If you’ve read any of my posts then you’re familiar with my obsession with giving children gifts that promote creativity and learning.  Books are an obvious choice, I know.  But these aren’t just any old books.  Laurence King Ltd., a British publisher distributed in the U.S. by the  beloved Chronicle Books brings us some modern, interactive titles and more to fuel your child’s imagination, rocket-style!

Here are my picks for the kids in your life:

1. Magic and Fairy-tale Dice -  These give new meaning to the term “conversation starter”.  Simply roll the beautifully crafted wooden dice and include your resulting image in a story.  At $14.95 these are great for the classroom or home and fun for all ages – I quite enjoy them myself!  The whimsical images include an array of creatively classic storytelling components, including a frog, witch, phoenix, shamrock, and you-know-who’s little red cape.   The most magical thing about these magic dice is the way they get the gears in motion, my girls are so excited to add on to the story and love the challenge of including the random element determined by their rolls!

2. & 3. Let’s Make Some Great Placemat Art and Let’s Make Some Great Fingerprint Art by award winning illustrator Marion Deuchars are interactive workbooks designed in such a way that the child is practically collaborating with the author on some pages and being guided by her on others.  In the tradition of her Let’s Make Some Great Art (a personal favorite), these activity books provoke your child’s imagination.  Great springboards in the placemat book include inventing one’s own pasta shape and imagining what some illustrated people and birds might be dreaming about, at only $12.95 and 72 pages, this book is both affordable and will provide hours of inspiration.  Also, inspirational, the fingerprint book is exactly what you’d imagine, and then some!  Be sure to wrap a stamp pad or two with this one, as your recipient will use her own fingertips and hands to create a plethora of creatures and critters.  At $14.95 for a whopping 128 pages this is a winner for elementary kids and up!

4. My Wonderful World of Shoes by Nina Chakrabarti rides on the heels (pun fully intended) of My Wonderful World of Fashion and My Even More Wonderful World of Fashion, which I gave to my daughter last year and she still enjoys.  Inspire your future designer with styles from vintage to couture to color, embellish, and make their own!  $15.95 is a small price to pay for 144 pages of high fashion and more!  For an adorable sample of Chakrabarti’s adorably detailed footwear, check out this cute little video!

 WIN!

Enter to win one of two awesome prizes generously provided by Laurence King Publishing Ltd.!  They are giving one Takes a Village reader a set of Magic and Fairy-tale Dice and another reader will receive a My Wonderful World of Shoes activity book!

Plenty of ways to enter are below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway