Bike World
Put your tykes on bikes. A Las Vegas fixture since 1969, Bike World maintains a sprawling inventory of bikes across its two Valley locations, from rugged BMX to hip Schwinn replicas. (If you’re the kind of parent who would get their kid a Schwinn Grey Ghost Sting-Ray—with its glitter banana seat and ape-hanger handlebars, as seen on Stranger Things—our hats are off to you.) And if you’re not up to assembling that gift, the service techs will do it for a modest fee. 2320 E. Flamingo Road, 702-735-7551; 1901 S. Rainbow Blvd., 702-254-1718; bikeworldlv.com.
Desert Art Supplies
This past year has demonstrated two things with certainty: Kids in lockdown need to be kept busy, and there can never be enough art to keep our spirits lifted. Desert Art Supply offers gifts to solve both of those human equations. Give them Prismacolor markers and watercolor paints; give them modeling clay and Revell model kits; give them screen-printing supplies and calligraphy pens. Make more artists, in case we ever have to go through something like this again. 2003 E. Charleston Blvd., 702-382-5404; 2750 N. Green Valley Parkway #D, 702-451-8040; desertartsupplies.com.
Kappa Toys
It’s located in a mall (Fashion Show, upper level), but this locally owned toy shop bears little relation to the K-Bs and FAO Schwartzes of old. Kappa’s selection of toys, plushes, games, science toys, wind-ups, craft kits, Japanese items and the like skews to the unusual, the nostalgic; these are gifts that make you smile simply by picking them up. Here you’ll find everything from crystal-growing kits to Dragonball Z figures to Duncan Butterfly yo-yos, in sizes ranging from stocking-stuffer to showstopper. 3200 Las Vegas Blvd. S. #2470, 702-832-9504; kappatoys.com.
Meepleville
This “board game café” stocks hundreds of thoughtful, offbeat and downright fun board games, of which the Catan, Dungeons & Dragons and Ticket to Ride series are just a small but significant part. How about the Exit series, escape room games you can play at home? New York Slice, a pizza-themed matching game? Or Confident?, a make-an-educated-guess party game that can played in person or over Zoom? Give something that will make these remaining lockdown days fly by. 4704 W. Sahara Ave., 702-444-4540; meepleville.com.
The Writer’s Block
It goes without saying that this sharply curated Downtown bookstore has a vast selection of readers for all age groups—from picture books for toddlers to YA adventures for teens. But it also stocks other sorts of fuel for young, curious minds: games, picture blocks, jigsaw puzzles, blank books for aspiring artists and writers and fancy pens to fill them up. You can even give your kids an “adopted” bird from the shop’s artificial bird sanctuary. Every feathered friend has a rich backstory. 519 S. 6th St. #100, 702-550-6399; thewritersblock.org.
