4th birthday ideas for boys please

[AllBuggiedOut]

Need ideas for presents for DS1 who will be 4 in a few weeks. He has not yet discovered Power Rangers/Dr Who/Spiderman/superhero stuff although I expect that will come this year? Best to wait for him to start asking for that kind of stuff I presume

July 2 so we all get to have a mahoosive celebration then. What you planning for July 4. I'm got a few invites most of which include alcohol and fireworks sounds good to me whatever. Can't believe my baby's turning 4 to be honest.

Ok, the options appealing to mae the most are:

Isla bike
Cars DVD
Hot Wheels stuff (does it all have to be horrid cars shooting out of mouths of monsters-type stuff though?)
Playmobil

Garden small and paved so not really ideal for the outdoor toys that have been mentions (and already have sand pit). Got all the DH's old lego so that will do us for now. Am worried abou stuff that needs careful setting up (eg marble run ?knex) cos I will end up doing it and DS2 will destroy it before it gets played with!

Also need ideas for little presents (£5 ish) to get for all the other 4th birthdays we know around now, so keep them coming, thanks all!

Other toys my DS likes playing with are his Magic Roller/Sway Car, his Kidkraft Wooden Firestation House and his Plan Toy City Deluxe Road System & Station.

• marble run is great - and kids can set up themselves.

- kids k'nex they can play with on their own. - normal k'nex, mecanno etc usually needs an adult to make anything sensible but ds still plays with it on his own for ages. - hot wheels doesn't have to be dragon stuff, none of ours is like that - but then ours is 2nd hand so not sure what they sell now. - remote controlled car? - scalecterix? (I now it's spelt wrong)

small presents

• hama beads are great, but depends on the child I suppose.
• books are always a hit, get a 10 pack from the book people and split them into 2 or 3 sets.
• ds had a dinosaur head in plaster a few weeks ago, it was only £4 but he really enjoyed chipping it out. We got it from a cheap book shop.
• board games, build a beetle, orchard toys games, guess who, dominoes

Thanks - really useful.

Any recommendations for marble run? I've only got experience of the ELC one which seems very unstable...

Best marble run ever - also not cheap is from Quadrilla - wooden and very stable and you can add to it to make it a superb set in the future.

Thanks - can't find a pic of the Harrods one online Califrog, but the quadrilla one does look excellent. Maybe from the grandparents though