Educational gifts for a 6 year old

[TB2013]

Hi everyone 👋

So, my son is about to turn 6 in February. He is such a bright little boy for his age and I’m really not just saying that because he is my own. He’s currently obsessed with the 7 continents of the world and he can make them largest to smallest and give an interesting fact about each of them. He currently has the my world iposter which is absolutely amazing (I’ve even learned a few things from it myself 😂) I want to get him some toys for Christmas which he can learn from but basically all I can find online is things like children’s atlases etc. He has asked for a children’s globe but the ones I’ve seen seem quite babyish for him seen as though he is so advanced. If anyone can give me some ideas of things to get him. He knows which animals are native to which continents so maybe even somethings which may include animals of the world? I want to keep him on this track of wanting educational toys so any recommendations at all would be hugely appreciated. Thank you ❤️

[catkind]

Eh, you missed Christmas!

Why not a proper adult atlas? I'd have thought a globe's a globe really - not sure how a children's one differs but get a decent sized one with lots of detail on. We've also had adult books about animals/birds, they still have lots of pictures and he will grow into reading them or you can read him snippets.

For reading himself if he can, my two have enjoyed the usborne "see inside" books - would be a good combination of containing lots of information and pitched at a level to engage kids.

In terms of toys, there are loads of cool STEM-based kits and sets. How about a snap electronics kit? Just construction toys are always good. Or how about thinkfun logic puzzle games - traffic jam, laser maze?

[DeckTheHalls1]

My Dd is eight, but likes:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00000DMER/ref=ohauiidetailpageo000s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And

https://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Happened-When-World-History/dp/1409356590/ref=sr11_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1546566062&sr=8-17&keywords=world+history+maps

Or any of the lovely DK or us our restaurant lift the flap books (the space books and body books were popular in my house).

[Myshinynewname]

Christmas???

[DeckTheHalls1]

usbourne!

[Norestformrz]

These are very popular in my Y1 class

[LetItGoToRuin]

Subscription to National Geographic Kids?

[derekthe1adyhamster]

The brain box games have one on the world

[TB2013]

I didn’t mean for Christmas. I don’t even know why I wrote Christmas I meant for his birthday hahahahaha I must still have Christmas on the brain hahaha

[user789653241]

Definitely recommend buying proper atlas and globe.

[FissionChips]

Adult globe
Children’s encyclopaedia
Chemistry set (Galt lab set is rather good)
Children’s circuits set
Art supplies
Ant farm
Potato clock
Board games

[CripsSandwiches]

Maths quest or geography quest books. My 6 year old is advanced and an read and solve them independently. He loves them.

Chess solitaire is good.

[HexagonalBattenburg]

Mine have a Children's atlas which is still quite nice as it's got lots of relevant facts alongside the more basic "atlas" part - they've read it so much (DD1 is almost 7 but very capable in terms of reading and writing particularly) that it's fallen apart. She also requested a thesaurus and dictionary for Christmas - and squealed with joy when she got them... also squealed with joy for various utterly non-educational unicorns as well I vetoed the pooing unicorn

Microscope? We got one the other year and the kids loved that - although DD1's request to find a spare louse to look at under it when we had headlice in the house was the point where my line between "educational" and "that's seriously grim" crossed over! Even magnifying glasses and an insect book went down quite well here last summer (and the magnifying glasses were dirt cheap).

Think we have a maths brain box game as well that went down well for Christmas (I'm still excavating through the pile of toys that came back from the grandparents)

[AliMonkey]

Look at Happy Puzzle Co website- we've got loads of good stuff from there over the years. Someone suggested Mapominoes - great game but think too hard for a bright 6 year old as lots of information going on at once. Last year we bought Animal Trivia Challenge and Explore the World games from there which I think would suit him. Brainbox games also good as they don't require you to know stuff, just look at card and remember it so can learn as you go. They do lots of science kits as well.

If you allow him some screen time then try out Sporcle website - endless quizzes so quite fun for learning and testing himself.

[Baconmaket]

Takes a while to ship but for an interesting range of educational toys see here. Really great site.

[Nodressrehearsal]

Bright minds sell some great circuit systems quite chunky for little hands. Play Risk with him if he wants a game based on a world map!

[CherryPavlova]

Vouchers for trips out. Nothing better than seeing the world first hand.

[Mayvis]

Lonely Planet do some brilliant travel books aimed at children. There's also the National Geographic Infopedia which is packed full of interesting stuff. Or you could get some i-spy books?

My child loves flags so we have lots of flag books and jigsaw puzzles. Might be worth looking into?

[JustRichmal]

This might be slightly off at a tangent, but if you are near a zoo you could get an annual pass as a birthday present.

[timtam23]

My youngest enjoys jigsaws, loves maps of the world/exotic animals etc and is really loving doing this 3D jigsaw puzzle which makes a globe -
Ravensburger puzzle ball it has over 500 pieces so may be a bit fiddly for a 6 year old (my son has just turned 9) but Ravensburger have lots of other 3D puzzles here

[timtam23]

Or Snap circuits which are really good for learning about creating electrical circuits in lots of fun ways