Would prefer it to not be “hair” 'makeup" girlish oriented, but rather something challenging for her mind. I am her Uncle, and would like something maybe aimed at DIY outside of Lego if you know what I mean. Budget is small, maybe 39.99? Can move either way if needed
Advice, much needed as a 36 y/o male with no kids
I bought my kiddo a book about robots that came with a simple, buildable bot. It was well received
A microscope
Maybe a musical instrument, like those blowing organs or a tiny guitar?
Or a puzzle? Can she read yet? Or will soon, maybe a book?
Does she like chess? Maybe a chess board or similar?
Spirograph, Crystal growing kit, search for stem toys for 6 year olds, ask her parents what she’s into.
I’ve been doing stem toys for my niece for a few years and she always loves them. She just turned 9 in August.
those crystal growing kits are awesome! I might get myself one for Christmas jijiji
Thinkpad thin client with Gentoo
You gotta make sure there’s that little dot in the middle of the keyboard or else it isn’t worth it.
If she likes drawing a big set of decent-ish markers could go a long way.
Something like that.
Maybe not in the “smart mind challenging” category but there are plenty of craft kits for your budget: paint canvases by numbers, make your own accessories with clay, bead jewelry, basic engineering kits (build your own robot types), dig your own fossil kits, build-this-or-that-with-LEDlights, gardening kits for kids, etc.
My point is to expand your horizon a bit, it’s perfectly fine that you want to cater to her intelligence and not just go for something girly in a cliche sense. But she can also enjoy crafting stuff.
She needs a sword. It’s educational.
Board games. Catan junior, Loopin Chewie, Robot turtles, Tsuro, Abracada…What?, camel up.
Regular price
Catan Jr, didn’t know that existed I’ll have to look into what games are around. I know her Dad taught our parents how to play Settlers of Catan a number of years ago before she was born, so that’s something that she may have parents/grandparents to play with. She has a brother that is 2 years younger, so maybe they’ll be able to play that together soon enough.
Ticket to Ride: First Journey and Qwirkle are also good choices for that age range. Qwirkle is great because it’s simple but fun for all ages. My kids loved it when they were young and still play it frequently at 16 and 25.
I once bought my niece a marble run. I got some shit for it, because I guess some people just don’t get it? But she loved it, and my 6-year-old daughter now loves marble runs too.
My daughter also collects rocks, so a rock tumbler was a big one for her.
Another gift for a niece I got shit for was a drum. She loved it. She was so excited that it was a real instrument. My brother always said he’d get me back, but my daughter got a full-ass drum kit for Christmas, and I think it’s great.
Oh, and make your own slime kits are huge right now. It’s science-y, DIY, and kids love slime.
I think the problem with the marble run is the constant “rrrrrrr tick-tick rrrrr tick rrrr”, but aside from the noise it’s a great toy and a core component of any child’s toy box. It’s also the start of many Rube Goldberg machines running through your living room.
I once bought my niece a marble run. I got some shit for it
By her parents? Either way, who the hell criticizes a gift to someone else? Especially if the recipient ends up loving it!?
It was good natured. I wasn’t offended.
I just think it’s funny how some people are all about marble runs and some people just don’t get it. No in between. Personally I’m all about marble runs.
I mean, the drum was an asshole move.
Look, I told you I was drunk and saw a crazy 1-day only deal!
EDIT: I thought you were joking too! 🤦♂️ I didn’t see the edit from the original comment…
I had a marble run at about 6. It was awesome.
https://www.smartgames.eu/uk/one-player-games/iq-gears
My boys love this game.
Loads of replay value.
Awesome to also have it to teach others how to play. If she has that teaching spirit, this game is great.
Ask your sibling if it would be ok, to take her out to a museum or something similar.
Or aks them what she currently is into and try and get her something you know she’d love.
Would be lovely, unfortunately I live a few states away, so I can’t don’t that this time. I appreciate the thought though
I’d say experiences is still a good answer, its what we ask for when it comes to the kids. They have tons of toys already, they don’t need more, and I’m too particular about tech for my.kids for anyone to buy them tech (without it just getting returned).
We go to animal preserves, science centers, art museums, renaissance fairs, etc. Tickets only for the kids, its more like “pick an event/activity” than anything else I guess.
Sometimes we wait for family to visit so they can go too, sometimes we just take lots of pictures.
Aside from that…
- Rock tumblers are great, but loud, so talk with parents first.
- There are some great kits out there to learn to sew.
- There are electronics kits for kids that basically snap together in different arrangements for different circuits
- Marble kits (where you build different layouts) can be fun
- Terrariums with guides are always a good option IMO
- Magnet blocks are also really fun and can be reused a bunch
My 6 year old son absolutely loves the Snap Circuits kits. We’ve also started teaching him collectable card games (Pokémon, Yu Gi Oh , etc) which challenge his reading and strategy skills. Plus great quality time activity. There are tons of Stem kits out there for less than $40.
Yugioh and snap kits were my faves back then, now over 20y later I’m still playing yugioh and soldering, so I’d say it was a worthy investment of my family and my free time. Problem-solving card text is probably good for understanding programming logic, too.
Sent me back mentioning those snap circuits lol. Have her build the simple AM radio and watch her mind be blown OP, you won’t be disappointed
K’NEX. I used to build all kinds of cool stuff out of those when I was a kid.
I was about that age when I was gifted a microscope. No idea if you can still find them that cheap, though
Microscopes are definitely available in OP’s price range.
I had one as a kid, and LOVED it. It came with a bunch of sample slides, but I always took some small bottles with me on my daily summer bike trips (we were free range back then), and collected samples from swamps, puddles, drainage ditches, etc.
By the time I got to high school, I sailed through science classes, because I already knew how to make slides, and had already seen much of the stuff we were discovering.
Yes, also had a microscope at around that age, even with some sample plates that you could look at, such as a squeezed fly.
In my area’s thrift stores, $500 microscopes are available for $10, no joke. People buy them for their kids, kids never use them, into the box and off to the donation center!
I also got a microscope around this age - now I’m an environmental scientist
Another good one would be an easier STEMmy puzzle. I had one that was a bunch of shapes that had to fit together into its small case. Kinda of Tetris like.
Might be able to build one, could be worth looking into, thanks!
There is something super cool: pocket microscopes. You can take them out in nature since they are small, they are in your price range and they are astonishingly good!
Just piling on because I got a pocket microscope as a kid. It definitely led to me thinking about what objects in the world around me are made of. And if course I wondered about the components of those bits and pieces. Fast forward, and I now I have a chemistry degree 🙂
We gave our 5yo a microscope for his 5th birthday, and he loved it!
