Six is a fun age. Still very much little kids (despite what they might argue), six-year-olds have endless energy, wide-eyed curiosity, and they simply want to play. Their birthdays are a big deal – the daily countdown tends to start months in advance – and the excitement around presents is huge, so you want to get it right.
Six-year-olds are ready to tackle more involved crafts and building kits thanks to an ever-increasing attention span. While they’re not bound by trends, six-year-olds are clued up on what’s ‘in’, particularly when it comes to popular TV shows and films.
The best gifts for this age group are the ones that allow them to play independently and use their imagination. Toys, games and kits that help them learn or develop a skill are also a winner, boosting confidence and keeping boredom at bay.
Many six-year-olds will be keen to flex their blossoming independent reading skills, so an early reader book or graphic novel is a great choice. They can also have off-the-scale energy levels, so fun outdoor toys are perfect for helping them burn some of it off, and even better if the games can be played with friends.
While there are some great tech options with plenty of educational benefits, we’ve kept this round-up screen-free. Instead, we’ve included plenty of interactive games and toys to inspire and keep them engaged.
How we tested
Our two six-year-old testers tried out a variety of toys, games and more over almost two months. We looked at which gifts they came back to again and again, which sparked the most excitement and curiosity, and which genuinely held their attention, which is no small feat when it comes to this age group. When putting our final round-up together, we made sure to include a mix of prices to help you find a great gift to fit your budget. Every single item here got the all-important thumbs up from our six-year-old testers, as well as us.
Why you can trust IndyBest reviews
Sarah Dawson is a writer with a great deal of experience recommending the best parenting buys and products for kids. As with all IndyBest reviews, Sarah's testing process involves assessing how the products fare under real-world use, factoring in their quality, and any potential pitfalls. By calling in assistance from younger testers, she sees how gifts actually go down with kids.
The best gifts for six-year-olds 2025 are:
- Best overall – Yoto player: £89.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Best budget buy – The Floofs Reach For The Stars by Penelope O’Neill: £9.25, Amazon.co.uk
- Best outdoor toy – Zuru Xshot skins fast fill water blaster: £9.99, Smythstoys.com
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Yoto player 3rd generation
This great-looking and reassuringly robust audio player is designed with kids in mind, allowing them to listen to hundreds of stories and songs simply by slotting their own Yoto cards into the top of the box.
Set up is a breeze – you just need to download the Yoto app, pop the ‘welcome card’ into the Yoto player and follow the prompts to connect with your wifi. You can control everything from day and night volume to the brightness of the screen display through the app, as well as play cards directly from your library, which is a lifesaver when you’re away from home and someone forgot to pack the actual cards.
The choice of Yoto cards is extensive and eclectic. There’s everything from Roald Dahl classics to the best of the Spice Girls, our tester’s personal favourite. Our six-year-old tester loved being able to switch between the cards independently. They also found it easy to operate – they just need to twist or push the two buttons at the top for volume or skipping chapters, so they can be safely left to it. Our little tester loved the Yoto radio station and daily podcast, both free to access. The radio station plays a mix of kids’ music and classics (at the time of writing, Diana Ross), and the podcast is run by a teacher, so everything is age-appropriate. We think this is the perfect portable screen-free entertainment that's served us well on long car journeys and nights away.
The ultimate crowd-pleasing gift (kids and parents will love it), the Yoto player means you’ll never be stuck for present ideas again, as you can keep adding to their Yoto card collection.
Buy now £89.99, Amazon.co.uk
‘The Floofs Reach For The Stars’ by Penelope O’Neill, published by Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
If you want to encourage a love of books and reading, a fun graphic novel is such a good place to start. The Floofs Reach for the Stars is the first book by author and illustrator Penelope O’Neill, and follows a group of Floofs on three different adventures spread out over three separate stories.
The bright illustrations instantly appealed to our six-year-old testers (as well as their older siblings), and they even managed to read some of the book independently. The stories are engaging, the illustrations are colourful and fun, and the comic book layout is easy to follow – exactly what we’re after from a book for this age group. It’s become a firm fixture at bedtime and is one of those books we’re happy to read on repeat.
Buy now £9.25, Amazon.co.uk
Skillmatics guess in 10 animal planet
Finding a family game that is easy enough for a six-year-old to follow yet engaging enough for older children to happily get involved in is not easy. However, we think Guess in 10 manages the near-impossible – it had the whole family hooked.
The premise is simple – each pack has a selection of game cards featuring a specific animal, which the other player or team has to guess. There are ‘buzz-words’ to help kick start the guessing, then it’s up to the player to ask the right questions (no more than 10) to guess the animal correctly. You also have six ‘clue cards’ which you can use if you’re struggling – a useful feature for younger players who may need a helping hand.
Our six-year-old loved showing off their animal knowledge, and the genuine joy when they guessed correctly was the perfect confidence boost. It’s just as much fun for parents and older kids, and we love that there are plenty of themed packs to pick from.
Buy now £11.16, Amazon.co.uk
Lego city F1 pit stop and pit crew with Ferrari car
Racing cars and Lego – a match made in heaven for a six-year-old. This 322-piece Lego city kit certainly challenged our little tester, but she was able to slowly work their way through the step-by-step picture instructions (under the watchful eye of an interfering older brother) – and the results were worth the effort.
Featuring an F1 Ferrari – complete with racing driver minifigure – and fully constructed pit stop and crew, this is a big step up from the more basic Lego sets aimed at kids four years old and above. Our tester needed a bit of help with some parts of the build (the rubber tubing and technic pieces in particular were a little tricky), but she loved the process.
What stands out here is the awesome play potential once it’s built. The pit stop opens up for some excellent F1-inspired imaginative play, and our tester loved changing the tyres before whizzing the Ferrari off for another lap.
Buy now £24.80, Amazon.co.uk
Roller Derby firestar V2 quad roller skates
Our testers were falling over each other to be the first one to give these skates a spin. This retro pair by Roller Derby are excellent quality, with plenty of padding for comfort and a velcro ankle strap for added support.
The four-wheeled design added a touch of stability, much needed with a six-year-old, although we still recommend knee and elbow pads while they get to grips with roller skating. These cool skates also come in a teal or black colourway, and to get the most out of your pair, we’d suggest sizing up, unless they’ve just moved into that shoe size.
Buy now £34.95, Skates.co.uk
Learning Resources pom pom kit
This craft kit was an instant hit. It’s such a simple idea, but one that captured our tester’s imagination. Inside the pack, you’ll find 16 activity cards, more pom poms than you’ll ever need and a unique ‘pom pom popper’. Just peel off the plastic cover of one of the activity cards, place the popper over a pom pom and push down to pick it up, then push it down again on the card, and it sticks in place. That’s right, no glue, no mess, no mega clean up.
It couldn’t be easier, and our six-year-old happily got stuck in, producing six pom pom pictures in one sitting. It’s a craft kit she keeps returning to, and the novelty has shown no sign of wearing off after a couple of months. It’s a shame you can’t buy extra activity cards as we’ve worked our way through most of the pack already; however, with so many pom poms left over, it pays to get creative. We’ve covered parts of our tester’s drawings with a glue stick, and the pom poms stick perfectly to that using the popper.
Buy now £17.40, Amazon.co.uk
Stapelstein stepping stones 6 plus 1 set
It’s no exaggeration to say our testers are obsessed with these stepping stones. Perfect for imaginative, open-ended play, they have been used every single day since they first arrived – we’ve never seen a toy this universally popular. The beauty here is the versatility; these have been used as stepping stones in obstacle games, as seats and a table for a tea party, as beds for dolls, and as an excellent addition to ‘the floor is lava’ games. The stones are incredibly lightweight but can hold up to 180kg, so adults can get involved too.
This set comes with a wobble board that can hold up to 120kg, which our testers loved to balance on and spin around. On a practical level, we love that everything stacks up so neatly. We would’ve made these our number one pick, but the price tag is far too high. That said, we can’t imagine any child getting bored with these in a hurry, so they might be worth the splurge.
Buy now £184.95, Scandiborn.co.uk
Zuru Xshot skins fast fill water blaster
While any water blaster would make a great present for a six-year-old, this genius offering from Xshot really is a step up. The big draw here is that kids can easily refill the blaster themselves, just by holding the green handle, immersing the blaster and sliding back the top, filling with water and sliding it shut again. While it claims to take one second to refill, these are six-year-olds we’re talking about, so we’d say five seconds is probably more accurate. Our testers used the paddling pool to dunk and refill, but as long as you have a big bucket of water outside you can just leave the kids to it.
While we did find the sliding mechanism for blasting water just a little stiff at first, it seemed to get smoother and easier for our testers over time. If you’re after a failsafe gift for your six-year-old’s school friends, we’d definitely recommend this bargain toy.
Buy now £6.99, Amythstoys.com
Sanrio Ratora double wall plastic water bottle with straw
Nothing makes water more appealing to a six-year-old than a fancy cup, and this Sanrio-design cup with a straw is as fancy as they come. The lid is filled with multi-coloured balls, while the body of the bottle features the cutest Ratora bunny design. The plastic is incredibly durable – in fact, it’s survived two drops by our tester and lives to tell the tale. The double-wall design helps to keep whatever drink you have inside cool, and the built-in straw is great for this age group. At a little more than £6, it’s such a great budget gift. Just be prepared for every other cup or glass in the house to be shunned from this day forward.
Buy now £6.29, Minisoshop.co.uk
VTech kidi DJ dums
Looking for a way to let your six-year-old channel their inner rockstar? This amazing electronic drum kit is the answer. It certainly has the wow factor – there were audible gasps when we unboxed it, and our testers were all desperate to be the first one to get jamming. You can take your pick from freestyle mode or play along to the 25 pre-loaded songs. We loved ‘coach mode’, where different drumbeats are broken down, step-by-step, for young drummers to pick up easily. Our six-year-old had laser-focused determination to get these right, and following the light-up drum rings and cymbals kept her occupied for hours. It’s even addictive for parents.
You can create and record your own drum sounds using the built-in mic, or record drum solos to play to friends. There’s even the option to switch between drum styles – ‘fart sounds’ being, unsurprisingly, our testers favourite. But the thing we love the most? The fact that you can plug headphones into it so your six-year-old can bash away at the drums for as long as they like, without you even noticing.
Buy now £49.99, Amazon.co.uk
L.O.L. surprise! Hello Kitty and friends tots assortment
If you’re shopping for a fashion doll fan, this L.O.L. Surprise! X Hello Kitty collaboration is a total dream. Inside the cute Hello Kitty-inspired balls, you’ll find a little L.O.L. Surprise! tot, complete with mini outfit, headpiece, bottle, bag, shoes and sticker – all styled to look like one of the Hello Kitty characters.
Half the fun here is the unboxing, and our six-year-old tester loved unwrapping all the accessories and dressing her doll. Then, of course, there’s the play appeal, which lasts long after everything has been opened. Our tester decided to display some of her dolls – the ball cleverly doubles as a display stand – and the rest lived in her doll’s house.
While it would have been handy to have an indication of which character is inside (Kuromi has eluded us so far), there’s some serious collectable appeal here. Needless to say, our tester is on a mission to collect them all.
Buy now £10.99, Amazon.co.uk
Hatchimals alive! mystery hatch pufficorn
It’s hard to think of anything more appealing to a six-year-old than a puffin-unicorn hybrid hatching out of an egg. Our testers were captivated by the hatching process, where you’re encouraged to cuddle, rock and talk to the egg as it slowly starts to hatch (heads up, they’re going to need an adult on hand for this part). There’s mist (seriously!), lights and cute sounds as the pufficorn slowly starts to crack its way out of the egg. Honestly, the whole process feels so magical that it could almost justify the price tag alone.
But that’s not all. What you’re left with is the cutest of cuddly pufficorns (there are two designs you could end up with), packed with interactive features to really extend the appeal. Our tester loved helping the pufficorn to fly (it even flaps its wings), feeding it, cuddling it and playing peek-a-boo; to be honest, we were all completely won over by this ridiculously cute little guy.
Buy now £31.99, Amazon.co.uk
Magna-tiles space
Whether used on its own or paired with an existing Magna-tiles set, this space collection, including a shuttle, capsule, space figure, wheels and more, is such a versatile toy. The magnetic tiles are easy to use, and our six-year-old tester got to grips with them incredibly quickly. While the box provides plenty of inspiration on how to use your tiles, what we loved the most was watching our little tester use their imagination and the pieces in front of them to come up with all kinds of space-themed creations.
We like how hardy the tiles are, and how well protected the magnetic pieces are – meaning we didn’t have to worry about them withstanding whatever our six-year-old tester threw at them (not literally, although you can never be sure with six-year-olds). The space shuttle is the perfect size to store all the tiles, which is a parent-friendly touch for storage.
Buy now £49.99, Amazon.co.uk
Rockahula kids bunny sleepover set
Having your own wash bag feels very grown up, and this sweet age-appropriate offering from Rockahula really appealed to our little tester. Inside the quilted gingham zip-up bag (with ears!) there’s a bunny-shaped wash mitt, two scrunchies and a spa-esque headband – again, complete with bunny ears.
Everything is just the right size for a six-year-old, and we like how there’s enough room inside the washbag for kids to pack their overnight essentials like a toothbrush and toothpaste. It’s cute and practical, while still feeling special. Our six-year-old tester has had her wash bag on display in her bedroom since it arrived.
Buy now £22.00, Rockahulakids.com
Nailmatic natural lip gloss and varnish duo
If you’re shopping for a budding beauty fanatic, but want to keep it age-appropriate, Nailmatic is the brand to look to. This nail varnish and lip gloss set is part of the French brand’s child-friendly, toxic-free make-up and bath product range, and our six-year-old loved it.
The packaging has that crucial kid-appeal, which still looks like ‘grown-up’ make-up, but it’s the formulas that won us over. The lip gloss contains 97 per cent ingredients of natural origin, including apricot kernel oil. Despite its vibrant shade in the tube, the gloss goes on clear; it’s also enriched with vitamin E, so it leaves lips soft.
However, it’s the nail varnish that’s a game-changer. Every ingredient used is safe and suitable for six-year-olds, and the bright varnish can be washed off using warm, soapy water.
Buy now £16.95, Sorenshouse.co.uk
The verdict: Gifts for six-year-olds
When it comes to the perfect all-rounder, it has to be the Yoto player. This is the kind of gift that will be used and loved for years and years. If you have the budget, we’d highly recommend the Stapestein stepping stones for sheer play potential and universal appeal. Or, if you’re after a more affordable gift, we love The Floofs Reach For The Stars by Penelope O’Neill, a great book for a little under £10.
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