28 Best Gifts for 5-Year-Olds 2020
You know about New York Magazine’s “Approval Matrix .” Now, the Strategist has taken that model of what falls where on our taste hierarchies and applied it to toys . In this case, the four sides of the grid are “Educational” (say, a robot safari ), “Brain Candy” (colossal Hot Wheels ), “Reasonably Priced,” and “Splurgy .” Each toy in every quadrant comes highly recommended — click here to learn more about our sourcing process and the dozens of experts involved — and every age up to double digits is covered.
Here, we home in on the 5-year-olds. As children this age begin to control their emotions, they’re better equipped to work through problems and conflicts, according to George Sachs, a child psychologist and founder of the Sachs Center in Manhattan. With this in consideration, we present you with the following assortment of gift ideas, guided by professionals like Sachs as well as toy historians and Instagram parents. You can jump directly to the section that interests you most — “ Educational/Reasonably Priced ,” “ Educational/Splurgy, ” “ Brain Candy/Reasonably Priced ,” or “ Brain Candy/Splurgy ” — or read all the way through to get the full picture of what kids these days are into. Whether you’re shopping for a birthday or a holiday or any other day, it’s a list that keeps on giving.
Educational/Reasonably Priced
Outfoxed! Board Game $25 “Outfoxed has more replay value than I have ever experienced in a child’s board game,” says Steven John, a Strategist contributor, tech writer, and father of two (and one of the writers of this story). Months after first getting the game, rarely did a single day go by without John’s 5-and-a-half-year-old requesting at least one round. The game is easy for kids to understand — you uncover a series of clues and a group of suspects, zeroing in on the guilty fox through a process of elimination — yet the choices to be made during each turn require critical thinking, planning, and teamwork. The collaborative nature of play minimizes conflict between siblings or friends, and allows parents to get in on the action as well.
Editor’s Note: This game is available to buy but it won’t arrive before Christmas.
$25 at Amazon Buy $25 at Amazon Buy
Perler Sunny Days Bead Bucket $15 now 33% off $10 Perler Beads are great for honing the already advanced fine motor control of a 5-year-old, while also allowing for open-ended artistic creation — the thousands of rainbow colors can be put in endless combinations onto pegboards in all kinds of shapes. “These beads are fun and very creative, that’s for sure,” says Dr. Roberta Golinkoff , a professor of child psychology at the University of Delaware and co-author of Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children . “By this age, they’re not going to eat the small pieces, so you don’t have to worry about that. My grandkids have a lot of fun with these,” Golinkoff says.
$10 at Amazon Buy
Hape Eggspressions Wooden Learning Toy with Illustrative Book $20 $25 now 20% off $20 For kids frustrated by virtual school, quarantine, or both, Lori Caplan-Colon, a speech/language pathologist at Montclair Speech Therapy , recommends this set of six emojilike wooden eggs that helps children express their emotions when words fail them. The eggs are stackable and come with a storybook. “It encourages the development of emotional maturity and communication skills,” she says.
$20 at Amazon Buy $20 at Amazon Buy
Green Toys Abby’s Garden Planting Activity Set $20 now 10% off $18 “Kids don’t fully understand how the veggies and fruits make it to their plates,” says Ashley Tyrner, a single mom and the founder and CEO of Farmbox Direct , the subscription-based organic-produce service (she also leads her now-8-year-old daughter’s healthy-meal-kit company, Harlow’s Harvest ). Which is where this 17-piece gardening set — made from 100 percent recycled plastic milk jugs and featuring Abby from Sesame Street — comes in. It includes all the essentials for growing produce right on the windowsill: three planting pots, soil, and different kinds of seeds (basil, carrot, sunflower). “You can teach your kids how to plant and garden in your own home,” Tyrner says. And while some growing kits never end up actually sprouting seeds, this one actually works. In the words of one of many satisfied Amazon reviewers: “I am pleasantly surprised that all three of the varieties in the Abby’s Garden kit are growing nicely.”
Editor’s Note: This kit is available at Walmart but won’t arrive before Christmas but Green Toys also makes a non-Sesame Street version of the same gardening kit .
$18 at Walmart Buy
Science Art Fusion Rainbows Kit $17 “Age 5 is a difficult one to find science-related toys for that are actually any good,” says Holly Magelof, veteran toy buyer of the Dolphin Bookshop . Most “science” kits at this age are more silly than learning-centric and are often of middling quality with limited replay value. However, Holly says, the “kits from the Young Scientists Club come with multiple activities that are STEM-related and really are age appropriate. Also, they’re a great value for what you get in the box.” And who knew there were so many varieties of rainbows?
$17 at Amazon Buy $17 at Amazon Buy
Mad Mattr Quantum Pods $21 This is the “safe, gluten-free Play-Doh substitute” of choice for mother of four and noted Instagrammer Coral Barajas. “But it is not just a substitute; it’s an upgrade,” according to Barajas. “We love the texture, it’s not as messy as Play-Doh or kinetic sand, and it’s just magical that it doesn’t dry out!” Mad Mattr is great for imaginative play, it helps with dexterity and fine motor control, and it lets kids of varied ages play together.
$21 at Amazon Buy $21 at Amazon Buy
Kids First: Robot Safari $30 now 13% off $26 With this kit, kids are building robots of a variety of animals and then actually getting to watch them move, explains Laurie Schacht, chief toy officer of The Toy Insider . A step-by-step manual makes the projects manageable with minimal adult assistance and involves steps like assembling LEGO-like blocks into the shape of, say, a sea otter or a fox, and then connecting them to a ready-made motor. Of course, Schacht suspects that more often than not, kids will be going for the unicorn and narwhal options — “the most popular creatures these days.”
$26 at Amazon Buy $26 at Amazon Buy Educational/Splurgy
EyeClops Digital Microscope $50 $50 This microscope helps kids learn about the world around them, from the ants in their backyard to the snowflakes on their front stoop. “It’s a microscope, but it’s also a camera, so you can take it on the go and magnify objects indoors and outdoors,” says Adrienne Appel, senior director of communications at the Toy Association . If you turn off the zoom, it also works as a standard camera, letting kids take pictures and videos that they can upload to the computer.
$50 at Target Buy
Blockitecture Deco Mega Set $75 “I usually give people blocks because I think it’s kind of like a lost art,” says Alexandra Figueras-Daniel, associate director of the Straus Center for Young Children and Families at Bank Street College in New York City. She notes that blocks continue to be powerful educational tools for children from as early as 3 years old all the way up to 9. The open-ended nature of the blocks allows them to grow with the child, teaching cause and effect, spatial awareness, and fine motor skills, and preparing them for math learning. This city block set from Areaware will inspire conversations about city life and let kids build block versions of their own cities.
Editor’s Note: Be sure to check shipping times as this set might not arrive before Christmas depending on your location.
$75 at Maisonette Buy $75 at Areaware Buy
PLUS PLUS Open Play Set $34 This Plus Plus set — which has won all kinds of awards and develops engineering, design, and fine motor skills — is the all-time favorite of New York psychiatrist and mother of twin boys Vanessa Carroll; she says it’s held her kids’ attention more than any other toy. “Normally, when the boys get home from school, the first thing they want to do is eat a snack,” Carroll says. “Then they got this as a birthday gift. All of a sudden, I’d be waiting and waiting for them in the kitchen, calling their names to come eat, and 30 minutes later they were still on the floor of the playroom, making these intricate mosaic designs and building 3-D shapes like UFOs. The pieces require hand-eye coordination,” Carroll says, “so 5 is definitely a good starting age; I wish we’d had them in our lives a little sooner.”
$34 at Amazon Buy $34 at Amazon Buy
Botzees Coding Kit $100 Augmented reality like the kind you get here is hard to find for this age group. The coding kit involves using physical robots that kids build themselves and then interact with both in digital space via tablet app and in the real world, controlling a Botzee via tablet or with built-in motion sensors. Mark Rollins, writer and creator of TheGeekChurch.com , who’s written books on what he calls “programmable building toys,” notes how both “the young or old” can appreciate bringing creations to life thanks to motorized pieces. These kits, in particular, according to Rollins, “are very popular for STEM programs for teenagers,” but at the same time, “Botzees are made for the littlest of hands. We live in a world where children grasp technology easily, and those that can play with Duplo blocks can do a lot more with Botzees.”
Editor’s Note: This toy is in stock but won’t arrive before Christmas.
$100 at Amazon Buy $100 at Amazon Buy
Educational Insights GeoSafari Jr. My First Telescope $35 $35 “The best toys are those with an educational component that are so much fun, kids never know they are learning,” says Laurie Schacht, chief toy officer with the Toy Insider . She recommends this 10x magnification telescope, which kids can use to see close-ups of things like the moon (with it, you’ll get a guide to the lunar phases) or a backyard bird building a nest.
$35 at Amazon Buy
Kiwi Crate Ages 5-8 From $20 Kiwi Crates, which are made for kids of all ages, were included in our 2-year-old guide and deserve to be brought up yet again as you can subscribe to the monthly kits for the 5-to-8 age range too. Each kit is perfectly suited to the rapidly developing mind of the kindergartner and early-elementary-age child. Kiwi Kits always have hands-on maker and art projects, and they feature reading materials and integration with online activities. “This subscription fosters collaboration, problem solving, and independence,” says Halley Loeb Rossler, a special-education teacher from Tulsa, Oklahoma. In her own home, Rossler says, her young boys look forward to the deliveries of their boxes every month, and she even says that the ongoing series of activities, and the discussions and engagement they foster, have “played a role in our family story.”
Editor’s Note: Be sure to check shipping times on this kit as it may not arrive before Christmas.
From $20 at Kiwi Co Buy
Design & Drill Space Circuits $50 now 32% off $34 This space-themed circuit-building kit has more than 50 pieces and comes with 20 activities to challenge young makers, plus the possibility for endless self-directed activities. It is “a new take on a classic from Educational Insights,” says Magelof. (The classic to which she refers is a simpler albeit beloved kit in which kids merely drill colorful plastic screws into a board.) “It takes the fine motor practice up a level and incorporates STEM.”
$34 at Amazon Buy $34 at Amazon Buy
Osmo Pizza Co. Game $50 now 20% off $40 This game manages the all but impossible: It makes learning math genuinely fun. It requires an iPad and the Osmo base kit (not included), so, yes, definitely a splurge, but the payoff is big. “It’s a favorite in my classroom,” says Heidi J. Trudel, an elementary-school teacher from Seattle. “The game incorporates math concepts” — there is counting out change, measuring ingredients, saving up for purchases, and more — “and you can adjust the level of complexity to match a child’s needs. They love working for the customers and setting goals for their work.”
$40 at Amazon Buy $40 at Amazon Buy Brain Candy/Reasonably Priced
Little Pretender Walkie Talkies $30 Parents these days tend to appreciate being able to keep in touch with their kids when they’re down the street or off in the woods, and these high-quality walkie-talkies — one Amazon reviewer who bought them for 5- and 6-year-old kids wrote, “I’d recommend them for grown-ups, too” — might just put off the inevitable first cell phone. They have three different channels, allowing for multiple lines of communication, and have a range of nearly two miles, making them ideal for use during visits to the zoo or amusement park (the quite-crisp audio quality is especially helpful in such noisy environments). And, in general, Dr. Golinkoff likes how walkie-talkies encourage “collabroation, communication, and creativity.”
$30 at Amazon Buy $30 at Amazon Buy
Sago Brothers Magic Clay $25 Though less flashy than the preferred molding clay of Instagram’s Coral Barajas, longtime Manhattan nanny Kasia Dabrowska swears by the Sago Brothers version (also a top pick on Amazon). “I like this Magic Clay better than Play-Doh,” she says. “It’s not as messy; it’s nontoxic and unscented. And it’s soft — it has a nice feeling to it when you squeeze it.” The set comes with an array of 24 different shades, along with cutting tools and little accessories like googly eyes and key chains. There’s also an idea book included for making specific shapes, but, Dabrowska adds, “the boys and girls I’ve worked with like to make their own things, like planets, mixing together different colors. Five is a really creative age.”
$25 at Amazon Buy $25 at Amazon Buy
Stomp Rocket $25 Kids go wild for stomp rockets — a fact well acknowledged by both Dr. Sachs and this writer — I saw my own son take to them as early as age 2. At that age, he was more of a spectator than a rocket launcher, though, and by age 5, kids have the balance and strength to send a rocket soaring skyward, something they will do repeatedly. I have watched with gratitude as my son and his cousins of a similar age take turns blasting them off for the better part of an hour, leaving me and the other adults to actually talk for a bit.
$25 at Amazon Buy $25 at Amazon Buy
Pretty Pretty Princess Board Game $17 You may recall this pile-on-the-jewels dress-up game from the ’90s — and now it’s been rereleased. “Everyone who sees it remembers it so positively,” says Magelof, who is now witnessing its magnetism to the current generation of kids. While definitely oriented toward girls, any 5-year-old can enjoy the game play, which requires no reading and is cooperative rather than competitive and involves using the included spinner, board, and costume pieces like cocktail rings, sorbet-colored necklaces, and an understated tiara.
$17 at Amazon Buy $17 at Barnes & Noble Buy
The Floor Is Lava $36 “Remember being a kid and imagining yourself in some kind of Indiana Jones situation, launching yourself from couch to chair to pillow as a way to avoid touching the floor?” asks Jason Feifer, editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magazine (and host of the podcasts Pessimists Archive and Hush Money ), and dad of two. “That’s what this game has replicated — but now with more places to jump and hopefully less furniture destruction. Scatter its colored foam discs around the floor, and invite a handful of kids stand on them. Now spin a color wheel, or read a ‘challenge card,’ and they have to jump and move accordingly. It’s basically like Twister, for kids too young to really twist. But they sure can jump.”
$36 at Walmart Buy
Spalding High Bounce Handball (Pack of 4) $11 Even if you’re unaware of the 1970s Brooklyn nostalgia surrounding the pink Spaldeen, don’t let the simplicity of this rubber bouncing ball fool you — possibilities abound, according to Dr. Roberta Golinkoff: “There are all kinds of things you can do with a small pink bouncing ball and hand-clapping. I played with those for a long time when I was a kid.” And now, she adds, if you don’t know any such game off-hand, “look them up on YouTube.” After teaching your kids, “they’ll go and teach the other kids, which is really great.”
$11 at Amazon Buy $11 at Amazon Buy Brain Candy/Splurgy
Basic Fun Care Bears Special Edition Collector Set $48 James Zahn, senior editor at The Toy Insider , says that Care Bears, the popular plush toy from the ’80s, are back and selling out fast. The newly designed plush toys appeal to both nostalgic parents and kids who like plushies. For a gift that wows, pick up this collector’s set that includes Cheer Bear, Grumpy Bear, Funshine Bear, Good Luck Bear, and the exclusive Harmony Bear.
$48 at Amazon Buy $48 at Amazon Buy
Hot Wheels Colossal Crash Track Set $100 now 14% off $86 This sprawling race track will easily have half a dozen kids crowded around and cheering; amazingly, it might just be a bigger draw than video games or the TV. “They compete very well in a screen-heavy digital world,” says Chris Down, the global head of vehicles for Mattel. “Hot Wheels just had a 50th anniversary in 2018, and in terms of actual units, it is the No. 1 best-selling toy in the world.”
$86 at Amazon Buy $86 at Amazon Buy
Power Wheels Dune Racer $249 Though your heart might race at the idea of a 5-year-old driving this dune-buggy-style Power Wheels vehicle, don’t worry too much: It’s surprisingly stable, and it has two speed settings, the slower of which maxes out at 2.5 mph. (You’ll still be able to run it down at top speed, which is five mph in the faster mode.) The vehicle can comfortably seat two kids or a total of 130 pounds of passenger weight (“This thing is huge,” an Amazon reviewer notes).
$249 at Walmart Buy
VTech KidiZoom Camera Pix $40 now 25% off $30 The Vtech Kidizoom camera might look more like a toy than a real camera, and in many ways it is, what with the built-in games and silly graphics kids can add to photos. But it is indeed a genuine camera that takes digital pictures and has a zoom function. Dr. Golinkoff calls using a kid’s camera “so fun,” especially when you take the time to teach the child about photography.
$30 at Amazon Buy $30 at Amazon Buy
PLAYMOBIL Satellite Meteoroid Laser $25 now 8% off $23 “Major building blocks of productive, immersive play” is how these toys are defined by Christopher Byrne, author, toy historian, and independent industry analyst. In playing out space exploration with this Playmobil space set, kids revel in self-directed, open-ended engagement with the moving parts, working lights, and figurines suited up in full helmets and gear.
$23 at Amazon Buy $23 at Amazon Buy
Toaster Pets Cartoons Studio Kit $80 now 13% off $70 Short of a smartphone or tablet, this kit comes with everything kids need to create their very own animation studio right there on the floor, desk, or kitchen table. Included is a small green screen, two little cartoony pet figures to position in front of it, and a stand for your tablet or phone, onto which you download the accompanying app. From there, kids can choose from various virtual backgrounds and record their own voices to animate short videos with all sorts of special effects (e.g., a virtual fog machine) and animated props (sunglasses, mustaches, hats). What’s more, the videos are easy to share on YouTube or social-media platforms, and your kid’s identity is protected because their faces are never shown. And when the older sibling in the house isn’t making videos, the younger one will simply love to play with the little characters that come with the kit (at least if this author’s toddler is any indication).
$70 at Amazon Buy
Crazy Forts $45 After this writer’s son got a Crazy Forts kit for Christmas one year, few days that went by for the following months without a fort built or played in. As a base toy, these tubes and balls make fun tunnels, cubes, and other structures, but when you add in bed sheets, pillows, stuffed animals, and more, the fun goes up a notch or three. Dr. Sachs thinks the free-building involved here is pretty instructive, but your 5-year-old will just think it’s cool.
$45 at Target Buy
Makedo Invent Junior Toolbox – Cardboard Construction Tools for Kids $150 Jackie Delamatre, an educator and curriculum writer focusing in the arts, suggested this set of tools and connectors that’ll let kids build castles, vehicles, and rocket ships out of cardboard boxes you may have laying around. The set comes with child-safe cutters, special screwdrivers, and connectors that can hold up to six pieces of cardboard together. — Additional reporting by Lauren Levy and Lauren Ro
$150 at Amazon Buy $150 at Amazon Buy
