People young and old — from 8 to 88 — admire animals. Everyone, whether they admit it or not, has an affection for at least one or two species.

But there is more to enjoying wildlife than just observing a bird at a backyard feeder or watching a moose raise her calf. And more often than not, that appreciation and understanding for Earth’s wild animals starts with the curious mind of a child.

Encourage that curiosity and admiration for science with a Christmas present that stimulates creativity and a passion for learning. Or support the fascination of animals with a basket full of animal-themed gifts. Or maybe build the foundation for a future zoologist, biologist or veterinarian by giving a stuffed animal of a giraffe or wolf.

And encouraging an interest in science-based educational toys, such as STEM toys (science, technology, engineering and math), can have a lifelong benefit.

According to an article published by the School of Education at American University, “STEM toys alone probably won’t turn a reluctant child into a miniature scientist, engineer, or programmer. But wherever your child’s interests take her, the skills STEM toys provide—creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and confidence—will serve her well throughout her education and future career, regardless of what field she chooses.”

Several shops in town cater to gifts for children and many others sell products that feature animals and science-based learning. Here are a few that support the encouragement of science and a passion for building awareness about animals.

Toy Mountain

Located at 160 West Elkhorn Avenue, Toy Mountain is the only shop in town dedicated to children’s toys — and a few the adults might enjoy too.

As a local, independent store, their buying ability can’t compete with the big box stores and online retailers, so Barbie and Legos do not make up a large portion of their inventory.

“I can’t compete with big box store prices, so I buy local and unique gifts,” said Marion Adkins, manager of Toy Mountain. “We also don’t carry electronics. Kids are on electronics all day, so I want to see kids play board games and use their imagination. That gets lost nowadays.”

Adkins energetically went through the store showing off the unique gift ideas they sell for children who enjoy science, engineering and animals.

A shelf full of products from KidzLabs features an award-winning line of toys designed to encourage kids to build hands-on experiments. Toys include a fingerprint kit, a kit to build a safe and a magnet set for constructing a variety of items with super magnets, all based on the STEAM principles of learning.

Anyone have a sea monkey aquarium as a child? Well, now you can pass along that enjoyment of growing a tank of sea life to children on the Christmas shopping list.

Have a child who loves animals yet tends to have a shy personality? Encourage their creative side with a marionette.

“Marionettes are great for kids who are shy and don’t want to be in the spotlight,” said Adkins. “Kids make background stories, dialogues, a whole day’s worth of activities. They use their imagination to write the story. Then draw a backdrop on a piece of paper and place the marionette in front of the paper so people don’t see the puppeteer.”

Toy Mountain sells a wide variety of marionettes, like unicorns, dinosaurs, raccoons, bears, a monkey, flamingos and a sloth, all with easily detachable strings to prevent tangling.

“Kids were asking for sloths,” said Adkins. “Sloths were very popular, but now they all want axolotls, a kind of salamander. We sell those too.”

The shop also stocks an educational activity kit with more than 40 science projects, a microscope project and a potato clock — you have to see it to believe it; potatoes not included.

Toy Mountain is open daily through Christmas Eve from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with reduced hours on Christmas Eve.

The Lazy Moose

Most stores in downtown Estes Park stock toys featuring animals, but few stock as many plus a plethora of clothing options, like pajamas, socks, hats and slippers, as The Lazy Moose.

Jam packed with racks of clothing and other apparel items, the kids are immediately drawn to the wall of stuffed animals, per the retail clerk working at the shop. He mentioned several times how impressed he is that young children come in knowing what each of the animals are on the wall.

In particular, he said children seem to have a fondness for the chipmunk plush toy. That same wall of plush toys includes dinosaurs — another popular item — unicorns, fox, giraffes, and raccoons.

Beyond the plush toys, shoppers can find slippers in the likeness of bears and moose, socks featuring bugs and raccoons plus more bears and moose, and pajamas with moose and bears in sizes for the whole family.

The Lazy Moose is located at 140 East Elkhorn Avenue and is open daily through Christmas Eve from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

STUFFED

If you have a child that adores animals, then check out STUFFED. With more than a thousand varieties of stuffed plush animals — from the largest Steiff collection west of the Mississippi to the Warmies collection of miniature plush animals to warm in the microwave — this shop definitely encourages an adoration for animals.

And as an adult, you can enjoy the experience of taking a photo with the life-size, singing bear while you shop for a Christmas present from a menagerie of animals — tigers, elephants, penguins, sloths, rabbits, pandas, hippos, zebras and more.

STUFFED is located at 145 East Elkhorn Avenue and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.