In addition to our award-winning toys, you'll also find more kid- and parent-approved suggestions below, including best-sellers and top-rated products on Amazon that reviewers swear their own tweens love. While tweens can be notoriously fickle, these picks will give you the best shot of them leaving with a smile. Then, we send out the items to real parents and tweens to find out what kids actually like (and what parents can tolerate). The Good Housekeeping Institute tests best new toys and buzzy items each year, looking for things like safety, quality and functionality. Good Housekeeping takes the guesswork out of gift shopping for your favorite 12-year-olds. This is great for their personal growth - but it makes it hard to shop for presents for them. Now they're in that tweenage phase, they may enjoy developing new and more sophisticated interests, playing games with friends, learning new skills (like coding or skating) and following trends. Ah, 12-year-olds: They're not quite teenagers, no longer kids.
