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The Best Toys for 8-Year-Old Boys – 2022 Gift Ideas

When the little boy in your life turns 8, he is officially moving out of the “little kid” stage and moving into the “big kid” stage. In this stage of life, he’s starting to establish the way he relates to others and learning more complex rules of interactions and play. He is moving into more creative and elaborate thought processes and procedures. He may also be getting more involved with groups of (mainly) other boys, as boys and girls tend to split off more at this age.

Whether he’s your son, your little brother, or your grandchild, the gifts you give him now can help him develop further through this stage—or at least let him have fun!

Nerf N-Strike Elite Series Tactical Vest

Young boys—especially established Nerf lovers—will be thrilled to add this tactical vest to their repertoire. The vest makes it easy for more continuous play and will be great when your child is playing Nerf with his friends.

Since this is the age where more often than not, you’ll see boys and girls separate and choose different activities, this is the perfect time to tap into his thriving “boyishness.” This Nerf Tactical Vest kit allows him to use his favorite Nerf guns while carrying extra firepower.

4M Doodling Robot

As the little boy in your life grows, his interests become more diverse, and he may be interested in more complex toys than he was before. He can adjust the colors and the levels of the colored pens to create different works of art.

Science as a toy is a great way to aid your son, nephew, or grandson to have fun while he’s learning and growing. The arts add to a well-rounded childhood. Combining them with a robot just makes them twice as cool!

Scientific Explorer Disgusting Science Kit

As young boys are starting to be more aware of themselves and their surroundings, their creativity is unlimited. When using toys like this, boys of this age can use their creativity and curiosity about life is a positive way, learning more about themselves and how the simple everyday things in their bodies work.

What 8 year old boy doesn’t love something with the word disgusting in it? During this phase in life, it’s pretty common for boys to be interested in things that are typically described by little girls as gross, slimy, dirty, yucky, etc.

RipStik Caster Board

If little boys are anything, it’s active. At this point in their lives, getting physical activity is very important. They’re also getting to their age where they can attempt something a little tougher than a bike.

This toy is bound to be a hit with your 8-year-old. He’ll love showing it off to his friends and improving his skills, and you’ll love that he’s outside instead of sitting in front of the TV!

Jenga Classic Game

This game is a few steps up from playing with blocks. It’s challenging enough to not get boring but easy enough to learn. 8-year-olds will be able to put patience into practice and learn how to concentrate and use a steady hand. And, it’s fun for the whole family!

This game can be a little tricky for the young ones, but once your child hits this age, he’s ready to take on the challenging balancing game.

Deluxe Magic Set

At this age, mystery and magic are fascinating to young children. With this magic set, an 8-year-old will love having the power to perform the same tricks that amazed them. They’ll want to show everyone and continue learning all the tips and tricks.

The Deluxe Magic Set is the perfect outlet to let them practice tricks and put on a show for the rest of the family.

Dan & Darci Light-Up Crystal Growing Science Kit

Great for kids interested in science and chemistry, this kit grows clear, blue, and red crystals that you can light up on the included LED display.

Learning isn’t always fun, so why not entertain the eight-year-old in your life with this light-up crystal kit?

They can grow the crystals from a tiny starter to a fully-formed crystal and learn about earth science as the three different-colored crystals grow and glow!

Avengers Hero Inventor Kit

Eight-year-old Avengers assemble! This interactive Super Hero gauntlet is completely customizable with ten different official Marvel sound effects and a LED Matrix light design.

Kids can use any iPhone or Android device to program the gauntlet further. In-app games include Stealth Mode, Speed Tracker, Animation Creator and more. Voices available include Iron Man, Black Panther, Shuri, Ant-Man and The Wasp. Stickers are also included for even more customization.

The gauntlet is a great introduction to coding. Customization uses block-based coding which teaches basic programming concepts like loops and logic. The gauntlets effortlessly combine artistic play with STEM instruction.

Gravity Maze Marble Run from ThinkFun

There’s nothing else quite like the Gravity Maze. It’s a marble run meets a logic game plus a whole lot more. It includes three marbles, a game grid, one target piece, and 60 unique challenges.

The included instruction manual explains how to play each of the 60 games. They range in difficulty from beginner to expert so the child can tackle greater challenges as they become more familiar with the toy. Regular play helps develop spatial reasoning, planning, and engineering skills.

The Gravity Maze won Toy of the Year from the Toy Industry Association plus a Parents Choice Gold Award.

Marky Sparky Blast Pad Rocket Launcher

This Blast Pad Rocket Launcher encourages young boys to play outside and get some energy out! Let your kids stomp as hard as they can on the durable pad, and watch the rockets soar upwards of 200 feet in the air!

Get your kids outside and moving with the Marky Sparky Blast Pad Rocket Launcher! Your child will try to get the rocket to fly higher and higher, meaning they’ll tire themselves out by jumping on the launch pad harder and harder and running to collect launched rockets.

Bring your kids to the school or a large area near your house, and let the launching begin!

Spikeball Standard 3-Ball Kit

Eight-year-old boys are active and starting to love more structured interactive play. Spikeball is a great game to help them bring those things together into one exciting game. They can play with one other person or several to make the game as competitive or laid back as they’d like.

The collapsible legs on the net stand help to ensure the game doesn’t break, and there’s a lifetime guarantee just in case something happens.

Home Alone Game

In the game, players either act as Kevin or as the robbers. The goal for the robbers is to collect $2000 in loot before the game is over. The goal for Kevin is to stop the robber from doing so through crazy antics, like the movie.

This game teaches kids social skills through structured play and simple fun. It’s a little complicated at first, so your child may want help understanding the instructions, but once they get it, they can play with friends or family members easily.

Sillbird 12-in-1 Solar Robot Kit

Designed with the engineering-oriented child in mind, this robot kit allows kids to build twelve different types of robots that can move on land or water.

The Sillbird 12-in-1 Solar Robot Kit is an excellent toy for teaching kids to be interested in STEM.

There are many configurations your child can learn, and different robots can perform in different settings.

The toy is solar-powered, which teaches your child about renewable energy, and means that the robot is ready to be played with any time, anywhere!

Kids can build different robots on their own or with friends, and then bring built robots with them to have fun both inside and outside!

MindWare Marble Circuit

The MindWare Marble Circuit includes 50 challenge cards to help kids learn to advance their logic and reasoning skills. It requires strategy, which can help build STEM skills, and will help kids with school and sports. The fun look of this game is a great addition as well.

The only downside is that kids will have to play alone. This game is only for one person. If you get two, then your child can race their friends to solve challenges, which might be a fun option.

Best Toys for 8 Year Old Boys 2022 FAQ

8 year old boys are at a fun and exciting stage in their life. They are still young enough to have intense imaginations, but old enough to grasp more complex concepts and follow more detailed instructions. Sometimes it can be a little difficult to tell where to draw the line when looking into buying toys at this age. What’s too old, and what’s too young?

Here are some common questions and answers regarding 8-year-old boys and toys in 2022.

What Do 8 Year Old Boys Like?

According to Michelle Anthony, Ph.D., 8-year-old boys should be able to understand different points of views, recognize their own strengths, read fluently, and adjust to social rules—including more structured play time. Their creativity should be thriving but in a more elaborate and organized kind of way.

While you may be able to entertain younger children with meaningless activities and games that don’t make sense, an 8-year-old will probably enjoy something of more substance with more organization. Because they’re forming personalities, opinions, and learning to socialize more structurally, games, toys, and activities that include groups of kids their age are awesome for them.

Additionally, at this point, your child has developed likes, dislikes, and is geared more towards certain activities than others. You may find one 8-year-old likes to build and create, while another likes to play sports. Socialization is common and important at this age. Boys will often split off with other boys during this stage and be involved in structured games and activities.

What Types of Toys Are Developmentally Appropriate for 8-Year-Old Boy?

We’ve already seen that at the age of 8, young boys are very creative, adventurous, and active. They have great imaginations that now allow them to think in a clearer, more logical way. At the same time, they are on the cusp of developing their personality and wanting to showcase that.

Boys and girls will most likely do their own things at this stage. They both have “cooties” to one another, and they’re probably going to be interested in different activities. While girls might start getting their hands into makeup, boys may be into other things.

Good toys for 8-year-olds include:

• Arts & Crafts
• More Elaborate Dolls or Action Figures
• Outdoor Activity Equipment like Skateboards and Bats
• Board Games
• Experiments and Magic Sets

According to WebMD, by this age children are starting to get a feel for their place in the world. They’re getting a stronger grasp on opinions, feelings, and language.

Key developmental milestones around this age are:

• Physical development: 8-year-olds move with more control and grace.
• Fine motor skills development: they are able to dress themselves, brush their teeth, do their hair, and use basic kitchen implements and tools.
• Large motor skills development: they will be able to change direction while running, jump, climb, and throw with accuracy.
• Speech development: at eight years old, he is speaking fluently and using all speech sounds. He can speak in complex sentences and hold more adult conversations.

This is the time to start introducing more complicated toys, games, and activities into a young boy’s life. As he is starting to develop his unique personality, he is also learning. The toys he learns through now could determine his interests in the future.

What Toys Are Safe for One-Year-Old Boys?

Safe play is important at all ages. While your child grows and starts to understand more, they start to grasp more about what is safe and what is not. Since your 8-year-old is starting to understand more complex directions and statements, he probably knows a great deal about safety by now. For example, he should know that fire is hot, and if he touches it, he will get very hurt. Therefore, he shouldn’t touch it.

Additionally, since boys at eight years old are physically more balanced and stronger, they are able to handle more activities that wouldn’t be safe for younger children. For example, while an 8-year-old can start to learn how to ride a RipStik, anyone younger should not due to their lack of strength and balance.

That being said, eight is still young, and there are still safety precautions to keep in mind. 8-year-olds should not be using dangerous tools or sharp objects on their own. Toys that require excessive assembly using tools will call for adult supervision. Games that promote violence or require a high level of intelligence may be too much for an 8-year-old.

Now is the time to promote their individually developing personality and opinions. It’s also the time for them to start to grow more and understand complicated rules and activities. Team sports and group games are great for this age. Experimenting and learning are awesome too, as long as it’s safe and supervised.

A Last Word

Finding the perfect toy for any 8-year-old in your life doesn’t have to be difficult. While he is figuring out where he belongs and what he likes, the toys you get him can help him learn along the way.

It should be fun to know that you can start to move away from “little kid” toys and get your big boy more complicated, instruction-heavy activities like LEGOs, games, and electronic devices.