Gifts for Happy Holidays

Halloween is about to usher in the holiday season of Hanukkah, St. Nicolas Day, Christmas, New Year's, and the Epiphany. This season not only presents an opportunity to celebrate with family and friends, but it also offers an opportunity to give children gifts that open their eyes to what the world has to offer.

     Foil-covered milk and dark chocolate, Kosher certified, coins that children love can be ordered from SERRV (serrv.org), a nonprofit organization that makes sure gifts are made around the world by poor artisans and farmers who receive a living wage and work in safe, healthy conditions. SERRV also sells an Advent Calendar that hides a milk chocolate heart behind each day leading up to the nativity scene. For each Advent Calendar sold, a school notebook is donated to a child in the schools of Kuapa Kokoo, Ghana, where the cooperative that raises the cocoa beans for these chocolates is located.

     Since museums feature exhibits from around the world, their shops are an excellent source of global gifts. In New York City, the Metropolitan Museum of Art Store (store.metmuseum.org) is known for putting together a collection of items that cater to kids. One of its most interesting offerings is a Global Glowball that entertains and educates children six months and older. There are 39 sections on the globe that each light up and play a song, such as Bollywood pop, a tango, or jazz, from the area of the world a child pushes. Youngsters can roll the globe, learn geography, and use it as a night light; the Global Glowball does it all.
     Children 8 and older also can get hands-on experience writing with Egyptian hieroglyphs and making Japanese origami projects with kits and instruction books from the Metropolitan Museum. Or they can assemble a 252-piece floor map puzzle of the world from the museum.

     Some gifts last all year. Just as adults might exchange magazine gift subscriptions and memberships in a fruit-of-the-month club, children aged six and up would love to receive a gift subscription that brings the prize winning collection of fascinating facts of the world in National Geographic Kids (kids.nationalgeographic.com) to them ten times a year. For kids aged 3 to 6,  National Geographic Little Kids comes out six time a year. Preschoolers enjoy its read-aloud stories and colorful animal photos, games, puzzles, and other activities
     To introduce its program that sends 5 to 10 year olds a monthly package of items related to a particular country, for a small fee, Little Passports (littlepassports.com) sends a child a travel suitcase with a world map, stickers, an activity sheet, and access to online games and activities.

     Nothing is more welcome after all the gifts are unwrapped than seeing a child settle down to relax and enjoy one of his or her presents. Like any child in the world might do, my granddaughter would start to work out some of the logic or number puzzles in a Perplexor workbook from Mindware
(mindware.com).
 My daughter used to start to read one of her new books. This year, children might like to read:
     The Last King of Angkor Wat by Graeme Base. He tells 6 to 8 year olds the history of Cambodia's
famous temple by using detailed illustrations of the tiger, elephant, monkey, water buffalo and gecko that reveal their strengths and weaknesses as they compete to be king.

     Animals also are the focus of two non-fiction books for 6 to 8 year olds: National Geographic Kids Animal Heartwarming True Tales from the Animal Kingdom by Jane Yolen and Heidi and Adam Stemple, which tells about the geese that saved the Roman Empire and much more. And Born in the Wild: Baby Mammals and Their Parents by Lita Judge, a book that uses illustrations and text to show and tell how little animals all over the world live and grow.

     The Copernicus Legacy by Tony Abbott uses puzzles, intrigue, and adventure to take readers 9 to 12 around the world on a hunt for pieces of the past.

     Winners of a South Asia book award also involve young readers in what's happening in the world.
Jennifer Bradbury's A Moment Comes follows the struggles of three students in 1947 India, before the country was divided into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan.
     In Elizabeth Suneby's Razia's Ray of Hope: One Girl's Dream of an Education, Razia has to convince her family that her education at Afghanistan's Zabuli Education Center for Girls just outside Kabul would benefit not only her and her family but even the whole community.
     Two Muslim girls have the dual problem of practicing their religion and fitting in at school in The Garden of My Imaan by Farhana Zia.

     Really young kids might like to have someone read them a new kind of alphabet book. Oliver Jeffers, the Australian author who grew up in Northern Ireland and now lives in Brooklyn, NY, has created a122-page gift, Once Upon an Alphabet, that goes beyond "A is for apple" to illustrate and write stories for all 26 letters of the alphabet.

    Finally, there are several very unusual presents.

•  Young people who receive a $25 Kiva gift card can go to the Kiva website (kiva.org) and scroll through a list to decide which of the small businesses around the world they would like to support. They could return to the site again and again for progress reports and to receive a borrower's repayment in their Kiva Credit Account.
•   The World Wildlife Fund (worldwildlife.org) helps animal-loving kids make a symbolic adoption of a tiger, panda, fennec fox, African black-footed penguin, or African elephant. World Wildlife also offers a "Sniffer Dog: Labrador Retriever Adoption Kit" that comes with a plush dog, like the ones that work at airports to sniff out illegal wildlife being transported by smugglers.
•   Through Heifer International (heifer.org/gift), a young person who receives an Honor Card worth $10 or more learns he or she has helped end hunger in the poorest parts of the world. Contributions go to purchase cows, goats, sheep, water buffalo, pigs, donkeys, llamas, rabbits, honeybees, chicks, ducks, trees, water pumps for irrigation, and biogas stoves. Since families who receive animals give one or more of their animal offspring to other needy families, one contribution has a multiplying effect throughout a community.

     Wishing the whole world peace and happiness this holiday season!

(Find ideas for making holiday cards and gift wrap at the earlier blog post, "Arts and Crafts for Christmas in July.")

Santa's Checking His List Twice

In preparation for the holiday gift-giving season last year, I wrote the blog post, "Go Holiday Globe (S)hopping." Many of the gift suggestions in that post are still available. UNICEF (unicefusa.org/shop) and SERRV (serrv.org) again offer Advent calendars. For children who celebrate Hanukkah, SERRV also sells Kosher certified dark and milk chocolate foil-wrapped coins from the Kuapa Kokoo cooperative in Ghana, Africa.

     This year, there are gifts that enable youngsters to sample the world's latest technologies. Using a LED touchscreen, kids can change patterns on Barbie's new "Digital Dress." A variety of robot toys are sold at YoungExplorers.com, mindware.com, Museumtour.com, and shopng.org. Since the American Red Cross Field Radio and Phone Charger from shopng.org uses both solar power or hand cranking to recharge, it can go high tech or low.

     A variety of approaches to geography update a familiar subject. Maps, a new book by Aleksandra and Daniel Mezielinska, associates fascinating facts with illustrations of every region of the world. By touching one of 39 sections on the "Global Glowball" from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art store (store.metmuseum.org), children can activate a song from that part of the world. Based on the latest facts about every country in the world, the geography game, "Where in the World?" from Museumtour.com is fun for 2 to 6 players 8 years of age or older. Using pieces shaped like countries, children over 4 also can put together a "World GeoPuzzle" from Museumtour and those 12 years of age and up can build Museumtour's 4D puzzles of Berlin, Hong Kong, London, Osaka, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, St. Petersburg, Sydney, Tokyo, or Toronto. For free, go to "google maps" and introduce children to the way they can use a computer to tour countries, such as France, and cities, such as Nairobi, Kenya.

     Several new gifts provide the kind of indoor activities youngsters need to amuse themselves during the winter. Games, stencils, stickers, and crafts come with The National Geographic Kids: Animal Creativity Book. In Dawn Casey's book, The Barefoot Book of Earth Tales, stories from around the world are coupled with related activities. In the virtual world, students can build the world's landmarks with the Swedish video game, Minecraft. Or they can paint Paris and London in watercolors with Ravensburger's Aquarille World Cities Arts and Crafts Kit, which comes with all needed art supplies and instructions for different painting techniques.

     Paris seems to be a popular destination this holiday season. Chavonne, the African-American "Journey" doll at Toys R Us, is about to travel to Paris. Madeline is already there in her new book, Madeline and the Old House in Paris.  In Paris! Recipe for Adventure, a book by Giada DeLaurentiis, Zia Donatella takes a brother and sister to a French cooking school to show them home-cooked meals are better than fast food. (The same author also visits Naples! Recipe for Adventure.)  Students can build Paris' Eiffel Tower with National Geographic's 3-D puzzle or the more difficult to construct 5-foot tall model that uses the same engineering principles as the real landmark. (At shop.nationalgeographic.com, National Geographic also offers a 3-D puzzle of Big Ben and a 4-D Cityscape puzzle of London.)

     For teen age girls who want gifts with a touch of Parisian glamour, artisans around the world are creating original jewelry just for them. The SERRV website (serrv.org) and Shop For Social (shopforsocial.com) provide many options.

     What would be the ultimate gift? Book an international family vacation with AdventuresByDisney.com, journeys.travel, AAA.com/ExploreMore, worldwildlife.org/travel, or hfholidays.co.uk.

    Best wishes for peace and joy throughout the world in this holiday season and every day in 2014!

Go Holiday Globe (S)hopping

Gifts can help kids think globally on holidays, birthdays, graduations, and other special occasions. In this gift-giving season, catalogues, international organizations, and museum, map, and book stores are good sources of presents with meaningful international connections.

Christmas, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year

Christians can purchase a pop-up Advent calendar from UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, (unicefusa.org/shop) and help provide for the health and education of the world's children at the same time. SERRV (serrv.org) donates a school notebook to children in Ghana, Africa, for every Advent calendar it sells. Why? Because the chocolate hearts young people find behind the numbers for each day in Advent come from the Kuapa Kokoo cocoa cooperative in Ghana. SERRV also sells Kosher certified dark and milk chocolate foil-covered coins for children who celebrate Hanukkah.

     When the Chinese New Year arrives between January 21 and February 19 at the second new moon after the beginning of winter, Chinese children receive money in red envelopes. Children in other countries would approve if their families joined in this tradition. Besides U.S. currency, the American Automobile Association (AAA) could add some foreign currency in the form of a TipPak (registered trademark) of Australian, British, Canadian, Japanese, or European Union money to these red envelopes. In preparation for the Chinese New Year, youngsters also can write their own fortune cookie messages with rub-on Chinese characters in a kit from Multicultural Kids (multiculturalkids.com).

Personalized presents

For children old enough to appreciate personalized presents with a foreign twist, there are cartouche (kar-toosh) necklaces and netsukes. In Egypt, a cartouche, or amulet, was designed to protect each Pharaoh. Nowadays, necklaces sold my Signals (signals.com) or made in Cairo for National Geographic (shopng.org) translate children's names into Egyptian hieroglyphics using eagles, owls, crowns, lions, and other symbols.

     Birthdays are especially good occasions to give Japanese netsukes, little statues once used on cords that closed pouches or baskets. Some are made to symbolize the animal zodiac signs for each year. This is the Year of the Dragon, and 2013 will be the Year of the Snake. Since animal designations occur in 12-year cycles,  kids can find the symbols for their birth years by counting forward or back from an animal known for one year. Children might enjoy seeing if their personalities match the qualities attributed to their birth year animals.

2000/2012 Dragon: A solitary, free-spirited non-conformist who is generous to others.
2001/2013 Snake: A wise, well-organized person who understands others and can wiggle out of
                              trouble.
2002/2014 Horse: A cheerful, popular crowd-pleaser who loves excitement and handles money
                              carefully.
2003/2015 Sheep/goat: A dazzling, elegant dresser and creative thinker with a shy nature.
2004/2016 Monkey: A clever, brilliant thinker with a thirst for knowledge and the ability to solve
                                  difficult problems.
2005/2017 Rooster: A talented, deep thinker who likes to work alone.
2006/2018 Dog: A loyal, somewhat eccentric protector who can keep secrets and inspire
                           confidence.
2007/2019 Pig: A gallant champion or causes who is satisfied with having a few lifelong
                         friends.
2008/2020 Rat: A charming, energetic, imaginative perfectionist who is careful not to hurt others.
2009/2021 Ox: A patient leader who inspires confidence.
2010/2022 Tiger: A warm, courageous, goal-oriented worker with a sparkling personality.
2011/2023 Hare/rabbit: A tactful, ambitious peacemaker who is fortunate in business.

     Finally, no present is more personal and infused with international significance than a child's own passport. Students don't need to have a foreign trip planned when they get a passport, they just can start thinking about which countries they would like to visit. Local post offices provide the details about obtaining a passport, and they even take passport photos.

Global gifts

Usually presenting children with educational gifts is like giving them underwear. A number of globes, books, and toys escape that classification, however. The National Geographic website sells a levitating globe, suggested for students 8 and up, that uses electromagnetism to hover in mid-air between the top and bottom of its display stand. Younger children, 3 and up, can use a joystick to circle National Geographic's Fly and Discover Talking Globe to learn about the world's oceans, animals, customs, and fun facts. Young Explorers (YoungExplorers.com) sells the GeoSafari (registered trademark) talking globes that children 6 and up can use to answer 10,000 geographical questions, while MindWare (mindware.com) and National Geographic have interactive globes that students 5 and up can touch with a digital pen to find information about a country's population, weather, currency, and more. With a remote control, children 6 and up also can watch the world's cities go by on a wall "globe" using MindWare's Earth from Orbit Light. In low tech worlds, UNICEF has a Planet Earth Lift-the-Flap book and SERRV's mobile of the world includes children dressed in costumes representing their cultures.

     There is no shortage of fiction and non-fiction books with an international theme. For centuries, classics have taken children through German forests in the stories of Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, and many others collected by Jakob and Wilheim Grimm. Children have traveled with Paddington bear from Peru to meet Christopher Robin's Pooh bear and Alice in Wonderland in the gardens of England. Through literature, children have experienced the splendor of the Swiss Alps with Johanna Spyri's Heidi. Ever since the 18th century, when Frenchman Antoine Galland recognized how European and Muslim cultures could share the fascination of The Arabian Nights, kids and adults have shared the Indian and Persian stories of a genie who granted Aladdin's wishes, a girl who saved Ali Baba, Sinbad's adventures, and 998 additional tales.

     Books about Asia, Latin America, and Africa now have joined these familiar stories. Heian publishes a series of Asian folktales, and Raul Colon uses a unique combination of paint, etched lines, and colored pencils to illustrate a book of Latin American folktales. For their illustrations in Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions, Leo and Diane Dillon won a Caldecott Medal from the Association for Library Service to Children. Just a couple more examples suggest the breadth of books that help children explore their world. Journey to the River Sea takes young people down the Amazon River, while Gena Gorrell, in the context of The Land of the Jaguar, describes every South American country for her young audience. The Children's Atlas of World Wildlife goes around the globe to show children the diversity of nature's creatures, and National Geographic Kids: Animal Creativity Book couples information about the world's animals with games, stencils, stickers, and crafts.

Animals in a healthy environment

Gift givers are on a sure footing, when they tap into a child's love of animals. The World Wildlife Fund (worldwildlife.org) makes it possible to present children with plush animals and, at the same time, introduce them to ways to save animals all over the world from harm and extinction.

     There are both animal gifts that help children play in traditional ways and some that provide a new experience. Besides plush animals, kids 6 and up can construct their own lions, tigers, giraffes, and zebras using puzzle pieces from MindWare. Toys to grow on (ttgo.com) invites kids 3 to 10 years old to go on their own safaris by giving them vinyl jungle huts, an SUV, and 12 animals. Kids also can hide a monkey, elephant, or tiger and launch an adventure using wands from YoungExplorers to find them.

     Toys appeal to children's concern for the world's environment not only its wildlife. To see solar power in action, youngsters can build robots from Young Explorers and MindWare that use the sun to move windmills, boats, helicopters, cars, bulldozers, and a scorpion. Even adults will be excited to learn how MindWare's zero-emission car runs on water converted to hydrogen power. And how does the greenhouse effect, desalination of salt water, or a solar oven work? MindWare has kits to teach those means to a clean environment, too.

Conclusion

From Signals (signals.com) wooden blocks with alphabets, numerals, and animal pictures in Arabic, Chinese, and 14 other languages to a full array of dolls, map puzzles, and books from Multicultural Kids and Latin American rainsticks from Musician's Friend (musiciansfriend.com), the world is ready to help children realize globalization can be fun.