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The Best Gifts for Kids

Shopping for a child? Here are some toys, games, and must-have tech options for all ages.

best kids gifts Courtesy

By Tyler Duffy

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Children can be the easiest people to shop for. Their minds are voracious sponges; they are curious about anything and everything, in great detail…often really in the morning…before parents can get that fancy new coffee machine fired up. Get the rough age and area of interest right and you can fascinate them with any gift — at least, for about five minutes.

What you should worry about is their parents, who will have to cohabitate with this gift. You don’t want them to resent you, so use some discretion. Avoid anything that makes shrill noises or contains about 1,000 easy-to-lose little pieces. Assembly required? That’s adding one more obligation to their seemingly endless to-do list. And, yes, something that mixes a smidgen of education in with the fun is better than heedlessly feeding a “Paw Patrol” obsession.

Below are some excellent, parent-approved gifts for kids of all ages. Whether you’re looking for a quick, budget-friendly option or a splashy gift that will cement your fun uncle status for decades, this list has you covered.

Barefoot Books Children of the World Memory GameAmazon

Barefoot Books Children of The World Memory Game

This book helps young kids develop their memory while simultaneously helping them learn just how wonderfully diverse humanity is. It’s a win-win.

Few things are cuter than a sleeping animal. Even fewer things are softer than this Niuniu Daddy plush puppy, which they describe as “like hugging a marshmallow of love.” Don’t like dogs? No big deal. You can get a sloth, an elephant, a polar bear or even an avocado, if a kid is really into guac.

This set of 26 flash cards helps teach toddlers the alphabet and helps build up their self-esteem with positive affirmations.

Manhattan Toy Playful Pony Wooden Toddler Activity CenterManhattan Toy

Manhattan Toy Playful Pony Wooden Toddler Activity Center

This activity center provides a range of colorful activities that hold a toddler’s attention and help develop fine motor skills.

Get a kid started off with the classics. This collection includes “The Cat in the Hat,” “Green Eggs and Ham,” and “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.”

A toddler wielding a permanent marker is a situation filled with peril. This reusable touch pad lets kids express themself artistically without their parents having to stop, drop and repaint their walls.

These magnetic blocks are great for introductory STEM education. They help children learn shapes and colors and how to construct 2D and 3D objects.

Kids love having their separate personal spaces. This one is easily portable, and can transition from a playroom to the woods or the beach.

Mo Willems’s Elephant and Piggie are the great odd couple in children’s literature. The books teach great lessons, transition a bit better to late toddlerhood than the Dr. Seuss books, and are engaging enough to keep parents from being annoyed. Why not just get all of them?

Your niece or nephew isn’t quite ready to wield the 577 hp of a Mercedes-AMG biturbo V8…yet. But this Uenjoy version has seat belts, lockable doors and both kid and parent drive modes.

Kids will have so much fun making bath bombs and cool molded soaps with this kit, they won’t even know you snuck in some STEM education on the side.

Little kids love trains. This Melissa & Doug set is made from high-quality materials, easy to assemble and compatible with other wooden train set pieces the child may currently own.

We’re in for a long winter. Nothing passes the time and shakes up the family social dynamic quite like a rousing game of Monopoly. Oh and you can snag the classic board game for less than $20.

Lego has more intricate automotive offerings for adults. But this Ferrari F8 Tributo strikes an excellent balance between challenging and affordable. And who doesn’t love a V8 Ferrari?

Woom bikes are specially designed to be lightweight and ergonomic for children. They fit children from 1.5 to 14 years, and there’s an “up-cycling” trade-in program that offers discounts on new bikes as children grow.

When in-person learning is happening, backpacks are a major status symbol. Give the gift of a stylish and trendy one.

The Amazon Kindle Kids edition includes access to 1,000 children’s titles with Kids+ — and, best of all, no ads, games or videos to distract them from the joys of reading.

Kids these days may never have seen a “camera,” let alone one that uses film. The Fujifilm Instax Mini 9 incorporates some helpful modern features into a classic instant camera design.

The Nintendo Switch Lite offers the same functionality of the standard Nintendo Switch without the TV input for a dramatically reduced price.

This scooter is slim, lightweight, foldable and designed for teens and young kids. It offers 6.2 miles of range on a charge and can hit a top speed of 10 mph.

Apple’s iPad is the gold standard for tablets and remains a magical device that performs virtually every media tasks and places the entirety of human knowledge at your fingertips. If your kid has one of their own, they’ll finally stop asking to borrow yours.

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