'Brilliance Award' Winners are Top Choices for Creative Gift Ideas for Children This Holiday

Thank you to Brilliant Sky Toys & Books for providing two award-winning toys and a book for us to base this review upon and for providing an additional product for our giveaway prize.  All opinions expressed are my own.

In my experience as a parent to three children (and having once been a child myself), toys that encourage creativity and flex the imagination often make the best gifts for children.  Brilliant Sky Toys & Books, a specialty retailer that caters to children and their imaginations, has recently announced which toys would be honored with the 2014 Brilliance Award.  The list includes toys for toddlers, preschoolers, and elementary-age children and range in price from just $9.99 to $39.99.

Why do I trust Brilliant Sky Toys & Books when it comes to gift recommendations?  Although there is not a store location in my area, I've heard ravings about this toy store from friends and I love the content on Brilliant Sky TV and on the Brilliant Sky Toys & Books Blog, where you can read more about this year's 10 Brilliance Award winners.

And the 2014 Brilliance Award winners are . . .

• Squigz Starter Set (24 pieces)
• Plus-Plus Mini-Basic (480 pieces)
• Lottie Dolls
• Doodle Quest
• Create Your Own Storybook
• Super Stadium Baseball Game
• LoopDeLoom
• Sew Cute Sets
• Illustrated Adventure Stories and Illustrated Fairy Tales
• Paint Your Own Porcelain Bowls

I was thrilled to give my children a chance to experience three of these award-winning toys and books.  Although it was difficult to choose, I felt like the LoopDeLoom would be a well-loved creative toy for my daughter and I was right!  I also correctly predicted that all three of my children would very much enjoy the Paint Your Own Porcelain Bowls craft kit and the Usborne book of Illustrated Fairy Tales.  I knew these products would be a big hit because both the LoopDeLoom and the Paint Your Own Porcelain Bowls kit produce a final product our children could keep and enjoy forever if they wished.  And, fairy tales are magical stories meant to be enjoyed again and again.

Giving our children a creative outlet is such an important thing.  Even our 7 year old son, who does not usually show much interest in art, enjoyed painting his ceramic bowl.  He did not show the lack of patience he normally would.  Instead, he painted very deliberately and carefully.

Another Brilliance Award winner that helps children develop patience, as well as further develops fine motor skills, is the LoopDeLoom weaving kit.  Although this toy is recommended for children 8 years and older, our 7 year old daughter was quite adept at it.  At first, it seemed like it would take forever to finish, but after a little while, she could see her progress.  The best thing about this craft kit is that it takes concentration and is an enjoyable, yet quiet, sit-down activity.

The Usborne Illustrated Fairy Tales is a wonderful book with beautiful illustrations.  Our daughter will sit and read one fairy tale after another.  She also loves to reread them out loud to her twin brother at bedtime.  I have such fond memories of reading fairy tales and having them read to me as a child.  I'm happy to see my children experience the same magic.  I am definitely going to look into buying this book's counterpart Usborne Illustrated Adventure Stories for Christmas this year.

You can find all these award-winning children's gifts and many more quality children's items at Brilliant Sky Toys & Books.  If you have not yet visited your local store, be sure to bring your children soon to enjoy the hands-on experience, child-height shelves and displays, and the superior personalized customer service.  You can check for the closest store location here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck in the drawing!

This giveaway is open to U.S. entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. A random drawing will be held shortly after the contest closing. The winner will be announced here and will be contacted via email. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be drawn.

Brilliant Sky Toys & Books Announces The Top 12 Toys on Their 2013 Brilliance List

Thank you to Brilliant Sky Toys & Books for providing complimentary products samples for us to base this review upon.  All opinions expressed are my own.

The specialty toy retailer Brilliant Sky Toys & Books currently has 15 store locations within the U.S. and I have my fingers crossed that someday they will come to Massachusetts or perhaps open their business to the world of online retail.  Not only does this retailer offer top quality toys that promote childhood develop, the stores are designed to give both parents and children a very special experience.

For children, Brilliant Sky Toys & Books offers warm inviting tones, child-height displays and fixtures, and so many fun toys and books to explore hands-on.  The parents receive outstanding concierge-style customer service, along with assistance while selecting the perfect toy plus free gift wrapping.  What a time-saver this would be around the Holidays!

The 12 Brilliance Award Winners for 2013 are as follows . . . 

1. Adventure Treehouse by International Playthings
2. Deluxe Magic Set by Melissa & Doug 
3. Doinkit Darts by Marky Sparky
4. Easel by Melissa & Doug 
5. Gobblet Gobblers by Blue Orange
6. How Big Is The Lion? My First Book Of Measuring by Workman
7. Lego® City Brickmaster by Penguin 
8. Little Chubbies by International Playthings
9. Skwish Classic by Manhattan Toy
10. Snap Circuit Sound by Elenco Electronics 
11. Switch & Spin Magnetic Gear Board by Melissa & Doug 
12. World Map Puzzle by Janod

We actually already own the Melissa & Doug Easel and the Deluxe Magic Set.  Both items are deserving of their place on this list.  We were also able to experience the How Big Is The Lion? My First Book Of Measuring by Workman and the Lego® City Brickmaster by Penguin.  I chose these items because our nearly 7 year old son learns a little differently.  He performs much better when he is engaged, which often does not mean traditional teaching methods.  

He did very well with the How Big Is The Lion? My First Book Of Measuring.  He was a little reluctant at first because he reacts that way to most books, but when he saw there was a wooden ruler attached to the book with a red satin ribbon, he became more curious and quickly became a willing participant in this learning activity.

The Lego® City Brickmaster is also a book, but this one comes with all the Lego bricks and specialty pieces a child would need to build everything described in the book.  It also came with two Lego Minifigures, which our son loves to collect.  Although he needed some assistance here and there reading the diagrams, our son did very well with building several of the models.  He thoroughly enjoyed himself and was also very proud that he was able to follow the instructions.  Little did he know that he was also developing his sorting and problem solving skills, as well as his fine motor skills.

To learn more about Brilliant Sky Toys & Books, visit BrilliantSkyToys.com.  Be sure to use their Store Locator to check for a store location near you.