No I would stay away from the toys. The Janome Sew Mini is good (the same as the hello kitty) or the larger one (not sure of the name but it's a 3/4 size machine) or the Kenmore half or 3/4 size machines would be a lot better. When my dd was 8 I got her a regular machine (albeit a Singer but I didn't know about the Kenmores and small Janomes back then) and it has been fine for her.