The Best Gifts for 8-Year-Olds, According to Child Development Experts
Get your slime on.
The best toys for 8-year-olds are ones that encourage them to use their imaginations and engage in collaborative play. Plenty of activities let your kid just zone out, but toys that require kids to dream up a backstory do much more in the way of learning through play. Interactive toys are winning gifts for 8-year-old boys and girls, because they are more educational, not to mention versatile, which means they have a much longer shelf life and lower boredom factor.
There are some milestones to keep in mind while shopping for holiday toys for 8-year-olds. According to Stanford Children’s Health, 8-year-old boys and girls are still young enough to jump, skip, and chase each other around. They dress and groom themselves (sort of, but parents know better than to leave them totally unsupervised). Many 8-year-olds are able to use tools, can count backward, read to themselves and enjoy it, grasp the concept of space, draw and paint, and collect things. They tell detailed stories and can engage in team sports. Toys for 8-year-olds should reflect that.
By age 8, kids are learning how to relate to peers, adjust to social rules, and evolve from free play to more intricately structured interactions with their friends. Most 8-year-old kids are able to engage in elaborate fantasy role-playing games where they work towards a shared goal. They want to be increasingly independent, even if they can’t handle it, and they’re able to play for longer lengths of time, due to their heightened concentration skills. Great gifts for 8-year-olds, like simple board games, science kits, and sports equipment, will tap into their interests and encourage the use of these new skills.
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