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
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 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…
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
A microscope
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.
She needs a sword. It’s educational.
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.
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?
There are also kits for learning about electricity for kids of that age. For making a light switch or making a doorbell buzzer and simple things like that.
Now that sounds amazing, any kits or companies that sell something she may like
SnapCircuits!
They have a bunch of different kits, there’s like a music one that’ll even let you make a circuit that plays music from a phone.
They are absolutely a WONDERFUL introduction to electricity for a kid.
If she likes drawing a big set of decent-ish markers could go a long way.
Something like that.
K’NEX. I used to build all kinds of cool stuff out of those when I was a kid.
Is she too young for an Arduino starter kit?
https://store-usa.arduino.cc/products/arduino-starter-kit-multi-language
Edit: the great thing about these is that you can eventually add a raspberry pi to the mix for even more functionality and learning fun!
Or a calliope mini, they are geared towards elementary school kids.
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.
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.
Get a crystal growing kit and grow colourful crystals with her. It’s gonna take multiple days and is a great entry to stem-topics.
