Today would have been my dad’s 20th birthday. As kids, it was so cool to have a dad with a leap day birthday (and, get this, he’s a twin). On non-leap years, we celebrated on 2/28 and on 3/1 because none of us could agree on a date.

My father passed away 5 years ago after long battles with many illnesses. When I was 18 years old, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and lost one lung. He wasn’t supposed to live but he managed to live for many more years and see his children graduate from college and grad schools, he was at my wedding (our father-daughter dance is in the attached photo) and knew my son.

Today, in honor and in memory of my dad, GIFT HERO will set aside 10% of sales of kids gifts to purchase toys for the children staying at Ronald McDonald House of NY.

Recently, the New York Times published an article about the educational importance of block play. Preschools have long emphasized block play, but now even elementary schools are carving out time for block play as part of building students’ math skills. Studies have shown that more sophisticated block play tends to lead to higher math performance later in childhood.

I think that blocks are the ultimate educational toy for young children. These Colored Cubes from Kid O are brightly colored wooden cubes that stimulate creativity in children as young as one year old. These blocks were developed in conjunction with the City and Country School, a West Village private school that is credited with inventing the concept of “unit blocks.”

Check out our selection of blocks and building sets to find that perfect birthday gift.

The folks over at Perplexus are really smart. Not only do they create incredible 3D maze games that are ideal educational toys for older kids, they realized that younger children were ready for their own game.

Perplexus Rookie is a smaller sphere with larger tracks than the original or Perplexus Epic versions.  This kids gift for age 4 and up will introduce kids to the three dimensional, gravity defying, award winning world of Perplexus challenges. They just flip, twist and turn the sphere to navigate the steel ball along the tracks through 75 barriers of varying difficulty. Perplexus Rookie is easy to play but still challenging to complete.

One of our best sellers during this past holiday season was Perplexus Epic. This new and advanced version of the 3D maze game is incredible. Meant as a kid’s gift for age 8 and up, it is super challenging and highly addictive. Kids (and adults) will enjoy the challenge of navigating the steel ball along the tracks, through 125 barriers of varying difficulty as they try to defy gravity.

This educational toy is a multi- award winner and is a perfect birthday gift for girls or gift for boys.

Whenever I visit a friend or relative with a little one, I can’t resist bringing a small gift. Recently, I’ve been giving the Go Car by Kid-O.  It is just adorable and, in shiny red, it is a perfect kid’s gift for either a boy or girl. The curved roof on this baby toy does double duty as a handle and the rubber-coated wheels glide smoothly along any path.

This award winning toy is recommended for ages 1 and up.

At Gift Fair, we found these really unique jewelry making kits from Style Me Up. The Guitar Pick Jewelry Kit lets girls make and personalize their own rock-themed jewelry using guitar picks. We also like the Sweet Key Charms kit – which lets girls decorate silver colored “keys” with rhinestones and make necklaces and bracelets.

My tween daughter thinks these are very, very cool. I’m sure we will be giving it as a birthday gift very soon. Both kits make great gifts for 8-10 year old girls.

We are long time fans of Citiblocs. These eco-friendly blocks are terrific free-form building sets for young children. Up until recently, however, Citiblocs only sold sets recommended as kids gifts for ages 3 and up.

So Lisa and I were very excited when our sales rep let us know that they were introducing Citiblocs Little Builders Rattle Blocks. This 22 piece set is created for toddlers. It contains chunky rattle and other colorful blocks, all designed for little hands. Citiblocs Little Builders is an educational toy that will introduce younger children to the joys of building. This award winning toy was recommended by Daily Candy Kids. It was so popular this past holiday season that it is hard to find these days…but available at GIFT HERO. It’s a fabulous kids gift for ages 2 and up!

What a great day! This afternoon, Lisa and I dropped off several boxes of new toys for the children staying at Ronald McDonald House of NY. Over the holidays, many of our customers added a donation of $1-$5 to their shopping cart. We pooled those funds, along with some of our own, and used them to buy educational toys to fill the playroom at this amazing facility.

Due to the generosity of our customers, these children will be playing with Green Toys Fire Trucks, Green Toys School Buses, Best Friends Scrapbooks, Perplexus Rookie, Kid-O Cutting Fruit, Citiblocs Little Builders Rattle Blocks and many more gifts for girls and gifts for boys.

The educators at RMDH are so appreciative for all we and our customers have done. To quote their Director of Programs: “We LOVE LOVE LOVE our toys.”

To learn more about our GIFT HERO Gives Back program, visit our Donate page.

(Note: 100% of the monies collected are used to purchase toys for Ronald McDonald House of New York. The toys are purchased at our wholesale cost. GIFT HERO does not earn a profit on sales of products that are donated to charity.)

When Benjamin (now 8yo) was a baby, some of our favorite books to read to him were by Shel Silverstein. Since the 1960′s, Silverstein’s poems and books have delighted adults and children alike. Benjamin could listen to Giraffe and a Half over and over (and over and over) again.

As he got older, the poem collections really stuck with him. He devoured Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic and Runny Babbit. The pages of his books are worn and torn.  Reading the poems aloud helped him practice fluency and the clever language built his vocabulary and inference skills.

So we were thrilled when we learned that a “new” collection of poems and drawings was available. Everything On It doesn’t disappoint. Shel Silverstein died in 1999 and this is the second posthumous collection that has been published. I especially love the last poem in the book and hope it inspires my son to be a better writer:

WHEN I AM GONE
When I am gone, what will you do?
Who will write and draw for you?
Someone smarter – someone new?
Someone better – maybe YOU!”

Visit http://shelsilverstein.com/ to learn more about the author and his books. While I wish you would shop at GIFT HERO for all your kid’s gifts, these books are really wonderful gifts for girls and gifts for boys.

Last Week, at the New York International Gift Fair, Stefanie and I discovered a number of exciting new products to carry on GIFT HERO. My daughter Maya is most excited by the Loopdedoo, a spinning tool that lets girls design and make their own friendship bracelets in minutes! Maya has always loved making jewelry for her friends. The Loopdedoo is great for birthday parties, sleepovers or even just a rainy day.

Arts and crafts kits like the Loopdedoo make great gifts for girls.