For Black Friday this year, I decided to try something different. Instead of wading solo through the sea of dubious toys, gadgets, and gizmos that go on sale, I called on Mallory Kennedy, a pediatric occupational therapist and owner of Portland, Oregon-based The Sensory Nest. Together, we looked at the list of the most popular Black Friday toy deals from major retailers.
I wanted to find toys that were not, in short, crap—ones that helped your children developmentally or wouldn’t become blinky garbage in a few days. We tested these by playing with our own children. If our kids didn’t like them, I’m not going to recommend them for yours. That’s in addition to the years of ongoing testing that the WIRED Gear Team does. Our recommendations are also cross-referenced with our buying guides and gift guides and used a suite of price-tracking tools to pinpoint the best deals. Happy holiday shopping!
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WIRED Featured Deals
The Best Toy Deal
Photograph: Particula
This is probably one of the best toys that I’ve ever tested (and one that needs to go into the next update of our Best STEM Toys for Kids). The Bluetooth-connected portable board has pieces that feel wonderfully matte and heavy to play with. It connects to the GoChess app on your phone, which is integrated with Lichess and Chess.com. You can play against other people or get AI-enabled suggestions in person, and the pieces light up. My 7- and 9-year-old have been playing against each other for weeks, as an AI’s suggestions are a lot less annoying than Mommy’s.
Other Toy Deals
Photograph: Tonies
The Toniebox is the best kids speaker for younger kids. It’s a durable, squishy, Wi-Fi connected cube. When your kid places different “Tonie” figures on top of the cube, it plays songs and stories that are associated with the Tonies. Your kids will also play with the Tonies as toys, and you can also have grandparents or other family members record up to 90 minutes reading to the kids or other audio messages.
The Yoto is the best kids speaker for (slightly) older kids, and it has a few differences from the Toniebox. There’s a pixelated clock display and the content is a bit more mixed—for example, you can get sleep sounds, kid-friendly radio, and a daily podcast in addition to stories and songs. This version is the tiny, even-more-portable version from the larger one that we tested.
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Photograph: Amazon
Toy instant cameras are different from higher-quality ones because the lenses are plastic, not glass. The image quality is noticeably worse on this than on the Instax cameras I’ve tried. However, if your child is 5, they will be delighted. The battery lasted for a whole afternoon’s worth of photography, printouts are on BPA-free paper, and there are even a few onboard games.
Clay is also part of our Best STEM Toys guide, but my kids like the air dry version better than the polymer one because it’s super soft and light, and you don’t have to bake it. It’s not as sturdy or heavy as the polymer version, but it also holds up to making tiny little dots on your mushrooms or stuffy television sets or what have you.
Photograph: Amazon
Amazon and Walmart are both full of these little kits that promise to entertain kids and teach them skills at the same time. Of the ones I called in, this was the biggest hit, and it provides hand soap for your reluctant guests for years to come! Melt the soap blocks in a microwave-safe dish and mix them with whatever fragrances, glitter, or dyes you want. Even if it makes a mess in the sink, it cleans up easily, because it’s soap!
Playing music has also been shown to stimulate neural development (and is also just fun). Loog Guitars is currently holding a sitewide Black Friday sale for 40 percent off. My kids are currently testing the Beatles + Loog electric guitar set and the company even sent the tiny amp! This is cheating a little bit because my kids already play the piano and violin, but they find Loog’s music instruction to be fun and easy to follow. (It’s also an excuse to get on the iPad, grrr.)
You may have noticed sensory toys popping up at your kids’ school and goody bags; as the name suggests, they help children stimulate one or more of their senses, which helps them engage motor skills and just calm them down in general. Both Mallory’s and my children love these toys, which also teach color recognition and counting. However, my kids are 7 and 9 and busted them almost immediately with their giant ham hands. (They’ve lasted almost a year in Mallory’s office).
Building Toy Deals
Photograph: Clixo
Any building toy is great for encouraging creativity and hand-eye coordination. Reviewer Simon Hill tested the Clixo sets with his family and found the pieces to be durable, flexible, washable, and colorful. You don’t need a flat surface to build so you can play with them anywhere. They also come in themed sets that have glow-in-the-dark pieces.
Magna-Tiles may be expensive (a little less expensive now) but the return on investment is staggering. We bought our daughter’s first set when she was 2 or 3 and enjoyed making little 2D ice cream cones or hats. Now she’s 9 and still pulls out the bin regularly. There’s also a ton of different themed sets (also on sale) if you need more specialized pieces for race courses or jungles.
Photograph: Amazon
We are documented Lego fans here and Lego recently announced a multiyear collaboration with F1. Can’t wait until January to get your hands on the new Lego City F1 sets? Whet your appetite with preexisting Lego Speed Champions sets. Give me a minifig of Oscar Piastri! Give the people what they want!
Wooden building blocks are always a great idea for younger kids, as it encourages imaginative play and motor skills. This is a large 75-piece set that will entertain someone small for a very long time. Make sure that you pick ones that are ASTM-certified and made from 100 percent wood, as there is a large chance that these will end up being gnawed on by either human or animal.
Game Deals
Photograph: Amazon
Reviewer Simon Hill notes that this is the simplest game to start off with in his Best Board Games roundup. It was designed by a German psychologist and you can change the maze by pushing one tile on and another tile off with every turn.
Simon notes that this game is more fun than it sounds, which is better be, since it’s mainly about capitalism and expanding companies and executing mergers and acquisitions. It looks lovely and you don’t find out who wins until the end, when you cash out your shares. It was a surprise hit with Simon’s kids.
As a resident of the Pacific Northwest, I immediately bought this. This is a beautiful nature board game that lets players lay down tiles and populate different kinds of habitats. You work to achieve goals like getting salmon runs or pairing bears. This is aimed at kids older than ten, but younger kids can play if you’re patient about explaining the rules.
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