Faculty recommendations – books and toys

Have you finished your holiday shopping yet?  Are you looking for a good gift idea for a spouse, a child, a friend, or maybe even for yourself?  We have a few suggestions for you.  Our faculty recommends:

Toys:

• Marble mazes or Marbleworks® (for children over 3 years)
• Set – a card game that encourages thinking, matching, and pattern recognition
• Yo-yo
• Finger paint, art supplies and craft kits – to stimulate imagination, creativity, and hands-on fun
• Building toys for children younger than 3 years old:  duplo, Lincoln Logs, or cardboard building blocks.  
• Building toys for children older than 3 years old:  LEGO®, K’NEX, Magna-Tiles®
• Jump ropes, balls, swing sets, jacks – to encourage unstructured, safe, outdoor and active play
• Dolls or action figures – to encourage imaginative play
• Robotics- for middle schoolers and high schoolers
• Play dough, esp. homemade, for sensory play and imagination/creativity
• Puppets – for creative and imaginary play
• Musical instruments – slide whistles, harmonicas, xylophones, drums, bells, keyboards, etc.
• Games – Sorry!, Candy Land, Monopoly, Uno, Mad Libs, Apples to Apples, and many others – to encourage interaction with family and/or friends
• Books – for all children.  Ask the bookstore or your library for excellent recommendations  

Books for adults – (or what we have been reading recently):

• The Goldfinch: A Novel, by Donna Tartt
• Behind the Beautiful Forevers, by Katherine Boo
• Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know, by Alexandra Horowitz
• Under the Tuscan Sun, by Frances Mayes
• Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption, by Katie Davis with Beth Clark
• Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers, by Anne Lamott
• The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care, by T. R. Reid
• Emotional Intelligence:  Why It Can Matter More than IQ and Working with Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Goleman
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain
• Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time, by Brigid Schulte
• A Compromised Generation: The Epidemic of Chronic Illness in America’s Children, by Beth Lambert with Victoria Kobliner
• Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think, by Brian Wansink
• Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation, by Sharan Merriam