Northwest Dive Club

I'm going to be visiting a good friend over Xmas and I want to bring his 6 year old son a present. The boy loves the beach and has just been introduced to snorkeling on their recent trip to Hawaii.

I'm hoping to find a gift that is about the ocean/sea and not only fun but educational too. Unfortunately I haven't really seen anything good yet.

Anyone have any suggestions or experience with something that fits the bill?

Thanks!

Stuffed animals are usually a big hit with kids that age, and while they may not seem that educational, it's amazing what scenarios a kid can come up with when he's got a shark AND an octopus - that movie was absolutely thought up by a kid! Lego has some ocean related stuff too, but it might be for kids a little older.

Or you could by him old skool sea monkeys and let him be disappointed by their lack of fantastic underwater buildings and amazing civilization like the rest of us.

He's actually a little advanced for stuffed animals. Little guy has already put together a nice little O scale train set funded by bake sales.

The sea monkeys might work, though....

I don't know that they are educational but they are cool.

Seattle Aquarium gift shop is full of stuff.

selkie wrote:I don't know that they are educational but they are cool.

if they didn't require helium, i'd probably go for it!

fmerkel wrote:Seattle Aquarium gift shop is full of stuff.

unfortunately, i'm in portland.

Not a "toy" per se, but how about a set of tickets for the family to go out to the Newport Aquarium?

Assuming they are local to Portlandia.

CaptnJack wrote:Not a "toy" per se, but how about a set of tickets for the family to go out to the Newport Aquarium?

Assuming they are local to Portlandia.

Oakland, CA. Though when they come visit this spring, the coast and aquarium are on the to-do list.

Too bad you have to be 8yo to do a "bubblemaker" pool session.
You could take the ferry and go snorkeling at Catalina though.

Tickets to the aquarium in San Francisco? The Marine Mammal Center is close to there and might also be a good place to visit, but admission is free.

Richard - a ferry to Catalina would be a loooong trip from Oakland.

P - he's been to both a zillion times, I'm sure. I think his parents have some kind of membership or yearly pass at the aquarium.

spatman wrote:Richard - a ferry to Catalina would be a loooong trip from Oakland.

P - he's been to both a zillion times, I'm sure. I think his parents have some kind of membership or yearly pass at the aquarium.

Califonian's they like their freeways :P How about Lobo's instead?!

Monterey bay aquarium

BAM!!!!

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/rc-submarine

Amazon has a decent coloring book that could be used for high school or undergrads. I enjoy reading it, but it's a little too much for my 4 and 5 year old. An advanced 6 year old might like it depending on how patient he is.



There are tons of models available. I built this Calypso model when I was about 12 or 13..... Fairly advanced painting, so a parent would need to lend a hand. Cool connection for you though, since the Calypso was built in Washington.



My kids like to beach comb and collect shells here in Sitka and one of there favorite gadgets is a small microscope for looking at the structure of shells and sea weed.... Those magnifiers are everywhere and fairly inexpensive, so check a discovery store or larger toy store if you plan go that route.

San Francisco is a bit chilly for young child to go snorkelling, but if you think he'd like to continue with that in the pool, my 4 year old likes the VDH kids snorkel kit since it looks my adult dive gear. (He refused to wear the mask decorated with fish stickers....)

http://vintagedoublehose.com/index.php? ... d=22430033

Most dive shops should sell kids gear also, which I mention since shipping will be getting tight.

Also, you could add to his HO train set by seeing if the local hobby shop has any specialty train cars. Quite a bit of variety there.

Good Luck

Thanks! Those are all great suggestions.