I need Christmas help~

Living*Doll*Vintage

Living*Doll*Vintage

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My middle son is so difficult to shop for - the things he wants are out of my budget and he doesn't NEED a PS3, X-Box 360 AND a Wii, his own laptop, or desktop for that matter.

I want to get him things he'll enjoy and that he can interact with.
He's 13, has mild aspergers, and is completely visually oriented. He can actually play 3 tiered chess - like three different games at once with one other player - I have NO idea how he does it, but he can.

He's solved his rubiks cube over and over and has mastered rubiks magic. I'm starting to search for more puzzles and the like and thought I'd ask here as I have found we all know SO MUCH in addition to vintage!

Thanks for any suggestions you may have ~ and have a happy Thanksgiving!!!
 
How about those 3D puzzles? A quick Amazon search for "3d puzzles" got me to a full page of them...just to make sure I wasn't wacky.
Don't forget the affiliate link /\ up there if you shop them!

I'd rather my kiddo have brain building, unplugged stuff, too. :scratchchin:
 
Is he into word games? Does he watch movies? I know this isn't interactive, but I wonder if he'd enjoy a DVD of the movie Wordplay, an entertaining documentary about the annual crossword puzzle championships.

MC
 
I just had another thought before hitting the hay:

What about those printed reproductions of elaborate architectural wonders that you cut out the intricate pieces and follow the directions and fold the tabs and so on, and, with a little glue and a lot of focus and patience, you assemble a beautiful full-color 3-D paper reproduction of the Eiffel Tower or Saint Peter's or whatever. (Sorry for the run-on sentence! Grammar gone at this hour.) Would that interest him? Or the building of any type of scale model?

Mary Catherine
 
Thanks guys - great suggestions.

He's great with visuals, not so much words. I'm going to use the affiliates links to search some more.

I like the 3D puzzle ideas - sadly, there is a mysterious vortex that random, and important, puzzle pieces get sucked into the minute they are unsealed~

Of course, that vortex empties into the couch cushions -

MC - that documentary sounds really interesting! He loves Discovery channel and "watching" stories about history and real people -

The model building is another one I didn't think of - do they still make "Erector Sets" :scratchchin:

Okay, off to shop and self medicate :booze: before family arrives for dinner (just kidding, sort of :horny: )
 
Oh, yeah! They do make a lot of neat versions of the erector sets, I saw a few while being drug around KidsRUs at breakneck speed last week. :wacko:
There are so many tactile toys out there, just finding them is the trick.

How would he do with a real train set? The hobbyist type, not the kid version? My Alex is a train fanatic beyond a normal level, so we always think along those lines. If you could ever find a hobbyist selling off a set, and have ample room in the basement for something like that, he might like it. There is a lot of wiring, switch building, assembling and modeling to be done, plus planning routes, etc. Very visually creative, very hands on. I'm watching for one of those "grown up boys" to sell off a collection so I can get them on the cheap. It might be a bit late to hunt for one for xmas this year, but worth keeping an eye out for at estate sales. They are often the thing the wife hated and is willing to move on as soon as hubby does. Buying them retail is waaayy expensive
 
What about the Lego Mindstorm stuff?
Robotics and all that....I'm not sure how much reading is involved.
My son is LD and at 16 still has many issues with reading and math, so I understand trying to find things that will be enjoyable without frustrating him.
 
Sharon, does he have the Battleship game? Not the electronic one (most kids these days need more electronics like they need a hole in the head!), but the old-fashioned one? It's cheap, so could be an "added" gift, not a main one. My oldest son (12) has ADHD and it can be very hard to find things to keep him engaged, but we play Battleship together, and have a lot of fun. It requires good spatial logic, which it sounds as if your son certainly has! And on-board storage for the pegs--so they don't get lost. And keeps him off mycomputer....

Model building sounds great, too. There are some amazing model kits out there! I also was going to suggest the advanced Lego kits for older kids, although we struggle with lost pieces, like with the puzzles. We had a plastic tub they could dump the pieces in, but that's lost, too!
 
I've never heard of Lego Mindstorm - I'll need to check that out.

My boys love the themed legos - we've had soccer fields and basketball courts - literally 2-3 feet square with players and fans and refs!

And then we suffered the same fate as Anne - lost pieces.

We've also had Battleship several times - they love it too. Maybe I'll pick up another one and we'll have better luck with the pegs staying where they belong~ a girl can dream, can't she?
 
Ziplock bags, dears! I swear my Mom and I could keep that company in biz ourselves. She puts all the game pieces she gets into her consignment shop in them, and its spread. We have all our game pieces thanks to the extra 2 seconds it takes to scoop them into a baggie.
 
I use the ziplocks for puzzles. I cut the picture off the box and tape it to the bag and we keep the puzzle pieces in it. Actually, I get the giant bags and make our puzzles challenging enough for my youngest. I mix 2-3 different puzzles together and he builds them all at the same time. It drives me nuts! I have to sort then put them together - he gets them all started and then just keeps going till they're all done. Now we just need to figure out how to make that a marketable skill ;)
 
I was playing my Tetris game tonight and wondered if that would be something he would like. It's a bit old shool (I used to play it on the Game Boy), but it's very spacial, shape sorting. I find it relaxing, play it while Alex is drifing off to sleep.
Marketable skill from it? You should see me pack a car after a vintage buying/family vacation trip. My boys refuse to ride home on the roof or with dresses in their laps, so I've gotta pack like a bandit if I've gotten lucky. :embaressed:

Maybe a stocking stuffer?
 
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