28 Gifts and Toys for 12-Year-Old Girls

This JBL Grip rides along to sleepovers in her overnight bag, ready with the playlist she built for the night.

Because it is waterproof, a spilled drink does not end the music, and its ambient light keeps the room softly lit once the lamps go off.

If the girl you're buying for memorizes lyrics faster than spelling words, a RockJam karaoke machine gives those songs a proper performance.

She learns whole verses from music videos now, and belting them out with friends is the natural next step. The duet she and her best friend rehearse becomes the encore at her birthday party.

Friendship bracelets traded with her circle can be ones she made herself with this Choose Friendship kit.

The 20 threads in the box cover as many as eight bracelets, so a pack of extra embroidery floss keeps her going after that. A finished band makes a goodbye gift for a new bunkmate at summer camp.

Before a school dance, a preteen threads a PANDORA Disney piece onto her bracelet and heads out the door.

Her childhood favorites move off pajamas and lunch boxes and into jewelry she wears by choice. The new addition swings at her wrist all evening, showing which stories she loves most.

Plastic toy rings are giving way to studs and bracelets she actually wears, and this VLANDO box, with its princess styling, has room for both.

Its three layers split the collection up, and the built-in mirror is right there for trying on new earrings. On school picture day, choosing the pair for the photo takes seconds.

Razor's A5 LUX is a larger version of the standard A5, roomy enough for an older kid.

With allowance money in her pocket, the corner store a few blocks away becomes a quick push down the sidewalk.

At the top of the stairs, a curious preteen lets her contraption go and watches whether the egg inside survives the landing.

Her curiosity about why things break meets a problem with no fixed answer, only sturdier attempts. Her sketches of each improved version fill a notebook, page by page.

Should the girl on your list follow a podcast episode by episode, Skullcandy Smokin’ Buds bring each new one to her ears.

The hosts she tunes in to are her own choices now, and earbuds keep each show private from the house. Her running list of favorite series grows longer with every season she finishes.

A preteen who hosts her friends' dance rehearsal in the backyard can run the music from her own Sony ULT Field 1.

She copies routines from dance videos, and a portable speaker takes those songs outside where there is space to move. The Sony sits on a patio chair, facing the lawn where the group runs the chorus again.

Check which console she owns before buying: this Star Fox title plays only on a Nintendo Switch 2, not the original Switch.

With the newer one at home, she gets Nintendo's space-flight series, piloting a starfighter through dogfights, as a fresh game to dig into.

If the girl on your list is claiming her bedroom as her own, a Sony BRAVIA screen gives her the controls.

She chooses her own series now and plays console games with friends, no longer waiting her turn downstairs. The screen sits across from her desk, ready for a co-op match once homework is closed.

Apple EarPods carry a favorite album from her phone straight to a preteen sketching at the kitchen table.

With a phone of her own, she gets a wired pair that plugs in with no pairing step. Her chosen soundtrack stays in her ears instead of filling the kitchen.

When the preteen you are buying for keeps restyling her bedroom, this Hapinest kit adds a decoration she forms herself.

Geode looks match the earthy decor she saves to her mood boards, and a handmade piece says more about her taste than a store-bought poster. The finished chime ends up swaying by her bedroom window.

Folding paper into flowers that never wilt takes patience, and this Pinwheel Crafts kit gives her plenty of chances to get the creases crisp.

The box tops out at age 12, but a finished bouquet looks nothing like a little kid's craft once it stands in a jar on her nightstand.

This light-up drawing surface turns the hand-drawn signs a girl makes into something her friends spot from across a room.

She already decorates locker notes and planner covers with fancy fonts, and now that writing gets a brighter home. When her book club meets at home, she can write the night's chapter question across it for everyone to read.

Whoever is choosing for a preteen with patience for tiny details can hand her a bakery she sculpts from clay.

Fiddly, careful work is what she enjoys, and miniature loaves and rolls let her fuss over every crust and swirl.

Klutz clay turns into tiny pets lined up at their adoption truck, for a preteen who doodles animals in notebook margins.

Those sketched critters step off paper into shapes she can hold and set along her bookshelf.

Familiar faces from her Pokémon card binder double as clues on this Ravensburger jigsaw, since a stray piece with half a known character tells her where it goes.

At 1,000 pieces in the brand's Challenge line, it is a real stretch that can stay spread out for days.

Anyone buying for a preteen who gathers friends around the kitchen table can hand them a goofy racing game.

Her circle runs on inside jokes, and a contest of ridiculous runners feeds right into that humor. Her scribbled tally of winners grows longer with every round.

The girl you have in mind loves a sly win, and this unicorn card game hides plenty of scheming behind sweet art.

She plots against her friends turn by turn, and outwitting her crew with something this adorable is half the fun.

Part surfboard, part skateboard, the Razor RipStik Classic rolls along with a steady twist of her body, the nearest thing to surfing that a driveway allows.

The first rides tend to be wobbly, so a helmet makes a smart add-on.

Drills from her school team's coach can happen a few steps from her bed once the SKLZ Pro Mini Hoop hangs over her bedroom door.

Spare minutes before homework go to her left-handed shot, one try after another until it finally drops.

Pink glitter makes this 3C4G blow-up chair a fun part of her room's style.

A reader gets somewhere besides her bed to curl up with a novel after school, and since it is light, she can drag it over to the window or the TV whenever she likes.

Over a quiet evening at her desk, a preteen curious about gadgets works out what makes a Smartivity robotic hand grip.

Her questions about what drives a machine now meet a gadget she can operate herself. Her new gripper then sits on that desk, fingers posed mid-wave.