Gifts for 7 Year Old Boy

[stacylsc]

Aunties and Grandma's have started asking for "Christmas Lists" for our children. The little ones I have an easy time steering towards whole/natural toys. My 7 year old is easy to steer, but what to steer him towards?! I am a little lost this year as to what to even guide him towards. He adores Legos but has plenty. We found Automoblox and we'll ask for those, but what else is good out there for boys this age WITHOUT being about video games/DVDs/or media driven/based (i.e. Toy Story, etc.). Appreciate any suggestions!

[LuckyMommaToo]

I am finding 7 to be a harder age to buy for, and we DO do video games. Other than Legos:
-- Nerf products
-- Comic books
-- "-ology" books (I think we're going to do Dragonology)
-- robot-building or other kits
-- remote control cars
-- DS loves sports, so we're doing a Dodgers jersey
-- a magic set
-- last year we got him "big kid" bedding. For him it was Star Wars pillow cases and shams from PBKids. But you could go lots of different ways with this.
-- a complicated marble run set
-- a stopwatch
-- a real watch

Hope this helps spur some ideas for you!
-e

[Girlprof]

Our DS is turning seven soon so I'll be watching this list. Not sure what your parameters are. Our DS is big into spies and Spy Gear has a massive toy line. Some of this stuff is not as good as one might hope, but on the other hand, it is not character driven and there is no affiliated TV show or anything like that. It does encourage and facilitate his various games about spies.

A science kit, if you don't have that yet.

We were told very explicitly that we could not get him a bike for a present because we would get him a bike anyway, LOL. He's completely right about that and we did already get a bike, but for a big present, a bike upgrade might be good, if your DS is not as savvy as ours.

[Girlprof]

Oh, he also has a subscription to Ask magazine that he really likes.

[starlein26]

A few ideas:

- A point-n-shoot camera
- Puzzles
- Art supplies
- Measurement tools (scale/ water thermometer/ carpenter's ruler/ stopwatch...)
- Maps
- Telescope

[LynnS6]

I found this was a great age for board games. Some of our favorites are:
Cranium Cadoo
Sorry
Ruckus
Mastermind
Connect 4
Guess Who

Science kits are another thing that can be nice for this age.

Cooking kits are fun too.

[wendy23]

My son is 8 and I agree it does get harder.

I agree with
board games - card games like slapwich, rat a tat cat, uno are fun. We like scrabble upwords, magnetic soduko.
Magazine subscriptions, non-fiction books - especially Guinness World Records, other almanacs.
My son absolutely loves legos - and even though your son has a lot you might want to consider the lego educational sets like wedo. It's a computer programming version where they build simple structures that move and they can control. Also they have kits with motors and pulleys. They are expensive - as all legos are, but I think there is a lot of creative and educational play involved.

[musikat]

I have an almost 7 YO (turning 7 Jan 6) and and 8 yo who was 7 last Christmas. My oldest's big gifts last year were a digital camera (used, but he didn't care!) and a watch. This year he is getting an Air Hog remote control toy, spy gear (definitely a big hit) and battle strikers. He is also getting a nice Harry Potter Lego set from grandparents.

I am of the opinion that there is no such thing as "too many" Legos because the sets are so intricate and their abilities keep growing so there are always new challenges. Lego also has a new series of buildable board games that are on the list for both my boys!

My middle son is HUGE into building and is getting a very large Lego set (from grandparents) along with his first erector set. He also loves science kits.

Games are good at this age, as they are getting more sophisticated in their ability to play and understand them. My oldest is addicted to chess right now so I also want to find him a travel chess set as one of his gifts.

Hope that helps!

[alison77]

love the ideas here, we're always looking for some good ideas as well. my older ds is 7 now and all he seems to play with are the tech decks and associated mini-sports stuff. he has received science kits for presents in the past and has loved them (though they are quickly finished) and is now getting more into board games. we may also try to get some of the older kids' (aka smaller pieces) lego kits for this year. oh, and i definitely want to get the kids into chess, too, but i have to learn how to play first working on that!

lastly, my other idea was to get a toolkit and make sure that he has some equipment around (wood, etc.) that he can use and do supervised creating with that.

[rhianna813]

My DS is turning 7 in November. He just got into the smaller legos so we'll be getting more of those.

A fun science "toy" we got last year is Snap Circuit Jr by Elenco. It's a real circuit board that uses a battery (you supply) to power it. The kids (and adults) can use the manuel to create configurations that turn a light on, buzz sounds, power a fan, etc. There is even photo, motion and liqiud sensor options.

Jr set says it for kids 8+ but my 6 year old used the pictures with minimal help and dove right in!

http://www.elenco.com/SC-100.htm

Rhianna