If you’ve ever battled crowds to get a coveted toy you know that early October is actually the perfect time for parents to start holiday shopping. Amazon knows this, which is why they’re holding a second Prime Day sale event today and tomorrow. If your kids are like my kids, they’re already working on their wish lists. If you say you haven’t already started budgeting, you are either lying, financially irresponsible, or your children are much less demanding than mine are (I know, it’s my fault).
We test and write about toys year-round, cross-reference our own recommendations, and then use price-tracking software to make sure that what we’re recommending is actually a good deal. These are all toys that we, and our kids, have tested and loved. You need an Amazon Prime membership to get the Prime Day deal price, but you can sign up for a free trial, and Prime offers plenty of perks.
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Toy Deals
Photograph: Amazon
Magna-Tiles are one of the best return-on-investment toys that I have ever purchased for my children (and one of my perennial recommendations for the Best Stem Toys). Click together the translucent tiles to create 2D or 3D shapes. Once they’ve made each set, the tiles just go into a bin to be remade into farms and zoos and God knows what else for years to come.
Prime Days are always the best time to stock up on Lego sets because the company usually runs a bunch of promotions for around 30 percent off. These bricks are amazing but also expensive (the tolerances are so precise!), so try not to buy them full price, if possible. This is a great price for a basic box of colors. However, if you want to work on a kit, you have a few more options.
There’s no point saving a few bucks on a cheap Lego set when you could save over 20 bucks on something much bigger and more exciting! Star Wars is very big around my house right now, and I am very much considering this as a family holiday present. The large figure is adjustable and it even comes with a matching minifig for inclusion with your other Star Wars sets.
Photograph: Particula
If you have a kid who is easily frustrated, then I can’t recommend the GoCube enough (in fact, I recommended it in our gift guide to Smart STEM Toys). A regular Rubik’s Cube just leaves you alone to stew in your own incompetence, but a Bluetooth-connected Rubik’s Cube has glowing edges and a beautiful app to walk you through how to solve one. Once you’ve done that, you can learn all the different algorithms to get your solve time down, and even compete with friends! This price is for the gift pack with the charging stand, cable, and carrying pouch so your kid can even play with it on the car ride home.
This 3D puzzle is one of the best analog gifts. Once completed, the puzzle can be opened 180 degrees to reveal the detailed interior. There are 293 pieces, which should give you a nice, long break from your screens. If the Notre Dame isn’t your favorite beautiful building, there are many other options to choose from, all with overall positive Amazon reviews. —Louryn Strampe
Photograph: Yoto
Multiple friends have purchased the Yoto Player (7/10, WIRED Recommends) so that their kids can play media without having to interact with a screen. The pixelated light-up clock is cute, so it can sit on a nightstand and tell kids when to get up, and you can play audiobooks with insertable cards (you can even create your own content with blank cards).
My children spent a good three to four years totally obsessed with kinetic sand, which is a good return on investment for an affordable stocking stuffer. As my colleague Simon Hill notes (who has similarly obsessed kids), kinetic sand behaves like wet sand, except it looks, feels, and smells nice and isn’t wet. With the caveat that you will have to confine it to a table or play area and/or invest in a robot vacuum, your kid will be able to mold and shape it to their heart’s content.
Gaming Deals
Photograph: Simon Hill
If you have sensitive kids that just don’t do well when competing directly with each other, then you might have more success with cooperative play. Here, up to five players work together to defeat a cast of rotating classic movie monsters, like Dracula and the Bride of Frankenstein, to save the town, villagers, and yourselves. I am probably going to get this for Halloween for when my kids get rained out of trick-or-treating (hello, PNW). Check out more family board games here.
If you just can’t get enough of Catan (formerly known as Settlers of Catan), and now your kids want to join in, there is now a junior version for kids as young as 5. Your swashbuckling kindergartener can learn how to trade with—and rob—people by playing as miniature pirates on the high seas. They will also learn how to argue. A lot.
Photograph: Clixo
This irresistible construction kit made our Best STEM Toys guide and is a fantastic gift for kids of all ages. Clixo’s colorful, versatile, magnetic pieces snap together, enabling you to build all kinds of three-dimensional shapes, from crowns to cats. The pieces stack neatly and are very compact when packed away. They are also durable and washable, and you can play with them anywhere—you don’t need a table. Clixo kits are suitable for kids aged 4 and up, but teens and even adults will get a kick out of these too. —Simon Hill
One of the best family board games for young kids, Labyrinth is simple enough for anyone to grasp. The game board is a maze, and your challenge is to collect a set of treasures dictated by the cards you are dealt. This game was designed by a German psychologist, and the fun comes from the ability to change the maze by pushing a tile onto the board, which displaces another each turn. You can carve out a route for yourself, but it is also worth thinking about how to block your opponents, and the best moves do both. —Simon Hill
If your kids also love playing on the Nintendo Switch, it’s a good idea to have a case when they carry it to and fro. We like this one because it’s affordable and has extra pockets for an extra controller or cables and a sleeve for game cartridges. It also comes in a wide variety of fun colors.
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