The 10 Best 9 Year Old Girl Gifts
Special Honors
American Girl Bowling Alley This award-winning toy from American Girl is a fully functional doll-sized alley. The set includes a wooden bowling lane that works, ten motorized bowling pins, and gutters that balls can roll down with adjustable bumpers for practice. Each game starts with the push of a button and boasts lights, bowling sounds, and score-keeping for up to two players. Additionally, there is a rental counter with a pretend transaction monitor, a card swiper and faux game card, two pairs of bowling shoes with glitter accents, laces, and flat soles, and tons more. americangirl.com
Smart Ukulele Your young lady can learn how to strum her favorite songs in no time thanks to this real, European maple ukulele and its smart technology. With Bluetooth connectivity and a corresponding app, she can choose the chords or full songs she wants to play and follow along on the light-up fretboard. This helps learners pick up music quickly and provides a mental image of how chords look, which is great for building skills. She can record her songs and share them with friends via the app, too. uncommongoods.com
Editor's Notes
November 21, 2019:
As your girl creeps ever closer to her tween years, you'll start noticing changes in her personality and habits. Nine-year-olds are social creatures and begin responding to notions of "cool", which makes it hard to gauge whether or not your gift will elicit joy or an eye roll. We had this in mind while ranking this list, and endeavored to choose items that are fun to share with friends, nurture creative interests, teach valuable skills, and have a bit of a wow factor.
If the youngster in question has an artistic side, she'll undoubtedly love the freedom she gets with the Sculpey III and the Darice 80-Piece Deluxe, which has everything she needs to start tinkering with different mediums. While it's true that the oil pastels in the Darice set don't boast the same super creamy quality that professional ones do, the kit's low price means that it can serve as a starter set. If your daughter loves it, then you can feel better about purchasing her the professional-grade stuff later on.
While we loved the idea of the Microscope And Activity Journal, we felt that is was lacking in quality, especially in the optics department. We decided to swap it out with Anki Cozmo, an extremely well-designed robot with over 300 parts that's ideal for teaching both beginner and advanced coding, in addition to playing games and serving as a loyal sidekick.
We also said goodbye to the Thames and Kosmos 620417 to make way for the Nintendo Switch Lite, which we feel would be a slam dunk for any kid who games. While some don't like that it's limited to only handheld play, we feel that that's a compelling feature in itself. It means your girl has her very own gaming system that she can take anywhere, and it boasts multiplayer options as well, so she can play with siblings and friends too. It's also compatible with any Nintendo Switch games that work in handheld mode.
Developmental Milestones For 9 Year Old Girls
Socially, they will be more focused on fitting in with friends, resulting in them being more susceptible to peer pressure.
The age of nine is an exciting time for a child as they begin to become more independent and capable of handling a broader range of problems on their own. This is also a time when they start to put more precedence on choosing their own associates and cultivating their personal sense of self and style.
Physically, the age of nine is when boys and girls really begin to develop at different rates. Most girls begin to experience a large growth spurt around this time, resulting in them being taller and even heavier than boys of their own age. On average, girls also begin to experience puberty some time between the ages of nine and thirteen, although some may experience precocious puberty at a younger age.
The recent cognitive development and enhanced language skills of a nine year old should also be quite noticeable. Their speech ability will be reaching nearly an adult level, their vocabulary should be rapidly expanding as they read more and involve themselves in more complex conversations. Their sentence structure will also be getting more complex and they will be able to better plan ahead, problem solve, and think critically about a range of actual and hypothetical situations.
The enhanced cognitive development results in nine years olds having a lengthier attention span. They will often spend prolonged periods of time focusing on an activity they find interesting, and they will be much more outspoken about their opinion.
In addition to physical and cognitive development, there will be enormous social and emotional growth. Your daughter will be becoming more emotionally mature and better able to handle conflicts or frustrating tasks. Since there is a good chance they may be experiencing the beginnings of puberty, mood swings are not uncommon nor are emotional outbursts.
The higher level of emotional maturity will allow them to recover more quickly than younger children though. Socially, they will be more focused on fitting in with friends, resulting in them being more susceptible to peer pressure. They will feel a strong sense of loyalty to friends and groups, which gives them a tendency to pull away from the family.
How To Pick A Gift For A 9 Year Old Girl
As there will be a large difference in their emotional, physical, cognitive, and social maturity between the nine year old version of your daughter and the eight year old version, it is important to find gifts that are appropriate for their developmental milestones. Buying a gift that is perceived as too juvenile will often never be used, while gifts that are too far ahead of their current cognitive skill level will be frustrating, and may even affect their self-esteem.
Gifts that promote creativity while allowing them to establish their own personal style and sense of self are a good idea.
Gifts that promote creativity while allowing them to establish their own personal style and sense of self are a good idea. These can be craft projects in which they design decorations for their room, or ones that allow them to create their own jewelry. As they are in the emerging stages of womanhood and are more focused on their appearance, toys that allow them to mimic the styles of older women will be appreciated, such as nail polish or hair styling kits.
With the growing obesity problem in teens and preteens, any toy that gets them outside playing and exercising should be considered a top priority. Some girls may prefer a bicycle, while others may prefer a skateboard, a scooter, or even traditional roller skates.
The growing precedence placed on group activities and social acceptance means that this is also a good time to give a gift they can use with friends. Any games or toys that can be used in a slumber party setting will not only foster social skills, but also be something they will have a tendency to play with often.
Gifts With An Educational Focus
Educational toys are a good idea for children of any age. The key with buying an educational toy for a child is matching it up with their ability level and interests. Educational toys should be purchased with the goal of teaching your daughter a specific skill or subject. They can also be used to increase their knowledge of a subject they have a basic understanding of.
A toy does not have to be billed as an educational toy to be an educational toy. The basic requirements for something to be considered an educational toy are that it must teach the child about the world around them in some manner, it should be interactive, and it should promote some type of physical, emotional, or intellectual growth while being engaging and entertaining for the child.
This is a good time to encourage them to ignore traditional gender roles and foster any interests they show in subjects like science, math, and engineering. Science toys, such as a science kit or a microscope, and toys that require them to assemble working models or robotics can be beneficial for them later in life.