Kids are picky and fickle little creatures, and frankly, that’s a big part of their charm. The toys they want are always changing, and it’s really hard to keep up with the trends of what’s cool and what’s “Ugh, that sucks, Mom.” Thankfully, there are people out there whose job it is to find out what our kids want before they sell out and buy tiny cars on eBay.
This year, the trend at the Toy Fair is quite interesting, towards all things surprising and magical, but updated from blind box toys recently to include surprises that are actually part of the play experience, not just the opening of the toy. There are also lots of toys based on television shows like Bluey, Baby Shark and Gabby’s Dollhouse. Our own Toy award of the year showing that magic and beasts are a big trend!
Games are also making a big comeback after taking their turn in 2021—which is likely a rebellion against all that board game we are all playing in 2020.
We know that this list is overwhelming, but that’s where we come in. Our job is to sift through the list, double-check each other, and determine what your kids want. is it right want to. And so far? Pretend Play, Magna-Tiles, and classics like Barbie and board games made the biggest splash.
While we’re not ashamed to admit we pump our own kids for intel, that’s not an approach we’d advise you to take. We got hours of feedback on what games this YouTuber likes, what toys the TikTokker plays, and what toys this Twitch streamer recently reviewed. Those are precious hours of our lives that we’ll never get back, but hey, it’s so precious to us to hear recommendations firsthand from the kids themselves.
We’ve combed through this list ourselves, and used our own research and experience to share the best, most interesting, and downright trending toys for kids that they’ll become obsessed with.
