27 Fantastic Gifts for 5-Year-Olds, According to Parents Who Know

One of our favorite toys under $30, this tin of marbles can be sorted and explored for some tacticle sensory play, rolled down a homemade ramp, used in an old-fashioned marble game and more. When that 100th day of school comes up in mid-winter, use the 100 marbles for a visual representation.

Fuel their art projects with this case of markers and crayons that includes eight fat markers, eight slim markers, 16 crayons and 20 coloring pages. The markers and crayons have dessert-like scents, including mint chocolate chip for green and bananas foster for yellow.

It's hard to tell what is more fun, putting together a LEGO donut truck or playing with it afterward. It comes with two minifigures (one is a police officer, lol), LEGO donuts and some LEGO-sized money.

If you’re wanting to get to know your 5-year-old better, these cubes will provide prompts to help them open up. They include 36 different questions among three different social-emotional learning categories. Break them out at the dinner table or any time your kids declare, “I’m bored.”

This 70-piece puzzle is a great way to start learning American geography with your 5-year-old! Mudpuppy puzzles are very high-quality: thick, sturdy, able to stand up to lots of hands pushing them into place.

There’s something so delightful about watching a kite fly. Because getting a kite up in the air can be difficult, your 5-year-old will feel a sense of accomplishment once they get it flying. Take it to the beach, the park, or just fly it in the backyard.

One more for the outdoors! Your 5-year-old can get out their energy by jumping on the Stomp Rocket launcher to send a rocket sailing, then can run to fetch it and repeat. It comes with three rockets and as your kid grows bigger and stronger, they'll be able to send it higher and further.

Creating something isn't exactly the point with mess-free Kinetic Sand, it's all about the sensory feel and watching it do it's weird expansion. This SquishMotion kit capitalizes on on how funny it is when it moves, making it look as if shapes are coming alive.

My son is very into Minecraft, so he flipped for this 20-pack of metal figures. Featuring a Wither, Witch, Iron Golem, Zombie Villager, and more, it's everything a 5-year-old would want to act out their favorite moments of the movie, the game, or their own imagination. Plus, they're durable and very hard to break.

If you and your kids like Magna-Tiles, you'll both appreciate this beautiful arctic animal set. In addition to frosty-looking tiles it includes a seal, polar bear, baby polar bear, penguin and whale. Kids can create mountains, icy oceans, and more as they take their magnetic animals on adventures.

Five-year-olds are ready to operate a remote-control toy, and this wall-crawling gecko was a recent hot holiday find. It can race up a wall (the sticky feet don't leave marks) and can even go across the ceiling, delighting kids and freaking out family pets.

There’s so much to learn about the universe, and this book full of vivid images engages readers in the learning process. It’s fun for kids to explore because it includes flaps, pop-ups, pull tabs, and rotating wheels. If your 5-year-old is interested in space, this book will fuel their curiosity.

Playing is just as much about learning as it is about having fun. KiwiCo takes this to heart and teaches kids about environmental science in this activity box. They’ll learn how environmental engineers and wildlife rescuers clean up oil spills by doing it themselves.

Science kits help get kids interested in experimenting. In this kit, they’ll learn how to do over 15 science activities. Each has a video guide, which helps kids who aren’t yet reading complete the experiments on their own.

Bath bombs are fun, but bath bombs that erupt into a volcano are even more fun! When you put the puck-shaped bomb in the bottom of the volcano, it will fizz out the top like lava. The volcano itself has a dinosaur hidden inside. If you don’t want the fun to end after one bath, get a four-pack of fizzy refills.

Let your little one be the hero of the story with this fun personalized storybook from Wonderbly. In "Where Are You? Save the Multiverse," your kiddo is on a mission to stop the evil Dr. Fishfinger from destroying the multiverse! They'll get a kick out of seeing superhero characters with their names and features throughout the story.

Five-year-olds are developing stronger critical thinking and reasoning skills, making this an ideal age to get into board games. In this cooperative game, players work together to find out who stole Mrs. Plumpert’s prized pot pie. The game reinforces cooperation, deductive reasoning, and visual discrimination. My 5-year-old is a big fan, and I like that we can work as a team rather than someone winning or losing.

Dress-up clothes are popular with this age. A pirate costume gets extra points when it comes with accessories like an eye patch and hat. We'd also buy a pirate sword, sold separately.

Whether they’re just looking at their brother across the room or bird watching on a camping trip, 5-year-olds enjoy these binoculars with eyepieces sized for kids ages 4 to 8. They have a shockproof rubber coating, so you don’t have to worry about them breaking the first time they’re dropped.

I'm a big fan of screen-free toys, and the Yoto Mini is one I recommend again and again. There are thousands of cards that you can insert with audiobooks, music, timers, educational content, and more. It can keep 5-year-olds entertained for hours! You can get up to 14 hours of play on one charge and even use it as a portable speaker, alarm clock, sound machine, and more.

Bluey toys are everywhere and we are here for it. LEGO had to create a new mold to make the dog heads for the Heeler family living in this spectacular playhouse. It's a 382-piece build, and many 5-year-olds will need help, but the payoff is worth it. Bluey’s buds Jeremy the garden gnome and Chattermax are included.

Marble runs are fun to build and watch. This wooden one has over 100 pieces and plenty of marbles. As they build their run, kids will learn about construction and engineering. Watching the marbles roll is a fun reward.

I've gifted the Camp Snap to my son, my niece, my best friend's son, and more. It's a digital camera without the screen, so kids can stay in the moment and take as many pictures as they want. You can get 500 shots on one charge, and the final products have a cool, retro vibe to them. The brand also has a video camera, which is perfect for budding filmmakers.

Kids this age are a little baby-crazy. With Mama Surprise, a toy that sold out a few holidays ago, your kid pets the guinea pig until her heart glows, then places her in her hutch, filled with toy straw, and waits for her three babies to appear (from a hidden trap door, not from the mama). Presents arrive as well. The toy can be reset so that Mama welcomes her little ones over and over again, and 5-year-olds seem delighted every time.

Little artists will spend hours coloring and playing in this cardboard playhouse. They can color both the inside and outside with their medium of choice, be it markers or paint. Large projects like this are great to have in your back pocket for rainy days.

While pricey, this Victorian dollhouse won’t be an eyesore in your home, and it’s so well made that you’ll be able to pass it down generations. It has three floors, working windows and doors, and staircases inside. Note that you’ll have to buy dolls and furniture separately.

What 5-year-old doesn’t love to build forts? Crazy Forts includes balls and sticks they can use to build a variety of pretend structures, like a hideout, a puppet theater, a submarine or a circus tent. Drape lightweight sheets or blankets to complete the forts. The structures are a little rickety, but good entertainment, and the sticks and balls are easy to store when you're done building.