What to get for 9 year old for christmas

[cheaperthanmost]

So I am at my wits end trying to think what to get my 9 almost 10 year old for christmas. He loves educational toys. Does anyone have ideas? Help

[WatchingThemGrow]

not educational, but we got a 9yo in our family a Havoc Heli from Target for $20. DH loves his.

[misshollygolightly]

How about some sort of science kit, like a crystal-growing kit or basic chemistry set?

I have no experience with these, but here are some kits appropriate to age 8-11 according to one seller: http://www.discoverthis.com/ages8andup.html

Another thought: are seamonkeys and antfarms still around?

Oh, and if you want to spend a little more, how about a cool telescope?

[babystuffbuff]

My brother is 9. We are getting him this Snap Circuits set for Christmas:

http://www.amazon.com/Elenco-SC-100-Snap-Circuits-Jr/dp/B00008BFZH/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1260412635&sr=8-1

There are bigger and smaller ones available, too; we thought this would be a good start. If he likes it, we can add on later.

[shishamo]

Do you want to know what is on my 9 year old DS's wish list for christmas?

iPod (touch).
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.....and some legos. Any set. My son has Lego MindStorm-if he doesn't have that, I think he would LOVE that. It is educational.


Also, if he has Nintendo DS, Professor Layton games are educational (they are like collection of math brain challenges) and my son loved it as well!

[o_mom]

Snap Circuits are good. I saw them at Hobby Lobby recently and was kicking myself for not realizing there were there... can use a 40% coupon on them!

[Tondi G]

My 8 year old is getting a set of Magformers. He has played with magnatiles before and thought they were cool so my mom is getting him the magformers. Someone suggested QVC being the best price they had found. They sell a set to make vehicles too.

http://www.qvc.com/qsearch/search.aspx/q.magformers?ref=GTY&cm_ven=GOOGLEPAID&cm_cat=TOYSCRAFTSANDLEISURE&cm_pla=MAGFORMER&cm_ite=MAGFORMERS

Snap Circuits sound like a good option too. Does he have a marble run? Maybe quadrilla? The suggestion for Lego Mindstorms is a good one too (but not cheap). My 8 year old went to a class at Legoland and he loved it.... he has one on his wishlist but isn't getting one just yet. Maybe for his birthday in July.

ipod shuffle or nano maybe? The new nano is a video camera too!

Science kits are cool .... build a volcano, build a rocket (my sisters boyfriend just built a really cool one with his nieces ... I need to find out what brand it was). Soda can robot or ro-bug.

we went into this store recently and they had some interesting robot building kits

http://rollingrobots.com/

If you aren't anti video game then the Nintendo DS is great as is the Wii.