Request for suggestions: Christmas present for 5 year old nephew

madparrot

I'm trying to find a cool, educational-type gift for my nephew who will be turning 5 shortly. Google searches have been largely misses, since toy roundups usually cover rather generic things like blocks or crayons, or vault up into expensive stuff like Leappads. I'm looking more for something with a distinct cachet that:

1. Has a solid educational design
2. Suitable for a 5 year old boy (so no Lego sets or Spacewarp coasters)
3. $60 and under

bonus points if it has pushbuttons, which he likes.

Lindsay Lohan

Why not Lego? My son was playing with them by that age. Not like the super detailed City kits but the generic bucket of Lego are great. This kit's pretty cool as an example:
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3498752&searchURL=false

But there are plenty of $20-30 plastic bucket of Lego type of deals out there.

For button pressing things, how about a real basic RC car? I know we had a couple by then and they're super fun (nothing fancy that will break obviously - some real basic truck/car). There are also some really great Matchbox/Hot Wheels track sets that you do up as a bundle of cars/tracks.

DumpShock

Planet Quest was a winner with my son at that age.
Also have bought more than a few Educational Insights products.

MentalExercise

A dinosaur encyclopedia with some realistic dinosaurs, or the same with regular animals would be a great choice.

If you're not keen on Legos, Lincoln Logs might be a better bet. They're very age appropriate, and deceptively simple. Tons of learning and creativity available there. Especially if you get enough for a cool big fort.

If he's extremely rowdy it might not be ideal, but for the average five year old a Hoberman Sphere is a fascinating toy.

Playdough has some pretty creative sets these days, and there might be something appealing there for you.

If you could find a lever operated steam shovel toy, (try googling 'Working steam shovel toy') they're super great toys and very educational.

Shogun

At the age of five all I wanted was Lego sets but the only money I could ever scrape together was enough for the tiny sets. If you think Lego sets are a bad choice you are seriously mistaken. Don't get the hugest sets available but Lego is a good choice.

Djeet

This thing. I just ordered it for my 4.5 year old plus a nicer low-mag eyepiece. Don't get the accessory kit cause the optics in it aren't so good I read.

iRevert

Shogun wrote: »

At the age of five all I wanted was Lego sets but the only money I could ever scrape together was enough for the tiny sets. If you think Lego sets are a bad choice you are seriously mistaken. Don't get the hugest sets available but Lego is a good choice.

You do know you can buy lego sets in large basic variates right? It makes for a great supplement to the expensive sets.

For uh your kid, yeah thats right you need the 10lb bulk pack for your kid!

ceres

The only thing about lego sets is that at 5 they should still probably have some supervision with them. Most 5-year-olds are probably smart enough not to eat them, but quite a few aren't smart enough to grasp the consequences of half the pieces ending up under the couch or on the other side of the house. If both parent and child love legos though, that could really be a big hit.

CorporateRed

Legos can be a little tough for little people hands and occasionally lead to little people frustration. My four year old loves them and asked Santa for like ten sets, but if he doesn't have someone helping him it often leads to calling the pieces "little bums", which hurts their feelings.

If you really don't like the idea of Legos, a big box of plain wooden blocks provides plenty of imaginative play and would be a big hit with a five year old.

Essee

Along the lines of Lego stuff (I mean really, that's always the answer), if you're worried about their size I'm pretty sure there are still those... what do you call them... Duplo blocks? The big Lego things? I have a big box of those still kicking around from when I was little. Those should be a little easier on everyone, including the poor parents that will inevitably end up walking on the normal version and cursing your name for buying them. Because seriously, there's almost nothing worse than walking on tiny Lego bricks.

Djeet

Lego is pretty great, but at least in my experience he's going to lose a lot of those smaller pieces (single peg pieces and parts for minis) or they will end up under the bed, in crevices, or in the Roomba. There are a lot of alternative construction/builder sets (really neat stuff not available when I was a kid), but some of them have the same issue (lots of easily losable small pieces), or might be not the best fit for a 5 year old to play with unattended (mechanized erector set with metal pieces). Marble runs are pretty cool, you'll have to decide if the kid is sharp or resolute enough to build them by himself as they are more complex than just stacking things. At this age I start to look for stuff I would play with, like miniature catapult or trebuchet kits, though their educational value is questionable (I would lead with it teaching classical physics: ballistics).

Lindsay Lohan

Five is sort of at the age where Duplos seem to young to a kid, they want the real Legos. That's why I would avoid the thematic kits and get a bucket of general bricks. They make a great intermediate step between Duplo and the smaller, more detailed pieces of the actual themed kits and are less frustrating than having a 5 year old try to follow the step by step kits. That way you have the storage solution right with the bricks which should also help keep them somewhat together. Truthfully though - being a parent of a boy means occasionally stepping on Lego.

We had great luck with the Kid K'Nex kits too - they were really fun and again tended to come with storage totes to keep them in. Lincoln Logs are fun, but they are actually a bit more challenging to get an actual four walled house to come together perfectly and have a roof fit it.

I also just remembered one of my son's favorite toys from K-1 grades was his marble drop. They generally have them at Toys r Us and they are really, really fun. He could make his own basic ones really easily and then a grownup could play and make more complex stuff - we've had ours at least 4 years now and it still gets playtime.

ceres

Yeah, actually my friend's kid has like four of those marble things... most of them are compatible with each other so he can take them apart and build something basic. There are also a number of train-track type sets for kids that age.

Nosf

At age 5, my brother and I were both firmly in the "Lego is the one true toy" camp. My nephew is only 3 so I've been getting him MegaBlok type kits with trains and such. When I looked at the age group listings, 5 is about where they start to get the neat ones, little star wars ships, planes, cars. I wish I could remember the exact name of what I had been getting, the last one was a little logging work camp (told my brother I got him a soviet gulag work camp) and it was a big hit.

My grandparents used to get me sciencey type toys like Spirograph, electronics kits or ones that worked thinking, reflexes etc like Marble Mayhem and Perfection.

Giggles_Funsworth

Some of the Dinosaur Lego sets are suitable/rated for five year olds. I have tested this on the five year old boy in my life with great success.