Little Kids Editor’s Picks: Back-to-School 2020 Edition

Learning from home isn't easy — for the parents or the kid. That's why we love the idea behind the new Highlights 15 Minutes a Day monthly subscription box. There's a preschool, kindergarten, and first grade option, and each month parents will recieve standards-aligned workbooks and Highlights puzzles to help your child learn. The best part? Each activity is meant to last no longer than 15 minutes, which is probably the max attention span kids that age have anyways. Each box will also come with fun stickers, certificates, and decoration to help make learning fun.

This gorgeously illustrated magazine opens up history to kids like never before. It tackles subjects from the race to space to the history of the Olympics to the history of espionage (aka spies) through engaging text and pictures. The magazine is about to celebrate its second anniversary, and during this weird school year of virtual school or hybrid school, it would make the perfect supplement. You can subscribe for $70/year and your little historian will receive a new issue every three months, or you can buy individual issues online.

All those apps provided by the school to read free books online is great and all, but at the end of the day, it's just another screen. That's why we love the Kindle Kids — it utilizes their paperwhite technology so kids can access their free library books on it, but it doesn't have the glare, ads, videos, and games like a traditional tablet to distract them with. Right now, they also come with a one-year subscription to Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, so kids can read tons of free titles.

Bored at home kids (and parents) will love receiving this baking kit in the mail each month. What we really love about it is that every single ingredient comes in the kit already premeasured out and prepackaged along with super-clear illustrated directions, making it a breeze for older kids to do the whole thing on their own. Past projects have included whoopie pies, funfetti cupcakes, and many other delicious treats. And spoiler alert: The final product was delicious. The subscription box is $26 a month for the year, or you can just buy individual boxes whenever you want them.

What better time to start teaching a kid a new instrument than during a pandemic? Loog has just introduced a crazy-cute new three-string electric guitar with a built-in amp for kids. And, get this: Kids can learn to play it through augmented reality (what world are we living in even?!). There's the Loog Mini, sized for kids 3 and up, and the Loog Pro for kids 8 and older. The guitars will be shipped in October — perfect for a mini Zoom concert for family over the holidays.

One of the downsides of virtual learning is the loss of traditional art classes at school. That's why we've become huge fans of the Let's Make Art Kids Art boxes. Each month, a curated box arrives with all of the art supplies kids will need to make the multiple projects in the box (because what mom has time to run around gathering specific art supplies?). Kids can follow along with video tutorials and create masterpieces right from the kitchen table.

This isn't your grandmother's globe. This supercool intereactive spinning globe has a small video screen built into it that plays tons of educational BBC videos that talk about the geography, languages, animals, and culture of the place on the globe that's tapped with the stylus.

Noise-canceling headphones in these Zoom times are a must for kids (and parents) so they're not distracted by other siblings, other Zooms, or any other household things going on in the background. We love this pair for its super-comfortable padding, the super-clear integrated microhone, and the fact that there's zero wires. This is a pair we'll be using long after homeschooling is done.

If you can't go mini golfing right now, why not bring the game to you? This indoor/outdoor set couldn't be easier to set up, you simply roll out the wrinkle-free green felt and start setting up the holes and obstacles on top of it. Obstacles include tunnels, ramps, zigzags, a bridge, and a moving windmill. To make it extra cool, all the pieces are neon and glow under a black light — even the golf balls light up when hit with the included putter!

A whiteboard and visual timer all in one, we love this for our kid's homeschooling desk. It helps keep them on task without annoying bells/whistles/Alexa voices and gives them a visual cue of when they need to log back into Zoom or get a task done by — or even when lunch is. It's also great to use for household chores or even something routine, like getting dressed or brushing teeth.

Family game night getting a little old by now? Introduce some fun new games to the rotation like Hedbanz where everyone wears a picture of an object on their head while the rest of the family tries to help them guess what it is.

With everyone on their computers more than ever this school year, blue light glasses are essential. We love the stylish pairs from Felix Gray — for both kids and adults — to help make the whole work/school from home just a little bit easier on the eyes.

Half the battle of remembering to take vitamins every day is that they're usually out of sight, out of mind in some cabinet somewhere. Thanks to the chic reusable glass bottle that comes with a new Hiya kids monthly multivitamin subscription, you'll never have to forget again. Each multivitamin is "supercharged with 15 essential vitamins and minerals known to support immunity, growth, and development among kids" and not sweetened with sugar like many other kids' vitamins. But don't worry, a personal taste test can attest that, yes, they taste good too.

If your kids are like ours, they're spending more time on their bikes and scooters than ever, so keeping them safe while hitting the sidewalk is more crucial than ever. These stylish kids' helmets use WavCel, which is known as the leading technology to protect against head injuries. A dial lets you fit it accurately to your child's unique head. Each helmet also comes with a fun sticker pack so kids can customize the helmet to their heart's desire. We particularly love the innovative buckle that not only clicks easily but reduces that whole pinching the skin under the chin thing. The price may seem steep, but protecting our kids is totally worth it.

It's the Rubik's Cube for a new generation. Kids can use it like a traditional Rubik's Cube, but can also take it up a notch with fun electronic games that test their speed in a variety of challenges.

If your kid is a fan of peg boards, they're going to flip over the SmART Pixelator. They can create designs from the many already-included designs, or you can even upload pictures from your phone (or the internet) through an app, and the machine will pixelate and display it so kids can create peg art out of it.

This versatile building system comes with flexible plastic tiles that connect to create animals that, when combined with LED lights, become glowing works of magic.

Toothbrushing just got more fun thanks to this awesome, sparkly new toothpaste. We love that the formula is completely safe — it has no dyes, SLS, parabens, triclosan, mint, preservatives, gluten, sweeteners, or artificial coloring.