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My 3-year-old absolutely loves Octonauts. Kwazii, the pirate-cat character is the reason he responds to my requests with “Aye aye, mommy!” and he now refers to a platypus as a “duck-faced river monster.”
We found out my son’s friend also watched Octonauts, so we made an Octonauts gift when we were invited to his fourth birthday party.
Here’s what we pulled together for our Octonauts-themed gift set:
Light-up OctoAlert
My main goal for this gift set was an OctoAlert. We already had a couple alert symbols printed and hung with Scotch tape around our house, but I knew I could do better than just paper!
First I picked a set of touch-activated puck lights. It’s super important the lights have a flat surface so you can attach the OctoAlert symbols nicely to the surface where the light emanates.
Once you have the light, print out an OctoAlert symbol. It may take a couple tries to get the sizing right, depending on which image you use and how big your puck lights are. We colored the space around the symbol orange and laminated it for extra protection. Then I added batteries and taped the compartment shut.
Finally, tape the OctoAlert symbol on top of the light, taking care not to cover the touch-activation area. And voila, your very own, light-up OctoAlert! You’ll still have to hum the actual song, I’m afraid.
(NOTE this isn’t a totally kid-proof toy. We keep ours mounted to the wall at all times to safely keep the battery compartment out of reach. Yes, I sacrificed my living room wall for this.)
Printable Dry Erase
I found some awesome printables at 1+1+1=1 and downloaded the “Tot” pack. I laminated a handful of activities that I thought were particularly fun. Many other folks have created Octonauts printables, so search around for whatever might interest your gift recipient.
We cut out the pieces and used a set of thin velcros on the back. (We love these awesome velcro “coins” for the many other print/laminate rainy day activities)
The Octonauts official website also has some printables available.
This is the laminator I have. Don’t forget the dry erase markers! We gave a little zipper pencil packet with the gift that held the markers and smaller pieces from the printable activities.
Other Octonauts Gift Ideas
Mask and cape: We bought this set from Etsy for home dress up. Our kids love it! It would be a fun add-on for an Octonauts-loving kid’s present.
Pajamas: We didn’t give these as a gift, but my husband splurged on a pair of Octonauts pajamas for our son. If your budget allows, these would be a great gift as well. My 3-year-old would sleep in them every. single. night. if I let him 🙂
Toys: We’ve also found luck on re-sale sites like Mercari for Octonauts toy figures and Gups. If your gift recipient won’t mind a gently used item, check out options. You can also buy new Octonauts toys on Amazon, but we’ve found most of the sets run fairly expensive for our budget.