Dinosaur, natural word type gift ideas, please

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DS1 will be five at Christmas and is currently absolutely obsessed with dinosaurs, fossils, pretending to fossil hunt etc.

We are getting him some Schleich dinosaurs but I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for other related gifts that we could buy. He prefers fairly realistic things to flashing light, walking-type dinosaurs, so we're going to steer clear of those.

Also, if anyone has specific recommendations of dinosaur/ fossil/ natural world books that would be suitable, I'd really appreciate it. We have lots of stories, but he's obsessed with dinosaur/ fossil facts, so maybe books that we can read with him, that hep him learn more.

I promise, he will have 'toys' too, but he loves these things.

TIA

My boys spent two years digging up a section of our back garden and poring over stones they found convinced they were dinosaur fossils. (well there has to be an advantage to being too broke to landscape, and having rocky soil nothing grows in)
Lidl do excellent child sized shovels and spades that stand up to serious use.
We rigged up a pulley over a branch for hauling up buckets of soil, and we have a too small wheelbarrow.
We got a metal detector that they used to examine rocks for metal traces and hunt for treasure
And they love hand held microscopes for examining their finds.

They loved the Andy's dinosaur adventures DVDs . And that necessitated a trip to the Natural History Museum (go off peak and get there early)

I miss the dinosaur days

Does he have any fossils? Have a look at Junior Geo. They do a nice fossil gift box.

Great ideas, thank-you.

Ann, this is quite a new obsession, and I am really hoping it doesn't get to digging the garden up level (although the area round the mud kitchen already has been). I can certainly see the sandpit being repurposed. I like the idea of ammetal detector - that could be a lot of fun.

Thanks fromage, great suggestion. I hadn't heard of Junior Geo, but there are some brilliant things on the site.

Home Bargains have some really cool dinosaur figures! They are 4.99 each. And nassive!
B&m have a ton of dinosaur stuff, playsets, figures etc.
Sainsburys own toy brand do dinosaur things too - figures in buckets, blind bags, a volcano playset with dinosaur figures etc.
Look in Tk maxx for dinosaur books. My little one recently had a dinosaur magnetic book from there, it is fantastic!

We have this book:
Encyclopedia Prehistorica Dinosaurs: The Definitive Pop-Up https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0744586909/ref=cmswwrcppapi_j6cVzbJZ9M2WH
It's great for his age, full of facts about dinosaurs and the pop ups are fantastic. We have the sea monsters one too and I think there's a prehistoric beasts one as well

We have a lovely little microscope (learning resources is the make). You can also get dinosaur dig kits on Amazon - the one I've seen is a National Geographic one, where you chip away at the rock to reveal a fossil. The Natural History museum have an online shop which is worth a look.

You can get cool little excavation kits (loads on Amazon and I saw some in tk max the other day) where you chip away at a block to discover some Dino bones underneath.

The brightminds website is fab

Has he seen Andy's Dinosaur/Prehistoric/Wild Adventures on cbeebies? If not, they're fab, and has an accompanying magazine with lots of facts, colouring, stickers etc. My 3yo DD loves it, and we got her the series on DVD for her birthday. Maybe a subscription to the magazine might be good? I know it sounds a bit boring for a small child, but it might be exciting to get his mag in the post?

Dino mad dd1 loves the excavation kits where you dig out the dinosaur bones and put them together. Like this .

Another favorite is this inflatable dinosaur.

For this xmas she and her sister are getting this personalised dinosaur t-shirt. Also a box of fossils and a box of gems from amazon.

Possibly not so good at xmas time, but probably her favorite is a dinosaur garden we made in a big planter in the garden. It has a path of pebbles between some different grasses, a plant pot on it's side half buries to make a cave, and a volcano meant for a fish tank. She has spent many hours there with her dino collection.

The Natural History Museum sells a version of Operation with dinosaur bones - available on site or online

Thanks for all the brilliant ideas. We'll definitely get an excavation kit, and I like the idea of dinosaur Operation too.

Ninja, that encyclopaedia looks amazing. Doesn't look like it's still published, but there are some on eBay, so i might get it as a little treat for the end of his first half term at school.

Stimpy, your dinosaur garden sounds amazing. That is definitely something i will keep in mind for the spring. We often make up temporary versions on a tuff tray, but something like that would go down really well - thanks for the idea.

Try the natural history museum website

This book is great:

www.amazon.co.uk/Street-Beneath-My-Feet/dp/1784937312?tag=mumsnetforum-21

And less dinosaurs, but still excellent;
www.amazon.co.uk/How-World-Works-Christiane-Dorion/dp/1848771894?tag=mumsnetforum-21

www.amazon.co.uk/See-Inside-World-Dinosaurs-Usborne/dp/0746071582?tag=mumsnetforum-21