My son just turned 5 years old and this is what he’s loving to play right now.
My 5 Year Old’s Favorite Toys & Activities
Don’t get me wrong, some days I say to myself, “I should just throw away all of the kids’ toys – they don’t play with them anyway!” And then that’s when I take a look at everything and do a re-org. I love to cycle toys in and out, because as they grow older, they play with them differently and also, they seem more novel when they’re not out every day.
Luca is a very athletic, active kid, so he just loves to be out at a park, kicking a soccer ball, playing on the jungle gym, or riding his bike and scooter. But on rainy days or when he needs a little downtime, we do play with toys and games.
As a reference, Luca turned five years old on September 25th, so he’s newly 5 – I’m sure as he matures and gets more capable as a 5 year old, this list will change.
Favorite Toys For My 5 Year Old
- Legos: he’s working on this right now.
- Magnatiles, train sets, anything buildable, like these interlocking blocks.
- Any sort of make believe kits, like this dentist kit.
- Anything to do with cars, like this Hot Wheels raceway or any remote control cars, like this one.
- Playmobil: I love these and they keep him occupied and interested for years.
- Drill toys, like this one (these toys are obnoxious, because it’s so many tiny pieces.)
- Remote control dinosaur (he’s very dino-obsessed right now.)
Favorite Non-Toy Activities For My 5 Year Old
- Arts & crafts: he always asks me, “Can we do a project?” which means some sort of craft. I whip out my phone, load up Pinterest, and we pick something out to do, provided that I have everything already at home (I have the basics, so usually we can do most.) I love this when it’s a certain holiday like Halloween or Christmas so we can make festive projects.
- Drawing & stencils: highly recommend this stencil kit.
- Hide & seek: he’s really into this right now and can luckily play it with his 3 year old sister.
- Cooking & baking: this is tough, because he really wants to be more involved int he stovetop cooking and he’s still a little young for it. We do lots of baking together, topping pizzas, making pancakes, etc. It’s a great way to meal prep snacks for the week (he loves making muffins.)
- Sticker scavenger hunts: this takes a little prep, but what I’ll do is place a sticker in random places and make a piece of paper with photo clues of where the stickers are. He’ll have to collect the stickers and put them on the piece of paper (I’ll make little boxes that fit the stickers.) For example, I’ll draw the television (and there will be a sticker hanging off the TV) or draw the remote control (and put a sticker on there.)
- Sensory kits: we’ve purchased so many sensory kits that we now have a little section in our playroom dedicated to sensory kits. We have play dough and all the little pieces to stick in there. I’ll make him a little bin with some dough and pieces and he loves to play around and build.
- Outdoor nature walk: we’ll have a mission each time and bring a little bag to hold the found item. Sometimes we’ll look for leaves, sometimes rocks, or flowers, etc.
- Building with clay, especially these kits.
- Sticker books.
- Mosaic sticker art, like this dinosaur one.
Favorite Games For My 5 Year Old
- Go Fish: he recently got this dinosaur version for his 5th birthday.
- Zingo: this is still a fan favorite in our house, and he loves this dino version of bingo.
- Board games
- Hungry Hungry Hippos
- Chutes & Ladders
- This Paw Patrol version of classic Sorry
- Snail’s Pace racing game (easy for Roma to play.)
- Pretty Pretty Princess, he loves winning all the jewelry.
- Puzzles, he love them, but we don’t do them that often, so he needs a lot of assistance from a grown up. My goal in 2023 is to make him a puzzle master.
- Matching games, like this dino one.
- Shark Bite
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