The Best Gifts for Kids of All Ages

There’s a special science to choosing the perfect present for a kid: something that’ll light up their face but still has (sneaky) educational benefits. Whether you’re marking a milestone birthday or giving the gift of a rainy day activity, we’ve compiled a list of the best gifts for kids – with something to please everyone, from toddlers to teens.

For Learning and Growing Toddlers

The best gifts for kids who are toddlers include colouring books, puzzles and music sets.

Get their burgeoning imaginations firing with a colouring and sticker book and all the Play-Doh they could dream of. Alternatively, turn your lounge room into a general store with a super fun cash register, or set up a makeshift music studio with some noisemakers like a vibrant tambourine. For a gift that feeds their creativity while developing fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and recognition of letters, shapes and numbers, a STEM-focused gift is the way to go. Try a stack and sort block pack, stacking train or peg puzzle – all will entertain these wiggleworms for a while.

Great Gifts for Toddlers

For Activity-Driven Preschoolers

The best gifts for kids in preschool include puzzles and STEM toys.

As preschoolers set out to explore the world more independently, they need tools to feed their curiosity and imagination. Start a lifetime love of science and the natural world with a microscope and sand timer, or let their creativity shine with a dinosaur-themed colouring book – perfect for budding paleontologists.

If you’re looking for a gift that doubles as a fun learning aid, this puzzle set of trucks, diggers and planes will thrill young minds while also teaching patterns and sorting skills. Planning on handing over dinner duties when your kids are old enough? Then give your mini sous chef a leg-up in developing hand-eye coordination with this wooden fruit and veg set.

Great Gifts for Preschoolers

For Curious Early Primary Schoolers

The best gifts for kids in early primary school include word games and iPad games.

Complement your primary schooler’s growing skills with a gift that lets them show off what they’ve learnt. There’s plenty of colourful creativity to be explored with a Crayola 54-piece tool box – it has various art mediums for them to dabble in, including chalk, pencils, crayons and paint – while a Thinkfun sight word game will help your child build upon their new-found comprehension skills.

If the world of science takes their fancy, this glow lab will help them feel like a crazy-cool inventor. A magnetic dress-up figure is a deft way to help young kids visualise the different parts that make up our bodies. Adventurous types will appreciate a bird’s-eye view of the world with an interactive kids globe (then they can test their knowledge with a globe puzzle). We can’t forget the foodies – this Osmo iPad game gives your child a taste of running their own virtual pizza shop.

Great Gifts for Early Primary

For Knowledge-Hungry Late Primary Kids

The best gifts for kids in late primary school include headphones and customisable robot kits.

As kids get older, educational toys kick things up a notch with more information and more challenges. Kids who are constantly producing artwork for the fridge will get a kick out of airbrushing or experimenting with this Faber-Castell art set, or they can fuel their musical dreams with a set of headphones. Meanwhile, the next generation of inventors can get to work early with this circuit maze game and customisable robot kit, too.

Great Gifts for Late Primary

For Hard-to-Buy-For Tweens

Tech that teaches at the same time is a great gift for kids in early high school.

On any tween’s wishlist: this cute retro instant film camera is sure to be a hit, especially with that clever selfie feature; and a pair of wireless headphones, for the walk to school or lolling around the house – it’s a gift for the adults, too, as they don’t have to listen to that song again and again and again on repeat.

For rainy days in, there are plenty of gift options. Help boost their drawing ability with a pack of 16 markers or learn a new skill with a sketching kit. Or, opt for a fun science experiment: a mini volcano set, colourful rainbow lab or programming code game will keep them engaged for hours. And a 3D Eiffel Tower puzzle will not only while away the time, it will leave them with a unique knick knack that brings a small touch of Paris to their bedroom.

Great Gifts for Tweens

For Almost Grown-Up Teens

The best gifts for kids in early high school include these great tech and art-themed presents.

Teens are savvy, engaged and insatiable learners – and the gifts you choose for them should reflect that. A beautiful brush and oil paint set from Royal & Langnickel will impress any diehard artists, and their creative minds will be stimulated by an engraving art set, a shark-themed painting by numbers activity or a 500-piece human body puzzle.

For the tech-obsessed, the 32GB Samsung Galaxy Tab A is great for downtime, and sporty kids will love the Fitbit Sense, which tracks exercise and sleep and can be set up to receive call and text notifications straight to their wrist.

For the musically inclined, a splashproof wireless speaker delivers great sound and is tough as nails, so it will survive no matter where they take it; but if their taste in music is questionable, it might be better to go for these Sony folding headphones.