A Toy Reviewer’s Guide to the Best Holiday Gifts for 6-Year-Olds

Outdoor toyslike this colorful LED flying ring are typically more of a warm weather gift. But this one is so special, and dare I say festive, that it makes a very good holiday surprise. It lights up when you throw it and is super light, waterproof, and surprisingly bright.

If the 6-year-old in question is obsessed with older kid stuff, like getting their ears pierced, this set of sticker earrings is sure to be a hit.

If your favorite first-grader is begging for an iPhone, consider giving them this pretend Disney Princess play phone and purse instead. It is just detailed enough and comes with credit cards, hopefully scratching the same itch.

Scratch art pads are like coloring books with a twist — they magically reveal rainbow colors as you scratch away the waxy top layer. You can also getthemedandminiature versions, which make great party favors.

This Mudpuppy puzzle is like two toys in one: Once they’ve put all of the 64 pieces together, kids can test their observational skills by searching,Where’s Waldostyle, for over 40 different pups at the park. This puzzle also comes inAfrican Safari,Ocean Life,Rainforest, and a handful of other designs, and for especially avid puzzlers, the brand makes500-piece search-and-find puzzlesthat would be great for the whole family to help with.

This Kinetic Sand blooming flower kit is a fantastic little gift orstocking stuffer. Fill the flower mold with sand and apply it to the squishy top of the flower pot. Then watch as it bounces back and opens its petals. The flower pot doubles as sand storage.

Flarp is slime that makes a fart sound when you push it into its can and disrupt the natural air pockets. It is tactile and funny and gross: everything a 6-year-old could want in a toy.

This Rainbow Loom Mega Set has everything you need to make friendship bracelets out of tiny rubber bands, including alphabet beads and cute charms to personalize their creations. Senior editor Jen Trolio says her daughters first learned to make the bracelets on their fingers when they were around 4 years old; now, at 10 and 7, they like using this loom because it lets them try more advanced techniques. The loom and tools can also make it easier for younger or less dextrous kids to work with the rubber bands.

Washi tape is an affordable gift that’ll encourage creativity without messing up your walls. It has almost infinite uses from decorating notebooks and crafts to making DIY wallpaper for a dollhouse living room. Trolio, who recommends buying a big assortment of patterns, says her kids go through a ton of it.

Super Smalls came out with a bunch of new toys this year, including this delightful Gem Bingo game. The cards feature highly detailed photographs of sparkling gems, from pearls to peridots, in both their raw and polished states.

If your favorite 6-year-old is a budding Pokémon stan, they’ll love getting more cards to add to their collection. Pair a few packs with acard binderfor a gift with extra oomph.

Kids this age love to create, and this kit comes with all kinds of rainbow-colored felt, beads, pipe cleaners, and beyond — all in a handy carrying case. Both the brand and this set in particular were recommended by the parents and educators we spoke to about thebest art supplies for kids.

There are few things as satisfying as crashing toy cars over and over again. And this Monster Jam remote control truck is made to be smashed repeatedly. The body of the truck crumples on impact and then fixes itself so kids can “break” it again.

You hardly ever see the elegant simplicity of this set of wooden pieces in the STEM-related toys of the moment. Perhaps that’s why it’s a familiar sight in “maker spaces” at elementary schools all over the country: It challenges young builders to create everything from a marble run to a geometric tower using nothing more than identically sized slabs.

The fart blaster doesn’t just make fart sounds. It also shoots out rings of stinky smoke. Kids will love it; parents may love it less. You might want to ask permission before gifting.

DJ Furby is the most recent evolution of the chatty ’90s interactive toy — and one of thehottest toys of the 2025 holiday season. At nearly three feet long kids use its soft light up belly to play music, remix songs, and even do yoga.

This is a great age for kids to start working on more involvedLEGObuilds. And because it comes with bigger, more doll-like figures, thisMoanaset makes an excellent gift for 6-year-olds who enjoy building elaborate pretend worlds for their dolls to live in.

If they already have too many LEGOs, this mega set of light-up building bricks comes with a base, charging cord, and more than 100 multicolored bricks that let kids build complex night lights and glowing room décor in the shape of people, houses, and flowers.

If your kid asked for a drum set but you have thin walls, this electronic drum pad for VTech comes with more than 30 songs that kids can play along to plus record and playback functions so they can listen to their progress. It also has a headphone jack and Bluetooth so they can practice playing the drum section from “Shake It Off” without bothering the rest of the family.

The Giiker Super Decoder is like Wordle, but instead of solving for a word, you have to find the correct four-color code. Kids have seven tries to figure out the answer with two types of hints to guide them as they work. There are hundreds of easy and advanced challenges to decode solo, or you can play with a friend by setting a secret code for them to solve.

Around this age kids may be asking to upgrade their bedrooms. And beanbag chairs are an easy way to create a cozy corner for reading or listening to music. If they’re into sports, I love these fuzzy baseball, soccer, or football shaped beanbag chairs from Pottery Barn Kids. Conveniently, the covers are machine washable.

The imposing height of this realistic stuffed giraffe means it can double as furniture, adding a nice pop of color to the corner of a room or serving as a makeshift coat rack. Compared to floppier giant stuffies, this one, a classic from Melissa & Doug, is relatively solid in texture but still soft enough to cuddle or hug.

I love toys that double as stylish décor (and stuffed-animal storage too), which is why I was immediately drawn to this wooden puppet theater when I saw it in person. It’s full of fun details that make kid-created dramatic performances feel like the real thing: The fabric curtains open and close with ties. There’s a chalkboard marquee on one side where kids can announce their next show and a cutout ticket window on the other.

Milk Teeth co-founder Catherine Newell-Hanson’s daughter got her first American Girl doll at 6 years oldafter attending a friend’s birthday party at the Los Angeles store. She chose a Truly Me Doll similar to this one with extra-long blue-and-purple hair. The doll has been a huge hit ever since, though Newell-Hanson advises picking one with a shorter ’do that won’t tangle as easily and spending an extra $10 on theAmerican Girl doll hairbrush, too.

How to choose a scooter fromallthescooters? The Micro Kickboard brand is an overwhelming favorite among the parents and numerous other experts we’ve talked to. This stable three-wheeled scooter is available in a Micro size for ages 2 through 5, but Trolio recommends the Maxi, which has handlebars that adjust higher for older kids and will easily last them through most of elementary school.