Scary Mommy Editor-In-Chief Kate Auletta Shares The Unforgettable Holiday Gifts Your Kids Will Love

If there’s one thing toddlers love, it’s playing with their food — and this set of 20 realistic, durable pieces lets them have it without staining your walls with marinara sauce or covering your floor in cereal. Win-win! The soft, washable, crush-resistant plastic is perfect for little hands.

Decked out in a blue tutu and unable to shed on furniture, BowBow on the Go Go just might be the perfect pup. Let your little one delight in pulling her leash, making her walk and wag her tail, and brushing her fur or accessorizing her with bows. Batteries included, no poop bags required.

Take your toddler’s puzzle game to the next level with this sturdy and colorful aquatic wooden game. As your child uses the magnetic fishing pole to “catch” sea creatures, they’ll build fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination while engaging in creative play.

Purse dogs are so last season; this year it’s all about purse unicorns. The plush unicorn comes with a soft, rainbow-bedecked purse so that your kiddo’s new “pet” can tag along on adventures without getting lost.

There’s a reason LEGOs never go out of style: They let kids of all ages express their creativity while honing spatial reasoning and motor skills. DUPLOs are perfect for toddlers with larger, easier to grip (and harder to eat!) bricks, and this astronaut-themed collection is a great starter set.

For ages 3 and up, this DIY airplane set is a wonderful way to give your child a high-quality, old-school wooden toy that comes with built-in family bonding. Little builders will love getting to use “big kid” tools, but parental supervision is required (plastic hard hats optional).

If you’re looking for a tabletop game that little ones can play without help, this cute dino-themed whack-a-mole is the answer. With two soft hammers and 27 levels that progress as your kiddo’s concentration and coordination improve, this game provides hours of motor-skill-building solo or two-player fun.

Add some sparkle to their holiday season with this sparkle art station from Crayola. Kids can make glittery designs with the innovative glitter-infused compound that sticks to surfaces like paper, wood, felt, paper, and fabrics, so they can decorate their belongings and create glimmering art to their hearts’ content.

Unearth your child’s inner geologist with this mineral dig kit. Kids will love finding the hidden gems and shining the blacklight pen on their treasures to reveal natural fluorescent sparkles. The kit also includes keychains, lanyard clips, and wire to turn the gemstones into keepsakes they can carry around.

Kindergarten-age kids will love this three-in-one creativity station, on which they can play with shape clings, color in scenes on transparent sheets that wipe clean for easy re-use, and light up the board in a variety of hues to make their art pop! Bonus: Accessories are stored on the back of the toy — every parent’s dream.

No more frozen fingers making snowballs! This delightful snowball maker kit forms snowy projectiles that are as cute as they are mischievous. And if there’s no snow where you live, you can always use the set with sand at the beach or kinetic sand at home.

Flybar’s foam-topped, slick plastic-bottomed saucer with easy-grip handles cushions every ride and is ultralight, making it easy for even little kids to carry it uphill all day long.

Your tiny superhero will love saving Gotham City (also known as their bedroom) with this LEGO set that’ll stimulate their imagination and developmental play. It comes with ready-to-assemble Batman and Harley Quinn figures, plus vehicles for both. The playset was created with young builders in mind, so it’s engaging — not frustrating.

What’s cooler than collecting crystals? Making your own! This Wonderology science kit teaches kids all about geodes and how to grow them using a simple mixture. (Shh, you don’t have to tell them this gift is educational.)

Moms who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s, beware — you’re going to be jealous of this one! This kit has everything one needs to craft 12 custom scrunchies, including colorful fabrics, holographic sequins, and gemstones. And no, you are not allowed to ask if you can make one, too. That is, as the kids say, cringe.

This terracotta clay pottery wheel is the perfect gift for a budding artist or any kid who likes sensory play. With 2 pounds of air-dry clay, shaping tools, sponges, and paint, plus a foot pedal for spinning the wheel, this kit will help them hone their skills to make bowls, cups, and decorative sculptures.

This simple, laugh-out-loud card game takes only a minute to learn but will have the whole family hooked. Perfect for a stocking stuffer, it might just keep your kids out of your hair long enough for you to curl up with your cat (or, fine, spouse) and eat some tacos of your own.

As if UNO games weren’t competitive enough, the iconic card game is upping the ante and fun with UNO Dare Wild Choices: Players can choose between drawing cards or performing one of 48 dares. (“Pin a card to the wall with your nose until the next turn,” etc.) Your kids will love the chaos that ensues.

For Instagrammable nail art on the budget of someone with a single-digit allowance, look no further than this Cra-Z-Art kit, which includes four color-changing polish shades, glitter, sequins, and nail stickers for countless cute and creative looks.

For play or display, this 9.5-inch-tall Spider-Man — complete with movable joints and web accessories — brings your kids’ favorite Marvel superhero to the real world. And LEGO remains the ultimate sneaky STEM toy, engaging your teen’s spatial reasoning and motor skills while they’re having fun building.

Listen, bigger kids need more fidget toys — that’s just facts. Giggle Zone’s 24-piece box has plenty to keep tweens busy when they’re bored — which, judging by their eye rolls, is approximately 99.9% of the time.

Despite their age, teens still want stuffies. Not just any stuffies, of course; they have to be cool, which is why Squishmallows are where it’s at right now. They’re all over TikTok — seriously, look it up!

Give your tween the gift of privacy and you’ll score major mom points. This “dictionary” has space inside to keep money, jewelry, secret notes, or whatever it is they want to keep private.