The gift guide

Grown-ups tend to get more happiness from experiences than from things. Young children don’t: in four American studies, children aged 3 to 12 got more happiness from material goods than from experiences.¹ So a gift they can hold is a good start, and for a child in South Africa between two and eight, the right one changes almost every birthday.

What makes a good gift for a child?

Ask first, then choose one good thing. In five studies of adults (think wedding registries and wish lists), people appreciated gifts they had asked for more than surprises.² Children don’t write registries, so ask Mum, Dad or whoever does bedtime what they can’t stop talking about this month. And toddlers given 4 toys played with each for longer, and in more varied ways, than when they had 16.³

Gifts by age, at a glance

Our five classics are written for about three to seven. They are new, so no study has looked at them yet, but the ways they practise each skill are well studied. The school years below are the usual ones, though children vary, and Learning explains each year.

A gift for a two-year-old

Babies and young children “learn when they play”, says South Africa’s early-learning framework.⁴ At two, the fun is in joining in. The Golden Road has a house that spins (Whoosh!), Munchkins with bells on their hats (Ting-a-ling!) and a refrain to chant long before they can count: “Count with me, and come with me!”

Let them lead. In a 2021 trial in Khayelitsha, caregivers of children aged 21 to 28 months joined eight weekly sessions on sharing picture books, beginning with following the child’s lead and using a lively voice. Their children gained more in language and attention than those of families still waiting for the course, though not on every measure.⁵ So let them turn the pages and stop where they like, and do the Whoosh with feeling.

A gift for a three-year-old

If they ask for the same story again, give in. In a UK study, three-year-olds who heard the same stories three times in a week learned the new words in them; those who heard different stories with the same new words learned none.⁶

Many three-year-olds can recite numbers without knowing what counting does: in US studies, children usually grasped that the last number counted tells you “how many” at about three and a half.⁷ The Golden Road practises exactly that: one touch for each number, then “So how many?”

Sharing is hard at three. In a Swiss study, only 8.7% of three- and four-year-olds shared sweets when it cost them one of their own.⁸ Jakkals and Wolf turns fair shares into a rule to chant: “One for you, one for me: fair share!”

A gift for a four-year-old

Down the Rabbit Hole has a very slow Caterpillar (“Who… are… you?”) and a baby who turns into a pig, so read it with feeling: in a study of 92 preschoolers aged about four and three-quarters, those who heard an expressive recording of a story remembered more of it, when asked specific questions, than those who heard a flat one.⁹

A child’s own name is often where letters begin, though at first children know the letter’s name better than its sound.¹⁰ Down the Rabbit Hole works on the sound: every door in Wonderland opens to a first sound, and the great gate to theirs.

As you read, they will mostly be looking at the pictures. In a study of 44 preschoolers, only about 5 to 6% of their glances landed on the print, rising when adults pointed to the words or talked about them.¹¹ So when their name comes up, put a finger under its first letter and say its sound.

A gift for a five-year-old

For most children, five or six is the Grade R year, and since 24 December 2024 compulsory schooling has started there, in the year a child turns six.^{12, 13} Our Grade R guide says where the roll-out stands. Each of our three Grade R books matches an outcome in CAPS: The Golden Road counting (CAPS asks for “at least 10 everyday objects”; the book goes to 12),¹⁴ Down the Rabbit Hole the first sound of their name,¹⁵ and Second to the Right saying how they feel,¹⁶ on a night flight past a cable car fast asleep on its wire.

A homemade board game goes well with the book. In US studies, a simple race game on a straight board numbered 1 to 10 helped low-income preschoolers catch up with better-off children in number skills;¹⁷ our page on how children learn to count has the details.

A gift for a six-year-old

Give them something to shout. In Up the Beanstalk the giant laughs so hard the whole castle shakes, and the refrain, “Make it ten, climb again!”, is theirs. It practises Grade 1’s “number bonds to 10”:¹⁸ two beans and eight make ten, then seven leaves and three.

The giant’s finger game from the book works without it, too: before the light goes off, show some fingers, ask how many more would make ten, and let them quiz you back.

Jakkals and Wolf matches Grade 1 Life Skills, where “Waiting my turn” and “Sharing” are on the list of manners and responsibilities;¹⁶ in the Karoo, they come down to six figs, one spade and one tyre swing.

A gift for a seven-year-old

Jakkals tries one more trick: he tells Wolf that the moon shining in the dam is a great big cheese. Grade 2 Life Skills covers “Dealing positively with conflict”, which is Jakkals and Wolf’s territory, and “Life at night”: bedtime, stories, sleep and dreams, and night animals, the jackal among them.¹⁶ Second to the Right fits that one.

Grade 2 stretches number bonds to 20, after a first term of bonds to 10.¹⁸ Up the Beanstalk practises the bonds to 10, and every sum in it makes ten.

Fairness is growing, too: in the Swiss study, 45% of seven- and eight-year-olds shared when it cost them,⁸ against 8.7% at three and four.

A gift for an eight-year-old

Eight is the top of our range. Grade 3 counts to 1,000 and practises bonds to 30,¹⁴ beyond the sums in our classics, and gives six hours of Life Skills to feelings, including how to say sorry.¹⁶

That makes our classics a little young for them, so their own adventure is the best fit at eight: an original story about what they love, set somewhere they know, with one skill chosen with you.

Reading aloud tends to fade about now, at least in Britain: in a survey for a children’s publisher at the end of 2024, only 22% of eight- to ten-year-olds were read to regularly at home.¹⁹ Keep going. At eight you can read them books a year or two beyond what they can manage alone.

CAPS is our reference; the Department of Basic Education doesn’t endorse us.

Which format makes the best gift?

The hardcover (R699) is our pick for a gift, the one to keep on the shelf as they grow. The softcover (R499) is the everyday copy. The digital edition (R249) puts the book on any screen, which suits family far away, and the Series (R1,799 a year) brings four books, one skill each. Every format includes the trailer, there’s nothing to pay until you’ve seen the cover, and all four are side by side in our prices.

How does a gift order work?

Gogos, Oumas and godparents are very welcome. We’ll ask the child’s parent or guardian for the photos and their go-ahead before we make anything, and we can send it straight to the family with no prices in the parcel.

We’re aiming for 7 to 10 days after you approve the preview. Christmas order dates will follow once our printer is confirmed.

More on giving

Gifts from grandparents and godparents, for Christmas and for starting school, and the research on a good gift.

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  Grandparents and godparents

  From Gogo, with love

  What makes a good gift for a grandchild, what South Africans call their grandparents, and how Gogo, Oupa or a godparent can give a book starring the child.

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  Christmas

  The gift that outlasts Boxing Day

  Christmas gifts for children in South Africa: why a book outlasts Boxing Day, what helps in the long summer holiday, and a counting game for the road trip.

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  Starting school

  First day, first sound

  What the first term of Grade R and Grade 1 asks of a five- or six-year-old, a book that makes a good starting-school gift, and gentle help with goodbyes.

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  The psychology

  A gift that’s still loved in March

  An economist said Christmas presents waste money. What psychologists have found since about price, surprise and sentiment, and what it means for a child.

Sources

1. Chaplin, L. N., Lowrey, T. M., Ruvio, A. A., Shrum, L. J., & Vohs, K. D. (2020). Age differences in children’s happiness from material goods and experiences: The role of memory and theory of mind. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 37(3), 572–586. doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2020.01.004
2. Gino, F., & Flynn, F. J. (2011). Give them what they want: The benefits of explicitness in gift exchange. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47(5), 915–922. doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2011.03.015
3. Dauch, C., Imwalle, M., Ocasio, B., & Metz, A. E. (2018). The influence of the number of toys in the environment on toddlers’ play. Infant Behavior and Development, 50, 78–87. doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2017.11.005
4. Department of Basic Education (2015). The South African National Curriculum Framework for Children from Birth to Four. Pretoria: DBE. education.gov.za (PDF)
5. Dowdall, N., Murray, L., Skeen, S., Marlow, M., De Pascalis, L., Gardner, F., Tomlinson, M., & Cooper, P. J. (2021). Book-sharing for parenting and child development in South Africa: A randomized controlled trial. Child Development, 92(6), 2252–2267. doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13619
6. Horst, J. S., Parsons, K. L., & Bryan, N. M. (2011). Get the story straight: Contextual repetition promotes word learning from storybooks. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 17. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00017
7. Wynn, K. (1990). Children’s understanding of counting. Cognition, 36(2), 155–193. doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(90)90003-3
8. Fehr, E., Bernhard, H., & Rockenbach, B. (2008). Egalitarianism in young children. Nature, 454(7208), 1079–1083. doi.org/10.1038/nature07155
9. Mira, W. A., & Schwanenflugel, P. J. (2013). The impact of reading expressiveness on the listening comprehension of storybooks by prekindergarten children. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 44(2), 183–194. doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461(2012/11-0073)
10. Treiman, R., & Broderick, V. (1998). What’s in a name: Children’s knowledge about the letters in their own names. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 70(2), 97–116. doi.org/10.1006/jecp.1998.2448
11. Justice, L. M., Pullen, P. C., & Pence, K. (2008). Influence of verbal and nonverbal references to print on preschoolers’ visual attention to print during storybook reading. Developmental Psychology, 44(3), 855–866. doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.44.3.855
12. Basic Education Laws Amendment Act 32 of 2024, section 2 (amending section 3(1) of the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996). Government Gazette No. 51258, 16 September 2024. gov.za (PDF)
13. Minister of Basic Education. Reply to parliamentary question NW1483 (2025): The BELA Act’s commencement on 24 December 2024, and the roll-out of compulsory Grade R. pmg.org.za
14. Department of Basic Education (2011). Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS): Mathematics, Grade R, with the Foundation Phase overview. Pretoria: DBE. education.gov.za (PDF)
15. Department of Basic Education (2011). Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS): English Home Language, Foundation Phase, Grades R–3. Pretoria: DBE. education.gov.za (PDF)
16. Department of Basic Education (2011). Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS): Life Skills, Foundation Phase, Grades R–3. Pretoria: DBE. education.gov.za (PDF)
17. Siegler, R. S., & Ramani, G. B. (2008). Playing linear numerical board games promotes low-income children’s numerical development. Developmental Science, 11(5), 655–661. doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2008.00714.x
18. Department of Basic Education (2011). Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS): Mathematics, Foundation Phase, Grades 1–3. Pretoria: DBE. education.gov.za (PDF)
19. HarperCollins Children’s Books (27 May 2025). New data and research on children’s reading for pleasure from HarperCollins (NielsenIQ BookData survey, December 2024). collins.co.uk