DS (4) is getting "into" dinosaurs. Dino-recommendations please...

[WinterIsComing]

DS has autism and is currently enjoying the Harry book but the bucket toys which can be bought have awful reviews. He has a sponge-like memory for the names but is completely PC-obsessed atm and I would love something he would actually play with.

Any ideas, please?

Have you seen this pop up book? my dino obsessed neighbour who is 4 has it and it is amazing. I know it isnt a toy but just thought id recommend it anyway.

www.amazon.co.uk/Encyclopedia-Prehistorica-Dinosaurs-Definitive-Pop-Up/dp/0763622281

Have you checked out a website called 'Everything Dinosaur'? When DS1 was younger, I bought a number of things from them which are still used by DS3.

Argos also sell a bucket of dinosaurs for about £10.

yy, the book. We have that book and it is so good, we bought one for our nephew.

DS likes to eat isn't especially good with pop-up books but that's one for the future, it looks great!

Didn't know about that website - thank you.

mine both loved the bucket-type dinos, and they were brilliant for taking out to restaurants etc. don't know how accurate they are, obv, but then we just made up names for the ones we couldn't identify.

Oh DS is very pedantic due to autistic restricted thought.

I can quite imagine the, "DoYeThinkTheWaiterSaurus" convos though.

Aitch, look!

ah yes just clocked the autistic thing, you'd wanna get accurate ones i think. ours were from woolies.

and hahahahahaah at i don't need blood magic to raise your dothraki king.

The Playmobil dinosaurs are realistic and playmobil is usually pretty robust. They come with people and vehicles too in the set usually, so he would have some other things to play with as well.
My DS is completely in love with Harry atm tbh... but he has terrible difficulty distinguishing between Sam and Mum though.

We have a book called "Uneversaurus" which my 2 enjoy...

Last year DS had screature It does make a noise and squirts water so not sure it would be suitable for your DS ?. Also I got it in the half price Sainsburys sale for £12.50, there are also some cheaper small ones

There is also Mega T-Rex

Would the Natural History museum have anything suitable, surely they must have an online gift shop?

I see girly has beaten me to the museum recommendation. I bought my dino mad almost 4 year old DS lots from the Museum of Scotland so if you have a big museum near you you should be able to pick up plenty of great dino things.

Astrosaurs books are pretty funny.

Schleich toys are less well known in the UK than in Germany, but they are truly wonderful, although admittedly not cheap. However, they are virtually indestructible and as such have a good resale value. DD2 has gone big into the horse collection, but I know others who have the entire dino series.

Great recommendations, thank you

My friend has a dd with autism who adores the Playmobil dinosaurs,my son did too at that age(still does).

My Ds has a tin carry case of Dinosaurs from ELC, good for taking out and about!

This isn't a toy but is good fun and may tickle him as a stocking filler? www.thinkgeek.com/geek-kids/3-7-years/e3a8/
especially when he realises the trick with the sleaves!!

we had a huge box of various plastic dinosaurs. The ELC ones were best, we had at least 2 sets of the tubs and also a set of baby dinosaurs. Also my ds, when he was 3, loved the 'walking with dinosaurs' dvds

I've ordered him some models and finger puppets and will look into Playmobil too. The hoodie is very cool

Walking with Dinosaurs is on our on-demand box I think - good idea!

Interesting that Scleich have a good resale value as he has TONS of perfectly good farm animals from previous years when farm animals were his thing. I was forever buying one as a little treat then walking out of ELC with it shaking my head and thinking, "how much for a little plastic chicken?"

Add message | Report | Message poster GeneralDisarray Thu 29-Sep-11 19:00:07
This isn't a toy but is good fun and may tickle him as a stocking filler? www.thinkgeek.com/geek-kids/3-7-years/e3a8/
especially when he realises the trick with the sleaves!!

Oops sorry didn't mean to post that. I was just trying to look at link.

my ds has a large play mat that was from elc for his dinos and the track which was also from elc, don't think they sell them anymore but this is it

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Huge-Dinosaur-Track-Animals-Vehicles-Bridges-Tunnels-/350494074051?pt=UK_Toys_Creative_Educational_RL&hash=item519b1324c3

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ELC-Large-Dinosaur-Pre-Historic-Animal-Collection-Dinosaur-Mat-/170697845556?pt=UK_Toys_Creative_Educational_RL&hash=item27be626b34

he loves this and arranges all his dinos around it and watches the car go round, he also has asd

Another good idea - thank you

DS was funny today. Never off the computer if he could help it but alternating between watching the Nativity: "tiny baby Jesus - I love him so much" (we are not religious) and watching T-Rex hunting Diplodocus on Youtube

my ds spends most of his time on the pc, games console or ipod, he is only five but is very computer literate, you can hand him any gadget and he can work it, but give him verbal instructions and he looks at you blank, i am trying to get him to play with more toys instead of arranging them, at the moment he likes soldiers so have bought him the hm forces things as they look really good for christmas, unlike actionmen,

DS is the same. He can do all sorts. Touch-screen or mouse. Arrow keys and space bar for platform games. He has taught himself letters and sounds though (wouldn't engage with me) and I think it's just the way he learns. A gadget is unthreatening compared to a person.

If I gave him soldiers he'd insist on having the full set just for the sake of having the "collection", line them up obsessively and then ignore them unless somebody dared move one by a fraction of a millimetre.

I often think that Victorian toy battalions must have been a real hit with undiagnosed autistic boys