World-Welcoming Holiday Gifts for Kids

Creative Hanukkah, Christmas and Chinese New Year gifts present an opportunity to welcome kids to their world. Although the illustrated, 32-page My First Atlas of the World from National Geographic and a squishy fabric Hugg-A-Planet Globe come as a $42 set for kids 3 and older from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City (STORE.METMUSEUM.ORG), bookstores also carry child-appropriate atlases, globes and world wall maps separately. The World Wildlife Fund caters to the love kids have for animals that roam over the world. A $50 donation for worldwide conservation efforts comes with a choice of a plush animal from 50 species, from the popular Tiger to a Narwhal. For additional animal-related gift ideas, visit WWFCATALOG.ORG. Adults would have to do a little explaining to show kids how they can help the world with a gift to Heifer International, World Vision or kiva. Using the HEIFER.ORG/CATALOG online, kids and adults would learn how a $10 or $25 donation for an alpaca, goat, sheep, pig, flock of chicks/ducks or water buffalo would help a foreign family. World Vision (worldvisiongifts.org) offers a similar way to provide needy families with livestock, plus medicines, bed nets to prevent malaria. school supplies, soccer balls, fishing kits, fruit trees and clean water. Older computer-savvy students, with only a little adult guidance, could put their own $25 kiva gift card to work online by choosing to make a loan to someone in one of 80 countries. Go to Kiva.org to purchase the gift card a student would use to make a loan. Finally, in what has become a trying year, a child might like to be able to transfer or forget concerns about school, friends and other matters. UNICEF helps children and adolescents in 190 countries and territories with funds from sales of a variety of items, such as a set of six handcrafted worry dolls from Guatemala, who are ready to receive all the concerns kids transfer to them, and a wooden handcrafted 3D Tic Tac Toe set from Thailand, that kids can use to demonstrate their ability to overcome a challenge. The dolls and wooden game are each $29.95 at unicefmarket.org or by calling 800-553-1200.

Holiday Gift List for Modern Kids

Toy companies offer today's children a roster of robots almost from birth. Kids aged five and up can command  Botley the Coding Robot to go around objects and to master an obstacle course. The MindWare company (mindware.com) provides easy-to-follow instructions that enable eight-year-olds to assemble and program robots operated by batteries, solar, hydraulic, or chemical power. Some robots from MindWare use artificial intelligence and infrared sensors. One climbs smooth surfaces using a suction system.

     Rapidly advancing technology makes learning to read more important than ever. The best books to give young children are the ones adults enjoy reading to them over and over again. When my granddaughter was young, my favorite was Click, Clack, Moo Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin. Keith Bellows does more than provide motivation to read about the world. In 100 Places That Can Change Your Child's Live, he describes tantalizing destinations, lists places to eat and stay, and even suggests the most worthwhile souvenirs to bring home.

     A globe is the perfect gift companion to help children locate where they live and to plot a trip around the world. Globes also give kids a sense of distance and a sense of the correct size of continents. From  home, would it take longer to get to the Arctic or to Africa? At the equator, land masses on two-dimensional maps appear accurate in size, but distortion increases away from the North and South poles. Greenland begins to look as large as Africa even though it is thirteen times smaller.

     In a "Peanuts" comic strip, Lucy once broke into a conversation the other kids were having about what gifts they wanted to say she wanted real estate. While a deed to several acres of real estate may be out of the question, giving children government bonds would give them a stake in their countries' futures. If an older child requests a smartphone, couple it with an index card listing three stocks and their trading prices on a day in December. Show him or her a smartphone can be used to keep track of stock prices not only to engage in social chatter.

     Food commercials tempt kids to put down their smartphones and come to the table when there is something good to eat. Why not involve children in baking and cooking their own good eats? Gift them with recipes, pans, pots, and oven mitts to make their favorite cookies or pasta dishes. In the same vein, crafty adults might gift wrap lumber, a tool, and directions for making a picture frame or yarn, knitting needles, and directions for making a scarf.

     Some organizations have found ways to involve children in their causes by matching contributions with rewards. For example, a portion of the price of every gift purchased from the UNICEF Market (unicefmarket.org/catalog) goes to deliver food, vaccines, mosquito nets, and other lifesaving supplies to children around the world. Presents of UNICEF games, puzzles and art materials not only are fun, but they also are a way for children to aid kids suffering in crisis areas. In the World Wildlife Foundation's catalog (wwfcatalog.org), potential donors find a wide variety of gift ideas for kids. One of the most popular World Wildlife programs, symbolic animal adoptions, couples a donation with a child's gift of a soft plush version of an adopted animal, ranging from a familiar elephant to an exotic blue-footed booby.

     Finally, a $25 gift card from kiva.org introduces children to a form of venture capitalism. Using their card, they can choose the country, man or woman, and project they want to support. Computer updates inform them every time part of their loan is repaid. Holiday gifts can show modern kids it is both blessed to receive and to give.

Aspirational Holiday Gifts

My grandfather believed in aspirational rather than age- appropriate gifts. Of all the holiday and birthday presents I received while growing up, the one I most vividly remember was the fountain pen and mechanical pencil set my grandfather gave me, when I was five. My initials even were embossed on both the pen and pencil in gold.

     What are some aspirational gifts that would inspire young people to learn more about the world? A globe is my favorite. It shows the world is round and countries are their correct relative sizes to each other, unlike on some two-dimensional maps, where Greenland is as big as Africa. Globes show the world has more than 200 countries, three oceans, and seven continents, one of which is frozen. A child can put a sticker on where he or she was born and lives.

     If a child already owns a globe, there is the Atlas of Animal Adventures that shows where animals live. Children can go from the book to the globe to find the country habitats of their favorite animals.

     Even in this digital age of email, children feel very grown up, when they receive mail. With a subscription to National Geographic Kids (shop.nationalgeographic.com/ category/magazines/national-geographic-kids), they receive a magazine nearly every month. Adults also will look forward to the world's fun facts, activities, photos, and games in each issue.

     Little Passports (littlepassports.com) is another way to give children mail every month. Each mailing provides activities, souvenirs, letters from fictional pen pals, and other fun ways to learn about a particular country.

     Presenting a child with a $25 kiva (kiva.org) gift card enables a child to loan someone in one of 80 countries the funds to improve a life. With the help of an older person, a child can scroll through the faces of people who need just a little help to plant a crop, open a store, or build something. And it is up to the child to decide where to offer his or her loan. They then receive email messages telling the amounts of every loan repayment.

     And finally, to advance a student's budding interest foreign languages or foreign travel, I'd suggest Other Wordly: Words Both Strange and Lovely From Around the World  by Yee-Lum Mak and illustrated by Kelsey Garrity-Riley and the series: The 500 Hidden Secrets of London, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Paris, and The 500 Hidden Secrets of Barcelona.

     None of these aspirational gifts will choke children under three (I hope), but they will give them a head start in feeling comfortable in the world where they will spend their lives.

   

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.