busymama7 Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 We usually get him legos, but the ones he wants are so expensive and more than we wish to spend. Also, when he gets lego sets, he puts them together and then plays with the item. Doesnt use the pieces to create new things. So they are done in less than a day. He DOES use the basic bricks etc in very creative/innovative ways and we almost always give a group gift of another brick set to all the kids. (VENT: why do legos have to be so expensive?!?!?) We live in a small, 3 bedroom home with 9 people. The gift cant take up a lot of space and this is one reason why I prefer things like legos that ADD to something we already have. He LOVES to figure out how things work and how to put stuff together. My husband and I always comment to ourselves that he is going to be an engineer. He is strong in math and a very precise, exact, methodical child. We went to the science museum once and they had one of those sets where you make basically a huge marble run, but with a larger ball. Lots of peices and options. Couldnt tear him away from it:) Our budget for the "big" gift is about $60 give or take. I am afraid that something unknown wont have the WOW effect like a large lego set would, but I will do my best to get over that if I find something I think he will like in the long run. Thanks for any ideas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 You could get snap circuits and some legos. We've had everything but the legos win out every time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 You could do a few of the more simple kits from Make. http://www.makershed.com/category_s/59.htm?searching=Y&sort=1&cat=59&show=150&page=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forget-Me-Not Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 I was going to say Snap Circuits too. Big hit with my 7 yo son. . . and my 39 yo DH :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 I was going to say Snap Circuits too. Big hit with my 7 yo son. . . and my 39 yo DH :D :iagree: My daughter also liked them for a while. I would get at least the snap circuits 300. We have the Junior but should have bought a bigger set. I was worried my son wouldn't be able to use a bigger set, he was 5 or just turned 6 when we got it, but he is better at making the projects than me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 My DS8 (soon to be 9) sounds a lot like your son. He's getting Legos from Santa and Zometool from DH and me. You can get Creator 1 for $53 on Amazon. ETA: DS also has and loves Snap Circuits but to be honest, without DH by his side instructing him about the whys and hows of why each setup works or doesn't, I don't know that I would have been happy with it. Thankfully, DH knows a great deal about electronics and can provide supplemental instruction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 (edited) My DS8 (soon to be 9) sounds a lot like your son. He's getting Legos from Santa and Zometool from DH and me. You can get Creator 1 for $53 on Amazon. Those look interesting! The second review was entertaining reading. I hope your son will soon be able to explain to me why "degenerate vertices are such a nuisance." :lol::lol::lol: (I'm pretty sure that my husband actually knows and it sounds like your husband might, too!) Edited December 3, 2011 by ElizabethB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah CB Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 We usually get him legos, but the ones he wants are so expensive and more than we wish to spend. Also, when he gets lego sets, he puts them together and then plays with the item. Doesnt use the pieces to create new things. So they are done in less than a day. He DOES use the basic bricks etc in very creative/innovative ways and we almost always give a group gift of another brick set to all the kids. (VENT: why do legos have to be so expensive?!?!?) We live in a small, 3 bedroom home with 9 people. The gift cant take up a lot of space and this is one reason why I prefer things like legos that ADD to something we already have. He LOVES to figure out how things work and how to put stuff together. My husband and I always comment to ourselves that he is going to be an engineer. He is strong in math and a very precise, exact, methodical child. We went to the science museum once and they had one of those sets where you make basically a huge marble run, but with a larger ball. Lots of peices and options. Couldnt tear him away from it:) Our budget for the "big" gift is about $60 give or take. I am afraid that something unknown wont have the WOW effect like a large lego set would, but I will do my best to get over that if I find something I think he will like in the long run. Thanks for any ideas! This isn't really a gift idea, more of a lego idea. My ds recently discovered that he could find instructions for lego sets online. He has a pretty big collection of lego pieces so what he does is follows the directions using pieces from his misc. bin. When he doesn't have the exact piece he just improvises. This has led to even more hours of lego building and it's been tons of fun for him to create really neat sets out of the random pieces in his bin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Those look interesting! The second review was entertaining reading. I hope your son will soon be able to explain to me why "degenerate vertices are such a nuisance." :lol::lol::lol: (I'm sure that my husband actually knows and it sounds like your husband might, too!) :lol: That was funny! I'm sure I am well on my way to creating a super genius with the Zometool purchase. :tongue_smilie: Yes, DH's strong suit is math and science. I'm extremely tempted to hand over both of those subjects! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahbobeara Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 My DS8 (soon to be 9) sounds a lot like your son. He's getting Legos from Santa and Zometool from DH and me. You can get Creator 1 for $53 on Amazon. ETA: DS also has and loves Snap Circuits but to be honest, without DH by his side instructing him about the whys and hows of why each setup works or doesn't, I don't know that I would have been happy with it. Thankfully, DH knows a great deal about electronics and can provide supplemental instruction. I just placed my big Christmas Amazon order and the Creator 1 set from Zometool for my 7 year old has now been ordered. He's been doing some interesting things with the family Tinkertoys lately so I hope he's ready to move up!:tongue_smilie: I thought the 'bubble' kit from Zometool was cool too, but maybe for my son's summer birthday instead. Good luck, I know I'm fed up with all my son's Lego sets. Some of them are real space hogs. Dust collectors too :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busymama7 Posted December 3, 2011 Author Share Posted December 3, 2011 Great Ideas! Thanks and keep them coming! I am wondering about Knex? We have a small bin of random parts but Im looking at the cool roller coasters and such. Reviews? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Creator 1 set from Zometool for my 7 year old has now been ordered. He's been doing some interesting things with the family Tinkertoys lately so I hope he's ready to move up!:tongue_smilie: Yes, Zometool remind me a great deal of Tinkertoys and Superstructs. My kids have both and DS8 always makes the coolest things. I'm thinking he can take it to a new level with Zometool and his play will have much more educational value than with the other sets. I hope your son enjoys his! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 My lego loving, engineer minded son really liked the lego contraptions. It was various add on pieces with an instruction book. I think it was a klutz book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 We usually get him legos, but the ones he wants are so expensive and more than we wish to spend. Also, when he gets lego sets, he puts them together and then plays with the item. Doesnt use the pieces to create new things. So they are done in less than a day. He DOES use the basic bricks etc in very creative/innovative ways and we almost always give a group gift of another brick set to all the kids. (VENT: why do legos have to be so expensive?!?!?) We live in a small, 3 bedroom home with 9 people. The gift cant take up a lot of space and this is one reason why I prefer things like legos that ADD to something we already have. He LOVES to figure out how things work and how to put stuff together. My husband and I always comment to ourselves that he is going to be an engineer. He is strong in math and a very precise, exact, methodical child. We went to the science museum once and they had one of those sets where you make basically a huge marble run, but with a larger ball. Lots of peices and options. Couldnt tear him away from it:) Our budget for the "big" gift is about $60 give or take. I am afraid that something unknown wont have the WOW effect like a large lego set would, but I will do my best to get over that if I find something I think he will like in the long run. Thanks for any ideas! My dd has spent a huge amount of time with a science museum marble run too - they're fun!!! You could make one. It wouldn't take up much room - just some wall space. Get a piece of plywood or paneling and put strips of velcro. Then buy some plastic tubing - get some elbows and different angles too - and put the other side of the velcro the length of that. It's probably cheaper to get long lengths and then cut it to different sizes. Get some marbles and you're set. It should come well under $60. Disclaimer: I've never made this, but have spent some time designing it in my head a few years ago. :tongue_smilie: I think it could also be done - maybe even easier - by having a metal board and then attaching magnets to the tubing. Ooooh, now that I think about it, this would work better and could be re-purposed for things like the magnetic words or magnetic shapes. Just a thought. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalicoKat Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Knex has some interesting kits this year that can be built into robots. I got mine off woot. But I've seen them in the store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bensmom Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 My ds 8 is also a huge lego fan. I found that ebay sells lego parts (plain blocks or from specific theme sets) by the pound and in large lots. I took a couple of weeks tracking prices and bidding was able to get lego bionicle for just over $1 a figure. (they don't sell bionicle new anymore since hero factory replaced them....but hero factory sets are $8-9 each) I was able to buy a lot more used than I would have new and they are in great condition. Maybe buying used would be an option for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Can anyone recommend a good Lego technic starter set? Or would the Lego education Simple Machines set be a better choice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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