Gifts for Kids Who Love Video Games That Aren't Screens (2026)

The best gifts for kids who love video games give them what they love about gaming, the boss battles, the building, the levels and the next try, in something they can hold. Our top pick is Magic Story's Next Player Ready series: four personalized hardcover picture books in which your child is Player 1 in a video-game adventure and a grown-up they love joins as Player 2, both illustrated from your photos. Below are more screen-free ideas, matched to the kind of game your child plays, plus tips for making a non-screen gift land with a gamer.

Quick picks: match the gift to the game

Start with what your child actually loves about their favorite game, then find the same feeling off the screen.

Our pick: the Next Ready books, where your child is Player 1

Most "screen-free gifts" ask a gamer to give up the thing they love. The Next Ready books go the other way. Each one is a video-game adventure, with boss battles, mazes, mini-games and pixel race tracks along the way, and your child is the player. A grown-up they love joins the story as Player 2. Both are illustrated from your photos, and the story calls your child by name.

Player 2 can be almost anyone: the series page lists Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, an aunt, an uncle, a big sister or brother, a godparent and a coach. The series page recommends the books for ages 4 to 10, and each book teaches one real-life skill. The series was written by author Shennel Fuller.

Book 1: Next Player Ready, for kids who hate losing

Your child has one mission this summer: beat every level of Captain Paws before school starts. Chicken nuggets leap off the plate for a showdown, the chores get blitzed, and the final boss, Dr. Itch-a-Lot, is one hit from defeat. Then a soggy HYDRANT KICK: GAME OVER. A perfect retry: GAME OVER again. The whole game goes into a box for the trash.

On the way out, your child nearly runs into their grown-up, who knows what the best players know: the trick isn't never losing, it's pressing play again. Player 2 leans in the doorway: "Told you. A hundred tries or one, it doesn't matter. You just gotta keep playing." On the next try, your child slows down, watches, and wins with a brand-new move. Kids giggle at the Robo-Fleas; grown-ups get a line they can use for every hard thing.

Book 2: Next Move Ready, for kids with a big imagination

No playing ball in the house. Then a bee zooms by, and in your child's imagination it's an alien invader. The lucky baseball flies like a fireball and CRASH: the family's green crystal bowl. When the grown-up asks what happened, a maze opens in your child's head, twisty turns on one side and one clear path on the other. Your child tries the twisty side first (two squirrels, one walnut and a very good story) before choosing the truth. It's a book about honesty, especially when the truth is hard to say. See Next Move Ready.

Book 3: Next Level Ready, for kids in a hurry

The neighborhood kids rocket past on their bikes, and your child wants in, with no training wheels. The street turns into a pixel race track, and ten falls in ten minutes say this level is harder than it looks. So the grown-up starts a streak, built one day at a time: three pedals, then five, then all the way to the mailbox. It's about patience and practice, and every small step counting. See Next Level Ready.

Book 4: Next Quest Ready, for kids who compare themselves to the class

Special Friends Day is Friday, and every classmate has a skill to show. Your child has nothing, so the plan is simple: copy everyone. Cue the mini-games: a volcano that comes out like a pancake and a book called THE DRAGIN AND ME. The grown-up's advice: don't try to be like everybody else, just be you. On the big day, a Thank You Box full of notes shows the gift your child has had all along: kindness. See Next Quest Ready.

How to get the Next Ready books

The Next Ready books aren't sold one at a time. You can choose:

• The four-book set. All four hardcovers ship together, with your child and your grown-up in every book.
• One a month. A subscription starts with Next Player Ready and sends the next book each month, with your grown-up as a small add-on on each of the four books. After Book 4, it continues with new personalized stories, and you can skip, pause or cancel anytime.

You create both characters first and see every cover free before you buy. See the series and the price for your country.

More screen-free gifts for gamers

For builders

If your child spends hours building in block games, give them the real thing: a big tub of building bricks or a set of magnetic tiles. Add a graph-paper notebook and call it a level-design journal, so they can plan a build before they make it. A cardboard box, tape and markers work too.

For racing-game fans

Racing games are about speed and the perfect line through a corner. A pedal kart or balance bike (with a helmet), a slot-car set, or a racetrack chalked on the driveway gives them both. We have a whole guide to gifts for kids who love race cars.

For co-op and party gamers

Look for cooperative board games, where the players beat the game together or lose together. Short rounds and quick setup matter: a gamer is used to pressing start and playing in seconds.

For quest and story gamers

A tabletop role-playing starter set lets a child be the hero of a quest that a grown-up runs, with dice instead of a controller. Choose-your-path books do the same thing on a quiet afternoon.

For collectors and level-grinders

Make progress visible. A badge chart for a real-world skill (riding a bike, reading a chapter book, tying shoes) gives them the experience bar they love. Next Level Ready pairs well with a bike-riding streak chart on the fridge.

For kids who want to make their own games

A blank game board, a few dice, index cards and a timer turn a game player into a game designer. Ask them to teach you the rules when they're done.

How to make a non-screen gift land with a gamer

1. Speak their language. Call the wrapped gift a loot drop, the book "Level 1," the badge chart an achievement board.
2. Don't attach a lecture. A gift that says "I see what you love" goes over better than one that says "less screen time."
3. Play it together the first time. Co-op beats single-player. Read the book together, or play the first round of the board game with them.
4. Keep the "one more try" feeling. Pick things with short rounds and quick wins, so trying again is easy.
5. Pair a book with an activity. Read Next Player Ready, then build a cushion obstacle course with a "final boss" at the end. Read Next Level Ready, then start a real bike streak.

If you're rethinking screen rules at home, the American Academy of Pediatrics offers a free Family Media Plan for setting them together as a family. For everyday ideas, see our screen-free activities for an ordinary afternoon and our look at raising a book-loving kid in the age of screens.

A gamer gift from a grandparent, aunt, uncle or godparent

If you're the one giving the gift, you can be Player 2. Upload your own photo and the name the child calls you, such as Nana, Pop-Pop or Coach, and you'll appear beside them in all four Next Ready books. Ask the child's parent or guardian for permission to use a photo of the child, and check how the family spells the name. Our Help article on buying a book as a gift walks through the rest.

How a personalized Magic Story book works

You add a photo of your child and their name, and Magic Story's AI draws them as an illustrated character in the book's style. You see a free personalized preview before you buy, with no account or credit card needed. After you order, each hardcover is printed for your child; in the US, printing takes 3 to 5 business days before shipping. For the full journey, read how a Magic Story book is made.

Find their game, on paper

• Start with Next Player Ready, or see the whole Next Ready series.
• For a kid who loves speed, try our race car gift guide.
• For honest conversations after a tall tale, read why kids lie and how stories help them choose honesty.