200+ Practical Non Toy Gifts for Kids That Aren’t Junk. Ultimate Guide of Gifts for Kids That Aren’t Toys or Junk.
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Over 200 Practical Non-Toy Gifts for Kids (That Aren’t Junk)
Between birthdays, goodie bags, the holiday season and other occasions, the amount of toys in a home with children can quickly quadruple overnight – and lets face it, they take up a lot of space and over time, begin to collect dust.
The dollar bin at stores don’t make it easy to resist buying small goodies but in time your surfaces and drawers are guaranteed to be overrun with gadgets and toys which contribute to clutter your home.
Yes, children can use toys to spur their development, boost learning and gain social skills, but not all toys are created equally.
A talking doll from a recent movie is fun, but a child doesn’t reap the same rewards from it as they would a family board game, STEM kit or arts and crafts which spur creativity.
Giving experiences to children will do far more good than one more piece of plastic or another stuffed animal.
This is the ultimate collection of non-toy gifts for kids that aren’t junk, won’t clutter your home or break after one use.
But first, here are the gift guides:
Check Out All of Our Gift Guides:
- Best Board Games for Kids and Families to Play Together
- Best Gifts for Kids Who Love Arts and Crafts (from toddlers to teens)
- Best Outdoor Toys for Kids to Promote Active Play & Healthy Habits
- 40+ Unique Stocking Stuffers for Baby – Toddler (Ages 0 – 3)
- Non-Toy Gifts for Giving Children Experiences Not Things
- Gifts for Kids to Receive in the Mail All Year Round
Practical Non Toy Gifts for Kids (That Aren’t Junk!)
Water Wow books are the best non-messy coloring book out there and perfect for traveling, waiting rooms, in the car and playing independently at home.
Fun crayons like these confetti crayons or gem crayons liven up your art supply!
Pin Art is a classic activity that will entertain little ones easily and is still small enough to be compact.
Wikki Stix are moldable wax sticks the perfect size for stockings, your carry on or purse. Challenge your child to see what shapes, animals and forms they can create.
The magnetic Doodle Pro is compact to fit in a stocking, but also your purse or backpack when you’re on the go. The Etch-A-Sketch is also a great way to go!
Healthy and active kids will love these sports games and activities that they can do on their own, or with their friends!
A glow in the dark basketball, glow in the dark frisbee and glow in the dark soccer ball keep the fun going in the backyard, even when the sun isn’t out. These are great for the summer, or if you live in an area with mild winters, these are a huge hit for after dark fun and burning that extra energy!
A portable table tennis set means you can set it temporarily on the dinning table or take it with you for vacation or a trip!
This rechargeable set of laser tag glows in the dark and is great for indoors and outdoors. Round up a few friends, or siblings, and have a friendly competition. Spike ball is a great physical game for kids and adults of all ages and a fun family activity indoors and out!
A punching bag might be just what your child needs to get that extra energy out, or work through a problem or their frustration, and move all that energy out.
Pindaloo is a new and challenging game for active playtime. Master the basics of play while enhancing balance, hand-eye coordination, gross motor movement, and fine motor skills.
The sports section wouldn’t be complete without some (sometimes necessary) sneaker and gym back deodorizers!
This Moon is the coolest nightlight! It hangs on the wall and you use the clicker to set the moon to differing degrees of brightness. It could be a crescent moon one night and a full moon the next! The light is soft enough to soothe kids without keeping them awake.
Set the arm for morning in style with a BB8 Alarm Clock or if you’re teaching your little one to stay in their room, a wake up alarm clock or stoplight alarm clock like this one can help them learn when it’s Ok to get out of bed.
A Nightlight Projector will transform a children’s bedroom into a starry solar system with star and planet projections.
Your house becomes a classroom with the Planetarium Space Projector! View stars, galaxies, planets and even spaceships in your living room, bedroom or anywhere it’s dark enough to bring outer space into your home’s walls and ceiling.
A whimsy jewelry box will store necklaces, bracelets, rings and dress up pieces and it’s also super adorable.
A fun two-tone mermaid sequin pillow adds super posh style a little girl’s bedroom and is fun at the same time.
Help fall asleep with black out eye masks made just for little heads and eyes. These cat masks are adorable, but we’re also in love with these unicorn ones and this bear eye mask.
Nail Sticker Art will dress up fingers once they’ve been filed with a cute emory board and painted with non-toxic nail polish.
A mini portable karaoke machine with two microphones will never go out of style and is great for vacation, trips and get togethers with friends.
These pink Picasso Paint by Number Prints come in 6 different styles and are great for getting those creative juices flowing! Whether you’re decorating a teen’s room, hang out space or just to watch a movie, a comfortable sherpa beanbag will be everyone’s favorite place to sit and relax.
With money, comes responsibility and there’s no safer place to keep it all safe.. than a piggy bank safe. Lava lamps have been popular for decades, but this takes it to a whole new level. A jellyfish lava lamp is not only fascinating, but beautiful and peaceful to watch.
You’ll need some lightning fast reaction with this new and shocking game of shocktato (shock potato). Hilarious (and not painful), this is hot potato to a whole new level!
Unlike other puzzle box toys, the award-winning shashibo sensory box features 36 rare earth magnets for an innovative design that transforms into over 70 shapes. Fits comfortably in the hand for hours of mind-challenging fun, stimulate the senses with unlimited creative possibility! Can you master the shape-shifting box?
Sussed – the wacky what would you do question game. Ask a question, and challenge your family and friends to guess which hilarious answer you’ve chosen! Use it to break the ice or compete to find out who knows each other best. It’s wacky, simple and packed with laughter and surprises!
This kid’s camera is a great starter for little ones who want to take pictures and videos. With only 5 buttons to operate the camera, it’s easy for kids to use and pictures are easily transferred to a laptop via USB cable. There’s a power toggle switch on the side to reposer the camera when it was crashed.
For older kids who want to take instant pictures and see the results on photo paper immediately, I love the FujiFilm Instant Mini (available in powder pink, turquoise, blue, green and silver.
This Kid’s Fitness Tracker is for kids 4 – 9 years, is waterproof and easy to put on, the 1-size-fits-most, nonstaining, 1-piece band stretches over your child’s hand and fits comfortably to track daily activity.
Kid’s Smartwatch by VTech has fun games and activities; interactive kids watches feature 3 fun activities, 5 games, 3 action challenges and a motion sensor. Kids watches are perfect for young photographers, this durable smartwatch has more memory so kids can take tons of pictures and videos.
A LED Writing Board is not a tablet or electronic device, but it does stimulate children’s creativity and let them fall in love with writing,drawing and doodling.
The Shock Proof Kids Binoculars are the perfect kid’s compact binocular set, great for science, bird watching, playing outside, travel and as a gift.
Kid’s Headphones keep little ears safe from too high volume levels and dangerous damage to hearing.
Got a tween or teen girl? These gift ideas are for them!
Sling purses (also know as fanny packs) are all the RAGE and are back in full force with younger groups. The sling bag with decorate strap is a cute option and a basic belt bag fanny pack comes in tons of colors.
Detangler hair brushes are a must and make great stocking stuffers, as are bracelets like this earth toned gemstone bracelet.
If your tween or teen has a phone, a silicone phone holder can be a great gift or stocking stuffer so they can set it down and talk without walking around with it in their hands.
Temporary tattoo pens and body mark markers (as well as stencils if you need) are fun items to have when you get together with friends. Freckle pens offer temporary cosmetic freckles and my tweens just told me this is a “thing.” (IDK???)
Gratitude Journals and journals in general to help get feelings out and not hold so much inside, are always a great gift idea.
This post wouldn’t be complete without Croc shoes, Cloud slides and Nike blazers shoes and Air Jordan shoes which are all the middle schoolers are wearing these days.
Hideaway play houses like a canvas teepee (this one comes with fairy lights and feathers to add even more whimsy feel to it) or a rocket ship playhouse spur imagination and bring out the creativity in kids. They’re also great places to calm down and find a quiet place to read or play quietly. (We also loved this striped ombre tent and princess play castle which is surprisingly spacious in real life.)
We LOVE pieces that serve multiple purposes like this bean bag sack which can be filled with stuffed animals or blankets for storage, and double as a soft place to sit.
Living spaces should be functional and fun! The hopscotch rug is adorable but also useful as an indoor activity during winter months. (Since there are too many adorable versions out there, here are a few more here and then a white version of the hopscotch rug with a non-slip backing and this village map rug is also quite cute, too.)
Pillow pets can be used as pillows or a soft place to snuggle inside a teepee, on the couch or the floor. This Moana Pig Pillow Pet is adorable but we also love Unicorn, Panda and Fox are pretty cute too. They fold up with a velcro strap on the bottom for easy carrying or taking on a road trip or airplane too.
This suction teeter totter is a fun addition to any place space – rock it, roll it, sit in it, or stand – endless ways to play; meanwhile – POP POP POP POP POP! – the suction cups pop as the Teeter Popper rocks!
No play spot is complete without these fun balancing stepping stones. Not only are they great at assisting kids with balance and coordination, but they also help them learn to determine distance and height.
Teaching kids about money is important. These will all help you get them started and being money wise young!
The Moonjar is a special box with three areas for kids to put their money – Spend, Save and Share.
The Digital Money Counter tracks kid’s savings as they add to the jar. Accepts pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, half dollars and even dollar coins. Kids love to watch their money grow and can see the value in the jar each time they add to it.
Help your child be money-wise with the 3-in-1 Trio Bank. One bank with three parts for spending, saving and sharing to teach your child about budgeting, setting savings goals and helping others. Easy-to-access boxes that allow your child to be active in keeping track of their balances.
These dog piggy banks are perfect starter piggy banks for little ones who want something adorable to store their extra change in. There’s also a bull terrier and shiba inu dog options.
Bath crayons and water coloring drops are another way to let creativity flourish. Let the doodling begin! This set of bath crayons and colored bath drops are nice and we loved these twisted bath crayons for more artistic designs.
These hooded rope in various animals are incredibly soft, not to mention cute. The pink cat is my daughter’s favorite, my son likes his green dinosaur and my toddler never wants to take her elephant rope off. But if you’re in the holiday spirit, the kid’s reindeer rope is perfect.
Bath slime wasn’t as messy as I thought I’d be from a parent’s perspective and my kids LOVED playing in a tub full of slime. I do recommend they wear swimsuits in it, and not going in their natural bathing suits.
Kids love to play in the bath, but this mixes play and learning! This 29-piece US Map bath puzzle suctions to the wall and includes all 50 states so kids can piece together the United States while they’re getting clean. Want to expand beyond the US, there’s also the World in the Tub puzzle with 29 pieces of the entire world.
A good toothbrush is part of good dental health. This Philips Sonicare and Soni Kids are the two most dentist approved electric brushes out there for little mouths. These make a great gift or stocking stuffer during the holidays.
Non-slip bath stickers make bath time even more fun, as well as safe. 10 jumbo stickers do a good job with coverage of the tub too.
Unicorns are having a HOT moment right now. Here are all the unicorn gifts your girl will love!
A simple, yet pretty unicorn jewelry box will store a set of unicorn earrings and other dress up accessories.
Light up the night with a unicorn projector or unicorn nightlight, perfect for a side table or on top of the dresser.
A sweet unicorn pillow is a perfect accessory but if you really want to go all out, a personalized sequin unicorn pillow is the way to dazzle your girl.
A cozy unicorn blanket with hood is the ultimate snuggle accessory on a cold afternoon or cuddle on the couch with Mom or Dad. Though you might have a hard time decision between the hooded unicorn blanket and the fleece blanket with a whimsical unicorn.
A set of sweet unicorn pajamas will send your girl off to sleep with sweet dreams.
Check Out All of Our Gift Guides with 100+ More Gift Ideas By Topic:
- Best Board Games for Kids and Families to Play Together
- Best Gifts for Kids Who Love Arts and Crafts
- Best Outdoor Toys for Kids to Promote Active Play & Healthy Habits
- 40+ Unique Stocking Stuffers for Baby – Toddler (Ages 0 – 3)
- Non-Toy Gifts for Giving Children Experiences Not Things
- Gifts for Kids to Receive in the Mail All Year Round
More Holiday Resources:
- 30 Easy Elf Ideas: Easy Elf on the Shelf Ideas For Busy Parents
- Elf on the Shelf Printable “I Caught You Being Good” Notecards
- Letter to Santa & Certificate for Making Santa’s Nice List
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