Your Essential Guide to Open-Ended Gifts

🌟 Fuel Their Creativity: Your Essential Guide to Open-Ended Gifts

Hi there, fellow parents! Nicola, Owner of Imagimags here. 

I’m a bit of an open-ended toy fanatic. I love watching my children unwrap and begin to play with a toy that doesn’t come with instructions. There’s sometimes a moment of uncertainty, maybe checking the box for ideas, but soon enough, they’re off! 

And it’s not only their excitement that makes me feel great. I feel pretty chuffed with myself cause I know that I’ve bought them something priceless — a tool to grow their imagination.

This is my countdown of the Top Ten open-ended presents to put under the Christmas tree this year.

 

🧱 Top 10 Imagination Essentials

1. Imagimags

Well, of course! The safest, widest range of magnetic tiles in SA. There is no end to the building, and to the play with all their other open-ended toys. My children have LOTS of Imagimags and they still want more!!!

 

2. Figurines & Small World Play

These are the characters of your child's imagination. Our People Set is perfect to fill their builds. Duplo animals are just the right size, and they attach perfectly to the Train Set's studded tiles. I also love the sophistication and beauty of Djeco Tinyly.

3. Play Silks and Dress-Up Clothes

With a play silk around your neck, you’re a superhero from your imagination. Small blankets become sides and roofs of lounge

 forts! Simple, open-ended dress-up clothes, like hats, scarves, and an old blazer, let children inhabit the characters of their stories, instantly giving purpose to the castles built with Imagimags.

 

4. Wooden Blocks

The classic open-ended toy. Wooden blocks, like Imagimags, grow with your child — managing more complex designs. But they don't always manage the tricky designs your child throws at them! (That's where our magnets help!)

 

5. Art Easel & Art Materials

I’m big into process over perfection! As far as you can manage, let them get messy. Finger paints and play dough, then poster paint, markers, crayons, and lots and lots of blank paper.

 

6. Train & Vehicle Sets

Wheeled toys, for ALL children! One of my children’s favourite play combinations has been to build ramps out of Imagimags and then race their Hot Wheels down them. Of course, we offer wheeled toys too, our Vehicle Set and Train Set are ready to roll out the box. 

 

7. Collaborative Board Games

Board games are the gift that brings the family together! We are a little obsessed with board games. While the games themselves have rules, the social and strategic interaction is highly open-ended. Peaceable Kingdom makes amazing cooperative board games for under 7s. Sushi Go! and Sleeping Queens are fun card games. Catan is a classic, and Dixit is an incredibly imaginative board game.

8. Hands-On Science & Engineering

Anything that bubbles, glows, or changes colour for the win! 4M, available at Toys R Us, make some great kits, perfect for stocking fillers. Then on the higher end, our Marble Run is the ultimate investment in hands-on physics and engineering—and it's pure fun!!

 

9. Loose Parts & Nature Items

Pinecones, shells, pebbles… A nature table of their treasures, gathered on walks or trips to the beach, can be used as props and decorations in their play. And human-made items like felt balls and ribbons bring colour. These items integrate perfectly with Imagimags to create furniture and scenery.

 

10. Construction Toys

Building the playscape is the start of the imaginative play. While we absolutely love our favourite brick brand, many of their sets aren’t very open-ended. But with the studded tiles in our Construction Set, children can bring their bricks into their imaginative play. 

An open-ended gift will bring hours of happy, imaginative, collaborative play, and YOU will feel good too, for investing in your child’s imagination.