Gifts for 5 year old boys

[Peabody25]

Struggling with ideas for DS, soon to be 5 for his September birthday and for christmas.

So far we’ve got a stormtrooper helmet and costume, galt magnetic set, monopoly junior electronic banking, and Dobble! He’s really into transformers, trains and Lego but I’m reluctant to buy more as he’s got tonnes as it is! Any other ideas?

He’s into fixing things, working out how things work etc and games, but more card or action games rather than proper board games. Also, any good book ideas?

Can be any price range as I need ideas to give to others as well.

[Peabody25]

Should have said, he's already got a bike, scooter and football goals so doesn't need anything else for the garden.

[4GreenApples]

How about a book token instead of an actual book?

My DC got a £10 book token each from a relative last Christmas, and they loved the whole experience of going to the bookshop and picking out their own book to buy and keep.

[MrsMarigold]

We got our son toolbox, a real one, he still loves it at seven.

[Mallowmarshmallow]

Playmobil is on our radar for our to be 5yo.... i think we are going to choose a theme; maybe police, buy the station then ask those who request ideas to buy related things like the vehicles and people to make one big set...

[QueenoftheSilverDollar12]

Great idea @Mallowmarshmallow - I loved Playmobil when I was a kid and love to watch wee ones nowadays have a similar experience. It's almost magical when the theme all comes together or they mix and match to make their own worlds and adventures.

[Ricekrispie22]

A marble run. There are some really inspiring ones around. Gravitrax is a really cool modern marble run but it's recommended for 8+. Take a look, he might be able to work it with supervision.
Here are some more good marble runs
www.brightminds.co.uk/collections/marble-run-toys/products/q-ba-maze-big-box
www.brightminds.co.uk/collections/marble-run-toys/products/quercetti-marble-run-super
www.argos.co.uk/product/7507427

Gears Gears Gears sets are really popular with that age group at the moment. www.argos.co.uk/product/7436172
Meccano Junior kits are for 5+
Geomag mechanics www.argos.co.uk/product/6041726 www.argos.co.uk/product/6041647
The Enigmo STEM sets are excellent. There are loads to choose from. Enigmo also have another good series of sets called Inventor.

[Allthepinkunicorns]

I'm bought my soon to be 5 year old ds, junior meccano, lego, pencil case from smiggle and stuff to go in it. Lego dvds, build your own den kit, blo pens, playdoh set, lego colouring in books, stuff for the bath. Lego dimensions for his xbox, lego t-shirt. This is a mix of stuff for his birthday and Christmas. I've also just ordered Mr birthday as he loves mr men books.

[Alanamackree]

There are lots of LEGO themed story books but you might need to browse in a bookshop to judge the right reading level as it’s very hard to work out online.
There are also some big glossy hardback LEGO ideas books which might stimulate some new play ideas. I’m sure I’ve seen this one much cheaper too if you want to shop around.
this is a book of instructions to build various contraptions from your existing LEGO. It’s the kind of thing that you might need to sit and work through with him but if he’s interested in how things work it is quite stimulating.
I’m not keen on adding to the mountain of LEGO but with new sets but there are some key pieces that really enhance play. We love the big grey base boards (they don’t seem worth the price at all but actually they are fantastic) and I know there was a selection of imitation bases possibly from wilko that everyone was raving about a year ago.
cogs and gears might bring another level of challenge to his existing LEGO.
It’s a bit soon for technic power functions but one to think of in a few years.
There are a few different LEGO comic subscriptions too.

Similarly with trains, there might be a few small key pieces you could consider. bendy tracks are brilliant for closing awkward loops made by junctions You can even go multi level
I found that our wooden marble runs and kapla combined very well with the train tracks. And they are still being played with now that they’ve lost all interest in the trains. Kapla looks so dull and expensive but is probably one of the most played with toys we’ve ever had.

One of mine got a metal detector around that age which is still being played with at 9. But that might depend on how much you like your garden! We’ve had some treasure digs (lidl do great child size metal spades which are really sturdy).
This den kit is absolutely brilliant too.

[trancepants]

I have a five year old, some of his favourite toys which you haven't mentioned are;
Imaginext. Utterly brilliant toys. Similar to Playmobil but sooo much better as they are sturdier, don't fall apart and have so many cool little secret compartments and features. I honestly love these toys as much as my son does. They have so many themes, DC, Power Rangers, Jurassic World, Toy Story, Sponge Bob, Monsters University, etc. As well as generic themes like rescue workers, astronauts, space aliens, wizards, dinosaur, stone age, etc.
Playskool Heroes, similar to Imaginext but tbh, not as good, though they have Marvel and Star Wars themes.
K'nex. Great building toys in their own right and now you can even get connectors that attach them to Lego.
Mag Tiles. Also fab building toys.