The Best Gifts for Big Kids, 2026

Where in the World Are You?! Personalized Book

Adorabook

Best for: Big kids who want a real challenge

A search-and-find trip around the world, starring your child. They're hidden in crowds in seven cities across the globe, and the book adds a personalized passport, a map and a checklist to tick off as they find themselves. A real challenge for big kids, with a little geography along the way.

Good to know: Each book has a QR code that opens an answers page for when a scene gets tough.

Read our spotlight on both search-and-find editions →

Adorabook is a Gifted partner. How partner picks work.

SMART Play: Training House with Pikachu

LEGO

Best for: The Pokémon fan who wants their Pikachu to actually do something

LEGO's new SMART Play system finally meets the franchise half of second grade is obsessed with. This 400-piece set builds a Pikachu-themed tree house with a training dummy, a Poké Ball and a buildable sandwich. Slot the included SMART Brick into Pikachu and the figure reacts with lights and sounds: battle the dummy to level up, feed it the sandwich, or toss the Poké Ball at a target to reveal who is hiding in the tall grass. Play needs no phone or tablet, and the brick and tags work with every other SMART Play set.

Good to know: The SMART Brick recharges on an included dock, and Brickset's review notes the set skips the franchise's familiar sound effects.

The Crunchinator

CrunchLabs by Mark Rober

Best for: The kid who has watched every Mark Rober video twice

Mark Rober's engineering empire now has a toy aisle, and this hand-cranked crusher made the Toy Insider's 2026 hot list. Kids turn a wrench to drive a press inside an enclosed chamber and flatten whatever squishy thing they've loaded in, swapping between three interchangeable crunch plates. The sneaky lesson is mechanical advantage: the crank turns a small push into a big squeeze, and Rober has a video explaining the science. It includes a phone holder for filming the carnage and needs no batteries at all.

Good to know: Target lists it for ages 6 and up while Amazon says 8 and up, so younger kids may need a hand with the wrench.

Snap Circuits Arcade

Snap Circuits

Best for: The future engineer who loves anything that beeps

Snap Circuits is a long-running gateway to electronics, and the Arcade kit points that curiosity straight at games. The 36 pieces snap onto a plastic grid with no soldering or tools, and the set builds more than 200 projects, including 20-plus games with lights and sounds and a spinning LED message. Every build is a real working circuit, so kids learn what a switch actually does by flipping one, then start dreaming up their own versions.

Good to know: It needs three AA batteries that are not included, and it is rated for ages 8 and up.

ChompSaw

Chompshop

Best for: The cardboard-box architect who has outgrown safety scissors

A real power tool, minus the part that worries parents. There is no blade and nothing spinning: a cutting tool tucked behind a metal guard moves up and down and nibbles cardboard into tiny half-moons, so kids can cut curves, straight lines and slots for 3D builds. It handles cardboard up to about 3mm thick, comes with a hole punch and a scoring tool, and links to a library of project tutorials. Expect castles, costumes and a lot of happy scrap.

Good to know: It plugs into the wall and runs at about 70 to 75 decibels, roughly vacuum-cleaner loud, so it is not a quiet-time toy.

Exploding Kittens: Original Edition

Exploding Kittens

Best for: Families who want a game that ends in shrieking, not sulking

Players take turns drawing from the deck and praying they don't pull an Exploding Kitten, using Skip, Attack, Shuffle and Defuse cards to dodge disaster, and the last one standing wins. Rounds take about 15 minutes, it plays two to five, and the 56 cards are illustrated by The Oatmeal, which is why the parents laugh too. It is a genuine phenomenon: the publisher counts 20 million copies sold and says it still holds Kickstarter's record for the most backers.

Good to know: Make sure you grab the Original Edition, since the brand also sells an adults-only NSFW deck rated 17 and up.

Kanoodle Brain-Teasing Puzzles

Educational Insights

Best for: The quiet puzzler, the car-ride fidgeter, or both

A ten-dollar gift with a surprisingly long shelf life. Kanoodle is a portable solo puzzle: kids pick a challenge from the guide, place the starting pieces, then work out how to fit the rest of the colorful pieces onto the board. There are 228 challenges that climb from beginner to expert, in both flat 2D and stacked 3D layouts, and the case doubles as the board, so it travels well. No batteries, no screen, and nobody else needed to play.

Good to know: It is rated for ages 7 and up and contains small parts, so keep it away from siblings under 3.

Dog Man: A Sprinkle in Time (Dog Man #15)

Scholastic

Best for: The reluctant reader who will happily reread a comic five times

Book 15 of Dav Pilkey's graphic-novel series, the one that keeps kids reading with a flashlight long after lights out. In A Sprinkle in Time, Grandpa, the series' cranky anti-hero, starts tinkering with the structure of time and space, and Dog Man and his friends have to wonder whether a little villainy might help everyone grow. It's a 240-page hardcover from the creator of Captain Underpants, rated for ages 7 and up, and it lands just in time to wrap.

Good to know: It is a pre-order until it comes out on November 3, 2026, and if they are new to the series, start them on book one instead.

Scholastic Book of World Records 2027

Scholastic

Best for: The kid who opens every conversation with 'Did you know...'

Every family has a fact machine, and this is premium fuel. The 2027 edition, published October 6, 2026, packs 288 pages of records across science, technology, sports, nature and animals, plus the pop culture this age actually cares about: music, movies, video games and social media sensations. It's pitched at roughly ages 7 to 10, so it reads easily without help, and it is the rare book that works for five minutes before school or a full rainy afternoon.

Good to know: It is a paperback, so if you want a sturdier coffee-table look, Guinness World Records 2027 is the hardcover alternative.

Dueling Stomp Rocket Launch Set

Stomp Rocket

Best for: Siblings who turn everything into a competition

The simplest physics lesson in the yard. Kids stomp on an air pad, the burst of air shoots a rocket off the launcher, and it can fly up to 200 feet. The dueling version puts two pads and two hoses on one stand, so two kids can launch at the same moment and argue about whose went higher. It comes with four reusable Ultra rockets, needs no batteries or fuel, and asks for nothing more than a patch of open grass.

Good to know: Rockets that fly 200 feet tend to find roofs and trees, so a refill pack (Target sells six-packs) is a smart add-on.

KPop Demon Hunters Marker Airbrush Sprayer

Crayola

Best for: The KPop Demon Hunters superfan with a sketchbook

KPop Demon Hunters is everywhere this year, and this is one of the more creative ways to lean in. Kids load a Crayola marker into the sprayer, press the button and mist color through one of six reusable stencils for a soft, airbrushed look. The 17-piece set includes eight Super Tips markers and two sticker sheets, and the sprayer also works with Crayola's Broadline and Pip-Squeaks markers, so the fun outlasts the pens in the box.

Good to know: It runs on four AA batteries that are not included, and it only sprays when pointed downward, which protects the walls but takes a minute to learn.

Maxi LED Scooter

Micro Kickboard

Best for: The kid who has outgrown the toddler scooter but not the need for speed

Built for the long middle of childhood, this three-wheeler is rated for ages 5 to 12 and riders up to 110 pounds. Kids steer by leaning rather than twisting the handlebar, which feels steady on sidewalks, and the T-bar adjusts from about 26 to 36 inches as they grow. The 13-inch deck leaves room for both feet, the motion-activated LED wheels light up with no batteries, and the whole thing weighs 5.5 pounds. A two-year warranty comes standard once you register it.

Good to know: A helmet is sold separately, so budget for one that fits.