When kids become tweens, their wishlists might shift from toys and games to skincare, accessories, video games, and room decor. But here’s a secret: Tweens still love to play, if you know what they respond to. Our age-10-and-up testers still love to DIY, play challenging family games, and smush, squeeze, and collect all things squishy.
How do we know? For the Good Housekeeping 2026 Toy Awards, our experts evaluated toys and games with the help of real tweens, who tested products at home while their parents completed detailed surveys about engagement, ease of use, and lasting play value. We also observed kids of all ages during our annual day of play to see which toys they naturally gravitated toward. These winners stood out for keeping tweens engaged long after the excitement of opening the box.
This two-in-one set from Make it Real lets artsy kids create 2D or 3D masterpieces. The spinning base first acts like a spin-art creator, with enough ink and supplies to make 15 different projects. Then the same base can be used as a pottery wheel for small works made with air-dry clay. Ages 8+
TESTER NOTES: Said one 10-year-old tester, “The spin art was really fun, and it actually contained the mess well.” A parent noted that it was her child’s first time making pottery using a wheel. “It exposed her to a new art form, which is exciting!” she said.
In this two-person-only game from Asmodee, players become cave explorers Professor Penguin and Sir Ocelot. They have to strategically place items like a compass, a lamp, and a pickax to move deeper into the cave and collect precious gemstones. The game is laid out on a cloth play mat with detailed illustrations. Ages 8+
TESTER NOTES: “My child liked that it was a quick and easy game to play with two people,” said one parent of a 12-year-old. “And she appreciated that you had to put a little thought into your moves to strategize and gather the most points. Of course, she also liked that she beat me a few times!”
This is for anyone who has ever wanted to snuggle up with their very own Pokémon. This toy’s large 18-inch size means it’s big enough to be used as a pillow or fill the space between a bed and a wall. Its serene sleeping face exudes calmness. And for those who want to double up, it is also available in Espeon—the pair make for an adorable set. Ages 2+
TESTER NOTES: Pokémon fans were won over by the look of this plush toy. “It was cuddly and cute!” exclaimed one tester. Another kid agreed: “I love their size, and they’re so soft and fluffy.”
A colorful oversize game from Relatable, the Giant Color Stack challenge has players assemble blocks of different colors on a set of six pegs according to a challenge card. Then players have to move the blocks from peg to peg until all of the same color is on one peg, so it’s a bit of a mental workout. Ages 6+
TESTER NOTES: “My son loved the brainteaser aspect of this game as well as the physical nature of actually having to move the pieces around the giant stack,” one parent said. Kids and parents also enjoyed playing with it during our in-person toy-testing day.
Think fast! With this new game from Rubik’s, a series of colored squares lights up, and players have to speedily push the button that’ll make three colored lights in a row. They can be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal, so players have to quickly recognize the patterns. There are different difficulties and modes, including solo and head-to-head play for up to four players. Ages 7+
TESTER NOTES: “My son liked that it had multiple game modes and different difficulty levels so the game stayed interesting as it got harder and faster,” said one parent of a 12-year-old.
Fans of the classic Catan will recognize the game mechanics at work here, as players still have to collect resources and trade them with other players to build settlements. This version of the game is perfect for travel, though, as it is all done on easy-to-take-along cards and it can be played in 15 minutes. Ages 10+
TESTER NOTES: “It’s a competitive game, [requiring] lots of thinking,” said one parent of a 10-year-old. “We will definitely play this often—it’s fun once you got the hang of how the game is played.”
Ease players into the world of D&D with these blind-box Dungeons & Dragons collectibles. There are different creatures to collect, and they come in different sizes, but the Black Dragon figure comes in a cool break-apart egg. Each also comes with a D20 die and a story starter to get kids used to using their imaginations. Ages 4+
TESTER NOTES: Testers said kids loved the D&D theming of these figures, and parents appreciated how it sparked their kids’ creativity as they started role-playing.
Food-themed plush toys are hot items among kids, so why not give them a way to make their own? These Klutz templates come with mix-and-match facial features so young crafters can really make the characters their own. There are enough supplies, including an easy-to-use needle-felting tool, to make 10 different fuzzy foods. Ages 10+
TESTER NOTES: This is a good one for kids looking for that next-level craft. “The projects are cute,” a parent said. “My 11-year-old found it interesting and was able to use it without much help.”
Whether it’s because trends are cyclical or because tweens and teens are looking for offline, analog things to do, hacky sacking experienced a huge resurgence this year. For those looking to take up the hobby, for the first time or again, there’s nothing better than the OG Hacky Sack core footbag, which is tough enough to stand up to repeated practicing. Ages 8+
TESTER NOTES: One parent reported it brought the neighborhood kids together to play, as her son went running down the block to show his friends as soon as he opened it. “Good classic fun!” she called it.
In this vocabulary-and-strategy game from JoPat Games, players are dealt blank dry-erase crossword puzzles. They then flip over a category card, such as “animals that begin with the letter M,” and race to fill in their crosswords before their opponents, spinning the card in whichever direction gives them the most advantage. Ages 8+
TESTER NOTES: “It has a good balance of allowing adults who like games to be challenged while being simple and flexible enough for kids to enjoy, even if they don’t have the same vocabulary as adults,” said one father of a 12-year-old.
Kanoodle has been a TikTok sensation for years, and to celebrate, the brand is going big—literally. This set is three times the size of a normal one, and it comes with 100 classic puzzles and 40 bonus puzzles. Puzzles start players off with a configuration of pieces on the board, and players have to see if they can figure out how to fit the rest in. Ages 8+
TESTER NOTES: “She enjoyed the size and that it was fun to play alone or with others,” said the mom of a 12-year-old. A parent of a 10-year-old told us, “We played as a family for game night, and we all enjoyed trying to solve the puzzle.”
This twist on a picture-drawing game from Ravensburger is good even for those who have no artistic ability. Each player is given a dry-erase board with a series of lines already drawn on it, and players have to trace the lines that are already there to illustrate a clue. No one can make a Rembrandt, and that’s the fun of it! Ages 10+
TESTER NOTES: “I liked that it was artistic and made you see things from a different perspective,” said a 10-year-old tester. One mom said the cooperative play made it “a positive experience for siblings.”
If there’s one toy on every tween’s list this year, it's NeeDoh from Schylling. These toys have the endless capacity to be squished, stretched, and used as stress relief. The Nice Cube in particular is satisfying because no matter how kids mush it, it always adjusts back into its cube shape. Ages 3+
TESTER NOTES: Testers liked the slow squish and rise. “I love that this one is harder than some of my other squishies,” said one kid tester. And the mom of an 11-year-old said the stress relief was real: “She genuinely keeps it on hand to use at home and on the go. Having it as a fidget is relaxing and helps with her anxiety.”
As a unique spin on a trend of repurposing little-kid activities into hobbies for older kids, Spirograph offers this option. With it, little spiral hexagons, laid out in a Spirograph-by-Number system, come together like a mosaic so users can recreate classic works of art. Ages 12+
TESTER NOTES: Parents said it was easy to use and well made and promoted skill development. In addition to Vermeer’s “Girl With a Pearl Earring,” there's Monet’s “Sunflowers,” Degas’s ”Blue Dancers,” and da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa.”
To make bracelets with this accessory maker from Loopdedoo, kids just need to load their threads into the machine, then turn the handle to watch it spin! In another fun “twist,” this can let them make glowing bracelets, thanks to the included glow-in-the dark thread and 60 glow beads. Ages 8+
TESTER NOTES: Testers liked how easy it was to learn to use this. “The bracelets come together quickly,” said one 10-year-old tester, “and it’s good for kids who don’t know how to make friendship bracelets from scratch with knots or weaving.”
Rush Hour has long been a favorite puzzle game, but now, in honor of the game’s 30th anniversary, ThinkFun offers a twist: a two-player competition. Players race to move the traffic out of the way and get their red car into the winner’s circle before their lane gets blocked. Ages 8+
TESTER NOTES: “The head-to-head aspect was unique and made the gameplay really fun,” one mom said. “Setting the puzzle in a traffic scene made the ‘racing’ to the gate feel like it had real stakes, and the cars have a pleasant tactile feel as you move them around the board.”
