Best Birthday Gifts for 7 year old boys
Ready for the best birthday gifts for 7 year old boys? These cool gift ideas are tried and tested by…. my favorite 7 year old boy! My list of the best birthday gifts for a 6 year old boy might help you too. This post contains affiliate links and some products were received free of charge from the manufacturer in the hopes I’ll share it with you.
As kids get older, they seem harder to please, but the truth is somewhat the opposite. They’re getting more specific with what they enjoy and have more defined interests, so it’s easier to find the right thing.
What’s harder to please is the parents… because the kids tend to choose action heroes or gadgets. Parents often want to encourage more productive play.
I try to find a balance when recommending best birthday gifts for 7 year old boys. Appeal to their skills and interests with toys that have more play value: build something, get creative, play cooperative games…
M might be on the easier end of seven year olds to buy for, since he already loves science and reading, but the gifts recommended here are cool for most seven year old boys – even those who are into other things! I’ve also updated it with Y’s interests and favorites. He’s so different from his brother, so you’ll find things that appeal to all kinds of kids!
Buying for someone else’s kid? You can ask the parents what they love, take cues from social media or their birthday party themes, or go for more open-ended toys for that age group that would appeal to anyone.
Another note about age recommendations:
Ages on toys are part safety-focused and part developmental suggestions. At this age, a lot of them are developmental. So as long as there’s no safety concern, I sometimes step up a bit – especially when working with my son’s skill sets (such as with STEM toys – or art ones for Y). The advantage is that children can then grow into their toys, getting more use out of it.
At this age, some kids will also feel self-conscious as to age labeling, maturity (is that toy too baby-ish?) So I’d rather get a step ahead than a step behind.
Knowing the kid’s skills is really helpful, but even without, you can get some fantastic birthday gifts for 7 year old boys that can appeal to anyone.
Of course, these are fabulous for girls too. I write the title based on the kid testing it, keeping the words that people use to search for gifts in mind.
The best birthday gifts for 7 year old boys
The Best Games for 7 Year Old Boys
Seven is a fabulous age to step up your kids’ board game skills! At this age, they can read, are more knowledgeable in math, and have better analytical skills.
They also often start to prefer “sit-down” activities, as their patience grows with maturity. Here are some favorite birthday gifts for 7 year old boys in the “game” category!
Favorite Educational Card Game: SNARKAS by Hootenany Games
I love tricking my kids into learning (cue evil laugh) and what better way than through a sparkling, robotic card game? Hootenanny Games’ Snarkas helps build on those early math skills, encouraging fluency at a time that it’s so critical for future math skills.
This team-play game (when played with 4 players) builds on collaboration skills and is a fabulous entry-level game for kids who are struggling with losing. It’s so much easier to not win as a team. There’s an age-appropriate instructional video so that kids can easily master the game play.
The goal of the game is to be the first to collect 50 gems.
Earn gems by collecting cards during your turn. You can collect cards by matching one of yours with the center cards or adding two together to equal your card.There are specialty cards too, such as the Zap card, which allows you to take all the cards on the table. If you “earn” (match or add) all the cards on the table, yell Snarkas and earn the Snarkas gem, worth ten gems. Other specialty cards award bonus gem tokens as well.
It’s really easy to learn once you get started. And since it’s a small card game, it’s perfect for taking on the go – to hotel rooms, cousin get-togethers, or any time you’ll want some wholesome screen-free fun.
Top Single Player Puzzle Game: Kanoodle Pyramid
Y loves playing games, but he doesn’t always have who to play with! His big brother doesn’t always want to play along…
For that reason, we love single-player puzzle games. Kanoodle Pyramid a “fit all the pieces” type puzzle game with two play styles.
You can play flat board – perfect for starting out and learning how the game works, and getting familiar with the pieces.
Then, switch your board and play pyramid! It definitely ups the challenge of the game and brings a fresh element into the game play. Kanoodle Pyramid is a classic with absolutely no age cap – the grown-ups might steal it to give it a go too!
Favorite Board Game: Dog Man Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea Game
I’m not gonna lie, my kids are obsessed with Dog Man, and yes, we purchased the book Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea as soon as it came out! So when it came to the game… they loved it!
It’s a very simple game to learn, and a classic board game but with a few twists. Things like the spinner, moving forward the appropriate number of spaces, and completing the designated action will be familiar. But then it gets interesting.
First of all, you play as a team. It’s the Supa Buddies against Piggy, who plays as a separate character. Piggy’s job is obviously to sabotage and it’s either Piggy or Supa Buddies who win. There are collaborative elements throughout, and even though players get to take turns on each round, there are some rounds where all players get to do an action.
The goal is to repair the submarine (before Piggy gets three parts) by drawing matches of the different sub parts on the sub repair cards.
Pie spaces mean that you throw the pie token in Demodex monster’s mouth. If you miss, Piggy gets to play.
It’s a fun, interactive game that teaches collaborative skills, draws on kids’ obsession with the book, and allows kids to step into the villain’s shoes for a bit.
Favorite Collectible Game: Bakugan Battle Arena
When you have school-age kids, they really educate you. According to Y, Bakugan is a really, really cool toy.
If you have a Bakugan-obsessed kid, you can really help them get more play value out of it with the Bakugan Battle Arena. It comes with an exclusive special attack Dragonoid Bakugan and expands the toy with some interactive game play.
It features a rip cord to start the Bakugan spinning in the arena, obstacles that you can move around, and even phone holders so that kids can record the action – and of course, magnetic cards that transform the Bakugans from balls to battlers.
Roll Bakugan figures (the set comes with one, so if your kid doesn’t already have a collection, I recommend including that as well) down the chutes and watch them roll or spin! There are loads of storage slots for more Bakugans, making it a fabulous toy for sibling play. See whose Bakugans will transform into battlers first and win the brawl.
There’s even pinwheel-style flippers that accelerate the spinning when the Bakugans hit them!
STEM and construction toys for 7 year old boys
Some of the most highly entertaining toys are the STEM toys that the kids play with again and again… and they learn so much while playing! It boosts their creativity while building essential engineering skills.
Spaghetteez
If there’s one type of toy that is a worthwhile investment, it’s building toys. Solid structures, endless play opportunities, and a huge age range make a good construction toy the kind of thing you save from kid to kid (and maybe even for the grandkids!) and pull out when multiple age groups are playing together.
This incredible new, innovative toy comes from the makers of Clics and is unlike anything I’ve seen before. Moldable foam-covered “Spaghetteez” have connectible ends, and different types of connectors to make the possibilities limitless.
Specialty pieces help expand your options even further. You can make any shape by bending the Spaghetteez, making it a hybrid drawing/building toy.
My kids loved sitting for hours with Spaghetteez. We played around a little instead of just following instructions (because we like to see how creative we can be when testing toys like these). We came up with this cute swing and bicycle. We can’t wait to see what else we can build when we learn the toy even better, and which unique expansion sets they’ll be coming out with!
Pix Brix Wild Kratts
Wild Kratts is one of our all-time favorite shows for its pure educational nature, so we were excited to see that Pix Brix has a Wild Kratts collab! These building bricks feature sides that slide together so that you can build horizontally too, layer by layer. Each one-peg brick can connect in any direction. This enables you to build flat or 3D pixel images.
The Wild Kratts line features different animals from the show (plus, there’s a set featuring the Kratt Brothers). We gave the Bengal Tiger a go. It’s really cool so see it come together. It does require lots of patience, and it’s perfect for that kid who tends to hyperfocus building toys.
The final project can be displayed as a puzzle or “artwork” would be or dismantled and used in a free-form creation!
Geomag Pro L
Geomag’s magnetic building toys are innovative and allow my kids to play with them for hours. They have lots of specific sets that build on principles of gravity, motion, and more STEM concepts. However,one of our favorites is the gorgeous modern free-build Pro L line.
The leveled-up stronger, more powerful magnetic sticks attach to metal balls (the balls are not magnetic, however they are a choking hazard for young kids as they are like marbles) . They have transparent blue plastic inserts to create aesthetic geometric builds.
The set is geared toward ages 8+, making it a “big kid” toy that the boys grow into. M was totally capable of assembling the builds himself following the instructions, and then adapting and creating his own, even at age 7.
Thames & Kosmos Solar Bots
If you’re looking for an insanely cool STEM project kit at a lower price point, with quicker projects, we fell in love hard and fast with Solar Bots. M was a pro at assembling these himself at age 7.
The official age recommendation for this set is 6+ with help, 9+ independently. M is very technical and a good reader, and at seven he was able to do it on his own. He successfully built the three bots he tried (you can build a total of eight). For kids with less patience/building skill, you may want to try this at closer to the recommended age, or plan it as a together project.
The kit uses the same solar unit that you put together and the outer parts are interchangeable. The sun powers the bots, making it a strong lesson in solar power as well as the engineering aspects of the bots!
Best creative & Educational birthday gifts for 7 year old boys
M loves to be creative, but he’s not your classic artsy soul. He likes to make things that are functional, to build and to tinker. Y is more of an artist and likes tangible results. They both love music.These picks are perfect for getting some creativity going in elementary school aged kids.
Plus Plus Puzzle By Number Map
We’ve been slowly building our Plus-Plus collection over the years, and it’s become one of the boys’ favorite building toys. They recently expanded their line to include Puzzle by Number, which, as it sounds, is basically a way of using to to create flat images. It’s a color by number/puzzle hybrid that is fabulous for kids like Y who prefer art over the building experience.
The US states map one is fabulous for its educational value too. The boys worked on it together over an afternoon and learned so much about the states! It’s a really simple concept, as all the pieces are the same shape, making it easy to connect. And it’s huge!!
My boys decided to display their final map, but you can also repurpose and expand the game play but unassembling it when you’re done and adding it to the rest of your Plus-Plus collection, enabling you to build all sorts of creations.
TinkerTar Learning Guitar
If your kids are musically inclined, TinkerTar is the perfect precursor to actual lessons, giving them the basic foundations for playing the guitar in a ridiculously adorable, streamlined package. My boys both want to learn to play, but we haven’t really had a good opportunity to get them lessons.
This solid wooden learning acoustic guitar features one string that’s designed to teach the basics of guitar play, and gain the motor skills they need to play. It includes a music book with kids’ songs and a strap, as well as replacement strings. Kids can start playing in just a few minutes, giving them almost instant gratification. My kids loved the fast turnaround time from when they start learning to actual song play.
The fun characters and designs just make it more kid-friendly, and the construction is durable enough to last for years.
Learn by Sticker
Workman’s Paint by Sticker line is a favorite of Y’s but we were thrilled when we saw they added a twist in their new Learn by Sticker line!
First, figure out the answer to each problem. Then, match the answer to a sticker (the stickers have numbers next to them.) Create your picture!
It’s a fabulous way to support learning, especially at this crucial stage in math, when fluency makes all the difference. The Phonics one is also great for kids who need a little extra support with reading at this stage, but need it to be fun.
And it’s a car-friendly, waiting-room friendly screen-free activity too! It kept Y busy while he did his sesame food challenge at the allergist, and after school instead of screen time. The final pictures are fun, playful baby animals.
Stanley Jr tool box and book
For his sixth birthday, M received a real kids’ tool set made by Stanley. Stanley Jr also has a book on kids’ woodworking that’s a fabulous companion gift. M thinks he’s making every project in the book…
The tools and projects don’t 100% go together (I paired it – you might need need other tools, adult intervention, etc) but they make a great gift as a pair or separately.
Crayola Marker Maker
M uses art supplies lightly, and mostly at school… but he loves making stuff. And there’s nothing that encourages creativity quite like making your own art supplies!
When he first saw the marker maker he was so impressed. He’s a very big fan of the show “How It’s Made” and everyday items like this, deconstructed, make an impression.
The Marker Maker is a self-contained kit that includes inks, barrels, tips, and more for making 16 of your own markers. It comes with a color-mixing guide, making it a color theory art lesson with a cool end result. Kids need to measure things out, and it comes with tongs/tweezers special for removing the ink core and putting it in the marker barrel. It’s a fantastic way to encourage a new appreciation for creativity, as well as personalize school supplies.
Gadgets for 7 year old Boys
Otamatone music player
If your kids love things that are very gadgety, a bit silly, and maybe musical too, Otamatone is perfect for them! This Japanese hit toy had my boys in love.
It’s a small-ish in size (read: super portable and easy to store) musical-note shaped synthesizer that is played by sliding a finger along the sensor… and opening and closing its mouth!! It kind of sounds like it’s saying “wah wah wah” when you do that.
It does teach about basic musical elements like pitch. It has a bit of a learning curve to get it to make the sounds you like, but my tech-savvy kids picked up on it on their own without any issues.
VTech KidiZoom Creator Cam
As a “social media mom” it’s quite convenient for me when my kids know how to take decent photos… VTech’s new KidiZoom Creator Cam has cool features special for creators! You don’t need to be ready for your child to use social media – it’s fantastic for those interested in creative photography, as we use it. But it is also perfect for those learning to use social media safely.
This HD camera also comes with a tabletop tripod/selfie stick and a green screen so that your child can make super cool videos with different backgrounds! M got very into this because he has an uncle that is a videographer… and lives far away, and always has the best virtual backgrounds when video chatting.
He loves being able to take his own photos and videos, edit them on screen, create time lapses, or take selfies while seeing the screen by flipping up the lens… (why doesn’t MY camera do that?!) Batteries are rechargeable, the device is safe and NOT connected, and can be connected to a computer for uploading media by a grown-up. Comes with some internal storage, but I recommend adding a micro SD card to the bundle.
What are your favorite birthday gifts for 7 year old boys? Got any shopping tips for those shopping for this challenging age? Comment below!
