Win the Holidays: Toys for Kids of Every Age

It’s that most wonderful time of the year, which means frenzied holiday shopping for all the kids in your life, from tiny tots to college-aged! This year, instead of spending all your energy trying to figure what to buy all those kiddos, use our list of 37 of the best holiday gifts for kids of every age. We’ve grouped the gifts into categories for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, 6 to 8 year-olds, tweens, and teens so it’s easy to pick out an age-appropriate present.

From pretend play to technology, we’ve got your kids’ holiday shopping list covered this year!

Editorial Note: We review everything independently. If you make a purchase through our links, we may earn a commission.
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This Play Mat Is Adorable

  via : Amazon  

My kids spent so much time on interactive play mats like these when they were babies. They work for everything from tummy time for infants to a fun place to hang out for older babies and a stand alone play mat for toddlers. This one from Skip Hop is so cute with it’s rainbow theme and toys that are sure to grab baby’s attention.

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This Wubbanub Pacifier Holder

  via : Amazon  

If anyone you know has a new baby or you’re a new parent yourself, take my advice – get this Wubbanub pacifier holder as the perfect stocking stuffer for the littlest ones. It keeps the pacifier in the baby’s mouth better, as the stuffed animal sits on their chest so if the paci falls out, they can easily pop it back in. My kids both had these and they were lifesavers for fussy times!

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This Little Tikes Play Set Will Entertain Them For Years

  via : Amazon  

Look, I know this is fairly large and made of bright plastic, but that’s exactly what kids love about it! The interactive Little Tikes playset can transform into a two-sided play center based on your space needs or the number of kids playing with it at a time. It has spinning “gears”, clicking bugs, a working piano and telescope, and a shape-sorting mailbox, so kids can use it from babies to preschoolers. This will definitely be a long-lived toy in your collection.

These Grasping Toys Keep Baby Busy

  via : Amazon  

Babies get bored easily with the same old toys, so it’s a good thing this grasping set offers so much variety. I love that they can also use these rattles for teething since they’re made of soft, BPA-free material. Almost 600 reviewers love these for ease of cleaning and value. Great stocking stuffers or new baby gifts!

This Play Kitchen Is Alexa-Enabled

  via : Amazon  

Talk about high-tech, this cool play kitchen is Alexa-enabled so it provides interactive play across five modes – stand-alone, free play, recipe cards, character cards, and games! The “smart food” and pot and pan activate the special sensors for truly plugged-in play. It also features a market attached to the kitchen, so it’s a multipurpose setup that’ll keep them entertained for years. Unfortunately, this item is currently unavailable at the moment, so here is a similar play kitchen which we know you will also love and has excellent reviews at 4.5 stars.

This Baby Book Is A Thoughtful Gift

  via : Amazon  

If you know any new or expecting parents, this baby memory book is a really thoughtful gift. It chronicles the first five years, from sonogram to school art projects. It’s easy for busy parents to fill in – I wish I had one of these when my babes were tiny! A great gift for baby showers, too.

This Octopus Bath Toy Is A Ringer

  via : Amazon  

I can picture older babies to toddlers loving this octopus bath toy – you toss rings onto the arms as it floats around the bath! They develop hand-eye coordination while having fun and letting you shampoo their hair, which can be a big ordeal. This little guy has almost 8,000 glowing reviews for not having any holes that let in water so mold can’t grow, plus it’s teething-friendly for babies!

This Play Food Truck Is Beyond Adorable

  via : Amazon  

If you like the idea of a play kitchen but don’t have the space to fit one, this play food truck is an excellent solution. Kids can serve up favorites from pizza to smoothies with the interactive food prep area, light-up grill, and service bell! Plus, lots of big buttons and 20+ removable play pieces for interactive fun. If almost 4,000 reviewers give this gift a perfect score, your toddler will, too!

This Xylophone For Tiny Musicians

  via : Amazon  

This xylophone toy combines two of toddlers’ favorite things – smashing stuff and making noise! Tiny ones use the mallet to hammer down the colorful balls, then they can use the other side of the mallet to play the xylophone. Despite the potential for hours of noise, almost 7,000 reviewers give this stellar reviews!

This Rocketship Play Tent Will Be Their New Favorite Place

  via : Amazon  

Kids in the toddler to preschool age love having their own little enclosed spaces to play, and this rocketship play tent fits the bill! They can huddle up inside and play astronauts, or they can play planet toss or tic tac toe on the outside. You can set it up as a little reading corner in their room, or take it outside – since it’s a lightweight pop-up design, it’s totally portable and fun!

This Ice Cream Shop Set Is Delicious Fun

  via : Amazon  

My kids’ favorite thing to play with at this age was an ice cream scooping set like this one, but theirs didn’t come with a menu and changeable toppings like this one does! Kids can scoop cones or sundaes with this set that features a wooden ice cream counter, 8 ice cream scoops, 6 toppings, 2 cones, cup, scooper, tongs, wooden spoon, and 6 pretend $1 bills. The overall rating from over 3,000 reviewers is a perfect 5-stars, so you know it’s good! I love Melissa & Doug wooden toys because they’re such high-quality they last forever.

This Cardboard Castle Lets Them Color

  via : Amazon  

Think of this cardboard castle as the next gen of cardboard boxes we play with as a kid. With this one, kids can color to their heart’s content inside and out to make it their own custom design (plus it keeps ’em busy for a really long time). It also comes in haunted castle and plain white castle designs that kids will love for creative pretend play.

This Vet Set Is So Cute

  via : Amazon  

My kids loved their doctor set when they were toddlers and preschoolers, but they loved this vet set even more! This 24 piece set is so complete that it comes with a plush dog and cat, pretend play vet medical equipment and a tote bag for easy storage. Kids develop empathy and learn to care for pets all in one toy.

This Cleaning Set Starts ‘Em On The Right Foot

  via : Amazon  

Kids from toddlers to preschoolers love to “help” with household chores, so start them off on the right foot with this cleaning set that’s sized just right for them. It comes with a wooden and pretend play broom, mop, duster, brush, dustpan, and organizing stand. It’s so important for kids to use their imaginations during pretend play, and this is a great set to let them explore different tasks. Almost 17,000 give this toy an overall 5-star rating!

This Fruit And Veggie Set is Multi-Purpose

  via : Amazon  

I love when toys can multitask – for example, this fruit and vegetable play food set can be used in play kitchens and cooking, to set up a market, and to learn sorting by color so it’s perfect for a wide range of ages! It comes with 25 foods in five colors, five baskets for sorting, stickers and activity guide. Learning Resources makes such high quality products ours look brand new after almost 10 years!

This Outdoor Explorer Set Fuels Imaginations

  via : Amazon  

Preschoolers and younger kids are fascinated with the outside world, from going on nature hikes to making mud pies to finding worms in the dirt. This outdoor explorer set helps them enjoy their outside play even more, with binoculars, a magnifying glass, crank flashlight, 5-in-1 multitool, fan, and carrying case to store it all in when playtime’s over. Now they can do anything from birdwatching to getting closeups of creepy insects!

These Magnet Tiles Are Great For Kids Of All Ages

  via : Amazon  

We got these magnet tiles when my daughter was about three, and now that she’s almost 10, she still plays with them every week! They’re so much fun to click together and build all kinds of structures from vehicles to castles, horse stables to rocketships. The sky’s really the limit with what you can build, and as an adult, I even find these so much fun – kids of all ages will love this cool building set.

This Coding Play Set Is The Perfect Introduction

  via : Amazon  

STEM toys are always a big hit, and this coding playset is no exception. The goal is to set up a maze for the mouse to find the cheese and you can program it up to 40 steps! It includes coding cards for easy programming and sequencing, plus the mouse lights up and goes two speeds to keep things interesting. A must-have for preschoolers interested in how computers work to build a lifetime love of STEM!

This Fire Tablet For Hours Of Play

  via : Amazon  

Our ancient iPad just broke, so I’m thinking of getting these Fire tablets for the kids this holiday. Parents can set educational goals, create time limits and filter content, making a safer online experience for kids. Included is one year of Amazon Kids+ that gives your kid access to over 20,000 apps, games, books, videos, audiobooks, and educational content from PBS Kids, Nickelodeon, Disney, and more. Over 13,000 reviewers rave about this inexpensive tablet!

This Osmo Genius Set for iPad Is Well, Genius

  via : Amazon  

If you want creative, educational and interactive content for your kid’s iPad, look no further than Osmo Genius Starter Kit. Kids interact with actual hand held pieces and an iPad, bringing the game pieces and actions to life in front of their eyes! Geared towards kids 6-8 years old, it teaches visual problem-solving skills, puzzles, math, freehand drawing, listening skills, physics and spelling and vocabulary, all in one package.

This 3D Pen Is Amazing

  via : Amazon  

Kindergarteners and up will have hours of fun with this 3D pen that brings their creations to life instantly! It’s totally safe – it’s designed with no hot parts so no risk of burning, plus the PCL plastic it uses is child-friendly and made in Ohio. Each kit comes with the pen, DoodlePad/Doodlemat, 48 Strands of starter plastic, a micro-USB charger and an activity guide so kids can get started on their creative endeavors right away!

This Chewbacca Mask Is A Hoot

  via : Amazon  

Everyone’s seen the iconic Chewbacca mask video the “Chewbacca Mom” posted a few years ago – now you can get the mask in kid-size, and it still makes the same chin-activated Chewie noise! Seriously, this thing is hilarious and will provide hours of family fun. It has over 3,000 stellar reviews for causing uncontrollable laughter and making authentic Wookie noises.

This Karaoke Microphone Is Fun For Everyone

  via : Amazon  

My neighbors have this Bluetooth karaoke microphone and I have to say it’s maybe the most fun toy ever for kids and adults. You can hook it up to your phone or tablet to play the background music, then belt it out through the noise-canceling mic for your best singing voice ever. Multi-function buttons adjust the music, volume, and echo so you can customize to the song or your voice!

These Walkie Talkies Are So Much Fun

  via : Amazon  

My kids love using walkie talkies to play “secret missions” outside, and these ones are perfect for outdoor or indoor play. These boast an impressive 3+-mile range and 22 channels, plus there’s a one-button push-to-talk feature that makes it easy for even younger kids to use. The clear-voice technology means no more mumbo-jumbo, kids will be able to hear each other the first time!

This Slime Kit Has So Much Cool Stuff

  via : Amazon  

The slime trend doesn’t seem to be fading at all, so kids 8 and up will be overjoyed to get this ultimate slime kit that includes ten recipes and experiments kids can do by themselves with the easy step-by-step guides. They can make trendy slimes like galaxy, glow-in-the-dark, color shift, instant clear, cloud, and fishbowl, plus use fun mix-ins like glitter, beads, tiny fruit, and more. Almost 600 parents give this the two thumbs up for containing everything you need to get started right away, plus providing hours of fun.

These Alcohol Markers Are Great For Creative Types

  via : Amazon  

If your older kid is into drawing or anime, they’re going to love this alcohol marker set. The 40-piece dual-tip permanent market set is so vibrant and colorful, plus it can be used on paper, ceramics, plastic, wood, and more. The markers are smudge-free and blend beautifully so they’ll give professional results to budding artists and experienced ones alike.

This Table Top Robot Set Teaches The Basics

  via : Amazon  

Teach kids robotic basics with this tabletop robot set that creates a crab-shaped robot that scuttles around and changes direction when it encounters an obstacle. It’s also an edge-sensing robot that won’t fall off the tabletop! The kit includes everything they need to start their STEM project right away and has over 1,500 ratings for being a fun, interactive toy that sparks kids’ interest in science and technology.

This Codenames Game Is Fun For Kids 8 And Up

  via : Amazon  

The premise of this James Bond-like game is that two rival spymasters know the secret identities of 25 agents, while their teammates only know the agents by their codenames. The teams compete to see who can make contact with all of their agents first in this fun word game for kids 8 and above. This game’s a runaway hit with 11,999 ratings (at the time of publishing) for being fun for the whole family and a great party game.

This Geode Breaking Kit Is Smashing

  via : Amazon  

My nine year old got this National Geographic geode breaking kit for her birthday last year and had so much fun smashing the rocks open to reveal their colorful crystallized insides. My favorite part is that it comes with a 16-page guide that illustrates how geodes are formed and all the types found in nature, so they’re learning something along with smashing stuff!

This Bluetooth Speaker Is Unbearably Cute

  via : Amazon  

This tiny acorn Bluetooth speaker is such a cute gift for tweens and teens to tote around on their backpack to take their music everywhere they go. It packs over 8 hours or 200 songs of continuous playtime in one small package! It also has a built-in mic so they can use it to answer phone calls, too.

This Baby Yoda Echo Holder Is Adorkable

  via : Amazon  

Star Wars fans are going to go gaga over this Baby Yoda Echo stand – it’ll look so cool in their bedroom or anywhere in the home where Alexa’s needed. It holds the Echo device securely in place and provides a fun decoration along with functionality. And it already has almost 1,000 rave reviews for cuteness and joy-bringing!

This Zink Polaroid Camera Has A Built-In Photo Printer

  via : Amazon  

It can be a drag to have to upload pics to print them from your instant Polaroid camera, but not with this one! It has a built-in ink-free printer that creates full-color, smudge-proof 2×3 photos to hang up all over their rooms or to create fun art collages. It comes in seven fun colors and has a selfie mode or timer for group shots! Simply fill it with photo paper and get snapping!

This Hangry Box For Snackers

  via : Amazon  

This Hangry box full of snacks is the perfect gift for hard-to-buy-for teens and college kids who are always hungry! It includes 32 classic treats from Cheez-Its and Pirate’s Booty to Laffy Taffy and Chewy Granola Bars to keep them fueled for fun (or studying). It’s a great “exam kit”, too, for pre-holiday tests at the end of the semester.

This Hot Sauce Making Kit To Spice Up Their Life

  via : Amazon  

Hot sauce is having a moment, so if your teen or college kid likes it spicy, try this hot sauce making kit. They can brew a custom blend with the included ancho, chipotle, habanero and ghost peppers, along with apple cider and proprietary spices. The kit even includes the bottles and labels so they can build their hot sauce library from scratch!

This Cat Pillow Is Absurdly Fun

  via : Amazon  

A cat as a DJ? Playing a record made of pizza? All the yes. This pillow is right up their absurdist humor alley and adds a fun touch to their room, dorm or new apartment. There are also a ton more designs featuring those perennial internet favorites, cats with pizza and tacos, or riding unicorns because why not?

This Gaming Headset Is Next-Level

  via : Amazon  

If they’re into gaming, they’re going to be really into this gaming headset that delivers solid, lossless audio and the best mic in gaming. They can surround themselves with sound for a truly immersive playing experience! They’re compatible with PCs, Macs, Sony Playstation, Switch, and mobile so be sure to check your giftee’s gaming setup before ordering.

This Fitbit Keeps Them Motivated

  via : Amazon  

Unless you play continuous sports in high school or college, it’s tough to get the recommended daily exercise in. This Fitbit will keep them motivated to reach their fitness goals, and looks good while doing it! It comes in a handful of fun colors and two sizes, small and large, plus has rave reviews for battery life and the ease that it tracks heart rates, workouts and sleep to keep you on track.