Gifts for a boy aged 9 or 10 — gift ideas

No time for the whole list? These are our four favourites for a boy aged 9 or 10: the book Alles over voetbal van A tot Z (“All about football from A to Z”) for every football fan, the Waboba beach volleyball to take straight outside, the LEGO Speed Champions Bugatti Vision GT that stays on display in his room once built, and Luigi’s Mansion 3, one of the best Switch games for this age. Four gifts you can’t go wrong with.

A small gift for a boy aged 9 or 10, for the Sinterklaas shoe, for a good school report or for a birthday party. Everything below costs less than ten euros, and every one of them is a gift he’ll be happy with.

With up to 25 euros there’s plenty of choice for a lovely gift: an exciting card game, a thick book, a LEGO car or something to take outside. Everything below has been picked for a boy aged 9 or 10, and there’s a surprise in there for anyone who doesn’t know his wishes.

Something to take outdoors stays one of the best gifts for a boy of 9 or 10: a ball that bounces extremely high, a game for the beach or the campsite, or a first skateboard. Gifts to get better at every day.

For a boy of 9 or 10, this is the LEGO that stays in his room the longest: real racing cars to scale, from the Ferrari that won Le Mans to the Mercedes Formula 1 car, built in an afternoon and then raced or put on display. LEGO has a huge choice of cars, from sports cars to film cars, so there’s always one that suits him. Browse the full range in the LEGO Shop.

For the boy of 9 or 10 who spends every break on the pitch and watches the match at home. A ball in the right size (size 4, up to under-12s), goalkeeper gloves that really fit, a book full of football facts or his hero as a LEGO figure. More ideas in our blog with football gifts for children.

A 3D maze, a sliding puzzle or a single-player logic game: puzzles that keep him hooked for a quarter of an hour, and that come along in the car and on holiday. Lotana has more brain teasers and logic games.

At 9 and 10, Pokémon is everywhere: swapping cards in the playground, watching the series and collecting the figures. A booster pack is a small gift, a binder completes the collection, and with a mug, a lamp or a cuddly toy Pikachu moves into his bedroom too.

For many boys a new game for the Nintendo Switch is the gift. PEGI 7 is the sweet spot at this age: platform games, vacuuming the ghosts out of a haunted hotel or catching your own Pokémon team. Even more choice at Nedgame.nl and allyourgames.nl. Note: a game with “Nintendo Switch 2” in the title won’t work on a regular Switch or a Lite.

At this age the Nintendo Switch is by far the top of the wishlists, and it stays that way for years. There are four versions. The Switch Lite is the cheapest and sturdiest: all in one piece, handheld only — so not on the TV and no motion games. With the regular Switch you take the Joy-Cons off and can do all of that. The OLED is the same console with a bigger, better screen. The Switch 2 is the newest generation: more powerful and bigger, and it plays almost all older Switch games too. Not the other way round: a game with “Nintendo Switch 2” in the title won’t work on a regular Switch or a Lite.

At this age he reads well on his own and mostly wants to keep going: the next book in a funny or gripping series. Here are books that boys of 9 and 10 read in one go — and every series has another book to give afterwards. (These are Dutch editions.)

Books full of fascinating facts, beautiful illustrations and surprising trivia. From outer space to the deep sea, for the boy who wants to know everything and retells it all at the dinner table the next day.

At this age a game is the gift that comes out on the table most often: quickly explained, exciting for children and adults alike, and different every time. Card games for after dinner and a board game for a long afternoon. More choice at Lotana and 999 Games.

Boys of 9 and 10 love drawing and crafts too, as long as there’s something to show for it: a step-by-step book to learn to draw animals, shrink plastic for his own key rings or a pixel artwork for the wall. Pipoos has a large range of drawing supplies and creative sets. Also see our blogs on lovely drawing supplies for children and the best drawing books for children.

A fun day out together is a treat in itself: you experience something special and make memories to talk about for ages. A few ideas:

🤸 An afternoon at a trampoline park

🧗 A climbing park or treetop adventure course

🎢 A day at a theme park

🎨 A creative workshop (painting, pottery or sculpture)

🍿 A film night with popcorn

🏊 An afternoon of swimming and playing