Your Christmas shopping might have been confined to the online marketplace this year, but the same difficulty in knowing what to buy remains.
If you need last-minute Christmas present ideas for your children or grandchildren, look no further than our guide to eight of the best toys for 2020.
1. Tonies, Toniebox Starter Set (ages 3 and up)
The Tonie seamlessly combines playtime and bedtime for an interactive and creative storybook experience. Using toy figures from popular children’s stories as the electronic keys to unlock the story itself, you can also record your own tales, songs, or other audio to personalise the experience for your grandchild.
Storybook characters – or Tonies – are bought individually and then placed on top of the Tonie speaker. Each character unlocks their relevant story and downloads it via Wi-Fi to play again whenever the character is placed on the story box.
There are currently over 60 characters (or stories) available and you can also record your own audio onto blank Creative-Tonies. Fill the sleepy Creative-Tonie with bedtime lullabies and the pirate Creative-Tonie with adventure stories or mix and match to tell your own story or sing your grandchild’s favourite song.
The starter pack is around £60, and each storybook character will set you back another £15.
The box itself is robust, durable, and made from sustainable fabric. The controls are hands-on too. Titling, tapping, and squeezing the Toniebox will fast-forward, rewind, and change volume for a fun and screen-free story time.
2. Reversible Train Table and City Set (ages 3 and up)
This reversible table includes a 100-piece wooden train set featuring trains, ramps, and bridges. There are also two city road layouts for playing with cars once the train set is packed away, guaranteeing hours of imaginative play.
Beneath the table’s playing surface is a handy tidy-away drawer and you can even personalise the table with your grandchild’s name (up to 11 characters).
3. Lego Super Mario Adventures with Mario Starter Course (ages 6 and up)
This Lego Super Mario adventure combines the creative building fun of Lego with the high-tech world of Mario.
Build a Lego course for Mario to traverse, carefully placing action bricks within it to watch Mario interact. Begin at the Start Pipe and collect virtual gold coins as you spin, jump, and battle your way to the Goal Pole.
Then, take it all apart and build a brand-new Lego level to explore.
The Lego Super Mario Adventures starter pack promises hours of fun and interactive learning for your child or grandchild this Christmas.
4. Turing Tumble (ages 8 to adult)
Turing Tumble uses marble mazes to teach your child how computers work. This interactive book and marble game will challenge your child to solve pre-set puzzles to complete a science-fiction adventure story.
The building element comprises a computer board, red and blue marbles, as well as bits, ramps, crossovers, interceptors, gears, and gear bits.
Place the components onto the board in a variety of ways to create different machines capable of producing patterns of blue and red balls, as well as completing basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division sums.
Once your grandchild has mastered the basics and solved the puzzles in the book, see what else they can build when their only limitation is the size of their imagination.
5. Drone Home (age 6 and up)
The boardgame Drone Home is a tech-savvy update of Hungry Hippos.
The fast-paced action game requires up to four players to launch aliens (rather than hippopotamus food) into the centre of a playing board in order to rescue – and send home – your alien playing pieces.
Watch the rescue mission play out before your eyes, as your alien character is lifted free of the board in an escape capsule drone.
Advertising itself as the first-ever game to feature a real drone, the simple premise promises to be addictive as players compete for the adrenaline rush of watching their alien flying to safety.
6. Smart Ball Speed Ball Football (6 years and up)
This smart football is exclusive to Smyths Toy Superstore so order quickly to avoid disappointment. The high-tech ball will measure the speed of your child’s (or your) kick, up to a maximum speed of 100 kilometres per hour.
Perfect for any sports fan, there are hours of fun to be had working on penalty and freekick practice and afterwards it’s perfect for a low-tech kickabout.
7. Instax mini 11 (teens)
There are plenty of kids ‘first’ cameras on the market, but for an older child or grandchild why not try the Instax mini 11 from Fujifilm.
Compact but robust, it comes in a variety of colours with various modes and customisable features. The Instax is a great way to capture moments and see the results in an instant.
8. DIY Tie-Dye kit (teens)
Tie-dying experienced a resurgence during lockdown and is still all the rage with fashion-conscious teens.
Your grandchild (with adult supervision) can create a truly unique and stylish garment sure to make them the envy of all their friends this winter.
Included in the kit are an adult or child t-shirt, three colour dyes, gloves, and elastic bands. You pick the t-shirt size, the three colours, and the kit arrives in a Christmas gift bag perfect for any trendy teen.