The Best Gifts for 5 Year Olds | 2024
Based on Age and Development and Notes on Why They Work | 2024
New to the list: Once Upon a Pancake and Skillmatics Foil Fun. For insights on the developmental benefits of these and other GGGT picks read on.
Skillmatics Foil Fun
To be honest, we were skeptical at the GGGT at how well this would work, but WOW indeed it did, and the projects were totally manageable for tiny hands, too. At five, many children’s vision most successfully focuses on small details close to them, making this a developmentally appropriate task that sets them up for success. And even though many five year olds are still awkward when it comes to fine motor control, the surprising simplicity of the foil application process proved to be manageable and successful for our five year old tester to do it independently.
Once Upon a Pancake for the Youngest Storytellers
This exciting book is unlike others: it isn’t finished! With the help of a grown-up, early-readers (and early-writers) work together using the exciting written and visual prompts to write a creative story. For children who can already read and write on their own, this is a wonderful independent task that they can celebrate and share when they are finished. As a hands-on-testing experience (and an enjoyable experience), we have spent hours of fun completing the many story prompts within, resulting in a unique project revealing a young one’s creativity. Some of the stories are written phonetically and independently, others were dictated by our little ones because their hands tired out. The stories’ prompts are silly but incredibly intentional. They teach story elements like character, setting, problem, and solution and progression, helping children to write and illustrate a beginning, middle, and end.
Outfoxed
Cooperative games are a great way for five year olds to develop their problem solving language and ability to collaborate. Gamewright’s Outfoxed sends the players on a mission to figure out who stole Mrs. Plumpert’s pot pie. Clues to this whodunit mystery are hidden around the board. On each turn a player must decide if it’s more advantageous for the team to collect a clue or pull a suspect card. Work together to do both, use an exciting evidence scanner to narrow down the sartorial traits of the thief, and compare the suspect cards to the known facts to solve the mystery, all before the fox gets away with the pie!
Osmo Pizza Co.
Osmo is one of Gift Guide Go-To’s Favorite toys for its versatility. If you’re not familiar, it’s a stand and mirror combination that turns either your iPad or Fire Tablet into a hub for endless fun and interactive learning games. (Note, you must have the base to play this game, or any of the others — if you don’t, you can check them out in the links a few lines up). Pizza Co. is genuinely a great time, even for the adults who might join in. You are tasked with taking over a pizza shop while the owner takes a vacay. You are in charge of making pizzas according to the orders placed by customers who enter the shop. Construct a pizza, send it into the oven, and make it to the other side of the counter to collect payment and even distribute change. Watch out for rush hour when things get hectic and you have to really stay on it. At the end of the day, your sales total, minus the supplies you had to buy, equals the profit which children can use to decorate the store, upgrade equipment, and of course save in the bank. And you can adjust the settings from everything as easy as eliminating the money all together to as challenging as integrating fractions and concepts like subtraction with regrouping. A system and a game that will truly grow with a child for years to come!
Stomp Rockets Jr.
These classic kid-powered rockets are endlessly enjoyable. Load, aim, and jump to watch the air-powered rockets soar. This toy encourages gross motor development and balance in children and entices them to get outside in any season. This kit includes glow in the dark rockets so kids can even play outside when it starts to get dark. Add a book like this one to the gift to teach about the science of force and help the five year old understand the power they are harnessing to make their rocket soar.
Paint by Sticker: Zoo Animals
A Gift Guide Go-To favorite, Paint by Sticker books are engaging for the whole family, especially the five year olds. Simply tear out the canvas page and matching sticker page along the perforations in the book and get started. Each empty space and sticker has a number. Find the matching ones, peel, place, and you are on your way to a mosaic masterpiece, the making of which helps the child to practice number recognition and matching skills.
Bink and Gollie: The Completely Marvelous Collection
Join two unique young companions on their wacky and wonderful adventures in this well-written and heavily illustrated (think graphic novel meets classic children’s book) series all compiled here into one great book. Perfect for competent young readers to enjoy themselves and emerging readers to picture-walk their way through, but also wonderful to read aloud to a child.
Learning Resources Beaker Creatures Alien Experiment Lab
Watching science concepts come to life through play never gets old and if you're looking for a great gift for a five year old, this may indeed be the first experience of just that. Join two beaker creatures on experiments that explain the why behind slime, dough, fizzing reactions, and more. This kit comes with the tools and experiment book you need to complete the experiments. Just add a few common house-hold ingredients and the help of an adult to enable the budding chemist to question, hypothesize, and conclude about exciting scientific wonderings.
Walkie Talkies for Epic Games of Hide and Seek
Developmentally, five year olds have much better control of their large movements such as running and jumping. In addition, socially-emotionally they typically like rules and structure (or at least typically in the first half of their fifth year). The classic game of Hide and Seek is the perfect confluence of these two. Add in a walkie talkie for some added fun and team work and the “finders” can communicate with one another to narrow in on the “hiders.” This exciting new gift also sparks a world of other possibilities for young children to play collaboratively with their peers and family members and play imaginatively.
Decorative Scissors
Scissors may at first seem uninteresting or even silly but five year olds LOVE them! By age five, most children have mastered the art of cutting and, if they have, these wacky scissors provide hours of entertainment and creativity. Pair them with some basic construction paper and glue and they will craft away, practicing fine motor skills and expanding their creativity simultaneously.
Lift-the-flap Questions and Answers about Dinosaurs
A Gift Guide Go-To Favorite, Usborne Lift-the-Flap Books are always a great gift pick. This book has engaging illustrations, exciting flaps filling the pages, and facts that will blow their minds. Young children can immerse themselves into their favorite worlds and discover answers to many of their wonderings. From dinosaurs, to space, from an atlas to a Q&A on animals, a child’s favorite topic is sure to be covered.
Playmobil School Building
Playmobil is a great imaginative play option for older children because of its many movable and interchangeable parts. This set in particular is a fit for five year olds because many are experiencing elementary school and a bus ride for the first time. Children can act out from experience what happens on a bus and in a school environment, allowing them to step outside their usual role of student and become whoever they wish to be. Plus, free playing with prompts or props is a great way for children to express their emotions.
Crazy Forts
This 69-piece creative fort building kit is a Gift Guide Go-To Favorite that has been in play for years! Children simply connect the sticks to the balls to construct houses, tunnels, igloos, or whatever they dream up. This brand’s high quality designs and durable plastics make all the difference in tiny hands being able to successfully attach the pieces and keep them that way. (We have tested several brands.) Add towels or bedsheets to enclose part of the structure and even bring in pillows to make a fort feel like home.
Found it! Indoor Scavenger Hunt by Skillmatics
An action packed card game, Found It! can be played by as few as one person and as many as you would like. The challenge cards send children around the house to collect objects based on shape, size, location, beginning letter sound, and more. Be the first to get back and win the card (the first one to collect 7 cards wins the game) or play collaboratively and see how many items you can find with your team that meet the challenge before time is up. (This is a Gift Guide Go-To’s made-up set of rules so you won’t find a timer in the box, but we do ensure it’s a fun and team-building twist on the included rules.)
Wiggle Car Ride-On Toy
Young children seem to never outgrow the thrill of a ride-on toy. This kid-powered vehicle doesn’t have batteries, gears, or pedals but rather uses the twisting motion of the handle bars to propel them forward (or, in reality, side to side). All they need is a flat and smooth surface and off they go. Note, it does require some assembly so for the full gifting experience you may want to take the time to assemble the Wiggle Car before giving.
My First Digital Camera
This durable, easy to use, and inexpensive camera is a perfect gift for a five year old. Measuring roughly 3.5” x 2.5” it is a manageable size for small hands and of course it comes with a long strap to prevent droppage. It has a removable 32 GB SD card that easily pops into an adult’s computer for uploading. Five year olds are sure to find this feature entertaining: the ability to take pictures using frames and picture props. The child can shoot the picture on the moon or place glasses on one of their subjects for added fun. And because it can be hard for young children to close one eye at a time, the camera is designed so they can use the screen in place of the viewfinder.
Educational Insights Design & Drill Space Circuits
A 52-piece set, the Educational Insights Design & Drill Space Circuits is an empowering STEM toy for any Five year old. Children first choose one of the twenty space missions they wish to complete. Next, they place it on the base and overlay the corresponding circuit pieces. Then they use the working drill to affix the plastic screws in place. Finally they can watch their hard work come to life. Children engage in thrilling early engineering skills to produce circuits that illuminate and spin.
Hopscotch Mat from Melissa & Doug
This skid-proof easy to store hopscotch mat is a fun way for five year olds to practice gross motor development inside the house and to meet their need for physical play. While harnessing their developing and new-found bilateral coordination, children practice alternating from jumping to hoping. When they have mastered this, they are ready to move to the traditional hopscotch game rules. Age appropriate gross motor planning comes into play as they figure out how to deviate from the hop-jump pattern in order to successfully skip the bean bag square.
Learning Resources Botley the Coding Robot 2.0
A 78-piece screen-free STEM toy, Botley 2.0 is ready to go right out of the box (after you add batteries of course). Children can engage with Botley in a variety of ways. With a simple flip of a switch he can be moved from coding mode to line-following mode and this kit includes the pieces for both. In line-following mode children assemble large puzzle pieces in a configuration of their choice, constructing a continuous path for Botley, then off he goes following the lines. In coding mode children set-up a course using materials of their own or the included ones, then use the simple remote to plan the route. Botley follows the directions the child has coded into the remote. Here, children can practice their problem-solving skills as they set up courses for Botley, plan his route, iterate the plan to improve it, and finally feel the satisfaction of success.
eeBoo Planet Earth 100-Piece Puzzle
We at Gift Guide Go-To have never found an eeBoo product we didn’t like, but this puzzle has stood out as a favorite for multiple reasons. First, it’s made of high quality materials (90% of which happen to be recycled) which means we have completed this puzzle dozens of times with little to no signs of wear. The puzzle pieces are a great size for five year old hands to manipulate, and the puzzle is just challenging enough to keep a child motivated and engaged without the task becoming overwhelming. Finally, our favorite part, this beautifully illustrated puzzle depicts endangered and vulnerable animals correlated to an illustration which names each of the species in the puzzle. This simple add-on authentically sparks deep conversation while building oral language skills and awareness around our planet’s geography, habitats, cultures, human activity, and conservation.
Toniebox
A tried-and-true Gift Guide Go-To favorite, the Toniebox audio player is an innovative screen-free listening experience that inspires and entertains young children now and in the years to come. This easy to operate system is designed with young listeners in mind; after the initial configuration with the help of an adult, a child can simply place the Tonie Figurine on top of the box and enjoy its content, pinch an ear to adjust the volume, and tap the side to skip tracks. This starter set comes with Playtime Puppy Tonie who plays classic children's songs. Build their collection from the long list of available Tonies designed to please every child: from Disney Princess favorites to Dr. Seuss and My Little Pony. And our “big kid” favorites include National Geographic’s incredibly informative nonfiction Tonies on penguins, dinosaurs, and whales. This toy is sure to be a hit now and in the years to come (favorites like The Witches and Matilda from authors like Roald Dahl are rated for ages 6+).
Learning Resources Tumble Trax Magnetic Marble Run
Tumble Trax is a magnetic marble run that affixes easily to any magnetic surface in a child’s home. Five year olds explore concepts such as balance and motion as they construct ramps in an order of their choice and send a marble flying downward. Children develop skills such as perseverance and determination as they, just like scientists do, iterate and modify their plans to improve on the design. The kit also comes with pre-planned routes, prompts, and challenge questions to promote critical thinking and problem solving. An engaging and award-winning toy that is sure to make a great gift!
