Gifts For Kids

What an awesome idea for a game Radical came up with! Like all good ideas, it’s not very complicated, yet it makes the most of current technology, enabling a fun family game. The “Say What?” is a nice sturdy little gadget, lovely designed, with sleek colorful balls that can be pulled out of their sockets and re-placed in various sequences.

This gadget takes a common pop culture phrase such as “Life is like a box of chocolates” and utters it out loud re-shuffling the words, producing a Yoda style “chocolates box of life like is” sequence. Now it’s your job to re-assemble the sentence into proper English. It’s fun and challenging, and with various game levels, even younger kids can play. They do have some advantages over us, and once they get to know the prhases, you better watch out!

The “Say What?” is one of the most popular electronic games around - click here ot read more about it and order from Amazon.

Finally, time to talk about those real cool gadgets for the older kids - the motorized ride-ons!

Yes, you do have motorized ride-ons for toddlers as well. Lil’ Buddys is the brand name you’d be looking for at that department, with small and obviously not too fast, motorized ride-ons for shorter drivers. They actually have a huge selection of models with some pretty neat designs. If you’re looking for motorized ride-ons for children aged 2-3 years old, definitely check out the Lil’ Buddys Off Road Cruiser, Lil’ Buddys My First Mow It Tractor Ride On and the Lil’ Buddys Police Ride On. Priced at under $50 at the time of writing this posts, these are sure to be instant hits with car-loving toddlers.

Now, when we talk about slightly older kids, pre-schoolers aged over 3 years old, then I’m afraid a bigger budget is required. That said, if you can afford these, here are the two most popular models out on the market (as rated on Amazon).

Take Fisher-Price, combine them with Kawasaki and add a super-cool name to the model - The Ninja - and that alone guarantees a happy kid at the receiving end of your gift. This model lives up to its name(s) too! Fisher-Price® Power Wheels Kawasaki KFX Ninja Ultimate Terrain Traction (quite a mouthful!) is this uber cool ATV for kids aged 3-5 and comes supported by raving reviews by buyers.

The price tag is actually relatively low for such a unique model, that really does drive through rain, mud and wet grass. At well under $200, this is a great value-for-money choice!

The second most popular model costs well over $300, but boy, if you can afford this, you’re going to make a little boy or girl real happy! The Kid Trax Red Fire Engine Electric Ride-On is the second most popular choice when it comes to motorized ride-ons, and I suspect it only comes second because of the higher price tag.

Easy enough to see what makes this such a popular model. First, the very concept of a fire truck is enough to get your average 4 yo real excited. Add to this the flashing emergency lights, a working fire hose, and lighted dashboard, and whoa! This nifty vehicle runs at two speeds, 2.5 mph and 5.0 mph (depending on the emergency!) and can reverse as well. What I really liked about this model is the fact that it has a passenger seat, as well as room for the driver, so you can easily take a sibling or a friend on for a ride! In short, a dream motorized vehicle!

The Green Angle

Fortunately, these motorized vehicles are all electric, so pollution by gas byproducts isn’t an issue. However, they do usually use internal rechargeable batteries. Make sure that the parents know how to get rid of the batteries in an environmentally friendly way.

One of my kids’ favorite pastimes is building stuff with their lego blocks. Aged six and four, they have a collection of basic colorful lego blocks . Now, for their age group, I wouldn’t go for anything much more sophisticated. Just more building blocks, maybe a set of windows and doors, maybe some little lego men (like the LEGO Community Workers Set) but that’s about it.

Now, for older kids… Lego has the most amazing sets available. Let me tell you this, my dear husband is anxiously awaiting the day when his boys will get this as a gift!

The Lego Mindstorm NXT:

These are all pictures of the very same toy, if you can even call that a toy! It’s a highly sophisticated set which lets you build an actual robot. We’re talking a variety of sensors, microprocessor, memory, the whole thing. I just know this one would be a hit with any technologically oriented kid. Younger children will just watch the robot (it’s cool enough just to watch), while older kids (or adults) will be thrilled to be putting together the robot of their dreams. Highly educational! It does have 577 pieces, but comes with a simple to follow manual that helps just about anyone to build a working robot in under an hour.

The Green Angle
When you buy a Lego product, you know it’s high-quality and something that will stay in the family, literally for generations to come. In fact, some of the blocks which my kids play with, used to belong to their dad and his brothers. With the NXT model, I believe that the steep price itself is enough of a guarantee that this one will be cherished for a long time to come!

Well, are they for kids, would be the first question. See, we just got this little mosquito helicopter model, with a remote control, and it is way too delicate to let our kids handle it. We’ve seen the same model over at some friends’ house and as soon as their 6 yo kid took hold of it, he smashed it into a wall and the thing’s gyro (I think that’s what it’s called, but I am no chopper expert!) broke down.

For now, I have to say, this one isn’t a good gift for young children. I think 12 and older would love this gadget, but anything younger and you risk an early crash! We ended up getting the kids a remote control 4WD tough truck with huge wheels, that they can bump into walls and scream in joy as the think rolls over and keeps on going.

That said, RC helicopters make a great gifts for dads My husband adores his little chopper and plays with it a lot. It’s indoors-only btw, as it can’t fly with any wind whatsoever. It also works best in cooler temperature - apparently, soaring up on hot air isn’t as easy.

Many years ago, when you played “Simon Says”, it was actually a human-to-human interactive game. The first electronic version was launched in 1978, and became an instant hit during the ’80s. Playing Simon is now associated with repeating sequences of musical notes and flashing colorful lights, more than anything else, isn’t it?

With so many new gadgets on the market, it’s amazing how Simon remains one of the most popular ones. There’s magic in the simplicity I guess. It’s a good thing that the Simon Trickster doesn’t really change things too drastically. When you look at it, it’s obvious right away that this one is another Simon game.

It does offer the classic game version, only with three more games added, including a very challenging game where you have to repeat sequences backwards. It’s a nice gadget, colorful and noisy that will make kids of all ages happy, and let’s face it, your average adult will want to grab it for a while too (some out of sheer nostalgia!) A great gift for kids, especially if you don’t have to stay around to hear them play

Check out the Simon Trickster on Amazon right here