Ask Lemmy

Spirograph, Crystal growing kit, search for stem toys for 6 year olds, ask her parents what she's into.

I've been doing stem toys for my niece for a few years and she always loves them. She just turned 9 in August.

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.

Thinkpad thin client with Gentoo

She needs a sword. It’s educational.

K'NEX. I used to build all kinds of cool stuff out of those when I was a kid.

I bought my kiddo a book about robots that came with a simple, buildable bot. It was well received

A microscope

If she likes drawing a big set of decent-ish markers could go a long way.

Something like that.

Board games. Catan junior, Loopin Chewie, Robot turtles, Tsuro, Abracada...What?, camel up.

Regular price

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?

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.

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.

My niblings have liked the Kiwico and other sciencey kits I've sent them

There are plenty of brain teaser type toys. Maybe something like Rush Hour or Snap Circuits

Books are always good too. When I was her age I was really into the Magic Treehouse series

Get her a rock tumbler.

Modeling clay and good quality paints.

Artistic, technical, no real "rules", and a good amount of skill building.

https://www.smartgames.eu/uk/one-player-games/iq-gears

My boys love this game.

Loads of replay value.

Awesome to also have it to teach others how to play. If she has that teaching spirit, this game is great.

At about that age, I enjoyed putting together dominos runs and knocking them down. I also liked wooden building blocks. Nowadays they have building made out of dense foam which probably hurt less when your baby brother knocks your tower onto your head.

If you want diy that’s not Lego for a 6 yo, I’d go with magnetites. The original brand is best but the knock off brands are good too. Not all brands are compatible, though, so if you plan to get a recurring gift and add to it over time, I’d stick with the magnetile brand.

My 8yo boy loved them at that age. However, they don’t have the staying power of Lego. Why not Lego?

Sudoku book, maybe? If the likes making things, origami paper and an insteuction book? OH, I remember as a kid this toy that was short plastic sticks with magnets at the end and ball bearings ao you would make structures and stuff with em, fun to play with and suits the vibe you're looking for I think.

ant farm

Charades for kids. It uses her creativity.