The ultimate list fo the best christmas toys and gifts - as decided by our readers over the course of 2022. our find the christmas top toys on this list - popular christmas presents and popular Christmas toys as well.

Santa keeps his toy list pretty close to his chubby white-haired chest and unless you happen to know a jolly old saint living in the North Pole, it’s impossible to know what each child in the country is getting this Christmas. Fortunately, with millions of visitors frequenting Fractus Learning leading up to and during the Christmas shopping season, we’re starting to get a pretty good idea of what’s going to be under the tree this year.

From fund plush dragon toys and great desk chairs to Go Karts and fun STEM subscription boxes for kids, every child has their preference. But what about the festive favorites from state to state? Thanks to our site visitors, we’ve generated some cool and insightful data hinting at what toys are going to be on top of Santa’s list this year!

1. Squishmallows

While not quite the breakout holiday toy in 2022 as it was in 2021, our readers still love the huggable line of plush toys known as Squishmallows. I can see it in my own household – my children are planning on giving some to their friends for gifts (shhh! Don’t tell!) If you live in Ohio, don’t be surprised to see one or two adorable Squishmallow plush toys waiting for you under the tree.

There’s a wide range of Squishmallows to choose from – so if you are looking for the best one to match the personality of your favorite someone, you’ll likely find it. Check out our review of the plush toys available.

Top 5 Super Squishmallow Loving States

  1. Ohio
  2. Kentucky
  3. Hawaii
  4. New Hampshire
  5. Nevada

2. Rock Tumblers

Rock tumblers bring fun and learning together in one sweet package! This data is super interesting – I never knew rock tumbling was so popular in the Great Lakes region. Rock polishing popularity peaks in Michigan, then fades closer to Arkansas and Louisiana. Maybe it’s the cooler weather, maybe it’s that the area has a wide range of different and cool-looking rocks to polish… Who knows, but if you are looking for a Christmas toy or gift for someone you love from the Midwest – check out Rock Tumblers.

It might not mean starting off by getting a rock tumbler is the best gift – there are great books and videos on the subject that someone already into the hobby would love to receive.

Top 5 Rock Tumbler Gifting States

  1. Michigan
  2. Wisconsin
  3. Indiana
  4. Maryland
  5. Texas

3. RC Trucks and Remote Control Cars

Making a comeback, RC Trucks have climbed to position two this year. It’s no surprise – Remote Control Cars and Trucks are fun to play with at home or out in a park. An RC car is easy to control and you can do a lot of cool tricks with remote control toy cars and trucks too. Once again, Florida tops the list this year – with all the sunshine residents get during the year, playing with a radio-controlled truck seems like a great idea!

Top 5 RC Truck and Car Rockin’ States

  1. Florida
  2. California
  3. District of Columbia
  4. Illinois
  5. North Carolina

4. Lego Sets

Many people think Lego sets are the best Christmas gifts.

LEGOs are once again a hot toy gift idea this holiday season! Lego kits have moved up to the fourth spot on our list of the most popular Christmas gifts for 2022. They are a yearly favorite – probably because building with LEGOs are an excellent way to spend time playing with your kids while they learn.

This year, Oregon took the top spot for readers in love with Lego. Lego friends and cities are great educational toys – the perfect gift in this festive season.

Whether you are looking for LEGO robot kits, LEGO train sets – or just great LEGO sets for all ages – expect to see many of the famous block toys wrapped under the tree come December 25th.

Top 5 Lego Loving States

  1. Oregon
  2. South Dakota
  3. Washington
  4. Alaska
  5. District of Colombia

4. Telescopes

Want to explore the night skies with your kids with one of the best telescopes? Then it seems the southern US is the place to be! Here’s hoping for clear skies in Texas this Christmas.

Telescopes has continued to hold it’s ground as a reader favorite toy. This hasn’t always been the case – for example, in 2017 interest in astronomy seemed to fade for both telescopes and binoculars –  from east to west. Last year, telescopes made a resurgence as a great toy gift.

Top 5 Telescope Treating States

  1. Texas
  2. Alabama
  3. Florida
  4. Maryland
  5. Georgia

6. Ant Farms

For the second year in a row, we have a “farm” making the list. Ant Farms have become popular with our readers in Oklahoma. It’s a great gift to teach kids about science and life.

What a great way to bring the world inside! You can set up an ant farm in just about any area of your house. For example, you could place it on a shelf or countertop and watch them march around all day long. Your child will enjoy watching ants work together to form a colony. It’s also fun to see larvae mature into adults.

The best thing about ant farms is that you don’t have to take care of the ants. It’s an easy-peasy toy. They are easy to clean up after, and you can leave them alone for days at a time.

Top 5 Ant Farm Anticipating States

  1. Oklahoma
  2. Montana
  3. District of Columbia
  4. Vermont
  5. Maine

7. Snowboards

Another first-time entrant onto the Top Gift list, snowboards look to be quite popular this year. It’s no surprise this gift is mostly popular in the north – a snowboard isn’t much fun if you don’t have snow! Vermont is the state with the most interest in snow boards in 2022.

If you have a friend or family member who loves the snow, I highly recommend getting them a snowboard. It’s so much fun to ride down snowy hills! It’s a great activity with friends, and your legs get a great workout.

Top 5 Snowboard Shreddin’ States

  1. Vermont
  2. Minnesota
  3. Maine
  4. Colorado
  5. Idaho

8. Ice Skates

Ice skates can make a great gift for kids looking for outdoor activities in the winter – if you live in the north. With the popularity of youth ice hockey across the country, I thought a southern state might move up into the top 10 this year. But no – Nevada is the closest state on our ice skate list at Number 19.

You’d expect the northern half of the country to represent when people are looking to give ice skates for kids’ presents – but to have the top three all be in New England?

While ice skates were originally invented over 5,000 by our Finnish friends from animal bones, it’s a lot easier to give the gift of a fun winter sport today. From our data, many children in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont will be getting a pair this Christmas.

Top 5 Ice Skate Indulging States

  1. New Hampshire
  2. Maine
  3. Vermont
  4. Minnesota
  5. North Dakota

9. Microscopes

A microscope is a great gift for kids. It helps them learn about the world of small things, and it’s educational. And from our data it appears like Hawaii agrees with me!

Microscopes help children see the world in a new light. They also build and foster a love for all-things STEM related – and help kids learn to take care of equipment at an early age. Some microscopes are more like toys but others are full-blown scientific instruments. From learning about plants to the small organisms that are all around us, I can see what parents are excited to give a microscope as a gift this Christmas.

Top 5 Marvelous Microscope States

  1. Hawaii
  2. Delaware
  3. Massachusetts
  4. Washington
  5. Idaho

10. Card Games

Parents are continuing to embrace a move to “traditional”, simpler toys and gifts. This certainly plays out in the interest shown in our easy card games for kids article during the holiday season. I know I love playing family card games because they give us a chance to laugh and have fun together. It’s a great way to catch up with family members and reconnect – which is hard to do with kids in college and younger ones busy with activities.

Utah takes the top spot in 2022 – so don’t be surprised to see a fun card game set in your stocking if you live in Provo or Salt Lake City.

Top 5 Card Game Crazy States

  1. Utah
  2. Vermont
  3. Kansas
  4. Idaho
  5. Minnesota

Honorable Mentions:

We have many reviews of great toys for children of all ages. We wish we had room to include them all in this article, but that just isn’t feasible. However, we want to mention some that almost made the cut this year.

Science Toys For Younger Children

3-D Puzzle Toys

Robots


How We Create This List Each Year

We first published this list way back in 2016. It’s really just a fun holiday tradition – it’s not meant to be scientific at all. However, if you are interested in the details:

First, we look at all the traffic during the year to the various toy guides we provide. We then rank these articles according to traffic, and then break down the traffic by state. We normalize based on the total number of readers to all of our articles, broken down by state. Obviously, we get more readers from California than Rhode Island, so we want to account for this bias to make sure we can see any trends.

Then for each toy that makes the top ten list, we rank the normalized results. The top ten are highlighted in the article.

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