21 of the best toys for 5 year olds for 2024
After lots (and lots!) of testing, we've picked the top toys for boys and girls aged 5, as rated by our child testers and recommended by their parents
At 5, playing with toys is more important than ever.
By now your child may be becoming more social, probably preferring to play with friends more than on their own. They may also be getting better at expressing their feelings, and play is the perfect way for them to navigate these emotions.
So, whether your 5 year old is creative, or an enthusiastic problem solver, they may require toys with some focus, or a way to include imaginative play.
Your child can also use their fingers much more flexibly to control crafting tools and tackle more complicated construction or technology toys. Of course, anything that's fun, loud or messy, and that makes them giggle is a surefire hit.
With that in mind, here's our picks for the best toys for 5 year olds, tested by children and parents.
More like this
Best toys for 5 year olds at a glance
Best educational toys for 5 year olds
- Great for developing emotional intelligence: The Mood Bears, £22.99 (mini version £12.99)
- Great budget construction toy: Plus-Plus 100-Piece Tube, £7
- Great for creative sensory play: Kinetic Sand Sandisfactory, £14.50
- Great for early camera skills: Vtech KidiZoom PrintCam, £55
- Great first smartwatch: Tobi Robot Smartwatch, £43.99
- Great for developing number skills: Orchard Toys Dino-Snore-Us, £12
Best imaginative play toys for 5 year olds
- Great for collecting or adding to a set: Sylvanian Families Baby Amusement Park, £52
- Great for wow-factor: Barbie Dream Camper Vehicle Playset, £115
- Great for all-action vehicle play: Heroes of Goo Jit Zu Stretch & Strike Thrash Mobile, £19.99
- Great for fairy fun: Got2Glow Fairy Finder, £38
- Great for eco-themed vehicle play: Playmobil 70885 City Life Vehicle World Recycling Truck with Flashing Lights, £24
- Great for wildlife ranger role play: Schleich Wild Life Ranger Adventure Station, £54.99
Best role play toys for 5 year olds
- Great for playing dress-up: DesignaFriend Tilly Bumper Doll Set, £50
- Great for shopkeeper role play: Great Little Trading Co. First Class Toy Post Office, £48
- Great for nurturing skills: Meagan Doll by Our Generation, £34.99
- Great for pet care skills: Little Live Pets - My Puppy's Home Dalmatian Edition, £50
- Great for cooking role play: Bee Smart Pizza Oven, £39.99
Best skills-based toys for 5 year olds
- Great first bike: Forme Cubley 14, £289.99
- Great for fine-finger skills: Aquabeads Beginner's Carry Case, £13.99
- Great for Minecraft-themed unboxing fun: Treasure X Minecraft Caves & Cliffs Ender Dragon, £19.99
- Great for construction skills: HEXBUG Junkbots (4 Pack) Dumpster, £9.95
Jump to:
- Best educational toys for 5 year olds
- Best imaginative play toys for 5 year olds
- Best role play toys for 5 year olds
- Best skills-based toys for 5 year olds
What are the best toys for 5 year olds?
Additional reporting by Gill Crawshaw and Sarah Reid
Best educational toys for 5 year olds
1. The Mood Bears, £22.99 (mini version £12.99)
– Great for developing emotional intelligence
Available at: Mood Bears and Amazon
Age suitability: 0+ | Best for age: 5+ | Size (full-size version): D27cm x W18cm x H33cm | Batteries: None | Awards: Editor's Choice, MadeForMums Toy Awards 2023
Is your child feeling sad, happy, calm, or nervous? There’s a Mood Bear for that. Help them talk about their feelings with this collection of colourful teddy bears designed to support positive mental health. Each of the bears is named after a specific emotion and has a distinctive colour to match the mood, based on colour psychology.
Mood Bears have paw shapes indicating the mood they depict and come with a poem that helps the child understand and talk about their feelings. There are 8 Mood Bears in the range, and 3 of them are talking bears. They are available in full size and smaller, collectible form.
I want to play with him every day, he is my best friend, and when I am scared, he helps me calm down.
2. Plus-Plus 100-Piece Tube, £7
– Great budget construction toy
Available at: Amazon and Jarrolds
Age suitability: 5+ | Best for age: 5+ | Size (full-size version): L10.1cm x W10.1cm x H14cm | Batteries: None | Awards: Bronze, MadeForMums Toy Awards 2023
Ideal for busy builders, the Plus-Plus 100-Piece Tube is a great, low cost and versatile construction toy. The pieces come in a range of colours and fit together to make satisfying 3D shapes. The tube comes with a small instruction booklet with a few suggested constructions, but you can build pretty much anything you can imagine, and the pieces allow for you to create some pretty impressive constructions. They also come in a range of colours including vibrant neon, rainbow and pastel options. But you can also buy tubes of one specific colour.
The Plus-Plus bricks are great value for money. They are durable so will withstand lots of play. They are a great stocking filler or pocket money purchase as they are very reasonably priced.
3. Kinetic Sand Sandisfactory, £14.50
– Great for creative sensory play
Available at: Amazon
Age suitability: 3+ | Best for age: 5+ | Size: Various | Batteries: None
This sand-moulding kit contains nearly 1kg of red, blue, yellow and black squishy, sensory sand that stays together when you shape it and doesn’t shed little grains all over your floor. It has already turned the heads of experts at toy retailer The Entertainer, who named it as one of the top toys for Christmas 2023. The set comes with instructions and more than 10 tools for sand-slicing, marking, scooping and shaping, including 2 moulds for making ‘cakes’ of black sand with rainbow colours inside.
The cube mould is Oliver’s favourite – he loved slicing it open to reveal the surprise coloured stripes. I especially like the scoop tool: it makes it so much easier to make ball shapes, which Oliver's always struggled with before.
4. Vtech KidiZoom PrintCam, £55
– Great for early camera skills
Available at: Argos and Amazon
Age suitability: 5+ | Best for age: 5+ | Size: L13.4cm x W9.2cm x H4.8cm | Batteries: 1 x rechargeable (included, with USB charger)
This chunky camera , complete with flip-up lens and a zoom function, makes it easy to take photos or selfies and instantly print them in black and white on thermal paper. It also boasts some clever features like being able to print out photos as line drawings or with special effects, stamps and borders. The camera shoots video as well, and has 3 games to play. Toy retailer The Entertainer picked it out as one of the top toys for Christmas 2023 and our testers agreed.
The camera comes with a wrist strap and 1 roll of thermal paper. You can buy more paper – and a storage case – separately.
I like it because it has games on it too and because it can flip up so you can take selfies and print them out using the printer button. The Clown game is my favourite.
5. Tobi Robot Smartwatch, £43.99
– Great first smartwatch
Available at: Amazon
Age suitability: 4+ | Best for age: 5+ | Size: L6cm x W5cm x H2.5cm| Batteries: 1 LiPo rechargeable battery (included)
This kid-friendly digital watch features an LED robot with hundreds of friendly facial expressions, moving arms and legs and responsive sound effects. It can play games (with rewards to unlock), and has 2 cameras for video, photos and selfies, as well as a pedometer, a timer, a stopwatch, a calendar and an alarm. You can also now buy the (purple) Tobi 2 Robot Smartwatch (£64.99), which is aimed at children aged 6+ and allows them to play games ‘head to head’ with owners of other Tobi 2 Robot Smartwatches nearby.
6. Orchard Toys Dino-Snore-Us, £11.50
– Great for developing number skills
Available at: Amazon and Orchard Toys
Age suitability: 4+ | Best for age: 5+ | Size: L49cm xW37cm | Batteries: None
In this dinosaur-themed board game, the objective is to spirit away as many dino eggs as you can while the T-Rex sleeps. If you land on certain squares when he’s awake, you’ll have to go all the way back to the start. It includes a spinner, 4 dinosaur playing pieces, 24 eggs and 4 nests. It’s for 2 to 4 players.
It’s definitely a good game for counting skills and it’s fun as well as educational – and easy to set up. We’ll be playing this a lot.
Best imaginative play toys for 5 year olds
7. Sylvanian Families Baby Amusement Park, £52
– Great for collecting or adding to a set
Available at: Argos and John Lewis
Age suitability: 4+ | Best for age: 5+ | Size: L18cm xW38cm x H35cm | Batteries: None
This funfair-themed castle playset features a rotating Ferris wheel, swinging Viking ship, a rocket, 2 go-karts, and a display board at the back of the castle where you can line up your Sylvanian baby figures. It’s very cute and sweetly detailed and the battery-free funfair features are easy for little hands to operate. And there are extra points from us for the inclusion of 3 baby figures (you often have to buy these separately with Sylvanian Families playsets).
Hettie has played with this every day since she got it.
8. Barbie Dream Camper Vehicle Playset, £115
– Great for wow-factor
Age suitability: 3+ | Best for age: 5+ | Size: L22cm x W58cm x H31cm (without slide) | Batteries: None
Packed with 60+ pieces, this large camper van playset has a huge slide that towers over the van and ends in a pool (that can be stowed on the roof when the camper van’s on the move). The camper itself opens out to reveal a living area, a moveable kitchen set, an alfresco eating and sleeping area and, at the back, there's a pull-down bathroom. There are no Barbie dolls included and, if we’re being picky, the hinge on the slide might not withstand much rough play, while some of the fabric accessories, like the sleeping bags, aren’t the best quality. But there’s no denying that this playset has serious entertainment value.
It’s just like the real one that Barbie has. It’s just like on the telly!
9. Heroes of Goo Jit Zu Stretch & Strike Thrash Mobile, £19.99
– Great for all-action vehicle play
Available at: Amazon and Smyths
Age suitability: 4+ | Best for age: 5+ | Size: L28cm x W19cm x H31cm | Batteries: None
Heroes of Goo Jit Zu action figures are super-squishy and super-stretchy – and now you can get the shark-head Thrash figure, wearing a natty blue race suit, in his own shark-shaped monster truck. Like its owner, the truck can be squashed and stretched: push down on the chassis to spread the wheels out in ‘speed mode’ or pull the chassis up to switch into ‘strike mode’ and launch missiles out of the shark’s jaws.
The shark has sharp teeth and the missiles go so far. It’s fun to drive and make it big and smaller. You can drive over things with the big wheels.
10. Got2Glow Fairy Finder, £38
– Great for fairy fun
Available at: The Entertainer and Argos
Age suitability: 5+ | Best for age: 5+ | Size: L11cm x W11cm x H17cm | Batteries: 3 x AA (included)
This interactive virtual fairy-catching jar glows when there’s a fairy about, so you can lift up the little heart-shaped flap on its lid and let the fairy fly in. There are more than 30 fairies to collect, each with their own character, and you can ask each fairy to say hello or dance for you, feed them, play games with them and give them a ‘hug’. You can also trade fairies with friends and download the (free) Find My Fairy app to find out more about the fairies you’ve caught.
It's something completely different to anything I've seen. It’s very interactive and fun. The quality is really good and the design is so eye-catching. It is a toy that’s going to last, and a toy that your child will want to show their friends and family.
11. Playmobil 70885 City Life Vehicle World Recycling Truck with Flashing Lights, £25.99
– Great for eco-themed vehicle play
Available at: Amazon and Smyths
Age suitability: 4+ | Best for age: 5+ | Size: L30cm x W13cm x H18cm | Batteries: 2 x CR2 (included)
Rev up your imaginative play options with a theme all children seem to love: waste disposal! This recycling truck has lights that flash, levers that lift and empty the 3 wheelie bins, and a trailer that tilts to release its haul. It comes with some great accessories, including rubbish (bottles, cans, fish bones) to sort into the right bins, and 2 orange-jacketed figures to run the show.
My favourite thing is emptying the bins: I like how they tip up and I really like the flashing lights too. It looks like the truck that comes to empty our bins at home. It’s lots of fun.
12. Schleich Wild Life Ranger Adventure Station, £54.99
– Great for wildlife fans
Available at: Schleich and Amazon
Age suitability: 3+ | Best for age: 5+ | Size: L30cm x W50cm x H35cm| Batteries: None
This wildlife-themed playset can be built in different ways and features a tree with a slide, a wobbly suspension bridge, a ranger station with a rope ladder, a swivelling crane, a flip-up floor panel and an earth mound with a burrow to hide in. It comes with a black panther, a crocodile, 2 baby tortoises, a baby gorilla, a Ranger Steve figure and accessories including a satellite telephone, a torch, binoculars, leaves and a transport box.
She loves this playset, I have never seen her so focused on a toy for such a long time. It has also made her ask lots of questions about the different animals and the job of a zoologist. It’s such fantastic quality and offers so much play potential.
Best role play toys for 5 year olds
13. DesignaFriend Tilly Bumper Doll Set, £50
– Great for playing dress-up
Available at: Argos
Age suitability: 3+ | Best for age: 5+ | Size: H46cm | Batteries: None | Awards: Gold, MadeForMums Toy Awards 2023
Play dress-up, hair stylist and more with the Tilly Bumper Doll Set, a stylishly dressed 46cm fashion doll that comes with a comb and hair care tips to keep her tresses looking tip-top. Tilly offers a fashionable twist on traditional dolls and comes dressed in modern clothes, including a long-sleeved grey top with a rainbow graphic, pink metallic leggings, a headband, and metallic pink trainers with silver laces. Additional outfits are included, with accessories such as a jacket, tutu, sunglasses, sandals, bag and hair clips. Tilly’s ears are pierced, so she can wear earrings.
The doll also comes with a silver DesignaFriend charm bracelet for the child, and each additional outfit you buy comes with a unique charm for you to add.
She is magical, and it is my favourite toy. I like that it has loads of clothes to change into and I like that she has a box so I can put her to bed.
14. Great Little Trading Co. First Class Toy Post Office, £60
– Great for shopkeeper role play
Available at: Great Little Trading Co
Age suitability: 3+ | Best for age: 5+ | Size: L15cm x W43cm x H21cm | Batteries: None
Bright and chunky, this double-sided wooden role-play post office has a postbox (with a removable lid round the back), a cash machine and card, a parcel stamper, Velcro stamps, packages, wooden letters/postcards and, best of all, working scales for weighing all that important post.
I can post letters to everyone. I love the credit card – it is really fun and I like paying for stuff. You can actually stick the stamps on the envelope!
15. Meagan Doll by Our Generation, £34.99
– Great for nurturing skills
Available at: Amazon
Age suitability: 3+ | Best for age: 5+ | Size: H46cm | Batteries: None
Our Generation dolls have a justly earned reputation for quality, with their big soft bodies, open/close eyes, moveable arms and legs, and clothes that are easy to put on and take off. Meagan, one of the newest dolls on the block, has freckles and long, blonde hair (and part of a range that is pleasingly diverse) and – icing on the cake – a little plush golden retriever to take for walks on a lead. She comes wearing a dress, bobble hat, tights and wellies. In the box, you’ll find a stash of dog treats, as well as a bone, a ball and a comb.
I love that she has a dog and can come on dog walks with me! I like giving the dog treats and playing fetch. Meagan has beautiful hair like me and we can have the same hairstyles. I will play with her all the time!
16. Little Live Pets – My Puppy’s Home Dalmatian Edition, £50
– Great for pet care skills
Available at: Argos
Age suitability: 5+| Best for age: 5+ | Size: D13cm x W30cm x H29cm | Batteries: 2 x AA (included)
Whether you’re feeding it, holding it or putting it to bed, this cuddly toy will react with a series of whimpers and barks. Plus, you can build the kennel for yourself, which Hallie found a bit tricky but enjoyable, and fill up your puppy’s water bowl, which will make footprints appear on the welcome mat like magic. This toy is so lovely it caught the eye of both Argos and DreamToys, both of which backed it to be huge for Christmas 2023.
17. Bee Smart Pizza Oven, £39.99
– Great for cooking role play
Available at: Amazon and Bee Smart
Age suitability: 3+ | Best for age: 4+ | Size: L17cm x W29cm x H15cm | Batteries: None
This wooden pretend pizza shop has more than 30 accessories, including a sectioned pizza, lots of veg to pile on top, utensils, (paper) play money, a pizza wheel, a pizza peel (the shovel you use to push an uncooked pizza into the oven) and a little pizza oven. The toy is lovely to look at and there’s loads to play with. The pizza box for ‘takeaway’ pizzas is a cute touch and was a massive hit with our child tester.
The best bit is making the pizza with lots of different toppings. I like to sing my pizza song whilst I’m making it. I play with it all the time!
Best skills-based toys for 5 year olds
18. Forme Cubley 14, £289.99
– Great first bike
Available at: Silvester Bros
Age suitability: 3+ | Best for age: 4+ | Weight: 6.12kg | Batteries: None
This super-lightweight aluminium-framed starter bike is designed to be used as a balance bike at first (the pedals are easy to remove). This is great if you’d prefer to get your child used to steering and balancing on their new bike before mastering the pedals. It also has a nice adjustable-height saddle, narrow-set handlebars, full alloy wheels with grippy Kenda Small Block 8 tyres, alloy V-brakes, single-speed gears and – thrills! – a bell.
It’s not cheap, that's for sure, but there's no doubting its quality and how easy and smooth it is to ride. If your child doesn’t have siblings to pass the bike on to in a few years’ time, quality kids’ bikes like this have a really good second-hand value. Alternatively, you can rent one from The Bike Club and then trade up to a bigger model when your child grows.
It’s a supersonic bike that helps me cycle on my own. I love my new big-girl bike!
19. Aquabeads Beginner's Carry Case, £13.99
– Great for fine-finger skills
Age suitability: 4+ | Best for age: 5+ | Size: L22cm x W31cm x H4.5cm | Batteries: None
This bead-crafting carry case opens up to reveal a tray containing 900 solid, jewel and star beads, separated by dividers into 24 colours that you select and assemble on a 'creation display’ board to make all sorts of designs. And if you use the included sprayer to wet your design, the beads will stick together like glue (without the glue!). It comes with template sheets (including patterns for a rabbit, dinosaur, rainbow and dolphin), an instruction manual, and a double-sided Aquabeads pen.
It’s brilliantly portable and good value for money, as there are so many beads and it would last a long time. Izzy did struggle a bit with the pen, though. She found it easier just placing the beads with her fingers.
20. Treasure X Minecraft Caves & Cliffs Ender Dragon, £19.99
– Great for Minecraft-themed unboxing fun
Available at: The Entertainer and Amazon
Age suitability: 5+ | Best for age: 5+ | Size: L21cm x W21cm x H8cm | Batteries: None
An unboxing treasure hunt for Minecraft fans, this toy has 20 levels to go through before you can build the Diamond Steve and Ender Dragon figures and find your dragon egg – and maybe, if you’re lucky, a gold-dipped Ender Pearl.
The finished figures are a good chunky size but the thrill is really in the half an hour or so of unboxing experience, which involves a cracking through the layers with a tiny pickaxe and plunging your fingers into slime and (mercifully unsticky) sand. At the end, there are little fast-bonding Aqua Stick Hearts to use to glue the various parts of the figures together.
I really liked finding the bits, putting the hearts on the Ender Dragon and Diamond Steve and putting the water on them to lock them in. I also liked the slime, as it was very gooey!
21. HEXBUG Junkbots (4 Pack) Dumpster, £9.95
– Great for construction skills
Available at: Amazon
Age suitability: 3+ | Best for age: 5+ | Size: L6cm x W13cm x H6cm| Batteries: 2x LR44 (included)
This little toy dumpster is full of 24 pieces (some hidden in mini rubbish bags) that can be put together to create 4 Junkbot robots that light up and move. There are a total of 36 Junkbots to collect (if you buy other dumpster sets). Yes, it’s a bit of plastic overkill but it’s great fun digging through the dumpster and opening the rubbish sacks to find the pieces – and the little robots are very rewarding to make.
There is nothing I don’t like about them. I made a robot that lights up on my own!
About the author Helen Brown
Helen is Deputy Editor of MadeForMums, the author of Parenting for Dummies (Wiley, £17.99) and the Head Tester for our MadeForMums Toy Awards. She has written about parenting for Mumsnet, Pregnancy & Birth, Prima Baby, Boots Parenting Club and She Magazine and she's also been Consumer Editor of Mother & Baby. She has 3 boys and a heavy-duty washing machine.
We've got more top tested and rated toys here...
Authors
Helen is author of the classic advice book Parenting for Dummies and a mum of 3. Before joining MadeForMums, she was Head of Community at Mumsnet and also the Consumer Editor of Mother & Baby.
How NatPat's wellness patches may help your family
NatPat's range of wellness patches and stickers aim to tackle everything from allergies to lack of focus. We take a closer look at the range.