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76 Gifts for 8 Year Olds

Our Best 3 Picks

Klutz LEGO Chain Reactions

An 80-page instructional book to design and build 10 moving machines.

Buy Now for $18.19

Ridley’s 100 Knock Knock Joke Cards

Gags packaged in door-hanger-shaped cards measuring 3.25” x 2.5”.

Buy Now for $8.00

Hover Shot – Orblitz Floating Ball Shooting Game

Includes 12 darts, 8 floating ball orbs, and a blaster gun.

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Birthday

The Original Reversible Octopus Plushie

This polyester toy is perfect for emotional communication.

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Interactive Glow in The Dark T-Shirt

Use the UV glow torch and laser pen to make creative drawings.

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Robot Building Toys for Boys

With 635 building blocks and remote control distance of up to 65 ft.

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V-Tech Smart Watch

Takes quality videos and pics and features a Monster Detector game.

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My Arcade Pac-Man Pocket Player

A handheld console with 3 built-in games and full-color display.

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Goopow Kids Camera

LCD screen design including a 32GB SD card and 3 games.

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Galt Toys First Pottery

Make and paint cool pots with air-drying clay and modeling tools.

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I Am Confident, Brave & Beautiful_ A Coloring Book for Girls

The B&W line drawings explore ideas like bravery, strength, and more.

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Electronic Piggy Bank

It features a lock and can store up to 600 coins and 100 paper bills.

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Walkie-Talkies

It features 22 channels, a keypad lock as well as an LCD display.

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Hover Soccer Balls

Scratch-free gliding over surfaces and with rubber bumpers for safety.

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KMUYSL Punching Bag

The weighted stainless steel stand is height-adjustable — 30” to 43”.

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Hand-controlled AMERFIST Flying Ball

It’s fall-resistant and can be thrown at different angles and speeds.

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Kidzlane Light-up Dance Mat

Features 3 interactive games that have 5 difficulty levels.

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3Doodler Start+ Essentials 3D Pen Set for Kids

It’s designed with no hot parts and is completely safe for kids.

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Fifty Amazing Magic Tricks

With tricks and props such as X-ray vision, traveling aces, and more.

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Tiny Headed Kingdom “Honeythunder” Plush Unicorn

This toy is safe and non-toxic, made from soft, plush materials.

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Foam Pogo Jumper

The bungees stretch to 48 inches for hours of healthy, bouncy fun.

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LET’S GO! Binoculars for Kids

With soft rubber for eye protection, high resolution, and shockproof.

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Relaxed Fleece Crewneck Sweatshirt

Made of cotton, polyester, and fleece-lined with a classic cut.

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Playmobil Horse Farm Building Set

Reviewers say it's a fun, durable playset with lots of accessories.

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Air Hogs Gravitor with Trick Stick

Fly these USB-rechargeable drones with the power of your hands.

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Walkie Talkies for Kids

They have a 3 km range, crisp sound, and a built-in flashlight.

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Comfy Crocodile Sleeping Sack

Made of extremely soft polar fleece and it’s machine washable.

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Interactive Marble-run Gravitrax

Ranked the #1 marble run system in the US, it comes with 122 pieces.

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Batcave

Transforms to reveal various features as you turn the power pads.

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V-Tech Camera

Takes real digital photos and includes four built-in games and more.

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Superhero Dress-Up Set

This 5-piece cape set includes matching masks and slap bracelets.

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Elite Sportz Ring Toss Game

Easy to set up, great for indoor/outdoor use, and tests coordination.

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Metal Wire Puzzle Set

Includes 16 different quality metal wire puzzles to improve IQ and EQ.

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Zzzopa Fidget Balls

Spin, bounce, and throw away the stress, and learn cool tricks too.

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Archery Set For Kids

Develops kids hand-eye coordination and motor skills, with safe and durable materials.

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Squishy

With a jelly-like filling, its hypoallergenic and easy to clean.

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Soap Lab kit

Kids will make 10 cosmetic products in experiments that are 100% real.

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Cooking Game

With 22 recipes, this board game encourages actual cooking.

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Lego Dinosaur

Set can build T-rex, Triceratops, and Pterodactyl dinosaur toys.

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Activity Book for Teens By Teens

102 pages of mandala coloring, M.A.S.H., dots, sudoku, and mazes.

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Escape Room in a Box

Decipher clues, solve puzzles, and crack codes within 90 minutes.

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VTech Kidizoom Smartwatch DX2

Features a time display, pedometer, and camera, and is splash-proof.

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Sedzofan Smart Watch for Kids

Features an HD touch screen, HD camera, music player, games and more.

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Educational

Outdoor Scavenger Hunt Game

With 2 walkie-talkies, 36 indoor, and 36 outdoor scavenger hunt cards.

Buy Now for $34.29

AmScope Microscope Kit + Food

40-piece beginner kit featuring electrical illumination and filter.

Buy Now for $50.25

Would You Rather Game Book

Has 100% kid-appropriate material and 200 all-new questions.

Buy Now for $12.97

Crystal Growing Kit for Kids

With crystal powder, 4 bags of crystal seeds, 7 growing cups and more.

Buy Now for $19.99

5,000 Awesome Facts for Kids

Filled with photos and has 2-page spreads with a different topic each.

Buy Now for $13.72

20pc Outdoor Explorer Set

Explore with a real compass, binoculars, magnifying glass and more.

Buy Now for $25.97

DIY Soap Making Kit

Mix wax, coloring, fragrance, and glitter, and pour into the 4 molds.

Buy Now for $14.99

4M Crystal Growing Science Experimental Kit

Get everything needed to create 7 real crystals that kids can display.

Buy Now for $19.99

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Break Open 4 Geodes Science Kit

You get 4 crystal-filled geodes, a learning guide, and other add-ons.

Buy Now for $19.99

Fun

Toysmith Tech Gear Multi Voice Changer

With 8 voice effects — the side levers adjust frequency and amplitude.

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Rechargeable Game Activity Cube

Includes 9 games such as Tic Tac Go, Alien Hunt and Rocket Trail.

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Marvel Trivia and Strategy Card Game

Includes 52 game cards, 6 clue cards, 1 card holder, and a box.

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Restaurant and Grill Playset

It has 6 play areas and 30+ pieces to play out different scenes.

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Night Riderz Zipline Kit

A 10-foot braided nylon rope attachment holds the sturdy disk seat.

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Cloud Slime’s Unicorn Slime Kit

With 25 add ins and a manual to make your 100% hypoallergenic slime.

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Klutz LEGO Chain Reactions

An 80-page instructional book to design and build 10 moving machines.

Buy Now

Guess in 10 Countries of The World Game

A trivia and strategy game with an average playtime of 20 minutes.

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Toysmith 4M Magnetic Mini Tile Art

It has 12 2"x2” tiles, magnets, a paint strip, brush, and a manual.

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Table Top Mini Bowling Game Set

Lightweight and made of safe material to encourage interactive play.

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Flickin Chicken

Tossing game featuring 4 chickens, 1 target disc, and a score pad.

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Roller Coaster Challenge

Includes a game board, 36 posts, 39 tracks, one car, and 40 cards.

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Hot Wheels iD Race Portal

Play mini-games and track speeds and laps of up to 6 cars at a time.

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Gamenote Colorful Kids Origami Kit

108 origami folding papers and 2 practice sheets — makes 54 patterns.

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171Pcs Construction Set

Build a car, helicopter, tractor, etc. and develop problem-solving.

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Girl’s Backpack by BYXEPA

Made from thick, high density fabric that's anti-tear and waterproof.

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Insect Lore Live Butterfly Growing Kit

Pop-up, reusable 11.5-inch mesh habitat including feeding dropper.

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SUNLIN Dance Mat

Includes adjustable volume, built-in music, and 3 challenge levels.

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“Jokes for 8 Year Olds”

With a glossy front cover and a ‘From’ box inside for personalization.

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Other Recommendations

Retro Mini Game with 500 Classic Games

A chargeable console with an 8-directions joystick and 500 games.

Buy Now

Carson Bugview Bug-Catching Tool

The thumb-operated trapping slider easily catches fast bugs humanely.

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Hot Wheels Track Set

Once launched, cars continuously race until there’s a crash.

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The upside-down challenge game

Contains 100+ drawing and activity challenges and takes 20 minutes.

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Nutty Toys Fidget Spinner Dimple Popper Sensory Toy

Assists in stress and anxiety-relief for kids with ADHD and autism.

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Long Range Kids Walkie-Talkie

With 22 channels and maximum communication distance of up to 2 miles.

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Pokémon Trainer Guess

Think of a Pokémon and the voice-recognition Poké Ball will guess it.

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Water Marbling Paint Kit

Drop the paint into the water, swirl it then transfer this to paper.

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Choosing the best gifts for eight-year-olds can present unique challenges. When trying to discern if they would play with toys, complete arts and crafts projects, or read a book instead of leaving them under their bed or in the corner of their room is no easy feat. There are some milestones to look out for when you shop for their gifts, such as becoming more independent, having a longer attention span for hours of entertainment and learning, and starting to develop their identity with a fixed idea of what activities they like or are “good at.” If you don’t know where to start, we’re here to help make your decision a little bit easier with our gift ideas that cover various categories of interest, from board games and STEM sets to things for outdoor physical activity.  We’ve also included some helpful information to make your life easier.

Choosing the best gifts for 8-year-olds

They’re not little kids anymore but they’re not teenagers either. Eight-year-olds are on the cusp of childhood and early adolescence. They’re at an age where they’re ready to move on from child-like things, and onto toys and activities that are more advanced. They’re discovering new interests, becoming more independent, and are eager to tackle challenging tasks themselves. 

Gifts that encourage logic and reasoning, independent play, and outdoor exploration and play will appeal to their growing desire to learn more about the world. They’re also developing a better understanding of themselves and their unique likes. Toys, games, and gadgets that facilitate this development are also ones to consider.

How we identified the best gifts for 8-year-olds

To encourage and facilitate their journey of learning and self-discovery, we chose gifts based on the important milestones that typically occur at this age.

Eight-year-olds enjoy tasks and games that are more challenging, they want to problem solve, and they want to do it independently. The STEM gifts we chose will stimulate them mentally, as well as nurture their critical thinking — they’re the type of engineering toys that are recommended by the experts because of the learning benefits.

Kids this age are a lot more physically active, but we didn’t discount their need for a bit of downtime when they feel overstimulated. We opted for gifts that will keep them active — and burn off all that extra energy — as well as gadgets and learning material that they can unwind with, catering perfectly to both ends of the spectrum. And because kids, no matter their age, love to be entertained, you’ll find a number of gifts that they can enjoy by themselves or with their friends.

Tips for buying the best gifts for 8-year-olds

  1. Keep it entertaining
    Above all else, kids in this age group want to be entertained, whether through educational activities, cool gadgets, or games. The more entertaining a gift is, the more likely they are to engage with it for longer periods of time.
  2. Take their likes and dislikes into account
    While the shift from childhood to adolescence is fairly universal at this age, it’s well worth remembering that all children have their personal preferences. Some kids may prefer more physical or interactive games, whereas others may enjoy activities that facilitate individual play. When buying a gift, buy it with their unique interests in mind.
  3. It doesn’t have to be expensive
    Often, we make the mistake of equating “the best” with “expensive.” This simply isn’t true. Some of the best gifts that can stimulate their learning or creativity don’t come with an exorbitant price tag.

FAQs

What are some unusual gifts for 8-year-olds?

Instead of getting something for them that all their friends have, branch out from the usual. Unusual gifts for 8-year-olds include photo flashlights and tooth savers! They’re so unique and that’s what makes them special.

How do I choose great gifts for an 8-year-old?

They’re becoming more independent and enjoy spending time with their friends. Some of the best gifts for an 8-year-old are ones that encourage socializing and playing with their peers. Interactive or entertaining gifts are great options.

What are popular 8-year-old gifts?

There are so many great gift ideas, but popular 8-year-old gifts are popular for a reason. They take into account your child’s desire for a bit more independence as well as their evolving interests. Fun and educational Lego sets, magic kits, and magnetic tiles are just some of your options.