22 best Cyber ​​Monday toy deals (2024): Lego, bikes, board games

For Cyber ​​Monday this year, I decided to try something different. Instead of wading through the sea of ​​dubious toys, gadgets and gizmos for sale alone, I called Mallory Kennedy, a pediatric occupational therapist and homeowner in Portland, Oregon. The sensory nest. Together, we have reviewed the list of the most popular Cyber ​​Monday toy deals from major retailers.

I wanted to find toys that weren’t, in short, crap: that would help your kids’ development or that wouldn’t become junk in a few days. We tested them by playing with our children. If our kids didn’t like them, I won’t recommend them to yours. This is inside addition to the years of continuous testing conducted by the WIRED Gear team. Our recommendations are also cross-referenced our buying guides AND gift guides and uses a suite of price tracking tools to spot the best deals. Happy Christmas shopping! Be sure to check out ours Cyber ​​Monday live deals tracker what’s more.

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Photography: Detail

This is probably one of the best toys I’ve ever tested (and one that will have to be included in the next update of ours The best STEM toys for kids). The Bluetooth-connected portable board has pieces that feel wonderfully dull and heavy to play with. It connects to the GoChess app on your phone, which is integrated with Lichess and Chess.com. You can play against other people or receive AI-enabled suggestions in person and the pieces light up. My 7- and 9-year-olds have been playing against each other for weeks, as the AI’s suggestions are much less annoying than Mom’s.

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Photography: Tonies

The Toniebox is the best speaker for kids for younger children. It is a durable, soft and Wi-Fi connected cube. As your child places several “Tonie” figures on top of the cube, play songs and stories associated with the Tonies. Your kids will also play with the Tonies as toys, and you can even ask grandparents or other family members to record up to 90 minutes of reading or other audio messages to the kids.

Photography: Amazon

Yoto is the best (slightly) larger children’s speakerand has some differences compared to the Toniebox. There’s a pixelated clock display and the content is a bit more mixed: for example you get sleep sounds, baby-friendly radio and a daily podcast in addition to stories and songs. This version is the smaller and even more portable version of the larger one we tested.

Photography: Amazon

Toy instant cameras are different from those of higher quality because the lenses are plastic, not glass. Image quality is noticeably worse than on Instax cameras I’ve tried. However, if your child is 5 years old, he will be happy with it. The battery lasted for an entire afternoon of photography, the prints are on BPA-free paper and there are even some games on board.

This is a small but significant discount on a set of markers that my 9 year old son is currently obsessed with. It’s water-based ink, so it will cause far less damage to whatever surface your child is drawing on (I hate that I know that), and it’s dual-tipped, with either a fine tip for intricate line work or a thicker tip. wide to fill things. The pigment flows smoothly and evenly. It will be great if hand-drawn greeting cards are in your game plan.

Clay is also part of ours The best STEM toys guide, but my kids like the air-dried version better than the polymer one because it’s super soft and light and you don’t have to bake it. It’s not as sturdy or heavy as the polymer version, but it also manages to make little spots on mushrooms or stuffy TVs or whatever.

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Amazon and Walmart are both full of these little kits that promise to entertain kids and teach them skills at the same time. Of the ones I called, this one was the biggest success and provides hand soap to your reluctant guests for years to come! Melt the soap blocks in a microwave-safe dish and mix them with any fragrances, glitters or dyes you want. Even if it makes the sink dirty, it cleans easily, because it’s soap!

Image: loogguitars.com

Listening to music has also been shown to stimulate neural development (and it’s just plain fun, too). Loog Guitars is currently running a sitewide Cyber ​​Monday sale with 40% off. My kids are currently testing the Beatles + Loog electric guitar set and the company even sent the tiny amplifier! This is a bit of a cheat because my kids already play the piano and violin, but they find Loog’s musical instructions fun and easy to follow. (It’s also an excuse to get on the iPad, grrr.)

Guardian Bikes is currently holding a Cyber ​​Monday Sale. If your child is learning like riding a bicycleI highly recommend getting one that is lighter than the ones at Target or Walmart. A Guardian or Woom bike isn’t much more expensive and weighs about 10 pounds less. Guardian also features a patented SureStop braking system, meaning the rear wheel will always brake before the front, so your child never tips over. It works, and I know this because I gave it to a 20-year-old to test in an empty garage, and he couldn’t turn it over.

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This rocks glass is perfect for any aspiring rock hound, and we say so in ours STEM Toy Buying Guide. The kit includes four grit levels, plus a bag of rough gemstones so they can start rolling over the Christmas holidays. According to Amazon reviews, even some adults who have been putting rocks in their pockets for decades use and appreciate this glass.

You may have noticed sensory toys popping up at school and in your kids’ gift bags; as the name suggests, they help children stimulate one or more senses, which helps activate motor skills and calm them overall. Both my kids and Mallory’s kids love these toys, which also teach color recognition and counting. However, my kids are 7 and 9 and they caught them almost immediately with their giant ham hands. (They lasted almost a year in Mallory’s office.)

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OK, I know, I said I hate sparkly, flashing ponies, but I’ll make an exception for Sphero because the company’s toys are so delightful. My colleague Simon Hill’s wife uses it this ball of coding as a classroom aid for teaching basic programming skills to children aged 9 and older. He is adorable and can move and navigate mazes through infrared communication.

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Photography: Clixo

Any construction toy is great for encouragement creativity and hand-eye coordination. Reviewer Simon Hill tested the Clixo sets with his family and found the pieces to be durable, flexible, washable, and colorful. You don’t need a flat surface to build, so you can play with them anywhere. They come in too themed sets which have pieces that glow in the dark.

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Magna-Tiles may be expensive (a little less expensive now) but the return on investment is staggering. We bought our daughter’s first set when she was 2 or 3 years old and had fun creating little 2D ice cream cones or hats. He is now 9 years old and still takes out the trash regularly. There are also lots of different themed sets (also for sale) if you need more specialized parts for race courses or jungles.

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We are documented Lego fans here and Lego recently announced a multi-year collaboration with F1. Can’t wait until January to get your hands on the new Lego City F1 sets? Whet your appetite with pre-existing Lego Speed ​​Champions sets. Give me an Oscar Piastri minifig! Give the people what they want!

As I wrote in our guide to LEGO Giftsmy 7 year old son is currently obsessed with Star Wars. Sales events are always a good time to stock up on the more expensive sets, as $160 for full retail price is a little out of my budget for a second grader. This one has spring-loaded shooters and seven mini-figures, and I expect it will make his year and ruin my life too.

Lego is having a Cyber ​​Monday Sale. Although that doesn’t exactly help me get my son obsessed with Marvel Avengers Towermany of the offerings are very nice and seasonal. How cute is this wreath? And how much better is it to build one, rather than buy one in the store?

Wooden building blocks are always a great idea for younger children, as they encourage imaginative play and fine motor skills. This is a great 75 piece set that will entertain someone little for a long time. Make sure to choose the ones that are ASTM certified and made of 100% wood, as there is a big possibility that they will end up being gnawed by humans or animals.

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Reviewer Simon Hill notes that this is the easiest game to start with in his The best board games summary. It was designed by a German psychologist and you can change the maze by pushing one tile and removing another each turn.

Inspired by the Royal Palace of Evora in Portugal, with its blue and white Moorish ceramic tiles, this board game challenges you to create mosaics by matching tiles with different patterns and colors to accumulate the highest possible score. One of the the best board games for families for all tastes, Azul is easy to understand but supports many tactical approaches and has surprising depth. The beautiful tiles and other components are high quality, and filling your board is deeply satisfying. The game plays quickly and you can complete a game in under an hour, but you’ll probably want to play again immediately. —Simon Hill

Photography: Simon Hill

Simon notes that this game is more fun than it sounds, which is just as well, since it’s mostly about capitalism, expanding businesses, and executing mergers and acquisitions. It looks adorable and you don’t find out who wins until the end when you cash in your shares. It was a surprise success for Simon’s children.

I know this goes into our gaming offers post, but this is the holiday gift I actually promised my kids. Somehow I completely broke our old Switch (this is less of a tragedy than you’d expect, given that I still had the first one from 2017) and we need to replace it so we can continue to host Family Nintendo Night. It’s pretty rare to see Nintendo drop prices on its consoles, so you should hop on this one if you’re looking too.