Gift ideas for 5 year old please.

[Misspacorabanne]

Hi all,
starting to put down afew Christmas ideas, but I'm struggling with DS, he will have just turned 5 at Christmas.
So far I've got Lego, couple of board games (screwball scramble, and an animal guess who)
What have your 5 year old boys enjoyed? Do your dc of a similar age still play with their role play bits, eg kitchen and shop etc. He still plays with them at the moment but I could replace the food (that's seen better days) with new, and perhaps add a toy microwave and afew other bits to give it a new lease of life? But won't bother if he will be growing out of soon.
Thanks! 😀

My 6 year old still does role play, a lot of it is school / hospital / tea party centred.
We have had some 5 and 6 year old boys round recently and they all loved the playmobil pirate stuff, we've a ship and an island. Also loved colour change markers (from smiggle).

I've finished my 4 year old (will be 5 at the end of January). I've got her a two wheeled scooter and new helmet, art set some trainers, PJs, hoodie, books, Orbeez, slime set and a new doll. Plus eye mask, kids perfume, temporary tattoos, fidget toys and will also get some chocolate, little notepads, gel pens etc for her stocking. That actually looks very boring written down 😬 but she has toys coming out of her ears and is one of those strange children that loves getting clothes 🤣 We're very fortunate that we both have big families so anything that she sees or mentions nearer the time they're always happy to get.

Does he enjoy arts and crafts as you could always put a box together with lots of different craft bits which would look lovely wrapped up ☺️ or if he's active what about a basketball hoop, swingball set, toys for the garden (if you have one)? It's always so difficult when their birthdays are close to Christmas so may be nice for him to have some bits for the summer.

One of my boys will be 5 at Christmas and I've got similar to you OP - main gifts will be a large lego set with play mats with accompanying lego mini figure blind bags in his stocking, and a home made den building kit.

I like this age because you can really start tailoring towards their interests. Does he have any particular interests that would help with gift suggestions?

The Orchard games always seem to go down well. If you want another big ticket you could for a Nintendo 2DS.

Smiggle do quite a few nice things for boys that age especially if he is in his first year of school. But they also do toys, I have my eye on some "Air Popper Guns" as a present, and on some (pretty overpriced but very cool looking) Walkie Talkies

That doesn't sound boring btw it sounds absolutely lovely!

We got aquabeads for DSC & my DN at that age.
A good rainy day activity & other than a bit of water its "clean".

Once they get the hang of them they can make their own pictures rather than using the 1s supplied as well.

Other than that a scooter or bike for a big ticket item if they are growing out of their current 1.

My 5yo is already asking for eye-wateringly expenses 'jurassic world' toy dinosaurs, because the hundreds of generic toy dinosaurs he has are aparently not up to scratch any more. I'm hoping to find a few bits on sale between not and then. I'll probably bulk it up with cheap craft stuff, which he loves but I would probably have bought anyway. A pack of top trumps, selection box, Melissa & Doug reusable stickers & cat (fake) oodie.

I definitely wouldn't bother replacing toy food and microwave. He might play with them for a few more years sporadically but what a waste of money if you already have perfectly good stuff. Plus it's not very exciting to open a new version of something you already have - 5 year olds don't really notice it's worn/old they'll just think you've got a second toy microwave!

Mine like craft stuff - more fiddly things like Hama beads, aquabeads, transfers, sewing kits etc.

Thanks guys! Some great ideas there! Some of it I've never heard of so I'm off to have a Google! But thank you, that's so helpful! I like the craft box idea and he's quite active so perhaps a basketball hoop! 😄

@Sprogonthetyne bargain max have some reduced, and some with money off then 25% again with the code.
But still very expensive www.bargainmax.co.uk/jurassic-world-colossal-carnotaurus-16-figure.html

Some things we have for our little one are:

Playmobil fire station - on offer at WHSmiths at the moment
Connect 4
Buckaroo
Lego Dots

I love the idea of a basketball hoop

Totally depends on child

My oldest DS who is now a teen was never a 'role play' type kid, hes very STEM minded and not very 'fantastical' minded (prefers fact to fiction) and by 5 he was moving onto tablets and games (think he got an Xbox and tablet for his 5th xmas).

My younger DS is 4 and is very much a 'role player' he loves to make up stories, he could and will turn ANYTHING into a fantasic adventure senario and will be getting a toy kitchen and vet medic set for xmas as he loves to pretend.

At the same age they where both very different.

DS1 just turned 5. So far he has asked Santa for super mario lego pirate ship and the playmobil scooby doo haunted mansion. He isnt into Mario at all but loves pirates and lego and spied it in the toy shop. He has weirdly gotten into halloween and specifically vampires hence the playmobil.

I love playmobil, he has several pirate ships (is pirate mad) and had a playdate today with a friend who brought his 9 year old brother and all 3 of them played for ages with them!

Not what you asked but we bought dd5 screwball scramble last year and it was a big flop. It's sat on the shelf all year as it is just too hard (she's now 6). I've triedit a few times and it's hard for me too. She just became frustrated with it. It's not as I remember lol so maybe a different game would be better.

Suggestion wise

Melissa and Doug do some lovely colouring books if he's into that

Slime making kit (if your nerves can stand the mess)

We have a few of the Galt sets (rainbow lab, the generic science one and Dino lab) all have been a big hit

Pogo jumper

My 5yo was always a nightmare to dress, always complained about the clothes he had. I ended up getting him a customised t shirt with an illustration on it of his favourite dinosaurs and he loved it. Asks to wear it every day. Funnily, he’d get upset when it was in the wash haha. It was something like this one sketchstitch.co.uk/collections/kids-t-shirts/products/kids-t-shirt-illustrations

Otherwise, I find Lego is a good go-to. Keeps him busy and he’s old enough now for the smaller parts. He loves the Star Wars stuff!