2011 Boy-Friendly Gift Guide--Older Elementary (9-12)

PRESCHOOL  (2-4) |      ELEMENTARY (5-8) |    OLDER ELEMENTARY (9-12)

Welcome to the third day of the 2nd Annual Mobmom Boy-Friendly Gift Guide. These toys and gifts are ones that I either have (***) or would buy for my sons personally. This list does not include the core “boy toys” of cars, trains, action figures and Legos because your house, like mine,  is probably full of those already. It also does not include any video games because we do not own any gaming systems so I don’t have much of an opinion on different ones.

You can read more about my basic toy-buying philosophy here.

Note: The prices are from Amazon unless otherwise noted (as of October 28, 2011). I am an Amazon Affiliate and if you click the picture of the toy to make your purchase, I receive a very small percentage of the sale, which helps fund our homeschool. Just FYI!

Erector Set

$19.38

These have been around for a LONG time, but they really are timeless in their appeal. There are many different sets in many price ranges. This one build 10 different models from the 190 included pieces.

Hypotrochoid Art Set

$10.89

This little spiral art drawing kit is great for your little designer.  Hypotrochoids  (what a fancy word!) are mathematical designs created by a point in a circle rolling around inside of a larger circle. I just call it fun.
Heath Kit Garage Parking Assistant

$129
I had never heard of Heath Kits until I read an article about Steve Jobs where he mentioned how important they were to him as a child. In the past they had many DIY kits to build various electronics. Now they are back with the first one of a new line–a Garage Parking Assistant. You put together the devise from scratch (including soldering, etc). I’m not saying your son is the next Steve Jobs, but you just never know!

Piperoid Robots

$15.95

These paper craft robots were designed in Japan and are very collectible. Each of the ones here were created with just five tubes of paper. Other sets are available. A cooler form of origami if you ask me.  Great for your manga fan.

Architecto

$34.79

Architecto is just one of 4 games in this series of block-building challenges. The others–Equilibrio , Tangramino and Cliko –all use the same set of blocks so you can buy just the challenge books separately once you have a set. There are 6 levels of play in each set so there is lots of room for growth with these games. Great for spatial visualization!

Looking for more ideas for Older Elementary aged kids–check our the 2010 edition.

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