4 year old boy, gift question

[labdogs42]

My 3.5 year old DS is getting Spike the Ultra Dinosaur from Santa, the Smart Cycle from Grandma and the Tag reader form the other Grandma! Other wow gifts he has gotten in the past include a Little Tikes kitchen and a Little Tikes toolbench. Step 2 and Little Tikes some nice gender-neutral kitchens. Like this one:

http://www.littletikes.com/toys/prep-serve-kitchen.aspx?Ntt=kitchen&N=26&Ntk=Product+Search

and here is a neat toolbench:
http://www.step2.com/product.cfm?product_id=1394

and the one DS has:
http://www.littletikes.com/Toys/com...et.aspx?Ntt=workbench&N=26&Ntk=Product+Search

 

[mom2aredhead]

There are some of the bigger Playmobil sets that would wow. They have a pirate ship at one of our local stores that always has little boys flocked around it.

I was going to suggest Playmobil stuff as well.

OK, since nobody warned her...I will.

The Playmobil sets are well made and my son likes them, but they have somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 quadrillion pieces that need to be put together. No joke...

Like the flower has to go on the stem and the stem has to go in the leaves and the leaves have to go in the planter box and the planter box has to go on the base...multiply by 14 or so...then that base gets snapped to the wall that gets attached to the corner piece that clips on to the other side that you have to connect with the archway...now repeat all steps for the other 3 sides, then don't forget to put the stickers on. Oh...and did I mention that all of these pieces that snap and attach use little teeny tiny (smaller than an eraser on a pencil) clippy things which you must insert in 4-12 different spots on each panel/wall/corner first BEFORE you do all of those other things??

So I have now learned to HIDE the pieces like the flowers, etc. which are purely decorative as soon as the box is opened, which has cut the assembly time from 3.5 hours down to about 2.

Don't believe me? Go ahead and buy the zoo. I triple dog dare you.

 

[jll45]

Another vote for Kota, my DS4 is in love with it and is getting his Christmas wish since the price dropped to $99. I also got him the Talking Thomas Wooden Railway whic is $150, some Cars Mega Bloks, an Air Hog R/C helicopter, my mother got him Spike the Ultra dinosaur, he loves anything Disney Cars related, and wanted a My Little Pony toy until DH told him it was for girls.

 

[Ephany]

oh the batman one would be right up his alley. He looooooves superheroes

Target has a 'bonus' batman one right now, it's really cute. I'm eyeing it for DD, I know she and DH was get a kick out of it, along with the batcave set.

http://www.target.com/Fisher-Price-...64?ie=UTF8&index=target&rh=k:imaginext&page=1

 

[rt2dz]

The thing DS4 wanted most this year was the monorail from Disney. Asked Santa for it and all. Santa shipped it, along with extra track, the Tree of Life and the Epcot ball (all about $150-$200 total) just yesterday.

He also loves Imaginext, Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, K’nex, Lego’s, Rescue/Planet Heroes, Play Mobile, Star Wars, small plastic army/police/fire fighter/astronaut plastic men, Dinosaurs and Mickey Mouse Club House. The other thing he wanted was the new Mickey Mouse Speedway. DS3 is getting that though. He also seemed to want Spike the Dinosaur for a long time.

 

[rt2dz]

OK, since nobody warned her...I will.

The Playmobil sets are well made and my son likes them, but they have somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 quadrillion pieces that need to be put together. No joke...

Like the flower has to go on the stem and the stem has to go in the leaves and the leaves have to go in the planter box and the planter box has to go on the base...multiply by 14 or so...then that base gets snapped to the wall that gets attached to the corner piece that clips on to the other side that you have to connect with the archway...now repeat all steps for the other 3 sides, then don't forget to put the stickers on. Oh...and did I mention that all of these pieces that snap and attach use little teeny tiny (smaller than an eraser on a pencil) clippy things which you must insert in 4-12 different spots on each panel/wall/corner first BEFORE you do all of those other things??

So I have now learned to HIDE the pieces like the flowers, etc. which are purely decorative as soon as the box is opened, which has cut the assembly time from 3.5 hours down to about 2.

Don't believe me? Go ahead and buy the zoo. I triple dog dare you.

LOL This is not an exaggeration.

 

[jimandami]

Just wanted to put in another vote for any of the imaginext stuff. My DS4 has the large dinosaur set and the batman set and he loves them. For Christmas, he is getting the pirate ship and Spike the Ultra Dinosaur. These toys are very durable and don't have a million pieces (they do have a few small pieces but it is not too bad).

 

[torinsmom]

The little boy I babysit for is 3 and LOVES trains. He has lots of wooden train tracks and about 50 trains to go with the track. Another thing he LOVES is the Duplo Thomas set. They have a few sets to go with it, like James and Percy. It's much easier to build than the little lego sets too.

http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Duplo-Thomas-Friends-Carry/dp/B0007PHOYI

http://www.amazon.com/LEGO%C2%AE-DUPLO%C2%AE-Thomas-Friends-Spencer/dp/B000NOQCV4/ref=pd_sim_t_2

Marsha

 

[Liberty Belle]

For Christmas each year we like to get each child one big "wow" gift and then some smaller stuff too. Each of my girls is getting two American Girl dolls and some of their "stuff", those are their "wow" gifts. We were going to get the Melissa and Doug wooden train tracks and set for DS but I mentioned it to MIL and she bought it for him. I don't really mind, because he will love it, but that was my big idea for him and now I need to come up with something else.

I'd love to hear any ideas of things that four year old boys you know love to play with, or something cool that I might not have heard about. DS is four and a half, LOVES building stuff and that sort of thing. We do have Legos, duplos, tinker toys and lincoln logs already. DH and I like to try to buy sturdy, well made toys that will last through rough play and encourage the kids to use their imaginations since we've found that they tend to play longer with the more open ended toys than with anything else.

My price range is $100-200, but if it's less, I certainly won't complain It just needs to be a "WOW" toy. MIL called this morning to tell me she ordered the trains so right now I'm kind of panicking

Playmobil. It needs to be put together, but if he's doing the Lego kits, he could do it (smart cookie, that one!). Or, you could put it together and he could just play with it.

I can think of a lot of cool building toys (Crystal Climbers, etc), but they wouldn't have that wow factor.

www.reallygreattoys.com has a lot of Playmobil toys at great prices.

 

[Liberty Belle]

OK, since nobody warned her...I will.

The Playmobil sets are well made and my son likes them, but they have somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 quadrillion pieces that need to be put together. No joke...

Like the flower has to go on the stem and the stem has to go in the leaves and the leaves have to go in the planter box and the planter box has to go on the base...multiply by 14 or so...then that base gets snapped to the wall that gets attached to the corner piece that clips on to the other side that you have to connect with the archway...now repeat all steps for the other 3 sides, then don't forget to put the stickers on. Oh...and did I mention that all of these pieces that snap and attach use little teeny tiny (smaller than an eraser on a pencil) clippy things which you must insert in 4-12 different spots on each panel/wall/corner first BEFORE you do all of those other things??

So I have now learned to HIDE the pieces like the flowers, etc. which are purely decorative as soon as the box is opened, which has cut the assembly time from 3.5 hours down to about 2.

Don't believe me? Go ahead and buy the zoo. I triple dog dare you.

I will NEVER forget the year Santa brought my four year old his Playmobil castle. Of course Santa was very busy, so he asked us to put it together - we started about 10 and were not finished until 4:30 in the morning. We had no idea it would take that long. Well worth, it, though. The quality is amazing and the kids love it.

 

[mom2aredhead]

I will NEVER forget the year Santa brought my four year old his Playmobil castle. Of course Santa was very busy, so he asked us to put it together - we started about 10 and were not finished until 4:30 in the morning. We had no idea it would take that long. Well worth, it, though. The quality is amazing and the kids love it.

That Santa...with all those elves, you'd think he could find a spare 6 hours for assembly...
I feel your pain. The zoo was about 4 hours.
Then one day when I was at work and my husband was not paying attention, my son thought he was doing a good thing by trying to put it away himself...but couldn't get it to fit in the box, so he took most of it apart!
Thank goodness I kept the directions. Next time I'm going to gorilla glue that sucker together....or put it on the curb with a "Please Take Me" sign.

 

[Mrs D]

Thank to OP for opening this thread and to all posters for their thoughtful replies! I have been wondering what last thing to get DS3. I am glad to hear the positive responses on Imaginex, I think I'll go check them out tonight.

 

[mcqueen n' sally]

my 4yo DS got Spike the Ultradinosaur and the Tag reader system for his birthday last month... he really likes both...

his Godfather also got him a drum set (drum kit? i don't know the right terminology)... while he loves this too, i can't say i would have voluntarily brought it into the house myself!

 

[iheartdisney]

OK, please don't flame me, but am I the only one wondering why a 4 yr old needs 2 "wow" presents? It doesn't matter if you buy the train table or the grandparents, if that is the planned "wow", let it be.
I have no problems with my parents or in-laws buying my kids the big things on thier list, it saves me some money!
And does the 4 year old really care his biggest present came from mom or grandma?

 

[ZPT1022]

OK, please don't flame me, but am I the only one wondering why a 4 yr old needs 2 "wow" presents? It doesn't matter if you buy the train table or the grandparents, if that is the planned "wow", let it be.
I have no problems with my parents or in-laws buying my kids the big things on thier list, it saves me some money!
And does the 4 year old really care his biggest present came from mom or grandma?

It doesn't seem right that his sisters' wow presents are from Santa and his is from his grandmother. It probably wouldn't bother me so much if he were an only but there will be two other kids there that morning getting a big gift from Santa. What do I say when he asks why he didn't?

ETA- the girls are also getting WOW gifts from MIL- an American Girl doll for one, and Calico Critters for the other one- so all three have big gifts from her.

It would be fair to say that we go overboard, as does MIL. MIL is overcompensating for the fact that FIL is no longer alive and we tend to go overboard. I overcompensate because my Dad died when I was a kid and you just never know what will happen :shrug: to each their own I guess

 

[labdogs42]

my 4yo DS got Spike the Ultradinosaur and the Tag reader system for his birthday last month... he really likes both...

Oooh, good to know. DS is getting both of these for Christmas!