Ok, so here are the Smarty reco’s for 5 to 7 year olds.
Electronics:
Nintendo DSi – definitely a good age to invest in this gaming system.
Vsmile motion– it sort of like an educational wii for kids. And it comes in boy and girl colors.
Boys:
Quadrilla marble sets This thing is awesome, check it out.
Legos Legos and more Legos! Tracy’s Jake loves the little kits where he can follow the directions and put them together on his own.
StarWars action figures, or anything StarWars for that matter are a hit! Superheroes as well.
Girls:
It’s time to get the real deal American Girl doll whether it’s
Kitt Kitredge or Chrissa, Girl of the Year. We got the bitty baby a couple of years ago, and Zoe is now ready for the doll. We plan to have some fun with accessories for the American Girl. Check out ebay or etsy for handcrafted things first, usually cheaper and more unique.
We love arts and crafts gift. Consider gifts from Alex such as the sewing machine, knitting scarves, decorate flip flops, etc. Another hit are the mosaic crafts – make your own tiara or fairies.
Both:
Playmobil also had great stuff for both boys and girls – there are tons of themes including pirates.
Bean Bag – PotterybarnKids has them. This is a great gift when kids get too big for the floor chair. The Company Store has themed ones as well and you can get them personalized with his or her name on it at both places.
Puzzles – the 100 or even 200 piece are good.
Educational toys are also hit for both. Check out our previous article for some fun games. Also consider Pears in Pairs:
Board games are also great. You can start a new family tradition with game night and play games such as Sorry!, Blokus, Go Fish, memory game, and Zingo.
Another fun game is Bull’s-eye Ball SUPER fun game – kind of like miniature skee-ball.
Oh – and this is really cool too – a live Butterfly Garden. You get the kit and then there is a certificate enclosed to send away for your live caterpillars (so you can plan for when you’ll be home to witness the full cycle). When they arrive, you feed them and watch them get fat, then they for their cocoons and emerge as butterflies!! WAY cool for the whole family! Tracy S. got this for Jake and they actually let a couple of the butterflies out so they could fly around Jake’s room.
High Five magazine subscription – its the younger version of Highlights – GREAT magazine for this age! Short stories, fun little activities, some education things, Hidden Picture page!! LOVE it! And it’s totally geared toward the younger crew.
My First Weather Station – Rachael from TSP, keeps this in her son’s room and when he wakes up in the mornings he not only sees the outside and inside temperature, but there is a picture to show him how he should dress! In the winter the little boy has on a scarf and hat and on hot days he will just be wearing his swimtrunks. It is so fun for her son and also helpful to mom when you are getting your children dressed in the mornings!
Hens and Chicks – This was called Mikado, but it has changed its name. This is a simple, fun family game. Rachael just played it the other night with her fam, and somehow her 6 year old beat everyone! It is similar to the game “Perfection” we played when we were younger.
And don’t forget activity gift cards, great for stocking stuffers or from the grandparents: YMCA gymnastics or Jami Masters School of Dance, Tae Kwon Do or Charlotte Gymnastics Academy.
Whew, that’s enough to wear this elf out, but I am sure you smarties have other thoughts so please share!
13 comments
I personally think that a 5 year old is too young to receive a DS. We waited till 9. 9 is the rule in our house.
My son got an ant farm last year and it was great. At first I was a little worried about having one get out, but ours had this gel that the ants dig their tunnels in and it was really cool to watch and see what they did overnight. For the above post I think you can do a DS younger than 9, it also depends on the game and how much you let them play it. We have rules in our house for how much time it can be played and when it can be played, and that seems to control some of the problems that can arise.
My girls never asked for the DS, I bought it for their 8th/6th birthdays this year since we were going on a 10+ hour car trip and I was solo (no hubby). Originally, I was only going to get my 8-year-old the DS and give the 6-year-oold, her old Leapster. My sis-in-law who also has two girls two years apart suggested I get both of them the DS. She felt like this would cause major fighting. I thought Isabel was too young for it, but boy was I wrong, she's better than her sister! We don't have to limit the DS b/c my kids are really outdoorsy and crafty. So they often don't think of that as the first thing to play with. Although they love it when they get it out. So our cartrips are special with the DSi – they can text each other, take photos and morph them into crazy pics, etc. Best purchase I have made in a long time.
Love our Nintendo DS and just bought our other child the DSi for Christmas. We have to limit it in the car unfortunately due to car sickness. Make the kids look up and around for a few minutes each hour to get their bearings! Five years old – might be a little frustrating for children that cannot read, but there are games that do not require reading.
We have the Quadrilla marble set and the weather station for my 5 year old boy. I can attest that they were both terrific purchases. He used the weather station on a daily basis and pulls out the marble set most weekend mornings.
You forgot zhu zhu pets…witnessed my first fight over them today.
Girlfriend, we blogged about zhu-zhu's on Sunday. We gave them their own special blog all to themselves:-)
I might have to do the butterfly garden for my daughter. Dumb question – what do you have to feed them? Do you have to clean it out or anything? I am wanting LOW MAINTENANCE! Where did you order yours?
just saw a worm farm, the boys might like that! Learning express at Stonecroft has 20% the entire store today
Great ideas! Ordering the Weather Station for my son right now!
Great ideas. Some others that people have mentioned to me is the Razor Rip Rider and Green machine provide ours of fun for ride on vehicles for kids.Another game that is great is Blokus!
Butterfly Garden kits can be bought online or I've seen them at specialty toy stores. The brand we got was Insect Lore (insectlore.com). I've also seen them on Amazon.com … and actually just checked – same brand and on sale for only $14.31!! (Normally retails for $20-$25). You can also order more caterpillars at a later time to enjoy all over again – so fun!
In the past my husband and I gave our youngest a cloud/weather reading station. He really enjoyed this and it got him away from the t.v. and games inside, and he spent more time watching clouds and logging what he saw. Great post!Michele