Holiday gifts for kids, from toddlers to teens

By GiftPicker ·

There's nothing quite like watching a kid tear into a gift they love! The best ones keep that excitement going long after the wrapping paper is gone, and they spark creativity, imagination, and curiosity along the way.

We sorted our favorites by age, from babies to teens, and picked each one for how well it fits that age and how long it holds up. Most work just as well for a fall birthday, and the bigger ones make great group gifts, so the whole family can go in on one really good present.

A few tips before you shop

  • Go by the age on the box, since a gift that's too advanced usually ends up on a shelf.
  • Check with the parents about space and noise. A drum set is a big commitment in a small apartment!
  • Twins and close siblings can share a big gift like a building set, but each will want something of their own to open too.
  • Order by early December. Popular toys sell out, and deliveries slow down in the last weeks before the holidays.

Babies and toddlers, under 3

Little ones learn with their hands and bodies, so look for toys they can climb, push, and bang on. Lovevery's Play Kits are Montessori-inspired boxes of toys, each designed for a child's exact stage of development. You can prepay one to three kits, and each one is matched to the child's age when the parents activate it, so new toys keep arriving as they grow.

Hape's Pound & Tap Bench sends balls rolling over xylophone keys with every whack of the hammer, and the xylophone slides out to play on its own. HABA's First Orchard is a first board game for ages 2 and up, where everyone works together to pick the chunky wooden fruit before the raven gets there.

Ages 3 to 5

Still wondering whether they'll grow up to be a chef, a shopkeeper, or the world's best ice cream scooper? Melissa & Doug's Scoop and Serve Ice Cream Counter lets them try all three, with eight scoops, toppings, cones, and play money, and the counter stores every piece when the shop closes for the day. Pretend play like this is how preschoolers practice talking, sharing, and solving problems.

A Magna-Tiles Classic 32-Piece Set snaps together into towers, houses, and ramps, and the translucent tiles glow when the sun shines through them. For quiet time, the Toniebox 2 plays songs and stories when a child sets a character figure on top, with no screen in sight, and it comes with one figure to get them started.

Ages 6 to 8

Kids this age love building something big enough to climb inside, and Tubelox's Deluxe 220-Piece Set is a STEM building set of big plastic tubes and connectors that snap into race cars, forts, and whatever else they dream up, and at this size it's a great one for grandparents and relatives to go in on together. Elenco's Snap Circuits Beginner kit, for ages 5 to 9, builds more than 20 working circuits, from a spinning fan to flashing lights, and Makedo's cardboard construction kit, for ages 5 and up, turns delivery boxes into forts, costumes, and cars with kid-safe saws and 120 reusable screws.

For family game night, Ticket to Ride: First Journey is the kids' version of the classic train game for ages 6 and up, and a round takes just 15 to 30 minutes. The Dog Man box set collects the first six of Dav Pilkey's graphic novels, a favorite even with kids who don't usually pick up a book. And to get them outside, Razor's A Kick Scooter folds flat to carry and suits riders 5 and up (add a helmet if they don't have one yet).

Ages 9 to 12

Older kids are ready for real tools and real projects, and there's nothing like the pride of making something themselves. National Geographic's Kids' Pottery Wheel Kit, for ages 8 and up, comes with a plug-in wheel, air-dry clay, sculpting tools, and paints, so they can shape cups and bowls and paint them once they dry, no kiln needed. Thames & Kosmos's Chem C1000, for ages 10 and up, guides 125 experiments, from invisible ink to splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, and Sphero's Mini coding robot, for ages 8 and up, is a robot the size of a ping-pong ball that they drive from a phone or tablet and learn to program with the free app.

For bookworms, The Wild Robot boxed set holds all three books about a robot who learns to survive on a wild island, and the illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone has more than 100 full-color pictures by Jim Kay. Doodlers and painters will love Faber-Castell's Young Artist Essentials set, a wooden case of colored and watercolor pencils, oil pastels, markers, and paper. And Camp Snap's screen-free camera has six built-in film-style filters, so every photo is a surprise until it's downloaded.

Teens, 13 to 17

Teenagers can be tricky to shop for, so start with a hobby they already love or a skill they've been wanting to learn. Not sure what that is? Ask a parent. Fujifilm's Instax Mini 13 prints credit-card-size photos in about five seconds, the kind that end up taped to a mirror or a locker. Learning an instrument is a great way to spend some time away from screens, and Yamaha's GigMaker Deluxe pack has everything a new guitarist needs: a full-size acoustic guitar, a gig bag, a clip-on tuner, a strap, and picks. If they already play electric, Positive Grid's Spark GO is a palm-size practice amp whose app shows the chords to the songs they want to learn.

Penny's original 22-inch board is a plastic cruiser small enough to fit in a backpack. And speaking of backpacks, Fjällräven's Kånken has carried books and lunches since 1978, with a full zip opening, two side pockets, and 38 colors to choose from. And for a group of friends, the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set is made so first-timers can start their adventure the same night.

Advent calendars and Hanukkah gifts

An advent calendar gives them something to open every morning in December. LEGO's City Advent Calendar hides 24 small builds behind numbered doors, and the box folds out into Santa's workshop. Melissa & Doug's wooden advent calendar is a tree with 24 magnetic ornaments that comes out again every year, and the Where's Waldo? Advent Calendar holds a tiny search-and-find book for each day.

With eight nights of Hanukkah, many families give a small gift on most nights and one bigger gift on another. Smaller picks from this guide, like the Snap Circuits kit or a book from one of the boxed sets, make easy single-night gifts. For the holiday itself, Super Smalls' activity set lets kids paint their own ceramic menorah, which holds real candles once it's finished, and comes with a booklet of trivia and jokes for all eight nights.

Gifts that give back

The holidays are a great time to show kids how much fun giving back can be, and they get even more into it when they choose the cause. World Wildlife Fund's polar bear adoption kit is a donation to WWF's conservation work that comes with a plush polar bear and an adoption certificate. You can also donate together to a charity they pick, like Make-A-Wish, which grants wishes to children with critical illnesses, Oceana for a kid who loves the ocean, or a toy drive in your town.

Shopping for one child in particular? Tell the quiz their age, what they're into, and your budget, and it will pick gifts from our catalog for you. Take the GiftPicker quiz.

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