Gift Guide for a 5-6 Year Old
Why is this so hard?!
Buying for my 5 year old boy is so difficult! We don’t watch commercials in this house and he really has everything he NEEDS, but some of the items we found and are getting for him this holiday season are below. I figured they might help others with some gift giving ideas this season! Especially for a last minute gift!
Building & Hands-On Toys
Brain Teaser Games
Learning Toys
Imagination Toys
Electronics
Building & Hands-On Toys
For the 2020 Holiday season we will be refreshing our Play-Doh stash! I don’t know about your kids, but mine LOVES to mix the colors, drop them on the floor, and add new things into the Play-Doh, etc. so from time to time we need to dump it all and get new ones. So this Christmas that is exactly what we are doing to start fresh. Play-Doh is also a crowd pleaser and one of the few activities my son will sit and play for hours with!
One time at the Target Dollar Spot we found some sand similar to this kinetic sand and man has that made a run for most times played with at our house! Unfortunately, when it hits the floor it makes it difficult to clean up and reuse so we need to get a new batch. I thought this construction set that comes with a carrying case was perfect and apparently others did too! We snagged ours online from Wal-Mart this 2020 Season, but keep an eye out as many retailers seem to be restocking it!
We already have this Lego Set, but you cannot ever go wrong with Legos… unless you are stepping on them.🤣🤦♀️
Brain Teaser Games
I’m not sure how normal it is, but my son LOVES these brainteaser games. Last Christmas we purchased Rush Hour and he will sit and play that for hours. Apparently they have a rush hour junior, but I just got him the normal version and he enjoys playing it. The harder levels he does with his dad because I just cheat and look at the answer. 🤣 So this year we are going to try Crankity and see how he loves this version!
Learning Toys
For 2021 we want to focus on teaching our son all about money. The value of a dollar, working hard for something you want to purchase, and saving vs. giving vs. spending! To start that off we purchased these chore charts. While he has typical tasks he has to do daily that are just apart of being a member of our family we will have extras he can do to earn a little bit of cash. From there we will use that to teach him how to budget his money. This shop can be found on Etsy and Amazon.
There are multiple versions of these Give, Save, Spend piggy banks inspired by Dave Ramsey’s, but this was the cutest I found and personalized! This Etsy shop shipped fast, had great customer service, and a great product. Can’t recommend them highly enough. We will use this to help Parker separate what ‘chore’ money he does earn into each bucket. We also plan on implementing The Budget Mom’s, @thebudgetmom, kids savings challenges along the way as well.
Can’t teach about money without a money toy! Don’t want it to be all boring so we got this cash register to use with the kitchen we have. Playing restaurant is huge in our house so this will be an added bonus and we can use the play money to learn how to count and give change.
Imagination Toys
This one I’m very excited about! Hoping it gets Parker out of our bookshelves playing with his toys and what boy doesn’t like pirates?! Plus, anything to have more time away from screens and not something mommy has to setup over and over like the marble machine.😂
Parker loves cars and his Mario automatic racetrack, but we are unable to leave that out all the time because it takes up so much floorspace in our tiny apartment. This Hot Wheels Ultimate Garage was perfect because it is tall, and not as wide as some of the others. It can be used to store the cars, but also provides several ramps and the option to build it out more in the future when we move!
Electronics
The Amazon Fire isn’t a gift Parker is receiving this year, but it is one that he uses time after time. While we want to keep screentime limited in our house this is great for traveling and those times you just need your child occupied and safe. We are able to keep it pretty locked down so he can see only the content we want and he uses it with a lot of his learning games like ABC Mouse.
Parker received the Nintendo Switch for his 5th birthday. Let’s be honest, I think my husband wanted it haha, but they play it together a couple times a month and it has been a big hit.
Any of the Mario games are a hit with Parker. He loves to race my husband on Mario Kart and then we get Mario Kart stories while on walks as well, but this was his first game. Also, Captain Toad Treasure Tracker is a winner too!
