scaffold up for pretend play, learning colors, and plenty of other imaginative uses your child will surprise you with.
Skills: Open-ended play, sensory exploration, music, creative movement
Shop it: Amazon, $14.00+, Sarah’s Silks, $14.00+,
Help
Kitchen Sink Play Set: Splash-n-Scrub Sink
Why we love it: Indulge your young toddler’s curiosity about everyday objects and routines with this working faucet that allows them to scrub and rinse dishes and run the water as long as they want (without the waste). Your toddler can role play helping to wash the dishes with a set of cups, plates, and utensils, plus a pretend-play dish soap, scrub brush, and dish rack. If you’re a Lovevery fan, you’ll recognize this as a more affordable alternative to one of its “splashiest”subscription box toys.
Skills: Role play, independence, creativity, social skills
Shop it: Target, $24.99 (Discounts available)
Delight
Pop2Play Kids Indoor Cardboard Slide
Why we love it: Sensible for parents, delightful for toddlers. This pop-up indoor slide is eco-friendly, space-saving, and is assembled in literally 3 minutes (and it folds flat so you can easily put it away when you’re done). It’s bound to become the center of attention of any upcoming holiday or birthday party and provide endless hours of fun and physical play during the colder months.
Skills: Motor skills, social skills, imaginative play, strength, balance, coordination
Shop it: Amazon, $29.99
Pretend
Get Well Doctor’s Kit Play Set
Why we love it: Encourage empathy with a 25-piece pretend-play set that can also familiarize children with a common experience: going to the doctor! Take care of stuffed animals, siblings or parents with this all-inclusive set. It’s a classic for a reason.
Skills: Imaginative play, empathy, life skills
Shop it: Amazon, $32.49 (Discounts available), Target, $24.99
Read
How Are You Feeling? board book
Why we love it: Big feelings are starting to crop up, help your toddler understand emotions in an interactive and engaging way with large flaps to reveal the way emotions can shift over time. On the last page, children discover a mirror to reveal their own facial expressions and encourage them to explore how they’re feeling.
Skills: Emotional literacy, self-awareness, empathy
Shop it: Sidetrack Bookshop, $12.99, Amazon, $11.89
Experience
Motor City Music Together
Why we love it: Motor City Music Together offers research-based curriculum that nurtures creativity, self-expression, and confidence while also supporting social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development. Choose from a range of 45-minute classes featuring songs, rhythm play, finger plays, movement activities, and instrument play.
Skills: Musical play, creativity, self-expression, social-emotional skills
Shop it: Gift certificates available from $25+
Section 3: Gifts for Growing Toddlers
Gifts for growing toddlers: Ages 2 – 3 years old
Move
Kids’ Balance Bike
Why we love it: Build confidence and get older toddlers comfortable moving around on two wheels. A pedal-less bike with two wheels, balance bikes make it easier for little riders to learn to ride independently. Balance bikes have an adjustable seat, ensuring that they can grow alongside your child.
Skills: Balance, spatial awareness, coordination, confidence
Shop it: Amazon, $69.99, Retrospec, $69.99
Delight
Zoo Crew Bean Bag Toss
Why we love it: A classic bean-bag toss game, translated into a small, beautifully crafted wooden game and perfect for indoor winter fun on a tabletop or the floor. Encourage gross motor skills as your child has fun trying to knock down five solid wood zoo animals with cotton bean bags. Children can enjoy this game for years to come on their own, with a friend, or with a group of family and friends in a larger competition.
Skills: Gross motor skills, social skills, coordination
Shop it: Maisonette, $70.00 (Discounts available)
Play
Wooden International Musical Instrument Set
Why we love it: Introduce the joy of music with this 10-piece wooden percussion instrument set, including a cotton drawstring bag for easy cleanup and transport. Representing different cultures and world music, this set includes a tambourine, castanet, hand drum, hand bells, maracas, a flute, and more. They’re sure to become a staple in your child’s play routine and nurture a creative relationship to music and sound.
Skills: Fine and gross motor skills, sensory play, hand-eye coordination
Shop it: Amazon, $39.99 (Discounts available)
Create
Magnetic Dot Art Designer Travel Art Kit
Why we love it: This dot art kit offers a screen-free way for your child to increase their independent play stamina. This magnetic pen and bead board comes with 50+ design cards or your child can create an open-ended design. It’s a completely travel-friendly, self-contained, and mess-free way for your child to explore and create art on the go.
Skills: Visual development, independent play, self-expression, creative problem-solving
Shop it: Amazon, $14.99, Target, $14.99
Read
Highlights’ High Five Magazine
Why we love it: We all love a good mail day, and so does your toddler. There’s no better ritual than looking forward to the mail, discovering their Highlights’ High Five Magazine has arrived, and pouring over the contents together. Highlights High Five is designed for ages 2-6 and consist of 36 pages of read-aloud stories, crafts, recipes and puzzles. As children age, they’ll graduate to the next magazine and build nostalgia and a love of reading that will serve them forever.
Skills: Literacy, curiosity, math, recognition, logic
Shop it: Amazon, $5.99/month, Highlights.com, $39.96 annually
Experience
Troy Gym
Why we love it: Offering tots and preschool classes and open-gym opportunities, Troy Gym is a great place to engage in age-appropriate physical, social, and intellectual development in a gymnastics setting. Introduce your child to group activities (bean bags, scarves, hula hoops, parachutes, and more) and simple gymnastics circuits like bars, beams, and music. Pick the right entry point for your child and a location convenient to your home in metro Detroit.
Skills: Physical development, social, intellectual, and emotional skills
Shop it: Classes, open gym, and gift cards available
Section 4: Gifts for Preschoolers
Gifts for preschoolers: Ages 3 – 5 years old
Learn
Science Rainbow Lab
Why we love it: Real science skills, scaled to your child’s development and little hands. This preschool science lab includes a water beaker, test tube, water dropper, funnel, and more, plus a full-color guide to 10 science experiments on light and color using household ingredients. Children will be delighted by the science of color as they use their fine motor skills, observation, and experimentation to explore the world of science around them.
Skills: Fine motor skills, observation, experimentation, early STEM
Shop it: Amazon, $18.99, Target, $18.99
Delight
Bath Squiggler Gift Pack
Why we love it: Like a bath bomb for babies, turn your child into a bougie bath-monster in the best way possible. Fill the bath and drop in a Bath Squiggler to color the water and fill the air with a genuinely lovely fragrance (parent-approved!). As the Squiggler fizzes way, out pops a cute sponge character. Will your child get addicted? Probably. Is it worth the fun? Definitely. Bonus: it’s made with safe and natural ingredients, even for sensitive skin.
Skills: Creative play, emotional skills, water skills
Shop it: Loot Toys, $25.00, Modern Natural Baby,$24.99
Create
Rainbow Music Handbells
Why we love it: An easy and intuitive introduction to the joy of music making. This set of 8 color-coded and numbered handbells in the key of C Major encourages kids to make the noise, not the toys. Line them up according to their numbers and open up the included song sheet featuring favorite children’s songs.
Skills: Hand-eye coordination, number skills, music skills, creativity
Shop it: Amazon, $34.95, Fat Brain Toys, $34.95, Target, $34.95
Help
Wooden Mixer Play Kitchen Accessories
Why we love it: A beautiful, 11-piece play kitchen set that gives your child the tools they need to independently make a pretend snack. Your child will love engaging in culinary play by turning knobs, pouring ingredients, “cracking” an egg, rolling dough, and using a mixing bowl. All pieces are made of wood, kid-safe, and easy to clean.
Skills: Imaginative play, social skills
Shop it: Amazon, $28.95, Maisonette, $24.99 (Discounts available)
Read
Hands: Growing Up to Be An Artist, by Lois Ehlert
Why we love it: Inspire your child’s inner artist with this sweet and creative story of a child watching her parents as they work with their hands, filling her with a desire to build and sew and garden and paint just like them. This book plays with form and is packed with surprises and artful details that will delight any adventurous preschooler. It’s a simple, classic story sure to boost your little artist’s confidence and curiosity.
Skills: Early literacy, science, self-esteem
Shop it: Sidetrack Bookshop, $16.99, Amazon.com, $14.05
Experience
DSO Young People’s Family Concerts and Tiny Tots
Why we love it: Introduce your child to one of Detroit’s greatest treasures, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The DSO offers interactive, fun performances designed for families with children ages 2-6 that encourage singing, dancing, and movement.
Skills: Musical skills, social skills, movement
Shop it: Tickets and gift certificates starting at $12.00+
Section 5: Gifts for Big Kids
Gifts for big kids: Ages 5 – 8+ years old
Create
Make And Sell Pawsome Pet Tags Craft Business
Why we love it: Nurture your child’s entrepreneurial spirit with this pet-tag crafts kit that has everything they need to make and sell their own handmade pet tags. Children can make up to 20 personalized pet tags using materials like shrink art, markers, stencils, and glitter glue. Then they’ll use their creativity and ingenuity to package, price, and sell their finished product.
Skills: Creativity,Problem-solving, financial literacy
Shop it: Amazon, $24.99, Maisonette, $29.99 (Discounts available), Michael’s, $24.99 (Discounts available)
Make
Build-It-Yourself Woodworking Kit
Why we love it: Everything a clever carpenter might need to build their own project. This kids’ woodworking kit includes over 80 wood pieces, a lightweight hammer, nails, glue,and more. Children can follow the instructions to bring multiple projects to life or follow their own imagination to create their own unique creation.
Skills: Imagination, independence, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, problem solving
Shop it: Lakeshore Learning, $49.99, Walmart.com, $82.29
Discover
My Body Roll - XXL
Why we love it: Children can discover a whole new side of themselves with this life-sized poster roll that allows them explore the inner workings of their body while measuring themselves on this unique take on a growth chart. With hundreds of details of explore, children can revisit their body chart time and again whenever they feel inspired, coloring and designing as they grow.
Skills: Social-emotional, STEM, creativity, self-expression
Shop it: Omy, $33.00 (Discounts available)
Learn
KEVA Structures Wooden Blocks and Idea Book
Why we love it: This wood-building planks set is open-ended play at its best, offering loads of critical thinking and creativity. If your child loves to tinker, they’ll love these mega-balancing cantilevers that require no glue or connectors—just gravity and imagination. This set includes 200+ pine planks (try and reach the ceiling!) and a 24-page idea booklet.
Skills: STEM, balance, leverage, geometry, basic physics
Shop it: Amazon, $52.95, Mindware, $59.95
Read
The Best Joke Book For Kids: Illustrated Silly Jokes For Ages 3-8
Why we love it: Every little kid loves to laugh and makes others laugh. If you have a young comedian on your hands, this first book of illustrated jokes will introduce them to the fundamentals of humor, expand their literacy, and help build their confidence and self-esteem.
Skills: Social-emotional skills, literacy and comprehension
Shop it: Amazon, $10.77
Experience
Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center
Why we love it: Struggling to find art classes for your elementary-aged child? Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center offers specialized art classes for children starting at age 4 through elementary school. Explore age-appropriate classes in mixed media, textile art, ceramics, drawing, and painting.
Skills: Artistic expression, creativity, fine motor skills, social-emotional skills
Shop it: Gift certificates available, varying prices
Still looking for the perfect gift? Want free, personalized recommendations for the children in your life?
All holiday season, fill out this 3-minute form and we’ll respond with curated, personalized toys, books, and experience recommendations for the children in your life ages 0-8—all high quality, developmentally appropriate, and big fun.
