Not sure what to get your hard-to-shop-for tween this holiday season? We’ve found some great gift ideas that’ll do the trick. These are the best holiday gifts for tweens in 2019.
1. Discovery Plasma Globe
Electricity becomes exciting when the glass Discovery Plasma Globe turns any room into a laser light show. It’s perfect for the young scientist! Turn down the lights and watch as electrical currents react to touch and sound. It’s a little bit of science and a whole lot of fun.
2. Mindware Spa Set
It’s never too early to stress to kids that being smart is cool. Show your child he or she can be beautiful and brainy with this chemistry set, camoflaged as a beauty product. Encourage STEM skills by showing your child how to create their own crazy concoctions. The Mindware Spa Set lab kit comes with everything your tween needs to make perfumes, lip balms and soaps.
3. Emoji Wireless Bluetooth Speaker
Emoji lovers are sure to be all smiles and heart eyes when they start streaming their favorite music on this emoji wireless bluetooth speaker. Another reason to give it a like? The sound quality’s actually pretty good! You can choose from various icons, including the always-popular poop emoji speaker. Now you’re speaking your tween’s language for the best Christmas gifts!
4. American Girl: Smart Girls Guide to Middle School
Growing up can be tough. Sometimes you don’t want to go to your parents with every question you have. For girls who’ve outgrown American Girl dolls, there’s a series of American Girl books they can turn to for comfort and advice about their bodies, boys, babysitting and more.
5. LEGO Technic Building Kit Toy Stunt Car
The best Christmas gifts for tweens are ones that have them learning and building while being creative. Add some wheels and your tweens are bound to be excited. The LEGO Technic Building Kit Toy Stunt Car checks all of those boxes. Tweens will love first building the LEGO car and attaching the wheels. Once it’s complete, then it’s time to pull back and let the speeding crash car do what it does best, crash!
6. Not Parent Approved
Want to encourage family game night, but find your tweens are bored with board games? The Not Parent Approved card game is a wacky alternative that should have the whole family laughing. Think of it as a kids’ version of the wildly popular Cards Against Humanity. Get ready to fill in the blank with farts, pimples and other gross humor. Warning: the game starts off with a burping contest.
7. Vera Bradley Duffle Bag
Got a flower child in the family? Vera Bradley’s pretty patterns are still a popular choice. Consider introducing your tween to the line’s classic cloth duffle. It’s perfect for carrying sports and dance gear, or an overnight stay at grandma’s, making it one of the best Christmas gifts for tweens.
Related: Best Holiday Gifts for Little Travelers 2019
8. Circuit Scribe Drone
Holiday excitement is sure to be soar when kids unwrap this technological marvel. Kids can build and power their own Circuit Scribe Drone with the inventive Circuit Scribe pen. It’s filled with a non-toxic silver ink that creates electrical connections on the drone’s cardboard arms. Then fly your creation via a tablet or smartphone and get a birds-eye view from the built-in 480 pixel camera. And if you crash it, no worries… just rebuild it!
9. 3D Coloring Puzzle Set
This 3D DIY coloring puzzle will have your tween’s colorful creations coming to life. The set comes with five different creations like a dinosaur, butterfly or airplane. Kids can color the designs with the 12 included markers and then assemble the 3D puzzle for a cool creation.
10. Smash Talk
None of us want to hear tweens trash talk, but what about Smash Talk? It’s the new game where teams give clues and try to guess the words on the card before the buzzer sounds. Parents and grandparents will realize it’s much like the $20,000 Pyramid game show that aired in the ’70s. The difference here is each time you’re successful, the buzzer moves quicker.
11. Interactive World Globe
This Interactive World Globe from Little Experimenters engages kids to learn geography while also being fun and interactive. Kids can use the included interactive pen to point out different countries, regions or bodies of water and the pen will relay information and fun facts through voice recordings. They will learn about countries, capitals, languages and more. The pen will also ask trivia questions to make the globe even more entertaining. But if your tween is more interested in the constellations, try Little Experimenters’ 3-in-1 World Globe with Illuminated Star Map and Built-In Projector. There is no interactive pen with this globe but it does feature a light up constellation map that can be projected onto your child’s bedroom wall or ceiling at night.
12. Kid Chef: The Foodie Kids Cookbook
Have a tween who loves to cook? Gift them with Kid Chef: The Foodie Kids Cookbook. This age-appropriate cookbook is filled with healthy and delicious recipes. Kid Chef also teaches basic cooking techniques to bring kitchen confidence to young chefs. It’s available through Kindle or in paperback.
Related: 2019 Holiday Gift Guides for All Ages
Andrea Guthmann is a Midwest Emmy award-winning freelance journalist, mother of three and Master Gardener. Her travel stories have been published in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Parent, Daily Herald, Cruise Critic, Midwest Living and more. She enjoys sailing Lake Michigan and visiting the world class museums and restaurants in her sweet hometown, Chicago. You can find her on Twitter or Instagram @AndreaGuthmann, or on her own website, Garden Trippin’.
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