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At age 11, kids are typically entering sixth grade, which a lot of times means starting at a new middle school. “Their social scene is changing and they’re starting to think more about their social identity and who they are as a more mature person,” explains Lisa Goldstein, a librarian with the Brooklyn Public Library. Such environmental changes, coupled with the physical changes kids start to experience at this age, can make 11-year-olds quite fickle. “Puberty is beginning, so they’re facing physiological issues that are hormonal and can affect their emotional states,” says Alyson Cohen, a Manhattan-based social worker and psychotherapist specializing in adolescents, young adults, and millennials. It’s also the age when many kids become less excited to spend time at home with family and more interested in doing things out in the world.
If you’re thinking that this confluence of changes can make finding a gift for an 11-year-old tricky, you’re not wrong. To help, the Strategist asked Cohen, Goldstein, and more than a dozen other experts, parents, and actual 11-year-olds about the best gift ideas for kids in this age group, from books to toys to tech. With the list below, I aimed to cover the latest trends as well as classic crowd-pleasers, and organized them by price. If you already have a budget in mind, you can use the table of contents to jump ahead, or read all the way through to get the full picture of what 11-year-olds are into these days.
Meanwhile, if you’re shopping for kids in other age groups, we have gift guides for 1-year-olds, 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds, 5-year-olds, 6-year-olds, 7-year-olds, 8-year-olds, 9-year-olds, 10-year-olds, and 12-year-olds — plus the meticulously curated Strategist Toy Store, which is filled with all of our greatest hits.
Updated December 12, 2024: Updated prices and checked stock for all products.
$25 and under
Of all the toys I’ve written about this year, Squishmallows seem to appeal to the widest age range, from toddlers all the way to tweens. There are new styles launching all the time, including licensed characters from pop-culture franchises and brands like Harry Potter, Disney, and Pokémon. But if you really want to delight 11-year-olds, I like this adorable and funny 14-inch sleeping capybara.
Jellycat’s stuffed animals and plush keychains are also super popular among tweens and have been recommended to me by kids from 8 to 13 years old. The mini-plushes are also featured in our guide to gifts for tween girls as a most-wanted accessory that can be added to a backpack.
This pack of five clip-on Squishmallows combines the Squishmallows and bag-charm trends — and would make a solid strategic purchase to gift to multiple kids, since the math works out to about $7 each.
This hilarious Pictionary-esque game made our list of the best board games for kids. According to Quintin Smith, editor of the game-review site Shut Up & Sit Down, it’s more exciting and competitive than the classic drawing game because players are asked to guess and draw at the same time, resulting in a funnier and more challenging experience.
I got to play with Foosbots at one of the toy fairs I attended this fall and found them pretty compelling. They’re fidget-like but with the added allure of a game you can play with friends. Plus, they’re small enough to fit in a pocket or backpack, which also means they’d be a great stocking stuffer.
LEGO recently released a set of Fortnite-themed building sets spotlighting some of the best and wackiest characters from the game. This Durr Burger set would make a great birthday or holiday gift for fifth- and sixth-graders who are into Fortnite or just love burgers, whether they actually play the game or not. Once they’re done building, it makes for a fun and unique piece of room décor.
These clear-sheet art portfolios are a good gift for artistic kids. New York senior visuals director Stevie Remsberg buys them for her tween daughter to organize her colored-pencil drawings and writing in one place.
A stash of vinyl stickers would make a fantastic present for kids to trade with their friends and use to adorn all their stuff, from water bottles to laptops to binders and other school supplies. You can pretty much find anything a kid might be into in vinyl-sticker form on Amazon, but here’s a sampling of popular tween interests, including concert pictures of Taylor Swift, fierce cats from the Warriors book series, and 300 funny cartoons like sunglasses–wearing pizzas and skateboarding turtles.
Artifacts from the ’90s and early 2000s have become especially popular among tweens, with toys like Furbies, Beanie Babies, and Tamagotchi all enjoying a resurgence. Giga Pets are no exception, says People of Play founder and CEO Mary Couzin; the updated version features improvements like a larger speaker, clearer graphics, and a longer battery life.
This fast-paced, quick-decision-making game is a favorite of former Strategist writer Latifah Miles and her 11-year-old son. The rules are easy to understand and the gameplay is quick enough that you can play a few rounds in under 30 minutes.
Many of the experts and parents I’ve talked to attest that today’s tweens are increasingly obsessed with collectible toys, and MGA’s Miniverse Make It Mini surprise balls combine that trend with a craft. Each package contains all the ingredients and accessories they’ll need to make dollhouse-size replicas of all sorts of things, including popular spa treatments, realistic houseplants and flower bouquets, and tiny bottles filled with potions from Harry Potter.
$50 and under
Nintendo’s newly released Princess Peach: Showtime! will appeal to 11-year-olds who are into cute things, gaming, and fashion. It’s set in a theater where Peach must wear different costumes that each come with their own unique powers — pastry chef, sword fighter, detective — to save the day.
Lava lamps are still a tween and teen rite of passage. They’re a great gift for kids who are excitedly transforming their bedroom décor from little-kid styles to something more mature, and come in a wide range of colors.
For kids who are developing their own taste in music, I like this MP3 player that looks like a Game Boy. Also featured in our guide to the best gifts for tween boys, it’s pretty lo-fi and lets kids listen to music on the go without parents needing to manage a Spotify or Apple Music account.
While the popularity of oversize Stanley tumblers is well documented, rising seventh-grader Kennedy Rae Thompson likes this smaller one because it’s “a little more fun-size.” The tumbler comes in several colors and has a rotating cover with three positions, including one designed to help prevent spills (though, like its larger cousins, it isn’t leakproof).
Kelly Harris Smith, mom of a 9- and 11-year-old and founder of Boston-based art center Minni, told us that these days her kids play in one of two different modes: “They will either sit for hours and build sets to create stop-motion videos with LEGO or stuffed animals, or absolutely cannot sit still.” That interest in stop-motion videos is shared by Remsberg’s daughter, who uses this overhead mount phone stand and StikBot figures instead of LEGOs for her creations.
Slime is still a favorite plaything among tweens, who like to make their own and watch slime videos in their spare time. This DIY kit from Elmer’s, teaches kids to make icy slime, crunchy slime, and cloud slime, with different colored glues and “magical” activators that make it extra simple to use.
By the time kids hit tweendom, their interest in personal style is likely to rise. While this hoodie isn’t technically a game or a toy, if the 11-year-old in your life is a Pokémon fan, it will be right up their alley.
These waterproof markers are also water-based, which means they can be layered nicely and won’t bleed. They come recommended by 11- and 12-year-old cousins Ruth and Daphne, who told us they’re very satisfying to use.
11-year-olds who are into LEGOs will appreciate sets that look especially great on display. This three-in-one kit can be used to make a retro roller skate, a boom box, or a skateboard. Once they get tired of staring at one of the builds, they can take it apart and start over with one of the other styles.
$100 and under
For kids who are ready to commute to school or around their neighborhood on their own, I suggest a two-wheel Razor scooter that folds down small enough to fit into a locker while they are in class. Depending on the individual kid’s height and weight, you could get them either the Razor A3 or the Razor A5. Both models have adjustable handlebars, but the A3 is lighter, weighing in at just over seven pounds with a weight capacity of 143 pounds. The A5 is heavier, at slightly over 11 pounds, but it also has bigger, cushier wheels and a higher weight capacity of 220 pounds.
If you know a tween with a high-end VR headset on their wish list but don’t want to dive into that world just yet, this two-in-one space-and-science kit will scratch the VR itch in a more kid-friendly way, as tweens explore 50 hands-on space- and science-themed crafts and activities right alongside Bill Nye. The set includes a pair of goggles that holds any smartphone; you’ll just need to download the free app to get started.
Most tweens spend a lot of time watching YouTube and TikTok and are in turn inspired to make videos of their own. This kit from Movo turns a smartphone into a mobile studio and has everything an aspiring YouTube star needs, including a grip rig, stereo microphone, LED light, and wireless remote.
Eleven is an age when many kids get the itch to redo their bedroom with a more mature style in mind. Like many tweens, Harris Smith’s 11-year-old is still very much into playing with LEGOs, and these LEGO shelves make the hobby feel more grown-up. They can serve as book racks, desk organizers, or even display shelves for finished builds. While the dark and light oak racks are more of a splurge, LEGO also makes a plastic version that comes in a variety of bright colors and costs much less.
$100 and up
While it isn’t new by any means, most 11-year-olds are still clamoring for a Nintendo Switch, if they don’t already have one. The original full-size console is a top choice because it pairs convenient portability with the option for traditional TV play, but the Nintendo Switch Lite, a cheaper option, is also great for kids who aren’t likely to hook up their system to their television and are usually playing on the go. And if you want to bundle the console with a game, legacy franchises like Super Mario Bros., Sonic, and Zelda are among the most popular game choices.
I recently tested this mini thermal-ink printer from HP and absolutely love it. But if I were 11, I would be obsessed. Whereas other instant printers only let you print a single smartphone photo at a time, this thing lets you create and print photo-booth-style strips that have sticky backs. You can also use the accompanying app to add all sorts of cute graphics like hearts, emoji, and borders. The photos come out fully dry and ready to stick in a notebook or card.
Even for 11-year-olds who don’t have experience with coding, this beginner-friendly robot ball makes the process fun and interesting. The app-enabled ball uses a drag-and-drop interface as well as premade codes for newcomers. To get started, you make a profile on the app and experiment with programming the ball to turn, spin, and roll in all different directions and even display a message on the mini LED screen. There is also a social community of Sphero enthusiasts within the app where other users share their programs, struggles, and successes. Miles’s son has been playing and learning with the Sphero Bolt for three years. Every time he breaks it out, he’s able to one-up his last program.
AirPods are cool, but for most tweens, over-the-ear wireless headphones are cooler. With this Beats pair, they can control the volume, play, and pause directly on the headphones. Beats headphones also use Apple technology, which makes them eligible for AppleCare just in case.
If you’re shopping for a kid who’s into making their own beats, the Orba 3 is a fantastic gift. It’s about the size of a grapefruit with a built-in speaker and an omni-directional microphone that lets you record sounds from your surroundings and instantly turn them into playable musical instruments. There’s a headphone jack/stereo out so you can work in private, or hook it up to an amp to play louder. And an accompanying app gives you access to sound packs inspired by genres like hip-hop, trap, and tropical house. But you can do most things without it, like record and layer multiple sounds to create complete songs.
Additional reporting by Latifah Miles, Lauren Ro, and Dominique Pariso.
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