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Welcome to the annual At Home With the Johnsons Christmas Gift Guide for Children. As a Mother of three children, a pre-teen, a little one and something in the middle, I have done my fair share of Christmas gift buying only to be disappointed to see heaps of plastic toys unwanted and not played with less than a year later. This is why I have made it my mission to bring my readers this guide of incredible books and games from wonderful brands that your child will love this Christmas and for years later.

Tinsel

This tale of friendship, sleigh rides and two formidable girls is the perfect children’s Christmas gift for this year. Joyful and hilarious, this book is full of loveable characters and dialogue that is guaranteed to make you laugh out loud. A gloriously Christmassy adventure that will delight any child this Christmas. Get yours here.

Illumisaurus Book

Journey back in time to the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods with Illumisaurus. Your little one will come face-to-face with prehistory’s most spectacular dinosaurs, plants and animals. Bring this lost world to kaleidoscopic life with your magic three-colour viewing lens. This book takes you on a real adventure, the lenses show locations, dinosaurs and wildlife in stunning detail. This book is a must for any dinosaur and history lovers out there and the innovative illustrations will even impress the grown- ups!

Yappy Personalised Book

A simply genius idea! Let your child unleash their inner detective with this exciting search and find book, with the star of the show being none other than your pet! Watch your child unleash their inner detective to search and find your daring dog as they embark on an epic journey through the weird and wonderful world dedicated to our four-legged friends. With twelve beautifully illustrated locations to explore, each double page spread is bustling with exciting scenarios, with every scene personalised just for your dog. A unique and fun gift sure to keep the whole family entertained this Christmas. Create yours here.

One Hundred Steps

We all know the world was mesmerised by Captain Tom during 2020 lockdown. This book captures his life story and his inspirational quotes in a book that is accessible to all. A truly inspiring individual and brings some much needed joy to the strangest of times. Beautifully illustrated, this hard-backed, heart-warming book is a must have gift for Christmas this year.

Blue Planet II

Give your child the chance to dive into these incredible stories from the known and adored BBC Blue planet II. Open up to discover stories of shimmering coral reefs in a kaleidoscope of colours, otters chasing one another through underwater forests and King penguins tip-toeing past snoozing Southern elephant seals. With an abundance of mind boggling facts and important climate change information, this beautifully illustrated book is certain to be hugely popular with children and adults alike.

Backward Science

This book is as backward as it promises. Starting at the end and ending at the beginning. Travel back in history and discover what life was like before major inventions and discoveries. Step into a time before smartphones, television, cars, or even the toilet; then learn about the major invention or discovery that changed the world. Explore bright, detailed, humorous scenes from different eras that will spark discussion and make you think about what life was like in history. Learn about the clever inventors, the accidental discoveries, and how people managed without the everyday things that we take for granted. Backwards Science is a fun and informative gift for all to enjoy.

Everybody Counts

This fun book will get you counting from 0 to 7.5 billion but it’s the hidden messages that mean this book is so much more. Follow the characters’ stories and see how their lives collide with those of others. There are a lot of secrets to be discovered for the sharp-eyed! You will see that everyone is different, everyone has their own life, and that – most importantly – everybody counts. At the end, a spotting section allows you to go back and have even more fun, this is the book that keeps on giving. It is no wonder that Everybody Counts is critically acclaimed for its unique approach to visual communication and has been awarded some of the world’s highest honours for children’s literature.

Its Your Story

Its your story specialise in creating beautiful photo- personalised books, which truly bring reading to life by featuring the child in the pictures as well as the story. Aimed predominantly at pre-school children and early readers, these personalised books are designed to immediately engage young children and help foster a love of reading from a young age. With the largest range of festive and non festive books in the world, the possibilities of personalised adventures are endless. Add a touch of magic to a Christmas eve box or festive read. Create yours and see what magic Its your story has to offer here.

Little people Big Dreams- Elton John

Little People, BIG DREAMS is a bestselling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream. Empower your child with this incredible story of the life and achievements of Sir Elton John. This moving book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the musician’s life. This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages.

Little people Big dreams – Tom Moore

Discover the life of Captain Tom Moore, the veteran who raised over 30 million pounds for the NHS during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. By buying a copy of this book, you are making a donation of 3% of the cover price to NHS Charities Together. Teach your kids the power of determination by showing them Captain Sir Tom Moore’s picture book biography. The perfect gift to inspire your child and a memory of 2020 everyone can enjoy.

Ispace Wellbeing

After a rollercoaster of a year, there has never been a more important time to help children learn to be in touch with their emotions. ‘Have you ever had a Stressor?’ is the first book in the iSpace Wellbeing collection. Designed to help children learn to talk about their thoughts, feelings and worries; it gently teaches them tools and strategies to manage their emotional wellbeing, including who and how to ask for help. I space wellbeing are dedicated to their mission of helping improve and protect children’s emotional and mental wellbeing, this book is a great way to open up conversations with your children and do just that. See more from I space wellbeing here.

How to Spot and Artist

Danielle Krysas mission is to help people overcome the fear that they “aren’t creative.” Now she uses her characteristic playfulness, lively illustrations, and humour to help kids overcome negativity about their artistic endeavours and to help them redefine what being an artist means. Every page delivers encouragement to the kid who thinks artists all live in cities, or that art has to look like something familiar, or that painting and drawing are the only way to make art. In a world that drastically undervalues creative freedom, Krysa’s whimsical paintings and collages joyfully proclaim that art is essential and that artists are everywhere. This beautiful hard back book will make the perfect gift for any budding young artist.

Pass The Bomb

Pass the Bomb – The Big One! The latest game in the Pass the Bomb range is finally here and family board game nights will never be the same again. Roll the die, trigger the time-bomb and attempt to complete the task before passing it to the next player. Keep playing while the infernal time-bomb ticks away but watch out – the time-bomb is unstable and could “detonate” at any moment! Action packed fun! This is sure to be a huge hit this Christmas.

Quirk!

Quirk! is the hilariously funny, family card game that has everyone squawking, saving the world and breathing fire! Embrace your silly side with sounds and actions while causing a whole lot of mischief for your family and friends. If a wild game is your kind of thing, throw in a few mischief cards in to really switch up the odds of your game. Quirk! is an amazingly silly game for fun people and provides interactive play for all ages. With 26 characters, each game includes 2 decks of cards so you can mix and match your favourites to make every game different. A real festive family must have.

Banana Blast

Hours of fun! There’s no better time to crack out the games with loved ones than Christmas. Banana blast is a hilarious and fast paced game guaranteed to make a fantastic gift. Banana Joe sits atop his monkey hill guarding his bananas all day. Can you steal them from him? Pull the bananas from Joe’s hill but watch out! One of Joe’s bananas will make him jump, but it’s a different banana every time! Will you catch Banana Joe to win the game? Get yours here.

What A Performance

Orchard Toys have been making educational games and jigsaws in Britain for nearly 50 years, so it comes as no surprise that ‘what a performance’ does not disappoint. Be a star and rise to the challenge in this action-packed game of family fun! There are over 300 challenges – from actions to sounds to charades – to perform in this fun family game! Bring the family together with this fantastic game.

Gruffalo 4 In A Box Puzzle

There’s endless puzzling fun to be had with this Four in a Box Jigsaw Puzzle from Ravensburger! Fans of The Gruffalo will love piecing together the four scenes from the beloved bedtime story. Made of strong, high quality cardboard and with a special linen finish printto minimize glare, these puzzles will quickly become a cosy winter favouriteand make for a fantastic gift.