40 Best Toys for 7-Year-Olds Who Are Coming Into Their Own
Science stuff, craft kits and just plain cool gifts are what kids are after these days.
We've been independently researching and testing products for over 120 years. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Learn more about our review process.
Seven-year-olds are their own people, and gifts for kids this age can help them develop their individuality. "Around 7 years old, children are developing confidence in all areas of life through schoolwork, friends, physical activity and the arts," says Jennifer Rothman, LCSW. "Motivation for learning and focus on friendships guide children as they become more independent from the family and begin to build their self image." For these reasons, when it comes to toys and that support this independence, like board games, construction and building toys and complicated puzzles and DIY sets.
The Good Housekeeping Institute helps narrow down the search, testing and evaluating toys throughout the year, soliciting feedback from real 7-year-olds while on the hunt for our annual Good Housekeeping Best Toy Award winners. We mixed their picks with some trendy toys, best-sellers and editor favorites to put together this list of the best toys and gifts for 7-year-olds in 2025.
Kids will complain less about washing up when they've made their own soap in fun, cool shapes. They'll learn that a lot goes into making soap, from mixing the ingredients to molding the shape to adding fragrance. There are even ideas for soap-based, at-home experiments kids can do while their soap hardens. It comes with enough to make 10 soaps in shapes like stars and cats, plus color tablets, glitter, coconut papaya fragrance and even gift boxes and tags. Ages 6+
RELATED: The Best Sensory Toys
Exploding Kittens Card Game
This game is worth it just for the irreverent art on the cards. The goal is not to get an exploding kitten card — and to try and push them onto the other players until you're the last one standing. It's silly, easy to learn and easy to break out whenever there's a lull in the action. Ages 7+
RELATED: The Best Board Games for Kids
Skillmatics Guess in 10 Disney
Who's the biggest Disney fan in the family? This game includes different Disney characters on the cards, and players have to try and guess who it is while asking just 10 questions about who it is — a good use of logic and deduction skills. The cards also give suggestions for hints, along with fun facts. Good Housekeeping Institute testers say they liked having a game that anyone in the family could play. There's also a Marvel edition. Ages 6+
Peachtree 'The Littlest Yak: Home Is Where the Herd Is'
Good Housekeeping Institute testers were charmed by the sweet story in this book, about an adorable yak family that has to move. One young yak loads up the sled with possessions, but learns family is more important when her sister gets bounced off the back. Ages 4–8
Kids will be amazed that they can actually build their own, never-ending marble run that includes a Ferris wheel that brings the marble up to the top of the track. They can experiment with different layouts of the track, and learn some physics and engineering in the process. Ages 7+
LEGO Despicable Me 4 Minions’ Music Party Bus
LEGO fans and Despicable Me 4 watchers can come together to build this 379-piece set. The bus opens to reveal a DJ station, dance floor and hot tub, and it comes with accessories like an electric guitar, a piano, a microphone, lights and speakers. Good Housekeeping testers loved putting it together and using it as a play set. Ages 7+
Crayola Wixels Animals Activity Kit
There's a little STEM lesson in this art project: Kids moisten a board filled with squares, touch the marker to each space, and watch as capillary action fills the square with color to make a picture in a pixelated style. It comes with two animal patterns for them to follow, or they can make their own designs. Ages 6+
Schleich is known for its incredibly intricate, pass-down-quality figures, and they've brought this attention to detail to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. And while you can get the human characters, like Harry, Ron and Hermione, it's the creatures that really shine, like this glorious Hippogriff with wings spread open. (Fluffy the Cerberus is pretty good, too.) Ages 6+
Aphmau MeeMeows Classic Mystery Plush
You don't have to be a fan of Aphmau's gaming YouTube channel to want one of these adorable kitties. At 11 inches, they're bigger and more huggable than some mystery plush, and there are eight cats to collect. Good Housekeeping testers gushed over how cute each of the designs were. Ages 3+
Kids can draw out their dream pet, then scan it into an app and actually make their drawings play-able. There are step-by-step guides that take kids through the process of caring for their pets by giving them food and water. Ages 6+
There are lots of ways to be a Pokémon fan, and if the cards are the main focus, this is the ultimate gift. It'll easily improve their collection with nine booster packs, plus 45 extra energy cards. In addition, there are fun accessories, with damage-counter dice, card sleeves, status markers and coins to toss, all with an Ogerpon theme from the Pokémon Scarlet & Violet DLC. And there are more Elite Trainer Boxes on the way, including Shrouded Fable (releases August 23) and Stellar Crown (releases September 13) Ages 6+
RELATED: The Best Pokémon Gifts
If the creative 7-year-old in your life likes the idea of journaling but doesn't know what to write, this journal will prompt them with a thought-starter a day. It asks questions both fun (favorite superpowers) and serious (about who they trust the most). When they're done, they'll have a time capsule that covers three years. Ages 5+
Kids love creating and editing their own videos, using special effects like green screens and animated backgrounds. Parents love that it doesn't connect to Wi-Fi, so they don't have to worry about safety and privacy. Ages 5+
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutations Station Play Set
This Ninja Turtles set comes with four small figures, plus a big vehicle that looks like the Pizza Van. But when you open the back of the car, there's a "mutation station," where you can mix up the heads, torsos and legs of the figures and create a new creature that gets launched out of the van! "My son loves building and drawing his own characters and to have a mechanism in place to create his own tangible designs was perfect for him," one parent tester wrote. Ages 4+
Kanoodle 3D
It looks simple, but its deceptively difficult. Each puzzle challenges players to copy a design from the instruction book, then complete it using the remaining pieces. They'll have their brains thinking overtime as they try to work out the 3D and 2D shapes. Ages 7+
BrainBolt Genius
This brainteaser will keep your little ones engaged while challenging their smarts. Players use their memory skills to re-create patterns that the game flashes on the buttons. Our testers love that this game can be brought along while traveling and even has a silent mode. Ages 7+
Air Hogs RC cars have long been a hit with Good Housekeeping Institute testers, who appreciate that the wheels are soft enough to drive indoors (but still big enough to drive over obstacles). This one is also designed to drive along the wall and upside down on the ceiling, so kids can race their friends while defying gravity. Ages 4+
Their creative mind will cut up, collage and create paper crafts with this book. Help them construct a paper flower bouquet, loop together a paper chain or make colorful bookmarks with this activity book filled with tons of crafts. Ages 7+
Hide & Seek Rock Painting Kit
The perfect rainy-day project for 7-year-olds, this kit lets kids decorate rocks either with their own painted-on designs or with cool water-based transfers (like a temporary tattoo for rocks). Then, when it's nice out again, they can use the rocks to decorate a garden or be a hidden moment of surprise along a path or trail. It comes with 10 rocks, but you can also send them out into nature to scout out more. Ages 6+
Reversible plushes are still the rage. Axolotls are the animal of the moment. Put them together, and you've got an unmistakable hit. Flip this axol inside-out to change its mood from happy to angry while keeping its cool blue-and-teal color scheme. (Though it does come in several other colors.) Ages 3+
Marisa (she/her) has covered all things parenting, from the postpartum period through the empty nest, for Good Housekeeping since 2018; previously, she wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother. She lives with her toy-collecting husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found helping out her team at bar trivia or posting about movies on Twitter and Bluesky.
The 15 Best Gifts for Smurfs Fans
The Best Gifts for 5-Year-Old Girls
The Best Gifts and Toys for 8-Year-Old Girls
The Best Gifts for 7-Year-Old Boys
