Looking for a list of the best toys for 5-year-olds?
I have some amazing learning and play toy ideas that will be a HUGE hit!
It’s the best feeling to give gifts to kids that they will enjoy and use repeatedly. It drives me crazy when toys just sit on the shelves for months and they don’t get played with. I promise you, with the toys on this list, that won’t happen!
Let’s get started with my list of The 31 BEST Toys for 5-Year-Olds!
#1: Connetix Magnet Blocks
Connetix Magnet Blocks are one of the most popular open-ended toys on the market.
Kids can build many different structures with them, make patterns, create shapes, put them on the fridge, the list can go on and on. They are definitely one of the best toys for 5-year-olds.
Ways to Play
A. Build structures
Build amazing structures with Connetix Tiles! Let your little one’s creative juices flow by allowing them to come with their own design ideas or help them come up with a plan. Create castles, a car garage for their vehicles, or a home for their toys!
My kids love dinosaurs at the moment! They love building dinosaur cages!
B. Practice letter/number learning
Write on the blocks using a chalk marker! It wipes right off using a wet wipe. Make a letter match or create a number line. Have even more fun by doing this on the dishwasher, fridge, or even the garage door outside!
C. Color Sorting
Work on those fine motor and color matching skills with this fun sorting activity. It’s SO simple to put together and the kids will love being able to use kid-friendly tweezers.
#2: Osmo
One of my best toys for 5-year-olds is Osmo!
When I talk to teachers that have Osmo in their classrooms, every one of them has said GREAT things about it!Osmo is an interactive gaming system for learning! Say what?!
Yes, kids love Osmo because they are playing games. I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel too badly about some screen time when it engages my kids in learning.
When children play with Osmo, they are doing hands-on learning games that involve math, science, and art! The tablet doesn’t come along with the Osmo; a piece goes on top of your tablet.
Want to learn more about Osmo? Take a look at the following review!
#3: LEGOs
LEGOs have quickly become one of our favorite toys around here. We have these regular sets of LEGOs along with the DUPLO blocks. My kids love both!
This set is one of the best toys for 5-year-olds because they can create whatever they want.
This is a great set because you can build a whole bunch of different things; it’s not a themed set.
Ways to Play
1. Build structures-We buy LEGOs to build, right?! Let your kiddos go to town and build whatever structure they like. It doesn’t even have to be anything specific. My kids love to be creative and make their own buildings from video games they like to play, imaginary castles, etc.
2. Letter building- Play and learn by creating letters of the alphabet with my LEGO letter-building worksheets! Letters A-Z are available!
CLICK HERE TO GRAB THE LEGO BUILDING WORKSHEETS!
or… if you have older ones, you can practice
Word building- I love using LEGO blocks to work on spelling and sight word building with my 5-year-old. What a fun way to practice sight words, right? Write letters on the blocks with a dry-erase marker to build specific words. You can write the full word on a bigger LEGO piece, and then they can use the blocks to match up the letters to create the word.
3. Bath time with blocks- You will thank me after this recommendation! Bring your LEGO blocks into the bath with your little ones. They will love filling them up with water and also creating things that can float in the water!
RELATED: Teaching Resources
#4: Color Chemistry Set
This science set is one of my favorites on my list of best toys for 5-year-olds! There are hours of fun to be had using this set.
The Crayola Color Chemistry Set focuses on both science and art with it’s 50 different experiments that you can try, including making your own colorful volcano, bouncing colored bubbles glow in the dark worms, and of course, slime!
Age Level: This toy does say that it’s for 7+, but my daughter was doing the experiments with us at age starting at age 3.
Adult supervision is needed for them to do these safely and correctly!
I will advise that some of these activities can be quite messy! Place an art tray down to help with the cleanup.
How this toy can help your child learn
a. This toy helps your children learn about mixing colors to create a new color! Kids can discover how to combine two colors to make a new color.
b. By doing experiments like the erupting volcano, your child will learn how mixing certain elements can cause a chemical reaction.
#5: Butterfly Garden
This butterfly garden had to make my list of the best toys for 5-year-olds!
These kits have been something we look forward to getting every year. The kids get to learn about each insect’s lifecycles and learn how to take care of each one to set them free outdoors when they are ready!
The picture you see above is what the kit comes with and the caterpillars in their chrysalis!
How your child can learn from this toy:
a. They will get to the life cycle of a butterfly see up close! How cool is that? They will learn how a live caterpillar turns into a chrysalis and then transforms into a beautiful butterfly!
b. Your child will be able to take care of butterflies by providing them with nourishment.
c. They will learn why it’s important to let the butterflies go in their natural habitat, and they can also learn about flowers that could provide them with nourishment outdoors!
RELATED: 20 Proven Plants that Attract Butterflies (2019)
#6: STEM Building Blocks
STEM building blocks are TOO much fun! It’s perfect for the list of the best toys for 5-year-olds.
There are so many different objects that you can build and create with these blocks. What I love most about these is that toddlers can even use the tools to make designs! My 3 year old helps me build what he wants, and he is always very eager to do it himself.
Ways to Play
1. Create objects in the booklet-There are 42 designs provided in this booklet for you and your little one to create. There are things like animals, cars, letters, and numbers. What a fun way to practice letter and number learning! These are varied levels of designs for a variety of ages.
2. Race vehicles- Create two types of cars and race them around the house. You can even make a painter’s tape track like the one you see below to make the race more realistic!
3. Design your own ideas- One of my favorite things to do with these blocks is to let kids create whatever they want. Often, we end up creating homes or vehicles for their toys to ride or play in!
RELATED: STEM Toys For Kids
#7: Puzzles
I love puzzles because they help kids use their critical thinking skills! I especially love puzzles like this that can help kids learn after they build! It’s a great addition to the best toys for 5-year-olds.
This space puzzle is amazing from Mideer products. This one is especially unique from other puzzles out there because it’s a circle shape! The kids wanted to create this one over and over!
Ways to play
A. Build the puzzle
Work on this puzzle as a family or challenge your child to build it on their own! This is a puzzle that grows with kids, which makes it perfect for preschoolers and early elementary-aged kids!
B. Teach the planets
Build this puzzle and then review the planets with your kids! Also, teach them some important facts about each planet.
C. Shape Building
Here’s another Mideer puzzle product we love! This is a magnet set that kids can build vehicles with!
My 3-year-old LOVED this puzzle. This is great for STEM skills.
Talk about different forms of transportation with this fun magnetic puzzle. Also, have the kids work on building skills by showing the cards to the kids to see if they can build each one!
#8: Me Reader
We’ve had our Me Reader for about 3 years. In the beginning, my daughter just listened to the stories; now, she is actually reading the stories without the Me Reader.
These stories have been her favorite ones to read lately! She is so proud of herself for reading these books. This set is perfect for the best toys for 5-year-olds.
There are other characters available in these ME readers! We have the Disney Princess ones, and this Mickey set!
Ways to Play:
1. Listening– The Me Reader is designed for your little one to flip the book’s pages and click on the shape that matches the page to hear the story. If your little one is too little to do this, you can do this part for them.
2. Looking at the pages– Looking and imagining what’s happening in the story is an excellent activity for kids. They will create ideas about the story, discover different characters, and learn about different settings.
3. Reading– Once your child gets old enough, they can start reading the books on their own without the Me Reader. Even if they have memorized the words to the book, this is still helpful because they see the words on the page and recognize them.
RELATED: Engaging Sight Words Activities For Kids
#9: Doll Houses
We use our dollhouse for an unbelievable amount of play scenarios! It’s a great addition for the best toys for 5-year-olds.
My kids just come up with new ways to play with different figures/dolls each time we play.
I know there are a ton of different dollhouses out there. I like this one because there is SO much room to place the dolls and play. Some of the houses are too small, and the kids can’t actually play with their Barbies or other figures!
Ways to Play
1. Free play- Let the kids have fun playing with the toys included with the house and their toys. They will have so much fun just playing out a variety of different play scenarios on their own! My kids just love lining up their toys in a row on our dollhouse.
2. Play games about things that happen at home- Play bedtime routine, dinner, practice talking about the potty, etc. These real-life situations that occur at home are so much fun to play out with their little toys.
3. Add something new into play-Bring in some other toys for different types of play with the dollhouse. For example, you can bring in a tea set, doctor’s kit, or animal toys to engage with the dolls to bring new play experiences in.
#10: Teaching Time Clock
A wonderful skill to start teaching is how to tell time! My 5-year-old is constantly asking me what time it is or how long it is until we leave to go somewhere!
It’s a life skill that we use EVERY DAY!
This clock’s name is Telly. He’s an interactive teaching time clock!
Ways to Play
1. Exploring the clock– First, just let your child move the hands of the clock. Telly will tell them what time it is when they stop moving the hands. This will give them the feel of how this toy works!
2. Teaching– To start, teach your child about each o’clock (1:00, 2:00, 3:00, etc.). After that, I showed my daughter the half hours, then 15 and 45 minutes. Then we went into going around the clock counting by 5’s.
3. Show digital and analog time– You can show your kids both the digital and analog time on this clock! They should try to read the digital clock’s time and then move the hands on the clock to show what it would look like on the analog clock.
Interested in some FREE printables about clocks?
Click HERE for your Clock Learning Packet!
#11: Botley: The Coding Robot
Introducing the concept of coding to your child is wonderful! It’s something that they learn now in school, so giving them a start to understanding how it works at home is an excellent experience!
Botley makes my list of the best toys for 5-year-olds because it’s a toy to start learning how coding works!
Take a look at this video to see how Botley works and all the fun things you and your child can do with him.
How your child can learn from this toy:
1. Your child will gain coding skills by learning how to use the remote to program Botley to do specific things like moving forward, backward, spin, follow lines, go through an obstacle course, and more.
2. They will use problem-solving skills and critical thinking skills if they aren’t doing it correctly to try to figure out what to do to make Botley do the things they want him to do.
3. Learn about Botley’s hidden features and see how they can use those features to have even more fun learning how to code him to do those secret features!
#12: Doctor Kit
It’s so funny because when it’s actually time to head to the doctors, my kids are NOT excited most of the time. But, when it comes to playing doctor, well, that’s a completely different story.
We love to play doctor at our house. We have these fun toys that we use on each other to play and also our other toys!
Ways to Play
1. Stuffed animal check-ups– Bring in the toys for a check-up! Use their favorite toys to go to the doctor’s office to feel better again!
2. Play dentist– There are also some dentist tools inside this doctor’s kit! Pretend like one of you are the patient, and one is the dentist. Talk about the importance of keeping our teeth clean by flossing and brushing!
3. Talk about health– Talk about ways to keep your body healthy when playing with these toys. Discuss with your little ones why people go to the doctors to get well checks, and when they are sick. Also, talk to them about the importance of taking medicine to feel bad if they are sick (we struggle with this sometimes because they are scared to take medicine), so if you role play it, it might be easier!
To go along with this toy, I also have a packet on community helpers! Talk about what community helpers are and what they do for a job.
Click here to check out my Community Helpers Learning Packet!
*14 pages with 3 different activities included.*
Activity #1: Color in the community helper and circle which career they have. Then color in the pictures at the bottom that go along with that community helper!
Activity #2: Community helper match-up: Draw a line from the community helper to the correct supply.
Activity #3: Community helper puzzle cards- Cut out both the community helper and the description. Match up the community helper to the right description!
RELATED: Teaching Resources
#13: Water Beads
Fine motor activities are essential for kids to practice because they help develop the small muscles in your child’s hands to help them to important daily activities.
These include things like zipping up their jacket, buttoning buttons on a shirt, tying their shoes, and handwriting! This is a great set for the best toys for 5-year-olds.
These are water marbles! If you haven’t ever heard of them, this is a MUST-try activity. It’s amazing for sensory play as well as fine motor skills.
How to use water marbles
1. You have to let the water marbles sit in water for a while so they can grow. The longer you let them sit, the bigger they will become!
2. Once they reach full size, dump them out into a sensory bin.
3. Have your kids use the fine motor tools provided to play with the water beads! When we play, I like to have them sort them out by color. We use silicone cupcake holders to play and sort with!
RELATED: Best Sensory Bins For Kids
#14: Barbies
Barbies are such a HUGE hit over here at our house at the moment. My 5-year-old just can’t get enough of all her Barbies and changing their outfits!
What I love about Barbies is the fact that they are open-ended. She has brought them in the bathtub, in our pool, on vacation, and plays with them in her dollhouse.
Ways to Play
1. Dress up– Change the Barbies outfits! It’s so much fun putting on different outfits and pretending to play in different scenarios with your little ones.
2. Dollhouse play– Barbies fit along perfectly with a dollhouse. We played for so many hours having the Barbies go to different rooms in the house.
3. Bathtub play– We bring some of our Barbies into the pool or tub with us! We don’t like to get their outfits ruined, so we make sure it’s a swim Barbie. Bring in a toy boat for even more fun!
#15: Action Figures
Here are some action figures for the kiddos who love superheroes! This is great for the best toys for 5-year-olds list!
These action figures just make me so happy! These are on my list for my little guy this year!
I just love that you get ALL the action figures in this set! I can just imagine all the fun we would have with these.
Ways to Play
1. Playtime– just let your little one’s imagination run the play! Allow them to come up with ideas on situations where the superheroes will save the day!
2. Playhouse– So I went on searching for a superhero-themed playset, and I found the cutest one!
These dolls would go along well with this house! Plus, you get the other items included, which makes it more fun to play along with the characters! What great imaginative play.
3. Learn and Play– Kids LOVE when you bring in their likes during learning. While practicing some sight words or math facts, have the kids talk like the figures to answer the questions. Believe me; they will love it!
RELATED: Sight Words Activities For Preschoolers
#16: Moonlight Stories
Do you do a bedtime story with your kids at night?
The Moonlight Story set is a different way to tell stories. Turn off the light and watch the story unfold by listening and watching the pictures appear on the wall! We got this last year and my 5 year-old couldn’t get enough of it.
There aren’t a whole bunch of different ways to play with this toy; Ijust had to include it on my list because it’s such a neat spin on reading!
#17: Cash Register
Looking for a fun way to introduce the concept of money to your little ones?
A toy cash register can be used for so many different play scenarios to show your child about the different coins, dollars, and how to give change.
Ways to Play
1. Coin sorting- Coin sorting activities are a great way to introduce the concept of money to your kids. I have a Money Learning Packet available for you to work on these skills with your kids. Use the coins and the dollars to bring these worksheet activities to life to help your kids learn about money.
CLICK HERE to grab your FREE Money Learning Packet
2. Play store- This can be any type of store! The grocery, ice cream shop, restaurant, Starbucks, Target are some of our favorite pretend scenarios. Have your child ring up the items, type it in the cash register, and then return change if needed! This is a play-based learning strategy that will help teach the concept of money.
3. Add money-While playing store, switch roles, and have them be the person who buys the products. Work together with your child to add the money to see if they have enough to buy each item. Inside the Money Learning Packet, there are also activities to add pennies, dimes, quarters, and dollars, along with this fun who has more activity!
RELATED: Teaching Resources
#18: Blocks Rock!
These blocks are perfect for the best toys for the 5-year-olds list! We have a set, and we just adore them! There are so many learn and play activities that you can do with these.
I love STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) toys. They have the kids use critical thinking skills as well as their creativity.
Ways to Play
1. Color Match
The kids got to be active in this activity! I placed some colored tape on the floor. Then, the kids matched up the colored blocks with the correct squares on the floor.
2. Math Comparisons
Grab my FREE printable on my website for these blocks! These are great for work on math comparisons like greater than, less than, and equal. Use a dry erase folder to do this activity over and over again.
Click HERE for your FREE Blocks Rock Math Sheet
3. Building Competitions
Use their building cards to do building competitions to see who can build their towers faster. Ring the bell when they are finished!
Check out the video below to see how these activities are done!
RELATED: STEM Toys for Kids
#19: Slime Kit
Are your kids obsessed with slime as much as mine? The Nickelodeon slime kit is the best! I don’t know why this isn’t actually at the top of my list!
My kids play with this slime kit almost daily! Slime is just a blast to play with!
*There are some parts in this toy, so make sure to have a parent watching children who are younger playing with this toy.*
When playing with slime, I also suggest grabbing an art smock. This way, your little ones’ clothes won’t get slime all over it when they are playing!
Ways to play
1. Create blends– There are SO many different colors to choose from in this set. Mix colors to see what they would change into! See if you mix the colors if they would make a new color!
2. Add in the extras– You get some little foam balls, pom-poms, and sequins to add in the same. This will change the consistency. This is a great sensory activity for the kids to explore!
3. Cover toys– Grab those TOOB toys or other small figures and cover them with the slime! My kids love doing this activity the most. They love pretending and imagining by doing this activity.
#20: Interactive Globe
Into traveling? Or have a little one interested in learning about our world? This is the BEST interactive globe out there.
We just got this globe a few months back, and we really enjoy learning about all the different countries.
Ways to Play
1. Exploring the globe– Let your child use the interactive pen to click around the globe and start learning about different areas of our world!
2. Buttons to learn– Use the buttons at the bottom of the globe to guide learning. There are 5 functions (nature, continents and oceans, countries, cities and capitals, and U.S.A Cities and States.
3. Questions– There is a find it mode on each of the categories on the globe! This tests kid’s knowledge about what they have learned, and you can earn points! I love this way of checking for understanding.
#21: Sports balls
Yes, that simple, a ball! These are great for the list of the best toys for 5-year-olds.
There are ENDLESS amounts of gross activities that can be done with a ball for kids. I am a physical education teacher, and one of the must-haves in my gym is a bunch of playground balls.
Ways to Play
1. Throw and catch-Practice throwing and catching skills with the football and basketball! Show your child the correct way to throw the ball underhand and overhand. These are critical gross motor skills that will help them later when playing sports and games at school with their friends. Make sure to have them step with one foot towards their target, throw with one hand, and aim for their partner’s hands!
RELATED: 14 PROVEN Basketball Drills For 5-Year-Olds
2. Kick and trap- Soccer is one of the best games for little ones because it’s all about running and kicking! Also, work on trapping and passing skills by passing back and forth with this soft soccer ball!
RELATED: 26 Soccer Activities for 5-Year-Olds
3. Aiming skills- With the soccer ball, practice how to kick the ball to a target like a soccer goal or in-between cones. If you also have a smaller basketball hoop, you can practice aiming skills in the basket! Your kiddo will be a step above the rest if they start practicing these gross motor skills at a young age. Plus, it’ll boost their confidence if they practice these skills! They will be more willing to play in the future if they know some skills already.
#22: Fit Bit for Kids
My 5-year-old just loves her Fitbit! She loves to check it to see how many steps she has gotten for the day.
Wearing a Fitbit helps kids want to move and stay active! They will get excited to see if they could beat their previous steps from the day before.
Ways to Play
1. Exercise together– Challenge your children to exercise with you! It’s a great way to bond together and teach your kids the importance of staying active to keep your body healthy. They should wear their Fitbit to see how their steps will increase when they move.
2. Create a family fun day– Due to COVID-19, I created a Virtual Field Day for my physical education students. I also created it to share with all of you! Check out my field day activities that you can do at home with your kids to exercise and have a great family fun day. Have the kids wear their Fitbits so they can track how many steps they took throughout the day!
CLICK HERE for the Virtual Field Day Link!
3. Try to beat the previous day– Have a calendar set up so your child can track their progress throughout the week! Set goals together to see if they can beat their previous day’s score.
RELATED: 20 AWESOME Exercises For Kids
#23: Tricycle
We love getting outside as a family to take bike rides! It’s so nice that my daughter can ride her tricycle on her own now! This is a must-have on the best toys for 5-year-olds list.
Learning how to ride a bike is something all children learn how to do! Building their skills by getting a tricycle is a critical step in learning how to ride a bike! This is how they learn how to steer, keep balance, and use those legs to move the pedals.
Ways to Play
Materials to extend learning: sidewalk chalk and toddler’s helmet
1. Start slow- Whenever you introduce a new concept, have your little ones start slow. Show them how to use the tricycle correctly. Also, show them the importance of putting on a helmet correctly whenever using the tricycle.
2. Practice on a flat wide surface-I’d recommend starting in your driveway or a wide-open area. This way, they won’t steer themselves right into the grass. Once they get the hang of learning how to steer, they can go to narrow areas like the sidewalk.
3. Hills– Once they get more confident riding, have them try to ride up some small hills. This will challenge them a bit more and get them a little more exercise!
RELATED: Outdoor Toys for Toddlers
#24: Vtech Write and Learn Creative Center
I am always looking for fun ways for my kids to learn! Children are more likely to engage in a learning activity for a more extended time if they are enjoying themselves.
When it comes to writing, it’s a little more complicated because kids need the chance to practice with worksheets. However, there are a few toys out there that are great for early writing skills!
This writing center has 6 activity modes to practice upper and lower case letters. It also has fun stamps and stencils so kids can practice making shapes and different objects as well.
How to help your child learn with this toy
A. Show your child how to hold a pencil before they begin!
B. Have your child choose which letter they want to practice writing so they can see what it’s supposed to look like on the screen above the writing center.
C. If they are just beginners, have them hold the pencil along with you to get a better understanding of how the letter is made.
D. Have them practice writing the upper case and lower case letters on the writing center together to start connecting that they are the same letters even though they look different.
E. You can also practice writing numbers, their name, and making shapes!
RELATED: FUN Handwriting Activities For Preschoolers
#25: Hot Wheels
Hot Wheels cars had to be on the list of the best toys for 5-year-olds.
Many people mentioned Hot Wheels! I love being able to share ideas with everyone!
How cool is this set?! I’m so excited to grab this for my little guy; I know he’s just going to love it. He loves dinosaurs and cars! The fact too that it’s a storage area and has tracks is awesome.
Ways to Play
1. Race cars– Put the cars on the tracks and watch them! See them go through the dinosaur’s mouth!
2. Storage– My son loves lining up toys and having particular spots for them. He’s going to love just placing the cars back in their specific spots!
3. Connecting tracks– This set can also connect to other track sets if you have others. This is a really cool feature of Hot Wheels products! I love that you can mix and match them.
This is an example of how other tracks can be connected to this garage! This would seriously be hours of playing time for my kids!
#26: Sensory Table
One of the most beloved toys that we use outdoors is our sand table. I especially love the one that is shown below because there is a space for sand and water!
There are so many ways to play with this table! I love that it has two sections and there is a cover for it so it won’t get dirty inside if you want to keep it outdoors!
Ways to Play
Materials to extend play: magnetic letters/numbers
1. Sand handwriting- Have your kids practice upper and lower case letters, numbers, and writing their own name in the sand! Grab my FREE letter and number traceable, so they can look at each letter or number’s shape so they can recreate it in the sand.
Upper Case Traceable Letter Cards
Lower Case Letter Traceable Cards
Traceable Number Cards
2. Alphabet search– Do your kids love to play searching games? Hide some letters or numbers in the sand. When they come across one, have them tell you which one they found! You can also use my FREE Alphabet sheet so they can match it up like a puzzle.
3. Bury toys– This is kind of the same concept but with toys that they love! We hid our play bugs in the sand, and my son wanted to do this over and over again. Find some toys that won’t get ruined if you put them in the sand and see if your kids can find them all! They can also count the items they found to add some learning into play.
RELATED: FUN Handwriting Activities For Preschoolers
#27: Preschooler Trampoline
Does your child have a lot of energy that they need to burn off positively? This is a great addition for the best toys for 5-year-olds.
Look no further! Toddlers can jump their little hearts out in a safe way since this trampoline has netting around it to keep them inside the trampoline while they play!
Ways to Play:
Materials to enhance play: mini basketballs and inflatable pool basketball hoop.
1. Free play- Let your kiddo jump their little hearts out! They will love just getting the chance to explore the trampoline and see what fun tricks they can do on it! They will burn off some energy and get some great exercise by using the trampoline.
2. Basketball play- Set up the inflatable pool hoop on the trampoline. Your little one will LOVE jumping and shooting it into the hoop. They can work on aiming skills from farther away as well!
3. Practice types of jumps- Practicing jumping skills develop gross motor skills! Here is a list of jumps to practice: straight, tuck, straddle, half turns, whole turns, and frog jumps!
RELATED: 20 AWESOME Exercises for Kids
#28: Arts and Crafts Kit
This arts and crafts set is perfect for the best toys for 5-year-olds!
This art set has everything you could want when making crafts, art projects, or just creating whatever they want!
Ways to Play:
1. Threading– There are a bunch of bright-colored pipe cleaners and beads in this kit. Practice some fine motor skills by threading the beads on the pipe cleaners! You can even have them find the letters of their name and put them in order on the pipe cleaner.
2. Popsicle stick crafts– Popsicle stick crafts are so fun to make and simple! Create fun faces using the googly eyes and pom-poms! T
3. Get creative– Put all the pieces and parts out and let them go to town and create whatever they want to make! Having a kit like this will be exciting for the kids to experiment with new supplies!
#29: Kid’s Camera
A camera is the best toy for 5-years-olds because they LOVE taking pictures.
This way, they won’t take your phone to take photos, am I right?!
We have this camera, and it has been a major hit with my daughter! She can take as many pictures as she wants! It’s really heavy-duty too, which is nice in case it gets dropped.
Ways to Play
1. Take photos– The main reason you want the camera is for the kids to take photos! Upload their pictures to the computer if you want to save any.
2. Add fun backgrounds– Kids have the ability to add on some fun backgrounds or silly pictures into their photos. They can have fun adding their face into the backgrounds!
3. Games– There are a few games that they can play on the camera. 3-year-olds may struggle to play some of the games, but it’s nice that they can use it for years to come, and they will get better at it.
#29: Fire 7 Kids Edition Tablet
While this is not really a “toy,” this tablet has educational games and hundreds of FREE books!
We have this tablet for our kids, and it is perfect for young children to use. You can also link your Amazon account to the table so all the items you download from your account will show up on the Fire!
Ways to Play:
1. Play educational games– There are tons of educational games that your little ones can play. When you choose to do screen time, it always feels better when they are learning, doesn’t it?
My favorite learning games
a. ABC Mouse- you have to have a monthly subscription for this program, but it has 100’s of educational age-appropriate games for your kids.
b. Teach Your Monster To Read- this is a phonics and reading game!
c. 123 Numbers- Trace and counting game
2. Read books– My favorite part about having the Amazon Fire is having access to an incredible amount of FREE books. It’s fun to look through them and read them with your little ones.
3. Watch shows– Going on a road trip or plane ride? We use this tablet for the kids to be able to watch shows when we are traveling. We don’t like to use it the entire time, but it is nice to have something for them to do when they are just sitting there for a while.
#30: Chutes and Ladders
Chutes and Ladders is a great game for the best toys for 5-year-olds because it’s jam packed with learning!
I also remember playing this around that age when I was little too! Isn’t that amazing? It’s been around for so long, but it’s just a classic that is fun for kids to learn how to play board games!
How this game involves learning:
1. Number recognition– This board game goes all the way up to 100! Counting to 100 is a skill that kids are asked at the beginning of the year in Kindergarten. What a fun way to practice counting, right?
2. Counting– They have to spin the spinner and count how many spaces they are supposed to move! This is a great way for them to work on counting correctly.
3. Taking turns- Half the reason I love playing board games with the kids is that it teaches them how to take turns! This is an important skill they will need for the rest of their lives.
4. Following rules– They have to follow the game rules and learn they can’t cheat to win! They need to understand that they can’t take extra turns or move their player to different spots on the board to get ahead.
RELATED: Kindergarten Activities For Kids
#31: Vtech Watch
This watch is perfect for the best toys for 5-year-olds. I actually just got this one for my daughter; I know she’s just going to love it.
It is very similar to the camera that I mentioned above. However, it is a watch, so kids can wear it all the time and check the time!
Ways to Play
1. Practice telling time– Check in with your little ones every now and then to see if they can read the time on their watch!
2. Take photos– This watch has a feature where the kids can take their own photos! There are also some fun picture effects that they can add-on to their photos for more fun!
3. Action challenges– There are several active challenges on this watch! This is a fun way to get kids moving! Try the 3 challenges and see if they can beat their score each time.
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
There are so many toys out there; it feels overwhelming to choose the right gift for kids! I hope my list of the best toys for 5-year-olds was helpful in narrowing down your search.
All of the gifts that I mention in this article are open-ended toys. That means that if you choose to give one of these as gifts, it can be used in an endless amount of ways. These won’t sit in a closet for a year; I can promise you that!
Do you have any toy recommendations for 5-year-olds that you didn’t see on this list that you think should be added? I’d love to hear about them! Please share your ideas with our community by commenting below!
Happy Toy Shopping!
