Do you have an aspiring meteorologist on your holiday shopping list? Toy Insider Mom Laurie Schacht stopped by The Weather Channel to show off some great toys inspired by climate, weather, and the environment. For more on the items featured in this segment, check out the product notes below, and for our complete rundown of the best gifts for the holidays, check out our complete holiday gift guide.
MY FAIRY GARDEN—BEAN BLOSSOM (PLAYMONSTER)
- The new addition to the My Fairy Garden line, Bean Blossom is a brightly-colored watering can and includes soil and beans to grow real live plants inside the top area!
- The beans have words on them that appear in the greenery when the plant sprouts and grows tall along the trellis! Children’s beans could have messages such as DREAM, SMILE, AMAZING, and more.
- Age: 4+
- MSRP: $9.99
- Available: Outset, Toys “R” Us
CLIMATE AND WEATHER EXPERIMENT KIT (THAMES & KOSMOS)
- With 23 hands-on experiments, kids can investigate specific weather phenomena as well as the climate system in general.
- Build a model of Earth and its atmosphere and then use it to conduct experiments that show how the global wind system works. Trace air currents from the icy cold poles to the warm equator and back with a wisp of smoke. Model Earth’s heat reservoirs, thermals, and global and local winds. Recreate ocean currents in a small basin of water.
- Simulate Earth’s rotation and revolution to learn how the sun affects the weather daily and seasonally. Learn about the climatic zones and the composition of the atmosphere. Experiment to see how carbon dioxide levels affect temperature. Explore the hydrological cycle to learn about humidity, clouds, and precipitation. Build a simple barometer, set up a rain gauge, and track the temperature.
- Age: 10+
- MSRP: $34.95
- Available: Toys “R” Us, Amazon
DISCOVERY UNDERWATER VOLCANO (HORIZON GROUP USA)
- Explore simple science, chemical reactions and teach your child how to follow instructions with the Discovery Glowing Volcano kit!
- Build the included base of the volcano, then wrap the plaster around the shape. Once the plaster is dry, paint and decorate your volcano with the acrylic paints.
- Be sure to add a layer of glow-in-the-dark paint so your volcano glows!
- Once your volcano is complete, use household items to fill the eruption tube and watch as a simple chemical reaction causes your volcano to erupt!
- Weather Fact: The large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) volcanoes produce can affect global temperature for one to three years!
- Ages 12+
- MSRP $19.99
- Available: Walmart, Michael’s, Amazon
CRAYOLA SIDEWALK PAINT SPRAYER (CRAYOLA)
- Design and spray on colorful outdoor designs with the Crayola Washable Sidewalk Paint Sprayer. This sprayer lets you transform any ordinary outdoor surface, even those covered with snow or grass, into a blank canvas for your creativity.
- Take a snow day as your blank canvas and transform the white snow into colorful creations.
- The Paint Sprayer comes with two pre-filled paint cartridges, two stencils, and an instruction sheet to help get you started.
- Age: 6+
- MSRP: $14.99
- Available: shop.crayola.com, Amazon, Kohl’s, Target, Toys R Us, Walmart
- It’s the showering, shaking doggy bathing board game! Players race around the board washing Soggy Doggy, but watch out – if he shakes, a player gets a little wet then they go back to the start. Be the first to make it around the board to the doggy basket to win!
- Easy to clean.
- Age: 4+
- MSRP: $19.99
- Available: Amazon, Target, Toys R Us, Walmart
