Stuff We Like: Retro Gifts for Kids

While our kids revel in their technology, it’s our job as parents to offer plentiful options for old-fashioned play, too—so we’ve got nostalgic, battery-free picks you’ll recall from your own childhood, plus newer gift ideas that just feel retro.

Budding (Green) Builders

You’ll be amazed at the sheer and unexpected beauty of a sculpture made of straws! Design anything from small tabletop structures to stadium-sized installations, from highly geometric constellations to free-form organic webs, with Jix Straw Sculpture Connector($24 for pack of 125).

Or let the kids raid your recycling bin for the materials needed—um, that’d be paper towel and toilet tissue tubes—to construct with the Toobalink Starter Kit ($34.99) Part of the fun is collecting as many tubes as possible so the kids can keep building bigger and better structures. Bonus: Watch a video of how to make a simple sword with Toobalink pieces:

Nostalgic Artwork

Children’s book illustrator Phyllis Harris captures the hope and innocence of childhood in her nostalgic artwork, now available in customizable fine art printsto hang in nurseries, kids’ bedrooms, or libraries—they make wonderfully unique baby shower gifts, too. Browse the website to view a wide variety of pictures (we guarantee you’ll have as tough a time as we did choosing just one illustration!), from moments of childhood reflection to tender scenes such as this one of a girl and her loyal canine companion. (Archival giclée prints available in various sizes; $35 for 11-by-14-inch print)  

Round and Round!

Create Your Own Thread Art includes instructions and supplies for making frames, mobiles, coasters, and more (ages 3 and older; $7.50). Or spin a pen-and-paper web with the “new-and-improved” iconic Spirograph Design Set, packaged in a retro-design tin box (ages 8 and older; $14.95).  

Into the Woods

[gallery columns="2" ids="5799,5801"] Have a block party with these original options that go beyond the classic ABC cubes! Kids can form never-ending patterns of marching ants with the Antics Ant Blocks ($250 while the Braille ABC with Sign Language set ($39), also from Uncle Goose, combines ASL symbols with embossed letters (both for ages 2 and older). NYC mainstay SkipHop’s Giraffe Safari Nest and Play Blockslet tots stack and match the sides to reveal towering animals or create a game by dropping included wooden balls in and out of the holes (18 months and older; $20).  

Making It All Up

Let their imaginations run wild with gift options that promote pretend play. Brooklyn’s own Home Grown Books don't just offer visual prompts for storytelling, they edify parents and respect that young children are able to grasp much richer concepts than they can initially read. The seven themed books in The Adventuring Set(ages 3-6; $29.95) use vivid watercolor paintings to depict days of old with kings, inventors, and knights in shining armor as well as castles, submarines, and maps.

Or encourage your kids to inhabit characters off the page with role-playing toys such as the Playmobil Cargo and Passenger Aircraft (ages 4-10; $109.99)—not only can the plane’s roof be removed for tiny figures to play with characters onboard, but it’s even equipped with a miniature bathroom, hinged cockpit, a cargo container, and air traffic control tower. “All clear!”  

Experimental Fun

Let them play with their food! With this Kids’ Edible Chemistry Kitfrom Uncommon Goods, your tinkering scientists can whip up fizzy carbonated concoctions or turn green jelly to blue while learning about acids, bases, solutions, formulas, reactions, carbonation, indicators, pigments, gels, and polymers—and all the ingredients are 100-percent safe to eat or drink (ages 10 and older; $15).

And while your kids aren’t in physics class just yet, that doesn’t mean they can’t absorb some advanced science principles through play. They’ll build their own solar-powered machine with a recycled soda can and the unique solar-motorized modules in Green Science Solar Rover(ages 8 and older; $19.99).