Is Your Child Ready for These Top Tech Gifts?

When spending time with family and friends around the holidays, you'll likely hear: Let’s all put our phones down! So as festivities roll around this time of year, it seems counterintuitive to see tech gifts at the top of nearly every child’s (and parent’s) wishlist.

That’s why we’ve decided to delve into many of the top tech choices for holiday presents this year. We make a few recommendations and assess the age-appropriateness of some of the most popular ones.

For The Tiniest Tots

Let’s start with the gifts designed with the smallest (about 10 years of age and under) kids in mind. For younger kids, we were excited to see the prevalence of toys with an educational bent; specifically towards mechanical engineering and coding. There are many robotic toys on the market that have a DIY building and coding dimension to them, such as this intro to engineering kit and this coding robot.

Be sure to always check the age recommendations for these types of toys. Although, if any turn out to be too challenging for your little ones, it can be a great collaborative opportunity for parents to lend a helping hand. Toys that promote critical thinking always get a stamp of approval in our book!

Another popular toy for smaller tots is the Toniebox, a clever story-telling padded speaker for kids. They come with figurines that, when plugged into the top of the box, begin to play a story. Each figure has a unique audio experience, and you can buy them separately to amass a library for your kids. There’s a wide selection to choose from, with figurines ranging from Disney princesses to Paddington Bear.

Yoto Player offers a similar product that features cards instead of figurines and an old-school pixel display. These have often been described as podcasts for kids—and seeing how popular podcasts are with adults these days, it’s no surprise to find a child’s spin on it. These by no means should replace a bedtime story read by a parent, but they’re a great entertainment alternative to plopping a little one in front of the TV screen!

Speaking of storytelling, there is a kindle device called Kindle Kids, designed specifically for little ones in mind and with parental controls in place. If your child is still too young for tablets, this may be a great stepping-stone to introducing them to tech, as it’s easier on the eyes and promotes reading. With the parental dashboard, parents can adjust the age filter, add books to the library, set daily reading goals, and view their kids’ reading progress.

For Preteens and Teens

If your child is approaching or has reached adolescence, they may have begun asking for a cell phone. Wondering if they’re ready for it? Most experts point to the ages between 12 and 14 as the time to start thinking about a phone. We make this decision easier for you with our "Is Your Child Ready?" Checklist.

If you’re wary about handing your child a fully-connected cellphone (and you should be!), we recommend beginning with a "starter phone" that limits their ability to access the entire

Internet, strangers, and other things they may not be ready for.

Check out this excellent roundup of all the best starter phones for kids.

One gift that continually cropped up in many preteen and teen holiday requests was some sort of app-controlled color-changing lighting, like this Smart Bulb and Smart Lightstrip.

At first these seem like such a unique ask, until you factor in the fact that these are used not just for their bedroom décor, but also to create unique lighting effects for their TikTok’s and social media posts!

Perhaps somewhat tellingly, older kids also expressed interest in mindful gifts, such as a subscription to Headspace, the meditation app. Given the many stresses of modern life, it’s hardly surprising that even our children are looking for ways to make time to take a deep breath.

Another popular subscription ask was, of course, for Spotify, the music streaming app. Can’t keep kids of any generation away from their tunes! Spotify’s family plans and shared playlists can be a great way for everyone in the family to introduce one another to new music, be it today’s Top 100 or a parent’s Golden Oldies.

The Hot List

Predictably, the most coveted gifts this season are gaming consoles. Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Xbox, and Sony PlayStation are all incredibly popular; so much so that many of these are hard to get ahold of in time for the holidays.

Many parents are wary of introducing video game consoles into their homes for fear of their kids wasting all their free time in front of the screen. But fortunately, many of the games available on these devices have multiple-player options, making for a fun way to share time and hobbies with family members of different generations.

If you are thinking of getting one, just be sure to lay down the ground rules for use before anyone gets too attached! Our free downloadable Technology Agreement can help.

Virtual Reality (VR) headsets are topping the wishlists of many children around the world. A newer player in the gaming world is the Oculus Headset, offered by Meta (formerly Facebook).

The Oculus differs from the others as the headset is worn over your eyes, creating an all-enveloping experience. There are other VR (Virtual Reality) headsets on the market, but Oculus is particularly interesting because they are integral to Meta’s banking on the future of the Metaverse: The idea that someday soon, we’ll all be gathering virtually in 3-D augmented reality environments.

A big, and largely unanswered question, is at what age is a child ready for a VR headset. Although research on VR technology is still fairly new, the Oculus Headset is not for children under the age of 13. This is in line with what other VR headset manufacturers recommend:

• Samsung Gear VR: Children under 13 should not use the Gear VR.

• Google Daydream View: Children under 13 should not use daydream View.

• Sony PlayStation VR: Not for use by children under the age of 12.

• HTC Vive: HTC doesn’t specify an age, but advises young children not to use the product.

Part of the reason for these age restrictions is that young children have difficulty distinguishing between reality and virtual reality, in fact this is hard for everyone as this hilarious (and somewhat alarming) video illustrates.

Our Top Tech Pick?

If the above all sound way to extensive (and expensive!) to you, this author personally recommends the Tamagotchi, a little digital pet that lives in an egg-sized toy. It is a much more economical choice, and about as analog as a digital gift can get. We’ll admit: a Tamagotchi is to an Xbox what a scooter is to a jet plane. But still fun!

Like many things in life, it’s not so much what you give, but how you use it. When purchasing a tech gift, especially a valuable one, communication and guidelines for your kids are important in making sure everyone is on the same page, and everyone knows what it should be used for and how it should be used. The wonderful thing about most techy gifts is they are often collaborative, and a great way for family members to share their hobbies and interests with one another. And who knows: maybe these gifts will let your kids introduce you to some new music or reveal how good grandma is at Fortnite.