Toy recommendations please

[glowgirl]

I need to buy a toy for a 3 year old girl and a 6 year old boy (my niece and nephew who I don't see a lot), being totally out of touch with such things I could really do with some advise as to what's popular for these age groups, I don't want to ask their parents again but would like to get something that is well known and instantly recognisable, any help would be much appreciated :)

i always opt for outdoor toys at this time of year. it depends how much you want to spend but things that have gone down very successfully over the last few years are a wooden covered sand pit, a covered paddling pool, bike (balance bike when younger, then one with pedals), scooter, go kart, pedal racer, zoingo boingo, spiro hop, spiro bouncer, hedstrom 360 see saw, space hopper, hula hoop, wheelybug, pogo stick, swing ball, stilts and diablo.

I prefer to get smaller stuff like this that gets a lot of use and doesn't need too much supervision. I have heard of too many broken bones with trampolines (even the junior ones with the handlebar and bigger ones with nets), bouncy castles, slides, swings, monkey bars, climbing frames etc.