Following Part One for girls, here is the rest of the 20 under $20. Now although we think that boys will love these, there's no reason that girls might like some or all of these too so take a look even if you're planning to buy for someone made from sugar and spice and all things nice.
10. K's Kids Pull back Car (12 months+) - $10.95
Pull 'em back and watch 'em go! Baby will love watching these little cars racing along hard floor surfaces like vinyl. It's also a great way to encourage crawling efforts! Soft and colourful, these little cars are perfect for little hands and have with no sharp or dangerous edges.
Each set contains 4 vehicles. The plastic axle base can be detached and the soft fabric cars are machine washable.
11. Infantino Wiggle Wobble Pal (3 months+) - $19.95
Baby will have a ball with this silly Infantino Wiggle Wobble Pal - (Colors/Styles Vary). Tap, bop, wiggle and spin for non-stop musical fun! Music and motion! Super soft and huggable. Solid rounded base keeps pal upright. On/Off switch. Perfect for high chair trays, floor play and prams!
12. Djeco Make Your Own Cowboy & Co Puppets (6+) - $12.95
A fun craft kit from Djeco. Colour and fasten the parts together to make moving puppets that children will love to play with. Pack includes three sticks, 40 connectors, and all the cardboard pieces you need to make three 35cm figures - a cowboy, pirate and knight.
Contents: 3 x 35cm puppets in each bag and approx 80 clips.
13. Foxtail Sonic (6+) - $17.95
Break the sound barrier with every toss! - This sonic foxtail is all the fun of the classic tailed ball, but with the addition of screaming sounds. -- Whistles lodged in the leather-covered soft sponge ball shriek as it whizzes through the air. Designed for outdoor games of catch, you can spin, hurl, and catch this ball by the tail.
14. Yotech Flashlight Yoyo (4+) - $11.95
This is a beginner's yoyo and comes with spare string and an instruction book.
15. Why? by Dr Wood (8+) - $19.95
There are 13 pieces in this puzzle that could drive you to the very edge of insanity. Simply place the pieces on the grid provided to create the letters W, H and Y. Challenge - can you solve all three in 60 minutes? Single player, 30-60 minutes playing time.
16. Tangoes Magnetic Travel Game (5+) - $16.95
Based on the ancient Chinese Tangram puzzle, Tangoes is a learning tool that combines artistic and mathematical elements to enhance visual perception ability; develop problem solving skills; creative thinking capacity and teamwork. Tangoes can be played by one, two or in teams. From ages four to one hundred and four, all ages are delighted by the challenge of forming the puzzle presented with the seven dynamic pieces.
The Magnetic Travel Tangoes version is a great no-mess travel game where kids try to recreate the people puzzles in the spiral bound flip book using the 7 different, foam-covered magnetic pieces. Best of all, the Magnetic Travel Tangoes People Puzzles includes an attached, adjacent play surface for kids to move and adjust the magnetic pieces to solve the puzzle. But, if they get stumped, they just have to flip the puzzle page for the solution! The Magnetic Travel Tangoes People Puzzles is the small-size game that includes 7 magnetic puzzle pieces, play surface, 24 puzzles and solutions, and a snap closure to make this game great for travel!
Classic tangram activity in a travel form
Features 7 magnetic puzzle pieces, a play surface, 24 puzzles and solutions, and a snap closure
Pieces are foam covered
Spiral bound flip book
What's a Tangram??? I'm glad you asked. Check out the wiki page below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangram
17. Pocket Doodles for Boys (7+) - $15.95
Jam-packed with cool ideas and kooky illustrations, Pocketdoodles for Boys invites readers to design a roller coaster, turn a beauty queen into a flesh-eating zombie, create their very own masterpieces, and so much more! Filled with furballs, oddballs, and everything in between, this book will have every boy drawing with delight.
Inside are interactive picture and word prompts that will encourage youngsters (and adults) to write, doodle, draw and color on the pages. For example, you'll find storyline doodle pages on which you are given picture elements and instructions on how to complete the drawings.
The book's small size (4x6 inches) makes it perfect for stowing in a pocket or backpack, so kids can enjoy the activities and doodling prompts wherever they go. With 272 pages, there's always a new idea for drawing and dreaming!
Doodling Prompts Include:
Sleepwalker:
Draw the weird place this sleepwalker ended up!
Draw-A-Bus:
Draw the school bus driver.
Superhero:
Draw yourself as a superhero with really cool powers!
Water:
Draw scary fish in this fish tank!
Puke Park:
Draw all the people getting sick on this roller coaster!
Cave kid:
Draw yourself as a prehistoric caveman.
18. Mancala (6+) - $19.95
This is a firm favourite at our house and is perfect for trips, or rainy days. This is one of the oldest games in the world and was played initially with stones and scooped out holes in the ground. We first saw this in Africa but never knew how to play it so never bought a set. Our daughter Bella started playing at school and picked up the rules so we bought a game, loved it so much we've started stocking it in the shop.
The object of this game is to collect as many gems in your mancala (the large cup on the right) as possible. You and your opponent will take turns to move the gems, each time you want to move the gems, you need to pick up a cup on your side. And then you will take out all the gems in that cup and then distribute them to the next cups in the anti clockwise direction, one by one. If the last gem lands on your mancala, then you can pick another cup and move again. If the last gem lands on an empty cup on your side and the opposite cup has some gems in it, then you can capture all the gems in the two cups and put them into you mancala. The game ends when all the cups on your side or your opponent's side are empty. The remaining gems on a player's side will be counted as the gems of that player.
You can play on line at the link below but its much more satisfying to actually hold the marbles in your hand and drop them into the scoops.
http://www.novelgames.com/flashgames/game.php?id=204
19. Shocking Rocket Kit from Horrible Science (4+) - $19.95
Horrible Science Shocking Rocket is a Science Kit with a difference.
You and your child can make a water-fueled rocket, defy gravity, learn how rockets blast off into space and other shocking rocket facts.
Contents include a plastic rocket, nose cone, fins, rubber stopper, valve, stickers, sticky tape and 'Horrible Info' leaflet.
20. Space Adventure Model Kit (8+) - $19.95
For all those budding astronauts how about this Apollo-style rocket. Some assembly is required. No painting necessary though (that's usually the tricky part). Includes an astronaut figurine, and a tool for aiding in making the model.
We hope this has given you inspiration - you don't need to spend a motza to get something educational, interesting or different.
