Are you on the hunt for the best holiday gifts for 5 year olds?
Because Christmas lights are going up.
Mariah Carey is officially defrosting.
That means it’s time to start shopping for the holiday season.
You don’t want to be scrambling at the last minute.
Or worse, miss out on the perfect present because the early birds snagged them first!
So if you’re in need of ideas for the best holiday gifts for 5 year olds, look no further. Scroll down to discover 11 of my top toys for 5 year olds below.
I’ve included budget-friendly and big ole’ wowza gifts that’ll dazzle your kid’s imagination. Every toy on the list (except for #9) is also Fibromyalgia-friendly, meaning not too noisy or overstimulating.
(What your child does with it though I cannot control.)
Plus, most of these toys are vetted by my 5 year old himself, so you can trust they’re a blast with this age group.
What do 5 year olds like to play with?
Five year olds’ imaginations are bursting at this age. They love any play that involves pretending, make-believe, and pretty much anything silly!
Dressing up, building things and creating art, and musical instruments are total hits with 5 year olds.
Five year olds are also exploring their budding interests, so anything that further supports what they like to do is a fantastic gift idea.
Think drawing pads for a kid who’s constantly doodling, musical instruments for the Alexa Music addict, and a bug-catching net and magnifying glasses for the outdoor enthusiast.
Best of all, all but four of these gifts are quiet, so Fibromyalgia mommies and daddies can get through a flare in (relative!) peace.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. And as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
11 best holiday gifts for 5 year olds in 2022
Five year olds love creating music, dressing up, and using fun gadgets to explore their world. Look for gifts that deepen their imagination, allow them to create, and encourage curiosity and exploring their surroundings.
Here’s a list of the best holiday gifts for 5 year olds that check all of those boxes. These holiday gifts also don’t involve much put-together and aren’t too noisy or overstimulating, except for instruments.
I chose these gifts with Fibro warriors in mind. Because some days, the last thing you want to do is wrench together your kid’s new plaything, especially during busy holidays when you’re trying to survive a flare.
Sometimes it’s hard enough cleaning up all the wrapping paper!
And do I even need to explain the over-stimulation experience?
1. Legos
Legos make fantastic gifts for nearly any age, and 5 year old’s are no exception.
These tiny blocks are fun and develop children’s motor and cognitive skills. Handling the blocks and applying pressure to snap them together develops children’s finger dexterity and strength.
Playing with Legos helps kids improve their concentration, patience, problem-solving skills, spatial awareness, symmetry, and pattern recognition.
In addition, many children love to create stories from their blocks, boosting their creativity and imagination.
Furthermore, Legos support mental health, and you know how important children’s mental health is today.
Clicking these little blocks together has a magical calming effect, perhaps because kids can manipulate them how they want.
And when they create art, serotonin levels go up, increasing happiness too!
Here are my favorite Lego sets for 5 year olds:
2. Magna-Tiles
Magna-Tiles are mind-blowingly fun (and playing with them cheers me up on flare days).
My 5 year old and I love sitting on the floor and building houses with fun shapes. I also love watching his imagination run wild as he plays architect.
Magna-Tiles are translucent tiles made with plastic and have magnets safely inside.
Your child will have a blast stacking and connecting them, whether from the Classic set or one of the exciting themed boxes, like dinosaurs, arctic animals, and construction.
Like Legos, Magna-Tiles are pricey, but they’re durable. But best of all – they don’t fucking hurt like hell when you step on one (glaring at YOU, Legos!)
Here are some of my favorite Magna-Tiles sets for 5 year olds:
- *Classic 100-Piece Set $119.99
- Jungle Animals 25 Piece Set $39.99
- Farm Animals 25 Piece Set $39.99
- Dino World XL 50 Piece Set $129.99
3. Portable microscope
A portable microscope won’t go out of style once your mini-me turns six. Microscopes are fun for all ages because they spark curiosity, wonder, and sometimes a little ewww (I mean, have you seen the underbelly of a bug 20-40x magnified?).
However, 5 year olds love them because they’re at the age of constant questions and endless energy. They’ll spend hours (okay, maybe 45 minutes!) wandering the house, buzzing with, “now, what does that look like under the microscope?!”
And as a prop for pretend play as an entomologist? Oh fuck yeah.
I know because Wade and I do that all the time. Flowers and leaves outside, our skin, fabrics…it’s seriously so much fun with a microscope.
This portable microscope by The Stem Kids can fit in a pocket, so it’s perfect for a trip to the park. Yep, even if it ends up in your purse instead of the pocket, you’ll still have room for your aching back cream.
4. Butterfly net
A perfect stocking stuffer that’s easy on your wallet, a butterfly net stimulates your child’s imagination (it’s a fairy catcher, a bug snatcher!). At the same time, it develops their gross motor skills like running, jumping, and crawling.
This butterfly net has a thicker handle so smaller hands can get a better grip. Plus, imprinted pictures of butterflies on the handle help your kiddo identify them!
5. Amazon Echo Dot for kids
Have you seen the adorable videos of kids asking Alexa to play a song while dancing or doing chores? They’re too cute.
Amazon’s Echo Dot is your child’s all-in-one entertainment device.
From relaxing with oodles of audio stories to jamming out to their favorite tunes (it filters explicit songs) and playing games, the Echo Dot is a fun addition to a bedroom or playroom.
Choose from a design your child will go bonkers for, like a panda, tiger, owl, or dragon.
And, of course, you can set parental settings to protect your child from accidentally buying a dozen movie rentals.
- *Echo Dot Kids in Dragon $59.99
6. Butterfly wings
Any costume or dress-up piece fosters a 5 year old’s imagination, but butterfly wings are super fun!
Watch your child’s imagination take flight and enjoy the outdoors like a beautiful butterfly – or as they sail across your couch.
I love these darling handcrafted butterfly wings from Global Gumnuts on Etsy. Choose from 7 fun colors and snag your kid’s fave!
7. Lite-Brite
Do you remember how much fun you had with your Lite-Brite?
Exactly!
And your child deserves that kind of fun too!
Lite-Brite is a classic retro toy where kids place tiny colored pegs inside a black screen to create pictures.
Lite-Brites are perfect for 5 year olds because it improves their concentration, patience, hand-eye coordination, and creativity.
Wade plays with his Lite-Brite for hours, some days.
- *Lite-Brite $19.99
8. Cash register
If your child loves pretend play and is fascinated by the cashier during your weekly Target runs, they would be ecstatic to find a cash register under the tree.
Toy cash registers encourage children to learn how to identify, sort, and count money, recognize numbers, and communicate with their ‘customers.’
In addition, they teach organization skills. Not to keep bringing up your childhood but remember your first job? To be effective, you had to be organized.
This cash register is neat because it has 3 languages, sturdy play credit cards, a working microphone, and can calculate decimals, not only whole numbers.
Wade adores it when we play markets, library, or pretty much pretend anything.
9. Musical instrument
Have a budding musician in the family? Why not encourage and support their curiosity and talent with a musical instrument?
Instruments are wonderful for 5 year olds because they are big enough to hold most child-sized ones. They can also begin reading music and voicing their musical tastes. Their fine motor skills improve.
Here are some popular children’s instruments:
- Trendy Soprano Ukulele for Beginners $32.99
- Paxcess Electronic Drum Set $89.99 (supports headphones for quiet playing)
- Kefeier Panda Drum Kids $32.99
- Funshpiel Toy Violin $28.95
- M Sanmersen Kids Keyboard Piano $34.99
10. LeapFrog LeapStart Preschool Success
Wade got a LeapFrog LeapStart 2 years ago, and he still plays with it all the time.
It’s a plastic laptop/binder that educational LeapFrog booklets easily snap into. So easy, kids can do in seconds.
A ‘pen’ attached to the LeapStart allows kids to control their gameplay and move at their own pace, tapping the pages as they go.
LeapFrog has tons of booklets to boost your child’s brain during pre-K and kindergarten – from preschool math and reading to social studies, Paw Patrol, and more.
11. I Spy books
Okay, this is the last time I will reference your childhood if you’re a millennial, promise. Remember the I Spy books that debuted in 1992? They’re available for preschoolers now.
Formatted as board books, the preschooler I Spy series use photos from the original books and add fun tiny-tot-friendly rhymes to guide them through solving the puzzles.
For example, “A bunny sooo BIG, and a bunny sooo small.”
Here are some of my favorite preschooler-appropriate I Spy books:
- Little Christmas $6.99
- Little Bunnies $6.99
- Little Hearts $6.99
Your takeaway
The best holiday gifts for 5 year olds nourish your child’s imagination and creativity.
At 5 years of age, their imagination starts to take off, so they’ll enjoy toys that support pretend play and their budding creativity.
What toys are on your list this year? Are there any toys you’d recommend for 5 year olds? Don’t be a stranger, and share your thoughts below!
