Best toys for 10 year olds 2024, tried and tested by parents and children

As a solution, Helen, head of content delivery and author of Parenting for Dummies, says: "Good choices include creative and construction toys that need patience and independent thinking, and anything with an extra level of extended play, from code games with passwords to 'proper' science experiments."

Related: MadeForMums Toy Awards 2024: Winners revealed!

She also suggests: "Board games are always a good choice – look for ones that require speed of thinking or elements of strategy and planning – and electronic gadgets that work with apps to create special effects or trigger interactive play are pretty much certain to be a hit."

So to help you decide, we've compiled a list of the best toys for 10-year-olds.

Best toys for 10 year olds at a glance

• KAI: The Artificial Intelligence Robot, £100
• Machine Works Hybrid Engine, £49.99
• LEGO Marvel Dancing Groot, £39.99
• Build Your Own - Wallace & Gromit Rocket, £29.99
• Build Your Own Pinball Machine, £19.99
• Wednesday Addams LEGO set, £44.99
• Nintendo Switch Lite, £199.99
• NERF Elite 2.0 Blaster, £49.99
• Please Don't Bite Me: Insects that Buzz, Bite and Sting, £14.99
• Ticket to Ride: Europe, £44.99
• Harry Potter Wizarding World Hagrid's Hut Terrarium, £14.99
• 5 Second Rule, £14.99
• Beyblade Xtreme Battle Set, £45
• Sentosphère Aquarellum Junior Dragons, £17.99

What are the best toys for 10 year olds?

Jump to:

• Best coding and electronic toys
• Best building toys
• Best outdoor toys
• Best educational toys
• Best creative toys

Best coding and electronic toys for 10 year olds

1. Nintendo Switch Lite, £199.99

Available at: Nintendo and Currys

Age suitability: 7+ | Best for age: 7-16 | Batteries required: None

The Nintendo Switch is a much-loved games console that's easy to hold and suitable for a wide range of ages. For 10 year olds, you can find a ton of appropriate games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes and Monster High: Skulltimate Secrets Switch.

My kids have loved testing this device! It’s super portable, easy to hold and navigate, and enables access to a vast bank of additional games. It’s so easy to switch things up and change games when one becomes boring. And some of the games they’ve been able to play online with their friends. This device is so perfect for longer journeys (hello car/plane entertainment!), or for simply lounging on the sofa at home.

2. Beyblade Xtreme Battle Set, £45

Available at: Amazon and The Entertainer

Age suitability: 8+ | | Best for age: 9-10 | Batteries required: None

Beyblades are back with a vengeance this Christmas. This new generation of tops is called Beyblade X, and the new Xtreme Beystadium (the arena) features an X-Celerator Rail and X-Celerator Gear System to level up the acceleration, speed, and ferocity of your Beyblade battles.

3. KAI: The Artificial Intelligence Robot, £100

Available at: Amazon, Thames and Kosmos

Age suitability: 10+ | Best for age: 10+ | Batteries: 4 x AAA (not included)

Dive into a world of advanced computing and technology with KAI: The Artificial Intelligence Robot. KAI – short for Kosmos Artificial Intelligence – is a 6-legged, app-enabled robot that can react to the gestures and sounds that you make. When using the app, you can record physical gestures and sounds before assigning them to KAI’s 5 main functions: walk forward and backward, turn left and right, and stop. So if you want KAI to walk every time you clap your hands, or turn left every time you say "Left" he will.

It captures the attention of my son in so many ways. He did find some bits quite difficult and I had to help him but the instructions were extremely easy to read and the diagrams very clear.

4. Machine Works Hybrid Engine, £49.99

Available at: Amazon

Age suitability: 10+ | Best for age: 10+ | Batteries: 3 x AA (not included)

Pitched as an activity for adults and children to do together, this build-your-own engine kit contains more than 100 pieces and everything needed to make a simplified working model of a 4-cylinder internal combustion electric hybrid engine. The ability to switch between engine types (internal combustion, eco mode and electric only) is brilliant and the sound effects and lights really help to illustrate how everything works.

This engine kit is really good, it's a bit of a challenge and you have to work hard to complete it. But it teaches you things about science, which is really cool. If I got this for Christmas or my birthday, I would love it.

Best building toys for 10 year olds

5. LEGO Marvel Dancing Groot, £39.99

Available at: LEGO

Age suitability: 10+ | Best for age: 10+ | Batteries required: None

Straight from the Marvel Universe is this Dancing Groot LEGO set from Guardians of the Galaxy. Made from 459 pieces, this set is easy to build and comes with a tonne of accessories like sunglasses, extra plants and signs for pot Groot sits in. Best of all, it comes with a handle which you can insert into the pot and turn to make Groot dance.

6. Wednesday Addams LEGO set, £44.99

Available at: LEGO

Age suitability: 10+ | Best for age: 10+ | Batteries required: None

If your child loved the Netflix series Wednesday, they'll adore this 720-piece LEGO set, complete with Nevermore Academy background, secret drawers, a typewriter, and Wednesday's handy assistant Thing. Plus the figure of Wednesday comes with two outfit options, her uniform and her homecoming dress.

7. Build Your Own - Wallace & Gromit Rocket, £29.99

Available at: Amazon

Age suitability: 10+ | Best for age: 10 | Batteries: None

Join Wallace and Gromit on their cheese-seeking mission to the moon with Build Your Own’s new eco-friendly, STEM-inspired Wallace & Gromit Rocket kit. Everything you need is provided in the kit, which makes the duo’s homemade rocket from their outer space adventures in A Grand Day Out. There are 135 pre-cut parts, made from 100% sustainable cardboard and paper.

This rocket is amazing, it looks so cool and it's even better because I made it myself.

8. Build Your Own Pinball Machine, £19.99

Available at: Build Your Own Kits and Argos

Age suitability: 8+ | Best for age: 9+ | Batteries: None

Build your own pinball machine with this unusual kit. It takes about an hour to construct, with no need for glue or other accessories as the 61 cardboard press-outs slot into each other. The kit also includes 5 swirly glass marbles and 2 elastic bands so you can try to keep the marbles in play once you have finished making it, using the cardboard spring that fires it into play. The cardboard is sturdy and the construction is solid but it's prone to tearing if you get over-enthusiastic. We saw this as a great parent-child bonding build and play project.

It's so interesting to build. And it's fun testing out which scores I can get. I even got 1000, which was 750 more than my sister managed!

Best outdoor toys for 10 year olds

9. NERF Elite 2.0 Motoblitz CS-10, £49.99

Available at: Amazon

Age suitability: 8+ | Best for age: 10+ | Batteries: 4 x AA (not included)

This super-size NERF blaster comes with 22 darts and a clip, offering 2 ways to fire. Use the pump-action handle to release 6 darts at once (pretty impressive, if you ask us) or use the motorised option to fire out 10 darts in rapid succession – you simply fill up the 10-dart clip then slot into place before pulling the trigger. There’s a built-in scope to help with precision aiming and, with a NERF this powerful, we’d recommend some protective eyewear.

This is better than all of my other NERF guns.

Best educational toys for 10 year olds

10. Please Don't Bite Me: Insects that Buzz, Bite and Sting, £14.99

Available at: Amazon, Waterstones, WH Smith

Age suitability: 7-11 | Best for age: 7-11 | Batteries: None

This book is ideal for fact-curious children. Inside, you'll find fascinating stories and bite-sized facts about some of the world's most irritating, buzzing and stinging insects. Each fact and insect is neatly set out in short paragraphs, making it very easy to dip in and out of, something that was a big positive for Charlie.

It has a lot of information in it, in small sections which made it more appealing for my child to read. It was easy to pick a chapter on what bug he wanted to read about and then come back to others later.

11. Ticket To Ride: Europe, £44.99

Available at: Waterstones

Age suitability: 8+ | Best for age: 10+ | Batteries: None

There’s a lot of fun to be had with this strategy board game where you draw 'tickets' to European cities and race to build a train route connecting those cities before your rivals can build theirs – or block your path and send you round the long way. It comes with ticket cards, train pieces and a rulebook, and is for 2 to 5 players.

Best creative toys for 10 year olds

12. Clementoni Harry Potter Wizarding World Hagrid's Hut Terrarium, £14.99

Available at: Debenhams and Amazon

Age suitability: 7+ | Best for age: 7+ | Batteries: None

Create Hagrid’s Hut out of plaster using the moulds and paints and then plant the clover and pine seeds to create a garden. The kit contains peat, soil, sand and stones – all you need to grow a natural landscape filled with plants around the Hogwarts hut. We thought the plaster bits could be a bit bigger and more dramatic, but the finished item is lovely and it doesn’t just teach kids craft and art skills, but also about growing seeds and keeping house plants. Professor Sprout would be proud! It’s a very simple kit but at a decent price. A great gift for the Harry Potter fan who already has the more obvious stuff.

I’d like to do something like this again in the future. I really liked painting Hagrid’s Hut.

13. 5 Second Rule, £14.99

Available at: Amazon and Argos

Age suitability: 10+ | Best for age: 10+ | Batteries: 2 x AA (not included)

A fast-paced game where you race to name 3 things associated with a seemingly easy topic, such as 'things that go with chips'. Do it before the timer runs out, and you can give the buzzer a satisfying smash. Have a mind-blank and the alarm will go off. It comes with 326 question cards, electronic timer, 6 playing pawns, 6 pass on cards, 6 switch cards and instructions. For 3 players or more.

I loved it – it's so much fun! I found it exciting and challenging and smashing the buzzer was great. It's a game that I would want to play every day.

14. Sentosphère Aquarellum Junior Dragons, £17.99

Available at: Amazon, WH Smith

Age suitability: 6+ | Best for age: 9+ | Batteries: None

An art kit based on using a masking technique on vellum paper to allowing the paint only to 'stick' on selected areas – gradually building up an intricate design. It comes with 4 'magic canvasses', a wooden brush, a palette, 5 washable, non-toxic watercolours, a pipette and a booklet. The brush and paint are great quality, and the technique produces the most amazing and beautiful paintings. Our child testers were delighted.

Read more...

• Must-have toys for Christmas – for children of all ages
• Best toys for 9 year olds
• Best scooters for kids
• Best outdoor playhouses
• Best wetsuits for babies and toddlers
• Best cot mobiles and toys
• Best water play tables
• LEGOLAND Windsor deals and ticket offers