Presents for 6 year old boy - help!

[stickynote]

My ds turns 6 straight after Christmas, so am looking for Christmas and Birthday present ideas. He loves football and cricket but also likes sitting down and making things (loves those Hama bead things but so many of the sets are "girly" IYSWIM). What are your 6 year olds into at the mo?

TIA

anyone?

I saw a lovely space ship Hama bead thing the day. Also got DD, aged 6 a set of Horrible henry "first reading" books.

Will think more!

stickynote, the science museum have lots of good boysy toys, so here's the science museum store online you can search by age/toy type etc. hth

what about the geomag things? Bought for my nephew last year (he was 8) and they were a big hit. There are quite a few copy products (which are just as good) out now too.

The hama beads are brill and they do do loads of boyish ones but they are harder to find.

Geomag - meccanno - lego sets, esp the ones that work from your pc, simple airfix type planes?

A metal detector?

Geomag, Brio Builder, Lego, Playmobil, early readers. You could also try some coloured rope from a DIY shop and a good book explaining knots. Our ds is quite crafty and loves making elaborate rope installations round our bannisters.
Also, colouring and drawing. Although we have lots of inexpensive pencils and felt-tips on the go at any time, ds returns time and time again to some pricier but gorgeous Caran d'Ache pencils from my student days. These are worth the extra outlay IMO, he uses them constantly.

I've got my DS1 (7 on Sat) one of those kits that you add water to and things grow for his birthday amongst other things. Also got him the scooby doo snack machine

My 6yr old is into lego(esp Harry Potter) Megablocks Dragons, Micromachines and You-gi-ho cards(if thats how you spell it!) However he does seem to want most stuff advertised and takes an Argos catalogue to bed with him-how sad is that!!!

Thanks for all of these - some great suggestions!

bump

My ds, who will be 7 in Jan, loves Bionicles. Transformers, power rangers, hot wheels. The list is literally endless. He is also desperate for a play station although am not sure santa can stretch to that this year

My 6 year old is into anything to do with football (loves receiving "cool" football kit as presents - we are thinking of getting him a presonalised footy shirt for xmas)He loves games (wants "operation" for Xmas) Still likes the usual cars/action men etc

Rather expensive but he loves his Gamboy - the bonus with this is you can suggest Gameboy games when people ask what he wants

knex bionicle lego knoght kingdom and turtles arpoluar here

micormachineas ar e really good too
and the spyt hing where you leave senors around the house

also what about a bike computer thing?

oh and I got ds1 a football strip ( shudder) and boots and goalie gloves

Football stuff, beyblade stuff, star wars stuff, cool magnet stuff, paints, lego.

My 7 year old always comes back to Lego (Bionicle and Star Wars), and K'Nex. They just have infinite play value. For Christmas I have ordered this and this - they are 7+ but may be worth a look at. I'm quite excited about the first one - you can make a writing machine!

The other thing he is always pleased to have is crafty stuff - nothing complicated - could you get a plastic tool box and fill it with crafty things - glue, scissors, sellotape, different cards and paper, feathers, stick on googly eyes, pipe cleaners etc. That would go down well with my ds.

In Toys R Us they have a plastic dinosaur you have to excavate (bones) out of a piece of earth with a chisel. You get safety goggles. It's made by Disney my DS loved it. Think it was £6.99. You then clip it all together and it sits on a stand.