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Children can learn through play with these physically and intellectually stimulating toys
By the age of five, children are starting to make more sense of the world around them. At school, they’ll be learning the basics of phonics and arithmetic, which means, if you’re looking for a gift for a five-year-old, simple shape-sorting toys and picture books just won’t cut it any more.
It’s time to challenge their physical and intellectual ability – toys and games for five-year-olds should help them learn through play. You might also find it useful to look for gifts that encourage them to run around, so they can burn up all the excess energy they have after a day of sitting still at school.
Amanda Frolich, founder of award-winning children’s activity class Amanda’s Action Club, is a children’s physical movement development specialist and a toy expert. She advises: “Physical activity is essential for a child’s growth, development and overall health. Weight-bearing activities such as running and jumping are important for building strong bones and muscles in children, and regular physical activity will improve cardiovascular health and improve heart and lung function.
“Look for toys that promote physical, cognitive and social-emotional development. Toys that encourage movement and exercise, hand-eye coordination and social interaction are especially beneficial.”
However, it can be useful for adults, as well as children, to enjoy some quiet time now and then. With that in mind, we have included a couple of tech toys that will push a child’s problem-solving capabilities and encourage creativity, therefore earning their place in this round-up of the best gifts for five-year-olds.
To fully test a gift’s popularity with five-year-old girls and boys, we organised a series of play dates to try out each one in a home environment. We assessed the toys, games and STEM sets for how well they held a child’s attention and how easy they were to operate without adult supervision, as well as how physically or mentally stimulating they were. We tested toys across a wide range of price points, from less than £10 to more than £100, to find the best of the best for all budgets.
We also tested the toys for long-term appeal – there’s nothing worse than a toy that gets played with twice and then ends up cluttering up the toy box. We witnessed children’s repeated interaction with the following picks, which made us confident they will withstand the test of time.
With more than 30 years of experience in running classes to entertain children, and entertaining at birthday parties, Amanda Frolich has decades of experience in making children and parents happy through play. Becoming a Children’s First Champion in parliament in 2020, she advises government ministers how to put children first when developing policies. We asked her for her top tips when it comes to choosing a gift for little ones.
“When choosing a toy for their child, parents should consider a variety of factors, to ensure the toy is safe, appropriate, and beneficial for their child’s development.” Here are some things parents should look for when choosing a toy, according to Frolich:
“Children need to move more because physical activity is essential for their growth, development, and overall health.” Here are a few reasons why:
“Overall, children need to move more to support their physical, mental, and social development. Encouraging children to engage in regular physical activity can set them on a path toward a healthy and active lifestyle that can benefit them for years to come.”
Both our boy and girl testers loved sitting at the table drawing with the Maped creativ lumi board. It kept them busy for ages without screens, which was nice to see. We were also pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to find great value gifts – Orchard Toys’ Doggy Doggy Woof Woof game and the Squishmallow chick made the children smile and laugh out loud, and neither gift will break the bank, either.
Want more gift inspiration? Read our round-up of the best gifts for six-year-olds