Your mailbox is buldging at the seams, and it’s still..oh, my goodness… Black Friday is this Friday! So after chopping everything I need for Thanksgiving dinner, I went shopping for my 7-year old daughter, and I bought some great items.

The Make-Your-Own Mask Kit promises hours of fun as we head into some inevitable snow days. My classy girl will be able to turn herself into a queen or a pirate, depending on her mood that day. The mask kit comes with a portable tote, 10 masks, elastic cords to hold the masks in place, and cutouts of glasses, funny lips, feathers–all kinds of fun accessories. I also bought the set of six Paint Markers so she can easily paint large sections of the masks.  I am looking forward to many a performance as she and her friends act out the various parts created by their masks.

The Make-Your-Own Mask Kit is $18.95 and the set of six Paint Markers is $14.95 from www.mindware.com

I also bought the Mini Dino Triceratops Excavation Kit from Mindware.  When we visit the Children’s Center at the American Museum of Natural History there is an excavation table where my daughter enjoys chipping away at the earth to uncover the dinosaur skelton.  Now she can pursue this same activity at home.  The Kit has a hammer, chisel, pick, brush and sponge that provides a real excavation experience for your budding paleontologist.  The kits are $12.95 each.

For my last purchase this evening I also bought Geometry Connectagons from Hearth Song.  We already have the Butterflies and Flowers Connectagons, and we spend hours connecting the wooden discs that are designed to connect with color-complement pieces in a free-form sculpture of my daughter’s design.  I am not buying their special offer because we already own one of the series.  But Connectagons are great gifts.  The sets come in wooden boxes for storage.  Connectagons Geometry is $24.98 at www.hearthsong.com                                      

Don’t you just love being able to shop fom home?