clavus

My son is outgrowing his old stff, but not ready for a lot of the cool-looking toys I see. What is a good toy?

He gets a lot of use out of his Hotwheels. We got him a Hotsheels Tiki Fire tower thing, but it is crap. It is poorly made and doesn't work well.


He likes Play Doh, does a lot of drawing, and has a ton of educational toys so don't suggest those things. I'm looking for something that he and his buddies will want to PLAY with. It does not need have to have any socially redeeming values.

__________________
Ass, gas or grass. Nobody rides for free.

absorbentishe

Ninja turtles are what my 5 year old plays with. Also, rescue heros are a hit with him.

raeanna74

A remote control car? You might be surprised at his skills. I know my daughter enjoyed the cheapo one I got her a while back. Unfortunately it got busted but I got a cheap one because I expected that at some point at her age.

A race track is something else I got my daughter. You need a place where you can leave it set up though but a small card table should be enough. I got her's for $6.00 after Easter in a prepackaged easter basket at the store. Not that expensive. It still works and is in good condition.

A package of small squirt guns (not the super soaker kind) that the kids can go nuts with each other with - OUTSIDE of course.

What kind of interests does he have? My daughter likes car racing and barbies. lol But does he like cowboys? or army toys? what else?

How about a lego tech set? the kind that can make things work. Or the new ones with knights and all? He's probably getting to the age that the bigger legos aren't as interesting.

How about a wiffle ball set? or plastic baseball set.

Need more ideas?

__________________
"Always learn the rules so that you can break them properly." Dalai Lama
My Karma just ran over your Dogma.

clavus

I'm looking for an INSIDE toy, as the Winter is fast approaching.

He has some small remote control cars. He seems kind of bored with them now. Maybe we'll take them out in the winter time again.

"Rescue heros" is something I hear a lot. Is this a brand or a general category of action figures.

He is into Spiderman and Hulk, though he has no superhero toys.

He really really likes cars. But after reading the reviews on Amazon, I've come to the conclusion that everything made by Hotwheels is total garbage (except the cars themselves).

Let's see...He likes dinosaurs, bugs, robots skeletons, and airplanes. He is bred with the "little kid" legos, and not quite ready for the big kid legos.

__________________
Ass, gas or grass. Nobody rides for free.

absorbentishe

Rescue Heros are a cool action figure toy with a boat load of accessories. My son has a lot of them, and cars and firetrucks, motorcycles, etc. You should be able to find them at Toy aren't Us or any where toys are sold.

Giant Hamburger

Whenever I'm in doubt, I purchase more legos.

powerclown

Hehehehe, sound choice sir.

I'll add: jigsaw puzzles (30-50 piece count)

raeanna74

Also a friend of ours just gave us a Leap Pad. They have story books as well as learning books for the kids to read. If you get the Leap pad for elementary kids with the books that open side to side and not top to bottom they will work for all the Leap pad books even up through the quantum leap pad books. Yeah it's very pricey to start with but now that I've seen my daughter using it and enjoying it so much I wish I'd gotten one sooner. It just takes AA batteries so no special batteries and these seem to have lasted a while already.

My daughter also loves her tap player for kids. I got her some ear buds too so that I don't have to hear it all the time and she loves using them. She's got several tapes that she enjoys.

I also have a large assortment of stickers and I've saves the Christmas stamps from different organizations. Then I got her a bunch of smaller envelopes, construction paper, scissors, and she makes letters for everyone. She plays mailman then and passes them out to her stuffed animals or even my neighbors.

One of her little friends who is 3 1/2 has tons of dinosaurs and plays with them often. He's got some Tonka truck toys that seem to really take a beating from him.

How about a sit-n-spin? A small (one of those little round ones) trampoline? Stuff like that to keep him active indoors.

__________________
"Always learn the rules so that you can break them properly." Dalai Lama
My Karma just ran over your Dogma.

Diamond

Leap pads are awesome, greeat learning tool.

You notice how the cool stuff has pain in the butt problems? PlayDoh is great but a bitch when it dries in the carpet. Legos are great and even more fun to step on at 3am... My boys liked to draw and color a lot, fingerpaints area great but messy, sticker books too

Ella

I have a four and a half year old girl who loves kids graphics programs on the PC...Disney have a particularly good one. Excellent for fine motor skills.

Either that or a good ol' fashioned book? Story telling seems to be a lost art these days.

__________________
"Afterwards, the universe will explode for your pleasure."

cheeterbo

the computer has been the main time waster with my 4.5 yr old boy. i guess the pc with online games from nick jr., disney, pbs, cartoon network, and then the childrens xbox games.

my kids go nuts for them.

as for toys, i take him to the dollar store. he inevitably picks a plastic sword or some other object he can swing as a weapon. he will play with it for hours.

TheBrit

I imagine he is getting to the age where he is starting to read? How about those series of books designed to help children learn? Those nifty ones where the books speaks to you. Someone must know what I mean.

raven12

good ole legos will do it....hopefully

Hash_Browns

I like the dollar store idea, set an amount limit and let him shop, will be a 'daddy and son' event, and he might be able to get something that Mom normally wouldn't let him. My 4 yr. old (5 on the 15 of Sept.) daughter loves to pick out her own things. The other thing about doing it this way, is I am going to start having her pick out some old toys to drop off at a shelter or a hospital for kids who don't have these things. Makes buying more less hassle because there's room enough for them, and I don't have to be the bad guy by throwing them out.

As for car tracks, I think Fisher Price has a couple plastic ones with garages and ramps, but they aren't like that one you pictured above with the loops (at least not the ones I remember). Also if you have a basement or spare 4' x 4' area, you and him could build a race track for the cars he already has out of household things like his old Hot wheels ramps, and bricks, blocks, paper towel rolls or use it for his remote control cars and he and his friends can race, tear it apart, make a new course, and race again!!

Good luck!!

__________________
Smile It makes people wonder what you're up too!

$uperTrooper

Time to get that boy some meccano

__________________
License and registration... chicken fucker.

The Phenomenon

Transformers are great.

You can start getting him basic lego sets as well.

Redlemon

This last week, we vacationed with 3 other couples. The 4.5 year old boy LOVED playing the board game Trouble; they had an edition with the classic Pop-O-Matic die roller in the middle, and holes in the board to keep the pieces from bouncing around.

freeload

My 4 1/2 year old boy likes:
- Lego (we have a lot)
- Brio (wooden train tracks)
- RC Car
- Computer games
- Farming toys (Inlaws are farmers)
- Construction toys

Mephisto2

BRAVO!!

Reading with your kid, teaching them to love books, to read for their own pleasure, is the best gift you can give.

Having said that, a 4 and a half year old boy is probably a handful and may not want to read stories all the time...

I personally would try to avoid (but not ban, as this never works) toys that are associated with violence. Easier said than done I appreciate. Racing cars, or those kits where you build things, seem like an excellent idea.

Hey... you're making me feel all clucky.... and I'm a GUY!!


Mr Mephisto

ShaniFaye

cardboard boxes dont work for kids anymore? When I was about that age my dad built me a "structure" in the basement out of cardboard boxes....I played down there for hours at a time....it was great fun until I got caught setting fire to my barbies just to watch them melt

__________________
I want the diabetic plan that comes with rollover carbs. I dont like the unused one expiring at midnite!!

Mephisto2

Shani, you crack me up.

I can just imagine some Simpsonseque scene where the burning barbie sets fire to the boxes, which sets fire to the carpet, which sets fire to the rest of the basement, which sets fire...


Mr Mephisto

clavus

Rescue Heroes are a hit. (A special thanks to Malificent!)

I totally agree that books are great for kids. We read a lot. And even at his age, he reads on his own.

I never thought I would say this before I was a parent, but violent toys suck. If my kid is around something involving guns, he wants to shoot everyone and everything for the next two days. He goes from being a gentle, helpful big brother, to knocking his little brother on his ass. We don't play "guns" and already I am teaching him about real guns (don't play with them and don't play with kids who play with them, every gun is loaded, etc.).

...Then after he is asleep I play Doom3.

__________________
Ass, gas or grass. Nobody rides for free.

mr sticky

My four year old is a tried and true gamer! Xbox, Gamecube, PS2-he loves them all. Shooters are a preference, but racing games are pretty high on his list, too. Plus, Daddy gets to share this cool time doing something he likes to do, too!

__________________
The sad thing is... as you get older you come to realize that you don't so much pilot your life, as you just try to hold on, in a screaming, defiant ball of white-knuckle anxious fury

porkNbeans

Get the Duplo sets.

Play-Doh. But not the sets... just invest in half a dozen cans and set 'em loose.

MikeyChalupa

Lego rules. He can play with them until he's 30, like me. My 3 year old loves Thomas the Tank Engine, but unless you're prepared to shell out some serious scratch for the trains (very durable, made of wood) and tracks, and the sets, and the VHS/DVS's, and the books, and the...

On second thought, run screaming when you see Thomas. Save yourself while you still can.

-Mikey

:::OshnSoul:::

walkie talkies, rescue heroes, and games are definately great.

vermin

My son (who will be 5 in three weeks) has a PSone in his bedroom. Loves the "Need for Speed" games even though he has never won a race. Also Driver, Spyro the Dragon, and Crash Bandicoot. Sending him to his room is no punishment, so he's been standing in the corner for punishments.

Another thought is that you could adopt another child and tell him that's his new toy.

__________________
If puns were sausages, this would be the wurst.

irateplatypus

why, in my day... all i had to play with was my pet garden hose and a rusty circular saw! ok, maybe that isn't exactly true...

i'm not a parent, but i do have lots of little siblings. does he have one of those razor scooters? you can even get a little electrically powered one for cheap these days. also, i think model airplanes and cars are a great toy that are kinda falling off the radar these days. see if there is a snap-together version (superglue + 4 year old irateplatypus = damaged furniture) that catches his interest. if you want to work on it together w/him, consider those estes model rockets.

__________________
If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

~ Winston Churchill

daswig

War toys. Toy guns, toy soldiers, et cetera.

themisfit

He might also enjoy some of FisherPrice's Great Adventures stuff. They have Castles, Pirate ships, etc. Sturdy (don't step on one, it hurts like hell) and my boys enjoyed them alot at that age.

__________________
At length my cry was known:
Therein lay my release.
I met the wolf alone
And was devoured in peace.

ESVM

themisfit

and oh yeah...
all the Hot Wheels stuff is crap. Don't waste your money.

__________________
At length my cry was known:
Therein lay my release.
I met the wolf alone
And was devoured in peace.

ESVM

avhg1

Legos are great. My two boys love Legos. Ha, who am I kidding I love Legos too. I only have about 250,000 or so. You can never have too many. Anyway my 4 1/2 will play with them for hours. Not too mention it has taught him how to read directions and put the sets together.

MSD

At that age, he doesn't need R/C cars, he need an R/C Monster Truck. Trust me on this one, I worked at Radio Shed and saw what the kids flocked to.

Slavakion

Legos. Damn I wish I still had my legos...

rab1234

Check out www.backtobasicstoys.com. They have many of the classic toys we all grew up with. I just purchased the Classic Crazy Car and the fire and rescure chopper command. A kid could bo nuts looking at the catalog. My 4 boys had hours of excitement just looking at the catalog

Woodberg

Get him stuff that makes him think. How about a checkers set or puzzles. I've found that regular toys like legos get used for about 2 days and then aren't touched again. One thing my 7 YO really likes is roller coaster tycoon computer game. It doesn't do anything. You have to use your head and create. Its awesome.

tinomen

My son turns 5 in a couple of months. He has enjoyed the Imaginext toys we have bought him. They are building toys, sort of like legos, and action figures all rolled into one...what more does a young boy want?

My son also loves GoBots. They are younger kids Transformers.

Stiltzkin

How about just encouraging your kid to use his/her imagination? I'm not saying I didn't have toys as a kid--I had way too many. In fact, I still have 99% of my childhood toys... but anyway, as a kid I spent way more time playing outside with neighbors, pretending to be ninjas and stuff. That was totally cool. I really felt like a ninja even though I was usually just holding a stick or something. Pretend ninja stars (or shurikens, if you like) are WAY awesome, because you <i>never</i> miss your target! ^^

__________________
The most important thing in this world is love.

Rodney

Legos. I'm currently on a short-term gig at a school where one of my duties is to mind a group of mixed-aged kids for about 20 minutes before they go to greatfast, age kindergarten through 10. They have access to a number of toys and games, but every boy and a couple of the girls play Legos exclusively. Great long-term investment.

FngKestrel

Two words: Cushion Fort.