what sort of toys are 4 yr old boys into?

[fairydust]

have to buy a birthday present for a little boy at nursery

I wondered why the Thomas toys had suddenly been spurned.

ds (4.1) likes soldiers, power rangers, spiderman/batman and astronauts. He got ELC vouchers for christmas and there is really nothing in there that he is interested in any more.

Batman, k'nex (K'nex are FAB for my boys), play doh (but please not the play doh torture chamber complete with RACH my Sister gave DS2! I mean! I'm a member of Amnesty! ), Paint Your Own... kts, DS1 and 2 (4 and then 5 got a Yellow Moon PYO umbrella kit for Christmas, loved it)

Sorry, RACK

NOT the bloody marble racer. Pleae. Especioally if you're giving the kids one each. Still finding bits / treading on alte at night from the one daffy Uncle gave them 3 years ago.

Was I the only stroppy mother then who take ds1's 4th birthday presents back to JL when they included action man, weapons, nasty things from nursery friends? Liked getting jigsaws, activity books, board games (Guess Who was a great hit), story CDs etc; lots of creative things. He had no comprehension of what to do with an action man etc (he was 4!!!) and much preferred racing cars and things. Don't buy something you wouldn't give your own child as you will only create hours of questioning about why exactly mummy can't I have the spy kit with gun and baton to play with...

And then, the horrid presents turned out to have cost ridiculous amounts of money - sums that I didn't spend on my own child (other than for a significant present) let alone a nursery friend. Much better to put in thought than spend lots to look good.

Great present was a copy of Room on the Broom along with the story CD - HTH

Anything for outside. Foam rockets that can be fired, balls etc Wilko have good selection once it gets a bit warmer. Magnets, torches etc are always popular.

No Hannahsaunt.... I am equally prickly about all that stuff, although I do think DS1 at 3.3 is too young for it anyway. Anything involving violence/guns/war/general ugliness is totally out. I saw a bloke selling commando crawling action men in the street the other day...he had them crawling around all over the pavement firing their little guns. Overwhelming desire to STAMP on them I'm afraid....

What worries me is - will I have much of a choice once he's at school, if I don't want him to be ostracised? It's difficult.

my 5 y/o nearly 6 still likes thomas.not to the same extent that he did, but still.also likes bob. big pash about powere rangers and starwars.but always chooses to watches cbeebies when he comes home from school.
i think he has to be abig grown up boy at school and when he comes home he likes to chill and be the little boy he is really.

Meanold, it could be a challenge. We were the same about toys (rather I was, Dh went along with me) but when DS1 got to this birthday so many of the toys were from the not a chance bracket. I gave up, I'm afraid! BGUT all the family know THE RULES so at the most he'll get £5 tye toys on birthdays, nothing more.

Sister did give him a toy where you made models of ghostky chracters and then tortureed them. Did NOT approve

meanoldmummy-my ds has never seen an episode of power rangers in his life-all changed for him with little boys at nursery I am afraid. School is no better-they all run around the playground playing out their testosterone fuelled fantasies!
I have a very boyish boy who has had a huge surge in testosterone. - I am afraid it is natural for him to want to play with the sort of toys that you mention as distasteful!
Hopefully your ds is more in touch with his sensitive side and you may escape this worrying stage of development...but fear it is unlikely when he gets with other boys his own age or older!

I know, I know...I am swimming against the tide!!! I won't stop him from joining in with what his friends are into or try to change his nature, that's cruel. And ultimately doomed to failure ...God I find all that violent ugly crap so off-putting though. The torture thing would have made me feel sick. It's going to be an "interesting" journey bringing up two 21st century boys!!

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meanoldmummy keep on swimming!-I will not let ds watch anything which raises his adrenalin levels at home ie batman, starwars, the incredibles etc!
I also limit his weaponry!
Still trying to make contact with the sensitive side of DS!!!!with very limited success!

meanoldmummy my DSs still don't play with any action figures/weapons etc. (DS1 is 6.5 and DS2 is 4.5.)

power rangers
football
cricket set
rugby ball
pop up goals
batman
dressing up suits eg. pirate

The thing is, he's 3.3 now and pretty bright/active/verbal etc...and I haven't noticed any of this natural propensity for violence/bashing things/disordered "male" behaviour that people assure me is inevitable. He's just a very nice little person. I'm quite worried about what will happen to him when he starts nursery school tomorrow...but I am just being overanxious and silly

Dinosaurs. My ds is 4 and loves a nice dinosaur -the ELC do quite big ones. Books are good too (especially about dinosaurs).

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My 4 yr old is into all the things I think he's too young for - PowerRangers, Batman, Spiderman, Turtles etc etc.

However, he also loves Thunderbirds, anything to do with knights/castles, Lego/Megabloks are great, he isn't really into games but lots of boys his age are. Cars/trucks also a good bet.

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