The 13 best tech toys for kids in 2025

We all fidget sometimes, and Hasbro’s Nano-mals are designed to take that energy and focus it into nurturing an adorable little creature. You can flick its ears, move its arms or boop its little nose and each of these actions will fill up the creature’s heart. Still struggling to fill it up? That’s okay, because unlike other virtual pets the Nano-mals will never die (or “go back to their home planet”). Get two in the same room and they’ll even greet each other, encouraging kids to collect them all – which is easy to do when they only cost $20 a pop, making them the perfect stocking stuffer.

$15 at Amazon

Xbox’s Kinect may have come and gone, but the desire to play video games that get you moving lives on. Rather than asking parents to shell out for an expensive console and all the games and accessories needed to play motion games, the LeapMove comes with 25 games built in, and doesn’t need special controllers to play. Up to three kids can have their own profiles, and more games are available for download once they’ve run through the ones on the system. The best part? It’s less than $100, making this a budget-conscious choice for dens and playrooms.

$60 at Amazon

F1 is hot this year, in no small part thanks to the recent Brad Pitt movie. Lego has a wide variety of products for fans of all ages, including playsets of teams like McLaren and Ferrari, and expensive display models of the same. They even have a set for the little ones, one that transforms all 10 teams into their DUPLO equivalents. The cars are easy to build and swap around, and the set comes with details like a finish line, a podium, and a crane for a full pretend racing experience in the box.

$45 at Amazon

You’re never too old for Legos, as evidenced by this three-in-one set that should give older adults a real strong dose of nostalgia, no matter their generation. The 383 pieces can be used in three different configurations, each depicting a particular type of phone from the past: a rotary phone with a detachable handset, a “brick” cell phone, or two handsets from the “aughts” – one a flip phone and the other a candy bar-style model. They’ll look great on the shelf, as well as being a fun way to show kids what it was like “back in my day.”

$24 at Amazon

The original Toniebox was ideal for parents seeking a screen-free experience for their kids, using small figurines to activate various stories and songs for their little ones. Unfortunately kids do eventually grow out of it, something the new Toniebox 2 seeks to remedy by adding more activities for older kids. That includes new games that involve a physical board that the Toniebox recognizes, as well as more complex content. The box has also been redesigned with rounder edges and better battery life. Tonies is a great brand that we’ve recommended for years; now you can be sure your investment in one will keep paying off as your kid ages.

$140 at Amazon

An activity board for the little one is increasingly becoming a must-have for parents, so why not pick one that will give every adult in the room a good laugh, too? This toy shaped like a DJ rig has a working keyboard with three modes so even the tiniest child can make music. There’s a plethora of other switches and wheels to keep them entertained, and it also comes with Fisher Price’s “Smart Stages” system so the built-in lessons will grow with your child for a few years until they’re ready for a real instrument.

$17 at Amazon

Tamagotchi Paradise is the biggest Tamagotchi yet: Physically it’s a real chonker, filling up an adult’s palm at 3 x 3 inches (and one inch deep). But it’s even metaphysically bigger, with the device allowing a player to view their Tama on a microscopic level, and then turning the crank to ascend out into the larger universe. There are over 50 different kinds of characters to raise, with over 50,000 variations so it’s unlikely a player will get a repeat. And friends can even connect to each other to exchange items and let their Tamas play together. It’s truly a device made for long-time fans, but with gameplay simple enough that even newcomers can easily jump on board.

$78 at Amazon

Plushes aren’t exactly “tech” but we’ll make an exception for this adorable toy based on the Tamagotchi line of virtual pets. Each wearable backpack is modeled to look like the original egg-shaped Tamagotchi toy including a viewing window where the LCD screen would be, and it contains one plush modeled on certain iconic characters from the series. And when we say “modeled” we don’t just mean one design – the plush can be flipped to look like each one of a Tamagotchi’s life stages, from infancy to adolescence to its adult form.

$40 at Amazon

Godzilla is having quite a moment right now, between celebrating his 70th birthday, films like Godzilla Minus One and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, a line of successful comics from IDW and even the franchise’s first Oscar win. You might be tempted to pick up a few Godzilla toys as a result, but probably don’t enjoy the mess kids would make as they start building and destroying cities right in the middle of the living room. That’s what makes these blind box figurines so great: they depict all of the most popular monsters from Godzilla to King Ghidorah, and each figure comes in a plastic case that looks like a small building. It’s basically an entire playset that fits in the palm of your hand and costs only $5. We wouldn’t blame you if you grabbed the whole collection for a re-enactment of Destroy All Monsters.

$5 at Godzilla.com

Dungeons & Dragons has reached new levels of popularity in the past few years, but it can still be pretty intimidating to newcomers. This Starter Set aims to smooth out all the speed bumps by providing not just the basic necessities for getting started, but also plenty of extra materials to simplify gameplay, including boards for each character class (like Fighter and Wizard), a combat tracker for the Dungeon Master so things don’t get too chaotic, a full set of dice and lots of cards, maps and tokens. Your family and friends can start playing almost immediately after they open the box, making it a great holiday activity for all ages.

$42 at Amazon

Operation turned 60 this year, and it’s endured so long thanks to its easy-to-grasp but incredibly tense gameplay. Sure, players may be removing slightly different body parts now, but there haven’t been very many changes — which is why this year’s edition is notable. The board has been redesigned so it now folds in half, with the charming case looking like a portable defibrillator when closed. It’s a great item to take a long on family trips, and some kids may even enjoy using it when they pretend to be a doctor.

$10 at Amazon

Hatchimals were a cool idea that sold like gangbusters when it initially came out. However, not everyone is into cute and cuddly creatures, so those looking for something a bit more realistic and scary will adore this Jurassic World-inspired toy. A tiny T. rex claws and growls its way out of its egg (with some help from its human), and play doesn’t stop there: once hatched, the dinosaur needs to be fed, nurtured and trained, making for a lot of long-term fun for budding paleontologists.

$59 at Amazon

If you want to capture the thrill of opening up a new Labubu, but you don’t actually want a Labubu (or you’re still confused about what a Labubu even is), Sanrio blind boxes are it. On the heels of the absolutely delightful My Melody & Kuromi Netflix show, Sanrio has dropped a slew of merch featuring the two best frenemies, but its Sweet Tea Party blind boxes take the cake in terms of affordability, adorableness and built-in suspense. The My Melody & Kuromi Sweet Tea Party blind boxes come from Japanese miniature-toy maker Re-Ment and there are eight scenes to collect, each depicting a different delicious activity. Some feature My Melody and Kuromi as cakes and scones, while others have the characters ready to sit down for tea, and they’re all super charming. Just like the Netflix show. — Jessica Conditt, Senior Reporter

$17 at Sanrio