by Gene Patterson

Created on: December 02, 2010   Last Updated: December 08, 2010

These days many Christmas gift ideas for kids are all centered around high technology.  They want their XBOX, Playstation, IPOD, Zune, Cells and Laptops.  Fortunately there are some timeless toys.  Some of these things were popular when we were kids and perhaps when our parents were kids.  Though my dad tells stories of being happy to get “two sticks” for Christmas.

Here are some timeless gift ideas for kids

♦  Legos

Lego’s are great and kids still love to play with them.  They are a classic toy that allows creativity and can keep a child active.  Leg’s these days can even have, “themes”.  You can get The Star Wars Lego (for instance)  that can be used with other Lego bricks, but also have the distinction of being intended to build one specific themed building type.

♦  Board Games

To be honest board games might only hold interest for a child for a limited amount of time.  As they get older they often begin to gravitate toward video games and board games may seem a little mundane to a child immersed in the fast paced action world of video games.  But for younger children board games like, “Candy Land” can still hold an endless fascination.  The only down side is that a large collection of Lego bricks can mean a lot of potential mess if the child is not good at cleaning up/

♦  Bicycles

What kid wouldn’t love to get a bicycle.  It is a young person’s first chance to be a little bit location independent.  They can ride to school.  They can ride to work once they get into their teens.  Depending where you live and how safe the area is a bicycle can be a marvelous toy that is partly practical and partly infinite fun.

♦  Dolls

Dolls primarily a “girl” thing, though if you include, “action figures” into this this category, you could make it for girls and boys.  There are tons of great dolls out there.  Some like Barbie dolls have been around for ages.  Others are much more recent.  There are many dolls that are mirrored off of current movies, like Belle and Edward from Twilight fame that many young girls would love to get this year.

♦  Sleds

Sled technology has not changed much in the past 100 years and if you live in an area that gets sufficient snow to make sledding a viable thing to do it is a great thing to get.  Getting a sled for a child who lives in Hawaii is just cruel though.  Substitute a Boogie Board, please.

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