28 Gifts and Toys for 12-Year-Old Girls

Sew Mini Treats from Klutz turns a crafty 12-year-old's love of cute food into tiny treats she sews.

Klutz rates it for ages 10 and up, so she can follow the steps on her own. Finished pieces can line her windowsill or go to a friend as a small birthday extra.

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.

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.

This Grogu Bluetooth speaker puts a Star Wars The Mandalorian fan's favorite character in charge of her music.

She picks the songs on her phone, and Grogu plays them from his spot on her dresser. Her love of the show and her own playlists come together in one figure.

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

Check the plug matches her phone: USB-C, Lightning or headphone jack. 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.

A scrapbooking 12-year-old can fill her pages with prints from the Polaroid Go Generation 3 instant camera.

She picks the shots herself, then glues each print beside the notes she writes. Since it is compact, the camera rides in her backpack, ready whenever friends gather.

The Polaroid Hi-Print suits a 12-year-old girl who keeps a photo wall of her friends above her bed.

After each birthday party, she adds a fresh row of faces to it.

This Tomodachi Life game gives a 12-year-old girl a crowd of quirky characters she designs herself.

It plays on a Switch, so check she has one before you wrap it.

This No Mercy edition of UNO gives a fiercely competitive 12-year-old girl a cutthroat way to play.

Her friends at the lunch table already know her trash talk, so she deals them in first.

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.

Game night with the cousins gets a draw-and-guess round once a 12-year-old brings out Telestrations.

Each player sketches a prompt, then the next player guesses what the picture shows. Grown-ups and kids share the same table, and nobody needs drawing skills to take a turn.

Bouncing on a Flybar Master pogo stick gives a sporty 12-year-old girl a balance skill to practice outside.

Flybar labels it for ages 9 and up, well within her range. She can invite friends over and take turns seeing who stays up longest.

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.

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.

Klutz's LEGO movie kit casts the bricks a preteen owns as actors in a plot she dreams up herself.

She trades funny videos with friends and rebuilds favorite worlds from memory, and a brick-built film brings both habits together. The Klutz set then sits on her shelf beside the bricks, ready when a sequel idea strikes.

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.

With this Choose Friendship loom, a crafty preteen knots friendship bracelets to trade with her closest friends.

She chooses the thread colors for each band, matching every bracelet to the friend receiving it. Between homework assignments, she can pick up a half-finished band right where she left off.

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.

The MCS Trendsetter frame gives a preteen girl a neat way to hang art she chose herself.

She might frame her own sketch or a print from a favorite movie, since she plans her walls herself. Hung beside her desk, it keeps that choice in view during homework.

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.

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

It is a charm only, for a girl who already has the bracelet. 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.

Bake It hands a twelve-year-old home baker a cookbook of her own for weekend baking.

Its publisher rates it for ages 10 to 14, so the recipes sit right at her level. She can bake for a friend's sleepover and bring the tray along.

Jenny Han's The Summer I Turned Pretty is a novel a preteen reader can pack for summer trips.

She can read it on the porch between swims, then lend it to her best friend so they can compare notes.