15 Best Black Friday Toy Deals (2024): Lego and Board Games

For this year’s Black Friday, I decided to try something different. Instead of wading alone through the sea of ​​questionable toys, gadgets, and gizmos for sale, I turned to Mallory Kennedy, a pediatric occupational therapist and owner of The Sensory Nest based in Portland, Oregon. Together we looked at the list of the most popular Black Friday toy deals from major retailers.

I wanted to find toys that, in short, weren’t crap – ones that would help your kids develop or that wouldn’t turn into blinking trash in a few days. We tested these by playing with our own children. If our kids didn’t like them, I won’t recommend them to your kids. That’s in it Addition due to years of ongoing testing conducted by the WIRED Gear team. We also cross-reference our recommendations with our buying and gift guides and use a range of price tracking tools to find the best deals. Happy holiday shopping!

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The best toy offer

Photo: Particula

This is probably one of the best toys I’ve ever tested (and one that needs to be included in the next update of our best STEM toys for kids). Connected via Bluetooth, the portable board is made of parts that feel wonderfully matte and heavy when you play with it. It connects to the GoChess app on your phone, which is integrated with Lichess and Chess.com. You can play against other people or get personal AI-powered suggestions and the characters will light up. My 7 and 9 year old have been playing against each other for weeks because an AI’s suggestions are much less annoying than Mom’s.

More toy offers

Photo: Tonies

The Toniebox is the best children’s speaker for younger children. It is a durable, soft cube with WiFi connection. When your child places different “Tonie” figures on the cube, they play songs and stories associated with the Tonies. Your children will also play with the Tonies as toys, and you can also have grandparents or other family members record up to 90 minutes of reading aloud or other audio messages for the children.

Photo: Amazon

The Yoto is the best children’s speaker for (slightly) older children and has some differences to the Toniebox. There is a pixelated clock display and the content is a little more mixed – in addition to stories and songs, there are also sleep sounds, child-friendly radio and a daily podcast. This version is the tiny, even more portable version of the larger one we tested.

Photo: Amazon

Toy instant cameras differ from higher-end cameras in that the lenses are made of plastic rather than glass. The image quality here is significantly worse than the Instax cameras I’ve tried. However, if your child is 5 years old, he will be delighted. The battery was enough for an entire afternoon of photography, prints are made on BPA-free paper and there are even a few games on board.

Clay is also part of our guide to the best STEM toys, but my kids like the air-dry version better than the polymer version because it’s super soft, light, and you don’t have to bake it. It’s not as sturdy or heavy as the polymer version, but it can withstand tiny little dots on your mushrooms or stuffy TVs or whatever.

Photo: Amazon

Amazon and Walmart are both full of these little kits that promise to entertain kids while teaching them skills. Of those I called, this was the biggest hit and will provide your hesitant guests with hand soap for years to come! Melt the soap blocks in a microwave-safe bowl and mix with desired scents, glitter, or dyes. Even if it makes a mess in the sink, it’s easy to clean because it’s soap!

Image: loogguitars.com

Playing music has also been proven to stimulate neural development (and is just plain fun). Loog Guitars is currently hosting a location-wide Black Friday sale with 40 percent off. My kids are testing out the Beatles + Loog electric guitar set and the company even sent me the tiny amp! This is a bit of a cheat because my kids already play piano and violin, but they find Loog’s music lessons fun and easy to follow. (It’s also an excuse to go to the iPad, grrr.)

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

Construction toy offers

Photo: Clixo

Any building toy is great for promoting 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 it anywhere. They are also available in themed sets that include glow-in-the-dark pieces.

Photo: Amazon

Magna-Tiles may be expensive (now slightly cheaper), but the return on investment is staggering. We bought our daughter’s first set when she was 2 or 3 years old and we enjoyed making little 2D ice cream cones or hats. Now she is 9 and still takes out the trash can regularly. There are also a ton of different themed sets (also on sale) if you need more specific track or jungle pieces.

Photo: Amazon

We’re proven 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 Lego Speed ​​Champions sets you already have. Give me an Oscar Piastri minifigure! Give the people what they want!

Wooden building blocks are always a great idea for younger children as they encourage imaginative play and motor skills. This is a large 75 piece set that will entertain a small person for a very long time. Make sure you choose ASTM-certified specimens that are made of 100 percent wood, as there is a high chance that these will end up being gnawed by people or animals.

Game offers

Photo: Amazon

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

Photo: Simon Hill

Simon notes that this game is more fun than it sounds, and that’s for the better, since it’s mostly about capitalism and expanding companies and conducting mergers and acquisitions. It looks pretty and you only find out who wins at the end when you cash out your shares. It was a surprise success for Simon’s children.

Photo: Alderac Entertainment Group

As a resident of the Pacific Northwest, I purchased this immediately. This is a beautiful nature board game that allows players to lay out tiles and populate different types of habitats. They work to achieve goals such as salmon runs or bear mating. It’s aimed at children ages ten and up, but younger children can also play if you’re patient while explaining the rules.