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11 Educational Gift Ideas for the Holidays

Published: Nov. 6, 2017, 3:37 p.m.

This holiday season, provide educational gift ideas to your students’ parents, grandparents, family members, and friends, to help encourage yearlong gifts of discovery and learning for your students. Nationally Speaking…. A pass to the U.S. National Park Service provides more than 2,000 federal recreation sites across the nation to visit and explore. Entrance fees, along with daily use fees, are covered for a driver and all passengers in a personal vehicle (up to four adults at sites that charge per person), along with all children age 15 or under admitted free. The pass is valid at all national parks and national wildlife refuges, including national forests and grasslands, and at lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Disney’s Youth Education Series offers elementary through college programs in Applied Sciences, Environmental Studies, Liberal Arts, and Leadership Development. Students have an opportunity to experience hands-on workshops and once-in-a-lifetime performances. Costs range from $79 to $181.17 per student, year round, in both the Florida and California theme park locations. Classes to choose from include Discovering the American Spirit, Energy and Waves Physics Lab, Introduction to Global Citizenship, Leadership Strategies, Behavioral Science, Marine Life and more!

Suggest Local History, Museums, and Arts Passes Like…

The Atlanta History Center offers a 33-acre experience for adults and families, featuring award-winning exhibitions, historic houses, enchanting gardens, and interactive activities. A $99 family membership includes unlimited free entrance for up to two adults and four children, two guest passes, discounts to family festivals, invitations to member events, museum shop discounts, and more! The Monterey Bay Aquarium in California offers a family membership for $250, providing unlimited admission for two adults with children or grandchildren, ages 3 to 21 yrs old. Features include exhibits, daily shows, tours and adventures, family activities, live webcams and more! The Arizona Challenger Space Center in Phoenix, Arizona has a mission to educate people of all ages in the exploration of space and innovation. It offers two levels of membership, starting at $55 per year, that include free admission, guest passes, discounted simulated space missions, invitations to members only special events, and early registration for space camps. The Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta opened in 1978 and focuses on performance, museum exhibits, and education. A family membership, at $110, provides member tickets for each event, free admission to the museum, discounts on new series, priority seating, free admission to film screenings, and more!

Educational Subscriptions that Deliver

With over a million kids building apps on their website, and subscribers in over 70 countries, Bitsbox teaches real coding to kids 6 to 14 yrs old. Delivering app projects printed in books, cards, and on toys, coding projects pair with an online coding environment, resulting in real apps that work on real devices. Subscriptions start at $19.95 per month. Steve Spangler Science offers monthly hands-on science experiments for a budding scientist or engineer, offering three levels to choose from, starting at $9.99 to $29.99 per month. Little Passports delivers a new box each month, introducing kids either to a new world location or to a new science experiment. Beginning at $13.95 a month, with four age ranges starting at 3 yrs. old to choose from, it promises fun and engaging products.   For themed boxes with multiple activities on topics such as ocean science, space, volcanoes, music and more, order a gift subscription to Green Kids Crafts. Each box includes quality project materials, step-by-step instructions, a 12-page activity magazine, and more. Ranging in age groups from 2 to 10+, subscriptions run from $17.95 to 27.95 per month.                                With a goal to inspire kids to see themselves as scientists, artists, creators, and makers, Kiwi Krates starts at $16.95 monthly, promising hands-on, fun, high-quality materials, kid-friendly instructions, an accompanying magazine, and online tutorials with tips and tricks.