Looking for holiday gift ideas for a special 5-year-old in your life? Look no further! Check out our list of fun, educational, reasonably-priced toys that they’ll love!
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1. Legos
If your child is new to Legos, Duplos may be the way to go. Most classic small-piece Lego sets say they are for age 8 and up (although my 5 year old does them mostly on his own). We love getting Lego sets for our kids because it keeps them busy for quite a while and keeps their little minds working. But keep in mind this gift will likely involve some help from you in interpreting the instructions.
- Our Favorite Duplos: Fire Station and Helicopter Play Set
- Our Favorite Age 4+ Legos: Spidey and his Amazing Friends
- Our Favorite Complex Lego Sets: Lego Minecraft The Badlands Mineshaft and Mighty Dinosaur
2. STEM Educational Toys
Our 5-year-old is to the age where simply playing with toys only keeps him entertained for a short while. He’d much prefer to be building or learning something new. So STEM educational toys are a great option for him. They involve more work from parents but the upside is that it keeps them busy and focused for longer.
Our Favorite STEM Toys:
3. Kinetic Sand
Kinetic Sand is really fun for hiding treasures in and is especially great for kids who have sensory needs (although it isn’t great if you’re a neat freak). It’s not as bad as regular sand since it *mostly* sticks together, but you’ll still probably have a bit of clean up when they’re done playing.
Our Top Picks for Kinetic Sand Gifts:
4. Telescope
Looking for an experience-type gift that you can do together? A telescope is a perfect option! You can spend clear evenings gazing at the sky together. It’s a fun gift that will keep your 5-year-old learning and exploring.
Our Pick for Best Telescope for Kids
Consider getting a book to go along with it: 110 Night Sky Treasures
5. Experiment Kits
Clearly the trend in this list is towards gifts that are more involved and inspire kids to be curious and creative. We prefer learning toys because they are more of an experience that you can do together. We’d rather create a cool erupting volcano than play video games any day.
6. Magna-Tiles
Chances are if you have a 5-year-old, you’ve probably already been exposed to the world of Magna-Tiles. If you haven’t we would highly recommend checking them out! We’ve spent literal hours building castles and cars and cities out of Magna-Tiles and our kids never seem to tire of them.
Tip: There are a variety of types of magnetic tiles and they don’t all work together. We’d recommend picking one “brand” and sticking to it. We use Magna-Tiles but they tend to be on the expensive side so don’t feel like you can’t branch out to others.
7. Games
We love playing games as a family and they’re especially great to pack to keep the kids entertained when you’re traveling. Here are a few that our kids love (and a few they’ll be getting for Christmas this year):
8. Puzzles
Our kids got excited about puzzles early on and it’s been fun to see how their skills have advanced. This is another great gift that can be enjoyed by the whole family.
We like the quality of Ravensburger puzzles and they have a million different fun designs to choose from. We’d suggest anywhere from 100 to 300 piece puzzles for a 5-year-old.
