gifts for 7 year old boys that aren't...

[WhatWouldTheDoctorDo]

Skylanders, Lego dimensions or actual Lego?

I'm feeling the need to introduce some variety into DS's Christmas. I have a lot of family who ask for ideas so any suggestions within a varied price range welcome!

I have a 7 year old DS too. His likes/wants are

Schleich dinosaurs (or other animals)
Hulk smash fists
Yeti or Bigfoot figures
Jurassic world dinosaurs
Shark toys
Sea monster toys
Army men figures
Star Wars trading cards
Board games
Books involving any of the above

My 6 and 8 year olds are getting a range of the new Thunderbirds toys. Other favourites for recent birthdays have been Super Hero Mashers, binoculars/magnifiers/bug kit, Brainbox electronics, kite, bike accessories.

DS has just turned 6 and had Junior Meccano for his birthday, alongside the obligatory Lego.
He got an R2D2 Bop it game which has been a big hit. Even if not into Star Wars, ordinary Bop It is great fun.

For Christmas I was thinking of getting my DS a telescope, some minecraft bits and a decent football.

Books, board games, art stuff, science kits, clothes, sports/hobby stuff, stuff for bedroom, backpack, water bottle, experience type gifts, eg exciting day out.

Have a look at Wicked Uncle for some ideas. We got our DS a den building kit from there last year which was fab.

A magician set or A science set
I got these last year in smyths toys had a combi offer, both were a big hit with our nephews

DS is 6 and is getting a specialist push bike to compliment his hobby ( not very helpful to you though!) and a keyboard ( musical not computer) with headphones, microphone and a music book.

Smaller gifts will be a globe, stationery, chapter books, Lego, clothing related to his hobby and standard stocking fillers.

My sister is getting DS Junior Cluedo but I've no idea what to suggest for other people who will ask.

Favourites from other years are a telescope, magic kit, play tent, football goals, dressing up clothes and of course his iPad. The best thing we've ever bought him was his motorbike last year but obviously that's not for everyone!

Bopit
Star Wars toys
Harry Potter stuff
Books
Xbox mine craft
Football kit
Rugby ball

Horrible Science books box set

Pocket microscope

Ds is 8 and apart from Lego has asked for;

Metal detector
Monopoly Empire
Remote control helicopter
Some game involving a creepy pointy hand thing with a truth or dare thing? Name escapes me
Raspberry Pi
"Cool" hoodie

Ripley's Believe it or Not,
Ripley's Totally Gross

Remote controlled anything

Spy set
Handcuffs (not advisable if there is a little sister in the family)

yy to Bopit. DS (nearly 8) got one last Xmas and it was a big hit. He's got his eye on R2D2 Bopit for Christmas.
His birthday is next week and he asked for an Air Hogs toy, lots of Top Trumps, Hexbug stuff, Rubiks Cube and board games as well as a new scooter and a set of ping pong bats.

Wicked uncle is good.

How about a digital camera? I've got DS a Nikon Coolpix S33 as he loves taking pictures and its shock and water proof.

Rowdy bored games are a bit hit with him too, like bop it and story cubes.

He's sports mad with an Xmas bday, and he doesn't like Lego/skylanders/mine craft etc so I'm seriously struggling too.

Roller skates?

K'nex? Though granted that's not a million miles away from lego. Nephews of that age really liked the David Walliams books and there's a new one just out. The diary of the wimpy kid series proved popular too.

Agree with pp about science sets / magician sets. The themed Monopoly games have been asked for too.

Also anything Star Wars related is bound to be cool.

Mine obviously loves lego but also the star wars angry bird things. I think they work with the app but he just uses them without. Hexbugs. Just got into reading Harry Potter - whole set on book people for about £30, loves programming his brother's raspberry pi.

Thanks for all the replies! Some stuff he has already and some things wouldn't be his thing, but it's a great list.

I'm intrigued by these raspberry pi things - is it easy to use?

I would second knex. My two boys love connects straws by Galt. They play with this for ages and it is only £7.99. Large boxes of army figures are only a tenner in telcos just now. I have bought lots of games such as labyrinth and bananagrams.

Raspberry Pi is an absolute mystery to me but dh and ds love it. It is something to do with programming? I have to admire what look like very basic screens a lot of the time but assume ds has "made" it somehow.

No idea if it is easy to use. Presumably it is as it is designed for children!

These days raspberry pis are very easy. You buy a little computer box costs about £25 and it comes with software on an sd card ready to plug in. You also need to buy a keyboard and mouse and a cable to connect to the tv. It allows you to programme in scratch and python and has a basic version of minecraft on that you can enhance by programming. However it does nothing a normal computer can't do in that sense. E.g. you can download scratch and python onto a pc.
What it can do is be powered by battery now you can use it to connect to motors etc and build your own programmable robot. A six year old would need help to do that but it can be a long term vision.

Should say my 6 and 8 year old happily programme little platform games in scratch. 8 year old is dabbling in python but still copies those out books.

A favourite with my 8yo is a star wars angry birds frustration game. Also loves hot wheels tracks and remote controlled helicopter.

Minecraft/Terraria action figures
My DS still likes his Imaginext and other 'little' action figures like TMNT half shell heroes, playskool star wars.
Mash ups have released a Star Wars range now too.

Thanks everyone for all the ideas.

The mashups look interesting. DS not mad on superheroes or Star Wars but he might quite like those.

LittleMissGreen - that's really helpful on the raspberry pi's. I'll look into them a bit more. Can you connect it to a regular computer monitor? We have an old monitor and keyboard gathering dust somewhere.