I need toy ideas

[Soubriquet]

Ds and dd both have a birthday coming up next month

Ds will be 6 and dd will be 8.

They play with toys but not as much as I would like. They do however enjoy doing things and building toys

We already have

Aqua beads
Oonies
Kinectic sand
Play doh
Colouring books and pencils
Magnetic building things
Lego

I’m looking at getting some more Lego in as they don’t have much, and I’m also looking at getting some more types of Kinect sand and tools to do it with

But what else could I get either of them?

Also to add

They have a bike each, they have a scooter each and whilst I would love to get them a trampoline, I don’t have room for one

They enjoy craft activities like ToucanBox but I don’t like the price it costs every month and I don’t want to buy a years subscription because sometimes the activities are a bit naff

My 8 year old spends hours on junk modelling. I buy a lot of tape and glue and save packaging. She also got a Junko kit for Christmas to help her build more complicated things, but I’m not sure I can recommend it as she hasn’t opened it yet!!

Gravitrax
KNex
Zoobs for the 6 yr old

Gravitrax, K nex, GALT labs, scalextric, Mio the robot type thing?

Perfect thank you

How about some jewellery making kits like bracelets/ hairbands, plaster cast models, room decorating kits like colour your own cushions/ frame etc. There are also some nice boxes like fairy/ dinosaur gardens with seeds/ plants. Cooking kit, badge maker, jigsaws, sewing/ gluing finger puppets, paper planes kit, simple magic tricks, simple science kits or STEM kits. 😊

Came to say gravitrax too.

One of the best things we bought was a fort or den building kit - there are loads online. This isn't ours but gives an idea of what I mean

www.amazon.com/Fort-Building-Kits-Kids-Forts/dp/B07WKD4V47?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

I'll have a search for our one.

Hours of fun, they had tea parties and picnics in there, saved the world a few times and DS1 used to 'hide' in there and read his book!

You do need a room with a bit of space though.

Playmobil? My six year old adores his and plays with it for hours!

Mechano?

Low temperature glue gun!
Snap circuits (they might be a bit young)
Cookery book because then you done have to keep their creations
Craft or science sets, dig up a fossil, grow a crystal etc.

Diamond painting is good. My dd loves it, there are some really nice ones for about £10 each so not too expensive either.

Tennis set, mini golf set, ping pong table?

Gravitrax
Magic set
Mini drone

Definitely more Lego, I'd also suggest you get a small variety of baseboards to inspire their ideas.

Do they have any 'small world' type toys; cars, houses, people - those are great for pretend play both alone and together

Science kits, Hama beads, and Gravitrax.

I bought my grandson a metal detector . It cost about £30 and he loved it. It encouraged him to go outside. He took it to the park and beach. He didn’t find any buried treasure but lived it nevertheless

Playmags? You can create some pretty impressive structures in very little time

Marble run?

Tie dye kit, crayola glitter dots, lego and book that shows them how to make animations or robotics using lego

Origami?

Mine are of a similar age and love their teepee tent the most.
Lego sets eg. Mario
Decent markers. Oil pastels etc
Games (draughts and card games etc)

A fort building kit. We have the Crazy Fort one. Mine play great with this together. Boy/girl with 3 year age gap. Many hours of fun. I also like it goes into a box and is easy to store when not in use.