Best NERF Guns for Kids of 2023

Our favorite NERF blaster, the Ghost Ops Evader, is lightweight, easy to use, and a great size for almost any NERF warrior.

The clear plastic allows you to see the inner workings of your NERF gun as well as how many darts you have left. This is a wonderful perk for kids who are curious about how things work.

The entire thing lights up and is visible, even in low light, or you can use stealth mode and leave the lights off. A barrel extension is included, and this too lights up when connected to the gun.

The Evader is good to go as is, but there are also many accessories available to customize your NERF and make it unique to you.

Another NERF Modulus line weapon, the ECS-10 blaster is accurate up to about 27 feet, although it does shoot much further.

It comes with a banana clip and 10 darts.

As with all Modulus weapons, this one can be customized. But unlike others, there are plenty of custom possibilities straight out of the box, so there’s no need to go out and buy more NERF gear immediately.

New for 2020 and exclusive to Amazon is the updated NERF Elite 2-in-1 Demolisher.

This 2-in-1 NERF holds 10 darts, which are fired from the upper barrel via the semi-automatic, motorized acceleration trigger. The pump-action, lower barrel fires a NERF rocket.

We particularly like that it is easy to fire and light enough for smaller NERFers while being beefy enough for older kids. The stock can be removed to make the gun more compact or left on for greater stability and accuracy.

The NERF Rival Kronos comes with the blaster, eye-mask, and ten rounds of ammunition. This makes it both a well-equipped and safe option for older or more responsible NERF fans.

An internal magazine holds five rounds at once, so there’s no need to reload after every shot, while at the same time requiring your child to slow down a little and consider how to use their ammo.

The eye-mask has an adjustable elastic strap, so it is both snug and comfortable. It also has a color indicator at the top so you can change between red, blue, or white, which is an excellent feature for teams.

For high-octane craziness, nothing can beat the Ultra One motorized blaster. You can load the drum with 25 darts and let the powered acceleration trigger do all of the work.

With an advertised range of 120 feet, the Ultra One takes Ultra darts, which are made of a different foam than the regular orange NERF ammunition. This lightweight foam, combined with the fins, makes these the furthest flying darts, but the Ultra ammo is not compatible with other non-Ultra NERF weapons.

The NERF Strongarm ships in a basic brown cardboard box, which keeps costs down and means you get more NERF bang for your buck than you might otherwise.

The slide action priming mechanism does not require any tremendous amount of strength, and the rotating 6 dart capacity barrel flips open for easy reloading.

With a range of up to 90 feet, this is easily good enough for basic NERF shenanigans in the yard while still being suitable for shooting at friends and siblings from further away.

The Prometheus is loaded via an easy-to-use port on the top of the weapon, which is a good thing because this monster holds a whopping 200 Rival rounds.

Fitted with NERF’s advanced acceleration system, this weapon fires up to eight rounds a second. Even if you fill it up to the brim with rounds, it can be emptied in just 25 seconds. To achieve this rate of fire, the blaster is powered by a rechargeable NiMH battery, which is included.

Each of those rounds has a velocity of 100 feet per second, and you’ll need two hands to hold, fire, and control the gun.

The Ripchain Combat Blaster has a 25-dart capacity belt, which is loaded onto the gun via a simple to use flip-up hatch.

The duel fire mechanism allows you to shoot a single dart at a time or “slam-fire” up to 25 darts in rapid succession. Slam-fire requires you to pump the prime mechanism and pull the trigger, which takes a little getting used to. But once you get the knack, it’s easy.

Some owners have complained that the belt jams during slam-fire, but we’ve had many hours of use out of a few of these blasters and never had an issue.

There’s an extensive array of NERF and Fortnite crossover weapons showcasing a variety of styles and capacities. But the TS-R Blaster is the cream of the crop for its broad appeal and cool accessories.

Made in the style of the Fortnite heavy shotgun, the TS-R can be loaded with four NERF Mega darts at once, and there’s space in the stock to hold four more. This is useful because you can fire several shots at the included llama targets before having to go and retrieve your darts.

The blaster is pump-action and does not require a great deal of strength to use, making it especially suitable for kids at the younger end of the age spectrum.

Do you have a younger child who wants a NERF gun because the older kids have one? Or if you’ve been asked for a NERF gun and don’t think your child will really use it, then this is the blaster for you.

This simple, one-shot NERF gun is loaded by poking the Mega dart into the barrel. You prime by pulling down on the plunger at the base of the grip. There’s also room to store an additional dart on the top of the barrel and another in a slot on the handle.

The Rival Roundhouse features a fun, clear chamber that allows you to see exactly how many rounds you have left. This is especially useful in the heat of battle when you forget to count how many shots you fire.

The tactical rails give you the option to add any accessories you may need, although this blaster is an excellent weapon as is.

With a projectile velocity of 90 feet per second, it’s at the more powerful end of the range, so eye protection is especially important with this blaster.

If you want to avoid toy guns with ammunition, NERF makes an entire line of water guns called SuperSoakers.

The pump-action Scatterblast is easy for kids as young as 6 to use and fires five water streams at once. Don’t ask me why, but somehow this seems more fun than the same amount of water in a single stream.

There’s a flip-up sight if you want to aim, or it can be used with the sight down when you don’t mind who or what you hit.

The fully automatic NERF Rival Nemesis has a hopper system that’s easily refilled via the large opening on the top surface. Then simply flip a switch to power up, and you can rapid-fire up to 100 balls with a single squeeze on the trigger.

The rounds are fired at roughly 100 feet per second, and with six D cell batteries, the gun will be empty in under 45 seconds. If you pick up a rechargeable battery pack, the fire rate goes up, and the Nemesis will empty in about 30 seconds.

The Wrathbolt works like a real crossbow. You draw back the elastic string and hook it into place. Then, load one of the Zombie Strike arrows into the barrel, aim, and pull the trigger to fire.

The Zombie Strike arrows have coordinating green flights, and the tips are large, rounded, and made of foam. What is incredibly fun is that they are designed to make a whistling noise as they fly, which adds a unique element to your NERF war.