Christmas Gift Ideas for Kids
Whether you are looking for gift ideas for your own kids, or family and friends, you’ll find something they will love on this Christmas gift guide for kids.
With gift ideas for kids of all ages – preschoolers, 6-9 year-olds, tweens, and teens – these ideas will help you fill stockings for all the kids in your life, even those pesky older kids who are always so difficult to buy for!
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Where possible I have linked directly to the item to make buying gifts quick and easy, but sometimes that is not possible, and some ideas are suggestions for a range or type of item so a link isn’t always possible or appropriate.
Before I get to age specific gift ideas, I want to mention two gift ideas that always make it into my kid’s stockings or under the tree – books and art supplies.
Books are always an great gift idea no matter what age. If you are unsure about what book to buy, choose a gift voucher. If you are not sure if the child you are buying for is a ‘reader’ try giving a voucher for an audio book, or look at comics/graphic novels, a find and seek book, or non-fiction books on a subject you know they are interested in.
Here is a list of book suggestions that my kids have loved from babies to teens.
Art supplies are also a good option for kids of all ages. We’ve offered a few arty/crafty ideas in the gift lists, but basic art supplies – paper, markers, paint – are a great option
You can find a list of art supplies we love here.
Gifts for Preschoolers – 3-5 year-olds.
All of the items on the gift guide for preschoolers are things our kids have owned and loved! Many of these items are suitable for younger kids (check for safety issues first) and older kids will love them too!
- Magnetic Construction Set – we love Magformers.
- Rainbow Stacker – this lovely wooden toy can be used in so many differnt ways.
- Tap Tap Set – this is a great fine motor activity.
- Maxi Micro Scooter – older preschoolers will master this scooter quickly and easily.
- Balance Board – there are so many great ways to use this!
- Safari Toobs Figurines – perfect for all kinds of imaginative play, we love the fairies and dragons and the knights and dragons.
- The Shopping List Game – lots of the Orchard Toys games are excellent for this age group.
- Janod Magneti Books – these are great for travelling, we love the space one and the crazy faces.
- Pattern Blocks – buy a small set of standard pattern blocks and find lots of pattern block ideas online.
- Peg Board – this is a great starter pegboard set, but for older preschooler who love a challenge try this pixel mandala set
Experience Gifts for Preschoolers
If your preschooler already has lots of toys, art supplies are always a great option. Or you could opt for an experience gift instead. A yearly pass to the local zoo, wild life park, or community farm would be a hit for preschoolers, or how about a day at the beach, or a special one on one day with a parent.
Gifts for Kids – 6-9 year-olds.
There are lots of fun toys included in this gift guide for 6-9 year olds, because even school aged kids need to play! There are also a couple of ideas for experience gifts and subscriptions that are perfect if you don’t want to fill your house with lots more toys.
- Kltuz Lego Book Sets – if your kids love Lego but you don’t need any more Lego sets in your house, try one of these great sets.
- Hexbug Nano – these tiny robot bugs are great for STEM learning and loads of fun. We used them to make draw-bots.
- Paper Plane Kit – for a while my kids were obsessed with paper planes, this kit with pre-printed pagers and a launcher was a hit with them.
- Magazine subscription – we’ve subscribed to both Wacky but True and National Geographic Kids and my kids loved both.
- Rebound Net – a rebound net is a great option for kids who play ball sports.
- Walkie Talkies – good quality walkie talkies are so much, but make sure you buy some rechargeable batteries!
- Science Kit – try some bubble science, or a crystal growing kit.
- Sleeping Queens Card Game – this is still our all time favourite card game, find more great family game options here.
- Squishmallow – I know they are a bit of a fad, but they are adorable, and double as a pillow so kinda useful?
- Perler Beads – we love fusible beads and this bucket of beads and basic shape boards is a great starter set to use with all our favourite perler bead ideas.
Experience Gifts for 6-9 Year Olds
6-9 year olds are the perfect age group for experience gifts as they are old enough to understand the concept, and they love trying new things. You could gift them camping gear and a weekend of camping, or fishing gear and a day out fishing. They’d also love to go bowling, to play mini gold, or to try rock climbing, or let them go crazy at a trampoline park, or water park.
Gifts for Tweens – 9-12 year olds.
The ‘tween’ years (ages 9-12) can be a hard age to buy gifts for. They are not little kids any more, but they are not quite teenagers either, so finding gifts that are ‘cool’ enough, but also interesting and ‘doable’ for this age group can be tricky. These gift ideas are all things my own tweens have used, loved, and recommend.
- Light Stax – these light up building blocks are fun to build with and make a cool lamp!
- Kandi Bracelet Making Kit – these are the new friendship bracelet, but they are quicker and easier to make, or you can learn and make some super fancy patterns.
- Bluetooth Headphones – my tweens favourite gift last year was a pair of decent headphones.
- Catan Board Game – This is one of favourite family board games, and my tweens and teens love it.
- Sewing Machine – This is the perfect age to learn to sew, tweens will be able to make all kinds of things with a basic sewing machine.
- Escape Room Game – get some friends together and see if you can solve this at home escape room!
- Diamond Painting – start with the fun stickers, or if your kids have a lot of patience try a big kit!
- Stickers – Find out what their favourite book, movie, podcast or TV show is and head to Etsy to search for stickers made by cool artists.
- Lego Dots – it’s like useful Lego for making desk organisers and photo frames. We especially love these little photo cubes.
- Brain Games – logic puzzles and 1-2 person brain games are a hit with my tweens. We like Gravity Maze, Rubick’s Race, and Kanoodle.
Experience Gifts for Tweens
There are lots of experience gifts that are perfect for tweens. All of the ideas for 6-9 year olds also make perfect gifts for 9-12 year olds. They might also like movie tickets, an ice skating or roller skating day, cooking class, paint your own pottery class, or afternoon at an arcade.
Gifts for Teens – 13-18 year olds.
Teens can be the hardest age group to buy for, so giving them money or a gift voucher is a good option that I know most teens appreciate. But if you really want to buy them a gift, here are some ideas that my teens have suggested.
- Popsocket or Pop Wallet – choose one that fits your teen’s aesthetic and you can’t go wrong.
- LED Strip Lights – These fun lights are an easy way to customise a teen bedroom, and make cool effects for filming tiktoks.
- Photo Clip Lights – this is another cook option for decorating a teen bedroom.
- Bluetooth Shower Speaker – Not just for showers, but also great for the beach, pool, or outdoors.
- Hammock – perfect for outdoor reading or napping. If you don’t have somewhere to hang it, you’ll need a hammock stand too.
- Mini Terrarium Kit – indoor plants are all the rage at the moment, and a terrarium is a good option for a desk, or check out your local plant shop for a plant in a cool pot.
- Small Musical Instruments – musical teens will love a kalimba, ocarina, or ukulele!
- Wreck This Journal – this is a super cool interact art journal that is fun to do on your own, or share with family and friends.
- Tie Dye Kit – this kit has everything you need, just add t-shirts, pillow cases, or whatever you want to tie dye.
- Music Streaming Subscription – A subscription to Spotify or Apple Music is one of my teens all time favourite gifts!
Experience Gifts for Teens
One of the best gifts you can give a teen is an experience gift. If you know what they like it is usually pretty easy to find an event, class, or activity that is perfect for them, and if you are really stuck, movie tickets are always a good option! You could also give theatre tickets, or tickets to a sporting event, a day at a theme park, or water park, or a day of shopping. Lots of teens love to support charities or causes that mean a lot to them, so you could also give a charity gift in the teens name.
Experience Gift Ideas for Kids of All Ages.
If the kids you are buying for already have lots of ‘stuff’, an experience gift is a great option.
I’ve added some ideas for experience gift ideas for kids at the end of each age group section above, but so many experience gift ideas work for multiple age groups (which makes them a perfect gift to give a family!) so I’ve compiled this list of our favourite experience gift ideas for all ages.
- Zoo or wildlife park day or membership.
- Beach day
- One on one special day.
- Shopping day
- Camping weekend
- Fishing trip
- A weekend away
- Bowling
- Mini Golf
- Trampoline Park
- Video Game Arcade
- Escape room
- Roller skating or Ice skating
- Cooking class
- Paint your own pottery class
- Sports clinic/lessons
- Skateboarding class
- Surfing class
- Paddle boarding
- Movie tickets
- Trip to theme park or water park
- Theatre or ballet tickets
- Tickets to a sports event.
- Trip to a near by tourist attraction
- Gokart racing
- Museum pass
- Paintball
- Karaoke day/night
- Geocaching day
- Music lessons.
The gift ideas on this list are things my own kids have loved, or items that are currently on their wish lists. As always, you need to consider your own values, budget and what is appropriate for your children before purchasing gifts.
If you are still stuck for gift ideas for kids for Christmas, why not just you ask them?
Encourage them to write a letter to Santa and you’ll find out exactly what they want for Christmas!
You can find our free printable Santa Letter Set here.