A list of gift ideas any 5 year old boy would love compiled by real moms of multiple boys! From big gifts to small and affordable, this list has it all for little boys! Whether you are looking for presents for Christmas or gifts for a birthday, we will cover all sorts, of toys, games, and educational activities your five year old will love.
Best Gifts for a 5 Year Old
These gift list posts have become some of my most popular posts here on the blog, but they are always bittersweet for me since they mean one of my babies is another year older! I don’t write these as a child development professional, but just as a mom with kids who love to play, create, and explore. I share things that I know my kids love and hopefully it will help you with gift ideas for the kids you love!
Today it is all about the boy that made me a mom turning five! 5 years old. I have to repeat it to believe it is true sometimes. I am bittersweetly looking forward to the independence this age brings and many of these ideas reflect my five year old’s ability to do more and more on his own! Many of the gift ideas here are a reflection of a 5 years old’s growing independence and curiosity with the world.
Lego Gift Ideas for 5 year Old
We will kick it off with one of his new loves. We have been playing with all sorts of blocks since my boy was little, but he just recently graduated to the “real” small pieced Lego sets. And let me tell you… he is obsessed! We did his first set with him, working through it and showing him how to decipher the instruction booklet. The next set he totally surprised us by doing it all on his own. It was really amazing! He enjoys the sets labeled for 5 year olds, but can also do the sets for older kids pretty easily too! We have tried several different kinds over the past few months and found that we prefer the classic to the technic sets and for family that is buying at different price points there are sets available from just over $5 all the way to hundreds of dollars, so they are a good option for any budget.
Outdoor Play Gift Ideas
There is nothing better than getting your extremely wired-full of crazy amounts of energy 5 year old boy out of the house and playing, so all of these ideas are fun things to do outside! If you haven’t gotten your 5 year old a bike yet, NOW is the time! It is the perfect age to learn to ride, so getting one with detachable training wheels is a must. Another fun on-the-go toy is a Razor scooter. It is a big boy version of the Radio Flyer scooter he has loved for years and perfect for zooming fast around the park. Also, don’t forget the helmet!
Sports are just really becoming fun at this age as they can start to understand the rules and the concept of teamwork. I love this rebounding soccer net because it bounces the ball right back to them when they kick it “in the goal.” This tee is adjustable so that it can be used to practice batting both before and after their growth spurt and is much like the ones they use in little league!
The stomp rocket is just guaranteed hours of fun. Trust me on that one!
- Baseball tee
- Kids Bikes with Removable Training Wheels
- Razor A Kick Scooter – My little guy loves this one because you can make sparks!
- Ultra Stomp Rocket Kit
- Soccer Rebounder Goal
- Soccer Ball
- Razor Child Dino Helmet
Best Tech Gift Ideas for a Five Year Old
We decided it was the year of the tablet for us. I think 5 is a really good age to start with a tablet. It can teach responsibility as well as be an incentive for chores and good behavior, which is how we use ours. We have owned a leap pad in the past and I REALLY prefer going for a real tablet and utilizing the kid mode on it. It will end up costing about the same since the games for the Leap Pad are much more expensive, and I think it is just more intuitive for them since my little guy is already used to using my phone. I love the kid settings on the Kindle Fire
and it even comes with a 2 year kid proof warranty on the kid version. You really can’t beat that! If you are an Apple or Samsung Galaxy person, there are also great options with 7″ displays that are much more affordable and offer kid modes for monitoring and safety. We ended up going with the Galaxy Tab
and have been VERY happy! Whichever you pick, just don’t forget a great kid-proof case!
- Alarm clock that helps kids tell time
- Walkie Talkie
- Samsung Galaxy Tab with Kid Mode
- iPad Mini
- Fire HD Kids Edition – Amazon’s Tablet for Kids
- Kids Smart watch– You can get just a smart watch or many of them can be added to your cell phone plan to allow you to track them by GPS or let them make emergency calls to approved numbers
- Osmo Genius Kit for iPad
Creative Gift Ideas for a 5 year old
As your little one turns into a bigger one it is really important to keep those creative juices flowing! They tend to love screen time, which can be great with all the educational apps, but there is nothing that replaces hands on creativity. Luckily there are some really fun options your five year old boy will LOVE! The Hot Wheels Car making kit lets them really make their own cars! How cool is that?! And I don’t know what it is about Kinetic Sand my my son is obsessed! He love playing with this stuff! The Star Wars art set has also been a huge hit at our house. He has really taken ownership of it and takes good care of all of his supplies inside. It has been perfect for doing his homework assignments too!
Best Game Gifts for a 5 year old
Another really awesome thing at this age is that they can actually interact with you on a much higher level and do things like follow rules and understand sportsmanship. This makes indoor games a lot of fun too. Many of the classics I played as a kid are still around and will be loved by your kids too!
My son actually requested Rock ’em Sock ’em by name. We have no idea where he saw it, but he HAD to have it, and has really enjoyed it ever since! Board and card games are great for practicing numbers and counting!
- Go Fish! Card Game
- Classic Twister– This is best if there are siblings or lots of friends around to play
- Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots Game
- Chutes and Ladders Board Game
- Uno Card Game – My son’s current favorite game. This also comes in a lot of character options if your little boy is into anything specific!
Best All Boy Gift Ideas
Boys will be boys. Somehow they are wired to love cars, and dirt, and everything rough. These are some of the things that are 100% boy that my little guy is SUPER in to these days. The light saber uses motion technology to make sounds as it is moved pretty much won Christmas this year as his favorite toy of all time! And if you are holding strong on “no pets,” an ant farm might be a really fun way to let him see how animals work, with no commitment from you!
- Remote Control Car
- Captain America Marvel Super Soldier Gear Stealthfire Shield Toy
- Hot Wheels Triple Track Twister Track Set
- Star Wars Darth Vader Voice Changer Helmet
- Star Wars Anakin to Darth Vader Color Change Lightsaber
- Clear Gel Ant Farm
- Zoomer Dino
- Fort Building Kit
New 2018 Best Christmas Gift Ideas for a 5 Year Old
These are some new ideas for Christmas presents, including toys that are HOT right now for a 5 year old! If you have more ideas, please leave them for me in the comments!
- Dinosaur Fingerling Pets– Fingerlings came out in 2017 but were mostly nice and sweet animals. They were super hard to get. This year they came out with dinosaurs, dragons, and other more “boy” centric versions of their toys.
- Fur Real Munchin Rex– Along those same lines this is an interactive
- Harry Potter Lego sets– There were some new Harry Potter Lego sets released this year. They are probably a little advanced for most 5 year olds, but would be a great activity to do with your kiddo if he loves Harry Potter!
- Beyblades– These are basically a battling tops set. My oldest son got them for Christmas when he was five and LOVED them for many years!
- Giant Connect 4– If you are looking for a big gift idea, this giant connect 4 game is perfect for a 5 year old and so much fun for outdoor play even when it is cold outside!
- Tree Swing– These swings have been a HUGE hit with my kids and grown with them as they age. It is big enough to have a couple of little ones on together which makes it even more fun!
- Pie Face Cannon– If your kids like to get messy, this is the newest addition to the Pie Face game family and sure to provide lots of fun and laughs.
– Fingerlings came out in 2017 but were mostly nice and sweet animals. They were super hard to get. This year they came out with dinosaurs, dragons, and other more “boy” centric versions of their toys.
– Along those same lines this is an interactive
– There were some new Harry Potter Lego sets released this year. They are probably a little advanced for most 5 year olds, but would be a great activity to do with your kiddo if he loves Harry Potter!
– These are basically a battling tops set. My oldest son got them for Christmas when he was five and LOVED them for many years!
– If your kids like to get messy, this is the newest addition to the Pie Face game family and sure to provide lots of fun and laughs.Gifts for Older 5 year olds
If your little guy is on the older side of 5, many of the present ideas here still make a great gift. Toys like Legos, Beyblades, card games, and outdoor toys have a long lifespan for kids at this age. For more specific gift ideas, check out our list of the BEST Gifts for 6 Year Old Boy here!
A happy 5th year to your little guy! I hope you found some great ideas here and are ready to cultivate your little-big guy’s imagination! Make sure to pin this for later, and check out some of our other gift lists if you have more kiddos!
Lynn Barberian says
OMG! I’m stoked for the Pokemon Sword expansion pass! What about you? But did you hear that Nintendo is charging for it though!? It’s thirty bucks. Are you serious? I guess it’s ok.