We first played Gobblet Jr. last summer while visiting friends at their beach house. It started raining and the kids came inside – this game kept 4 kids busy for over and hour! The mom told me that another family had given it to them as a hostess gift. She had never heard of it before but her kids love it.

Gobblet Jr. is a much more sophisticated and interesting version of Tic Tac Toe. The bigger pieces can “gobble up” the smaller ones – so when you are placing your pieces on the board you need to be careful about whether the other player can use a bigger piece to gobble you up and win. We have played this countless times and no two games are the same – I have to admit that it is challenging even for an adult. My daughter Maya is a particularly strong player, with a competitive spirit to boot – and she loves beating me. It should be no surprise that this game has won a ton of awards.

Because Gobblet Jr. is not widely available at mass market stores, it makes an ideal birthday gift for a 5 -7 year old child. Chances are, the birthday child will not already have this game and will be delighted to receive a unique children’s gift.

I love puzzles. I’ve posted a few times before about why I think puzzles make terrific gifts and are great educational toys for kids of all ages (as long as you pick the right puzzle for a child’s readiness).

Puzzles that “teach” a subject in addition to building cognitive, fine motor, social and emotional skills are the best. The U.S.A States and Capitals puzzle from Mudpuppy is one of these. It’s got 63 pieces and the finished puzzle is 18×14, which is perfect for boys and girls ages 5 and up. It’s beautifully illustrated by Johnny Yanok. Plus, kids will learn the states and the capitals (and you will get a necessary refresher)…really, who could ask for more!

Well, there’s more – through July 6th, the U.S.A. States and Capitals puzzle is 20% off at GIFT HERO which makes it a bargain to boot! Check it out and see our other USA-themed gifts that are all 20% off in honor of our nation’s 233rd birthday.

I found this wonderful article called Ideas for teaching kids meaning of July Fourth and wanted to share it. We often get caught up in the celebration part of the holiday – barbeques, fireworks, days off from work and red, white and blue popsicles – and tend to forget the meaning behind July 4th and the birth of our country.

Spend some time this weekend talking with your kids about July 4th – what independence and democracy mean, how popsicles are part of celebrating our nation’s birthday, and what type of contribution they might like to make to our country when they grow up. In this day and age, and given what is going on in the world around us, it is especially important to recognize how lucky we are to live in the great US of A. Freedom and independence are the best gift of all.