Needing help finding that perfect gift for your little cat fanatic — look no further! We’ve searched high and low to bring you the best cat toys for kids of all ages.
With all the viral cat videos assaulting us daily on social media, it’s obvious cat popularity is soaring. In fact, chances are that you have or know a little one who’s absolutely obsessed with these cute balls of fur. Purrfect!
Here’s a list of our favorite cat toys for kids, along with what we love about them and, also, what to look out for.
Editor's choice
Our opinion
Safety/Choking hazard: No
Batteries required: N/A
Age-appropriate: Ages 3+
Nursing Nina Cat (check price on Amazon) is an excellent way to teach your littles about mums nurturing their babies. Nina is made of soft microfiber and embroidered facial markings and comes with three baby kittens who attach to her, via magnets, to suckle.
What we love
- We love how you can use this toy as a learning tool for a sometimes delicate subject. It offers children a realistic view of how mothers feed their babies. How sweet is that?
Watch for
- The whiskers are course and oddly misshapen, depending on how the cat was placed in the box.
Our second choice
Our opinion
Safety/Choking hazard: Small “food” pieces
Batteries required: 2 AAA batteries included
Age-appropriate: Ages 4+
Of course, I’m giggling because this FurReal Kami Cat (check price on Amazon) eats and poops! In all seriousness though, is there a better way to teach kids about the responsibility of taking care of a real pet than with this one? Essentially, your child can feed kitty a treat, take him for a walk, and he poops.
What we love
- (Giggling again!) We love that he makes these sweet kitty sounds while eating or pooping!
Watch for
- Feeding kitty too much can clog his system, just like in real life! (Am I really giggling again?)
Best plush companion pet
Our opinion
Safety/Choking hazard: No
Batteries required: 4 C batteries included
Age-appropriate: Ages 5 months +
This life-like Plush Cat (check price on Amazon) comes with VibraPurr technology making it sound and feel like a real cat purring. It is both motion and touch-activated and makes realistic cat noises and movements. This cat will comfort and calm anyone who is distressed (terrible two’s, anyone?)
Voted the “Best Plush Companion Pet” for its true-to-life movements, it offers great training for kids who want a real pet.
What we love
- We love that, unlike real cats, it’s hypoallergenic. Your child can cuddle up with this cutie all he wants without the sneezing and itchy eyes!
Watch for
- You can sometimes hear ticking and the mechanical noises when the cat moves or “meows.”
Best plush cat
Our opinion
Safety/Choking hazard: Bootsie’s snack fish
Batteries required: 4 AA batteries included
Age-appropriate: Ages 4+
Bootsie (check price on Amazon) gave our littles lots of laughs. She has both motion and touch sensors for interactive play and has an unpredictable personality, just like a real cat, making her a great way to get your kids used a real pet. Sometimes she is happy, but will definitely let your littles know when she’s mad!
What we love
- We love that Bootsie has a personality! Though it’s mostly sunshine and rainbows, sometimes she gets annoyed, just like our real little ball of fur.
Watch for
- The included batteries only work in DEMO mode, meaning that Bootsie might not perform all her intended functions until new batteries are installed. Also, be sure to put Bootsie to bed at night. If she is left out, say near the bathroom door, you may get quite the scare during your late-night bathroom run!
Best baby touch and feel book
Our opinion
Safety/Choking hazard: No
Batteries required: N/A
Age-appropriate: Ages 4 months +
This adorable touch and feel Cat Board Book (check price on Amazon) gives us all the, well, feels! It comes with a short story and touchable textures geared for babies. There’s a cat face on the front, and a fluffy tail attached to the back of the book.
What we love
- We love the fun colors and textures for tiny baby fingers to feel. The cat tail off the back of the book is an added bonus.
Watch for
- Be careful not to let your baby suck or chew on the book. The ink can bleed and the pages might swell!
Best cat toy for girls
Our opinion
Safety/Choking hazard: No
Batteries required: N/A
Age-appropriate: Ages 3+
This won “Best Cat Toy for Girly Girls” (check price on Amazon) because it’s all things ‘princess’! It includes a pretty pink purse adorned with ribbon and tiny jewels. Inside the purse sits the soft princess kitty, complete with crown. Your little girl will love carrying this kitty around everywhere she goes.
What we love
- The kitty is super soft and adorable, while the purse is the cutest thing!
Watch for
- This is WAY smaller than it looks. Both purse and kitty fit into an adult’s palm.
Our seventh choice
Our opinion
Safety/Choking hazard: No
Batteries required: Included
Age-appropriate: Ages 3+
This cute little cat carrier (check price on Amazon) has four differently colored kittens inside! When your littles squeeze them they ‘meow’, they’re super soft and ideal for kiddies to cuddle up to.
What we love
- We love the soft material the kitties are made of and their adorable little “meows.”
Watch for
- This is smaller than it appears, about the size of a small tissue box. Also, the batteries are built-in and cannot be replaced.
Best cat game for kids
Our opinion
Safety/Choking hazard: Yes, small game pieces
Batteries required: No
Age-appropriate: Ages 4+
Feed the Kitty Game (check price on Amazon) is a great gift for your little (board) gamer! Two to five players begin the game by divvying up the wooden mice. Each takes a turn rolling the dice. If they land on an arrow, you must pass one of your mice to the player on the left. If they land on a sleeping cat, you do not lose any mice. If you roll a cat bowl, you must put one mouse into the cat bowl. The last player with mice wins!
What we love
- We love the simplicity of the game for younger players that want to be a part of family game night.
Watch for
- This game is rated for ages four and above due to the small pieces that could be choking hazards. However, it seems a little too simple for many four-year-olds to enjoy for long. Let’s not forget that this game can last longer than a game of Monopoly.
Our ninth choice
Our opinion
Safety/Choking hazard: No
Batteries required: N/A
Age-appropriate: Ages 3+
This gorgeous white Siberian Tiger replica (check price on eBay) is huge! The colorings and markings are realistic and its fur is made of soft polyester. Your little one will love cuddling up to this during naps, at bedtime, or even while watching TV.
What we love
- At over five-feet tall and 61 pounds, we totally love the large size of this guy! He’s a great cuddle buddy for your child and it can mimic your presence in her bed. You know, so she doesn’t feel the need to use her impeccable ninja skills sneaking into your bed in the middle of the night. That doesn’t just happen to me, right?
Watch for
- The biggest complaint we have is that the nose appears drawn on with a marker, and his head is stuffed with hard Styrofoam.
Our tenth choice
Our opinion
Safety/Choking hazard: No small parts
Batteries required: N/A
Age-appropriate: Ages 2+
Perhaps you loved the Japanese-animated 1989 film “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” or you’ve introduced your littles to it. Either way, this Jiji Cat (check price on Target) makes a perfect tiny companion for anyone who loves the movie, or simply loves Jiji’s cute face!
What we love
- Jiji is super soft, has a good weight to him, and is absolutely adorable!
Watch for
- If you’re expecting a large beanbag cat, Jiji is not it. He fits easily in an adult’s palm or a jacket pocket.
Our eleventh choice
Our opinion
Safety/Choking hazard: No
Batteries required: N/A
Age-appropriate: Ages 3+
Toby Cat (check price on eBay) has a colorful flower-patterned body with a striped tail. Made of super-soft butter fleece with a squishy feel, your littles will want to cuddle up on Toby all the time! He could easily become a life-long companion!
What we love
- We love Toby’s colorful patterns and soft feel. What impresses us most is that he's machine-washable. That's a super mom-score right there!
Watch for
- We couldn’t find much to complain about with Toby. Unless you think it’s a bad thing that your kids no longer play with him because you’ve claimed him for yourself, not that we would know what that’s about.
Buyer’s guide
What to look for in kids’ cat toys
It helps to know what features are important while buying children’s toys. With so much choice, produced by so many different companies, decisions can be overwhelming. We’ve compiled a list of important toy features to help guide you along.
✓ Safety: I feel like I should be saying “duh,” here because I think, as parents, we already, subconsciously, rule out those toys that look like a high-risk factor. Toys with small parts seem like an obvious “no, thanks,” especially when you have younger kids prone to choking on them! Other safety hazards include sharp edges, projectiles, and harmful materials.
✓ Batteries: Batteries and I have a love/hate relationship. Obviously, I love what they’re capable of — namely, energizing my little ones’ toys. On the other hand, I hate having to make sure I’m always stocked up, or I’ll be desperately searching for them; so it’s important to know if the toy requires batteries, what types are required, and how many are needed.
✓ Age Appropriateness: If a toy is not age-appropriate, it simply won’t be used. Older children will quickly become bored with toddler toys. Likewise, younger children are not ready for more sophisticated toys so will likely abuse them.
How do your kids benefit from playing with toy animals
Since they were babies, kids have benefitted from owning toy animals. Babies learn to feel different textures and sometimes chew or suck on toy animals. As your child grows, these toys continue to be effective learning tools.
Toddlers, developing and expressing emotions, are able to practice these emotions with their toy animals. They also start to learn animal names such as cat, dog, or mouse. Toy animals can also be bedtime companions to snuggle.
As they get older, children can still benefit from having toy animals, especially when learning to take care of a real pet. They can also begin learning about where animals live and their classifications. This video examines, in-depth, the important benefits of toy animals.
And the winner is…
Our vote for “Best Overall Cat Toy” is — drumroll — FurReal Friends Bootsie (check price on Amazon). Though we truly loved most of these toys, Bootsie won out for its overall cuteness and cat-like personality. Unlike the other plush interactive cats on our list, including Joy For All Plush Cat and The Animal House Cat Carrier, Bootsie seems to display all the moods of an actual cat!
We also think Bootsie will appeal to more age ranges, as long as you don’t let the super-littles have her toy fish treat. The Feed the Kitty game, “If I Were A Kitty” book, and Fancy Pals Pet Carrier With Princess Kitty, are all geared to really young kids and would probably not hold the interest of older kids.
The remaining plush cats, including Melissa and Doug Toby Cat, Manhattan Nursing Nina, Melissa and Doug Siberian Tiger, and GUND Jiji Cat are amazing cuddle buddies but lack the cuteness factor of Bootsie and her moods.
We hope our list helps you find the PURR-fect gift next time you’re shopping for a cat-loving little one! Notice what we just did there?!
