INSPIRE Gift Guide offers holiday shopping items that are fun, educational

The countdown is on with only three weekends left until Christmas   

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — This year’s Purdue University Engineering Gift Guide’s list of toys and games offers an opportunity for learning where kids simply see entertainment.

Purdue’s INSPIRE Research Institute for Pre-College Engineering released its Engineering Gift Guide for the sixth consecutive year. It boasts more than 120 toys, books and games this year for children ages 1-18 in categories ranging from building and circuits to logic and puzzles. A sample of these items are highlighted in this YouTube influencer video.

“Our hope is that we’re helping parents and people in general who are purchasing gifts for kids,” said Elizabeth Gajdzik, assistant director of INSPIRE. “We want them to have the Engineering Gift Guide as a resource allowing them to find fun, engaging gifts that they know have been well reviewed and tested.”

Children test out toys at the West Lafayette Library for the INSPIRE Research Institute for Pre-College Engineering’s annual Engineering Gift Guide. (Purdue University Photo/Bradley Milstone) Download image

The gift guide is available here. A print version can be downloaded. There also is a link to the Engineering Gift Guide at the Purdue Team Store. Each item in the gift guide available on Amazon.com will have a link to where it can be purchased.

“The coding and programming thinking products for 3- to 5-year-olds this year were very strong,” she said. “There were several toys and books that really did a great job at introducing basic coding concepts and engaging children in computational thinking.”

The number of books, both fiction and nonfiction, in the guide continues to grow as well, she said, including books regarding engineering that appeal to children more interested in craft projects.

“We know some children prefer doing crafts. Several books in this year’s guide help kids learn STEM concepts through craft projects and challenges,” she said. “We want to make sure we include products in our guide that appeal to a lot of different kids.”

INSPIRE is a research institute in the Purdue College of Engineering’s School of Engineering Education.

Items included in the guide go through an extensive review process with at least three faculty, staff or students with INSPIRE who have an engineering or STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) backgrounds evaluating each toy. Events for children and parents to review the toys and games are held at local venues.

Writer: Brian Huchel, 765-494-2084, bhuchel@purdue.edu 

Source: Elizabeth Gajdzik, 765-494-9599, egajdzik@purdue.edu

Note to Journalists: A 1:42 YouTube influencer video for social media is available for media to use. Formatting for Facebook and Twitter as well as a one-minute Instagram version is available at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BgoecSTuJMVJn37TOXH-47pdUZ9qjcvi. Regular b-roll and photos prepared by Erin Easterling, digital producer for the Purdue College of Engineering, can be found in a Google Drive folder at http://bit.ly/Gift-Guide-Media.