Present ideas for my 13 year old son

[Julius85]

Hi everyone, this is my first post.

I have a 13 year old son and I would really like to get him into science. (As you can imagine, I am an engineer myself )

Does anyone have any good ideas for toys or toy sets that I could buy that might help inspire him? I'd prefer to get him away from video games, so no apps or computer programs, please!

In terms of price, I'm flexible, but I was thinking around the £30 - £40 mark.

Thanks in advance for your replies!

Julius

What about a subscription to Flipside?

If your a member of IET you will get a discount for Flipside.

If you had bigger budget I might suggest something about Lego Mindstorms, maybe not so dear on Ebay.

You really need to build some circuits together. Although my nearly 13yo has quite enjoyed sewing things of late (not girly lad at all, btw). But flags, rocketships, cool capes, he likes. I am making him a patchwork quilt, too, with skulls & crossbones on it.

He is working on a texturepack for Mortal Engines, too.

Sorry but 13 years old and Toys albeit engineering type toys do not go together well - I have a 13 year old DS and can just picture his face if he was given Lego ?

Busymummy Mindstorms is not ordinary Lego.It is aimed at 12+ . You programme the control block using a PC although latest version I think you can also use a mobile as a remote control.
Look on YouTube for some of the projects, they are amazing.

Thanks Bruffin think I will have a look- as OP says will be good alternative to the standard XBox games etc

My ds1 is away to turn 12 and very much into lego and building pretty much anything (then taking it apart, rebuilding it, taking it apart, having a hissy fit when dd1 hides bits of it ...)
I bought him a build your own eyeball and build your own heart kit, £2.99 each from home bargains
He's also getting the lego millenium falcon, it's loitering around the £100 mark on amazon just now but keeping my fingers crossed for it to suddenly be reduced!

Ds1 is 17 now but I remember him having a Lego type car that also had a motor in it when he was around 12-13.

Took him ages to build it and get it moving

Lego is a funny one, to DS's bewilderment it became very uncool among his peers by yr5. DS is nearly 13 & still loves almost any Lego. Now his (in a different school) y8 mates come around and seem to genuinely admire DS's enormous Star Wars & other Lego collections (lovingly displayed, woe betide anyone that knocks a single piece out of place). DS is considering selling his Nerfgun collection, but no such threat hangs over the Lego.

What about a remote control helicopter

you can get minecraft lego...my 12 yo ds and all the younger teenage boys i work with are obsessed with the pc game. maybe that would be cool?

shop.lego.com/en-GB/Minecraft-21102?_requestid=2450314

Thanks so much for the responses! These are all really helpful!

Better not let DS see Chimcar's link.