The Best Spy Kits for Kids

Unglinga Spy Kit for Kids

Great Value

This kit comes with everything your child needs to become a spy for an excellent price.

Best Overall

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If you’re on the hunt for a great spy kit for an excellent price, look no further than the Unglinga Spy Kit for Kids. This kit has everything your child could need to become an accomplished spy or detective. The coat and hat will ensure they stay undercover while all of the tools and equipment help them find clues and solve mysteries. There is a fingerprinting kit, clue markers, invisible ink pen, UV light, spy glasses, and more. It’s an excellent option that provides hours of adventurous playtime.

Pros:

• The fingerprinting kit includes step by step instructions for four different methods to get fingerprints
• This kit is priced very well for how many accessories are included
• It does a great job of encouraging your child to think critically

Cons:

• Some of the activities are too difficult for younger kids to do independently
• The spy glasses take time to get the hang of

Project Mc2 Pretend Play Super Spy Kit

On the Case

Your kids will have tons of fun with this spy starter set.

Runner Up

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Finding a solid starter set can be challenging because it needs to include the basics for your child to get started without being so overwhelming that they get turned off. That’s why the Project Mc2 Pretend Play Super Spy Kit is such a good choice. It has the perfect balance of tools and fun without any unnecessary add-ons. In addition, the included supplies are all high-quality and easy to use, even for beginners. The dust, brush, and tape all help find the bad guys and figure out the clues.

Pros:

• The black light pen is both an invisible ink pen and a black light in one, allowing your kids to write and view their notes secretly
• This set is a great gift for kids who love spy movies and books
• It helps them start learning about procedures and forensics in the criminal justice world

Cons:

• The focus is on note-taking and fingerprinting, so there isn’t much in the way of spy gear
• It’s a bit pricey for what’s included

4M KidzLabs Spy Forensic Fingerprint Kit

Dig Deeper

Help your child learn about fingerprinting and forensics with this fantastic set.

Best Forensics Kit

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The most important part of learning to be a spy is learning to find and analyze clues. That’s why we love the 4M KidzLabs Spy Forensic Fingerprint Kit. It gets kids started down the path of learning how to find, collect, and study fingerprints. There are even handy cards that they can use to record and save the prints they collect. Adding this kit to their spy tool kit will quickly elevate them from beginner to expert, all while encouraging their love of investigation.

Pros:

• This set is perfect to use as a group activity for your kids and their friends
• It includes everything they need to learn to find and lift prints from any object
• The price is very affordable

Cons:

• Limited number of cards included
• The instructions are a little unclear

SpyX Micro Gear Set

Spying Made Easy

This set allows your kiddo to see and hear everything with the included surveillance equipment.

Best Surveillance

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Surveillance is an essential part of spy work. It’s what sets a good spy apart from the rest. With that in mind, we have chosen the SpyX Micro Gear Set as one of our favorite spy kits for kids. It includes a micro ear light, micro motion alarm, micro listener, invisible ink pen and light, and a utility belt to hold it all securely. When you combine everything, you end up with a kit your child can use to listen to and see everything they need to crack any case.

Pros:

• All of the tools included really work
• Kids love having a handy utility belt
• These tools work well when you add them to an existing kit

Cons:

• We would have liked to see binoculars or some kind of camera included
• It’s expensive, but it includes more spy tech than most kits

Alex Super Sleuth Kids Spy Kit

All-Inclusive

Get everything your child needs to learn how to be a detective in one convenient kit.

Most Educational

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When it comes down to it, the best part of any spy kit is that it is educational. The Alex Super Sleuth Kids Spy Kit does an excellent job of keeping that the focus. It includes things like a decoder, forensic tools, invisible ink pen, and more, all so that your child can learn the ins and outs of becoming an effective spy. We really like that there is so much focus on reasoning and observation. Not only are those components essential to being a good spy, but they’re also important learning skills that kids will use for the rest of their lives.

Pros:

• Lots of different tools and learning activities
• It’s very inclusive and gives your child several ways to find and process clues
• The decoder helps them learn 12 different codes

Cons:

• With so much included, we wish there were a case or bag to hold it all
• Some of the tools are lightweight and not as durable as we would like

Frequently Asked Questions

How do spy kits help kids learn?

Spy kits do a great job of teaching kids to observe, reason, and think critically about clues, conversations, and scenes that they see. For example, listening devices allow them to hear a suspect’s conversations to see if they let something slip, and invisible ink pens give them a way to keep notes of that conversation without anyone else being able to see what they’ve written. Then they can go back later and review those notes.

Why are many of the kits labeled for both spies and detectives?

Spies and detectives do a lot of the same things. They use special tools and find evidence to help them figure out who is doing what. The difference is that spies often stop crimes before they happen or help solve crimes that detectives can’t figure out. Meanwhile, detectives have to follow more rules and procedures. They typically use the same tools, so it makes sense to label kits for both.