ideas for a "main" Xmas pressie for ds(4)?

[fortunecookie]

Completely & utterly confused. No idea at all. Help!

what sort of thing does he like doing & what is your budget?

trains? cars? art & crafts? running around with sticks? balls? board games? dressing up? collecting interesting things from the woods?

have you got
playmobil
lego
toy garage
play shop

We got DS this for his 4th birthday a few weeks ago and he loves it .

if it helps at all, this is list of what DS will be getting from us and rest of family for Christmas and his birthday in January (he will be 4):
Toy shop/puppet theatre (shared with DD)
CD player & some CDs
Shake'n'go cars & track
Playmobil crane (50% off at the toyshop com)
Kids k'nex
Magnifying glass & stethoscope
Padlocks, keys, carabiners, and assorted ironmongery
Knight dressing up
Antworld
Picnic hamper with teaset

snap Idris!

We've bought ds1 (4 this October) a box of Magnetix - special offer at Argos £80 box for £25. He's also getting a huge (I expect! - they can get carried away) box of "make and do" stuff from his gps and the Fisher Price arts and craft studio from his gf. An impulse (from us) buy has been the "Mum I did it" game on the ds lite. He would love a VTech Smile console, but we're refusing! And a Rupert Bear Treehouse (which were scarily expensive in Harrods).
For his birthday he had more magnetix (us), a micro scooter (gps) and the £20 marble run (gf ) from the ELC.

Ds tends to play with construction toys, anything "creative"/drawing/related and games (gets that one from me and dh).

You may have seen me on another thread banging on about the Wii but imagine this:

"Oh, mama & dada! cool, thanks! What is it?"

"uh, it's a Wii"

"what's that?"

Dd(7) knows what a Wii is, wants one desperately (probably because her friends with older siblings have been seriously plugging them) but doesn't have the faintest idea what to do with it.

So, needing something especially for ds, who's asked for a doll's house & some chocolate. He loves cars, planes & trains, too. He's got some Brio, some Playmobil, lots of books, lots of matchbox-type cars. I'm needing something for him with the "wow factor".

A CD player is a great idea! Are there any particularly child-friendly ones?

elc do one especially for children, presumably it is quite sturdy, but I think it is quite expensive for what it is. We just bought a cheapy from Tesco. However it doesn't have a mike, so if your DS wants to sing along maybe ELC is the way to go.

elc

Make sure check for a discount code, there seem to be plenty about for ELC!

Here's a few suggestions:
Playmobil Castle
Radio Flyer Wagon
Isla Bike
Power Ranger Vehicles (morphs into a robot)
Quadrilla Wooden Marble Run
Creatiles

Wooden firestation from GLTC - DS got this last Xmas when he was 3. It's Kidkraft and really well made.

my 4 year old ds loves his v-tech smile console which he had last year when his 2 older siblings had a ps2 between them. He calls it his "orange playstation" . Don't know if this would compare to your dd Wii?

Wilkinsons have a castle (Playmobil style) for £10 at the moment - comes in an impressively large box. If you want to spend a bit more and indulge his desire for a dolls house, how about the Lego house?

ds is 4.5 and things he's getting or would like or has and loves include:

kid k/nex
magnetics
games - guess who, frustration, connect 4
an alarm clock
shrek dressing up
swimming goggles
a foldy up scooter
anything to do with linghening mcqueen - think he's getting the piston cup race track thingy

what about a fort or pirate ship?
does he have a toy till? ds plays with his ELC one quite a lot - esp when he has friends round

I bought him a Playmobil camper which is perfect because it's sort of a house on wheels. And there are lots of horses & fences too.

TBH, I'll be glad when all of this present business is over. The Wii was probably a present too far but at least we can all have fun with it!