Best toys for 5 year olds 2025, tried and tested by parents and children
After lots of testing, we've picked the top toys for boys and girls aged 5, as rated by our child testers and recommended by their parents
At 5, playing with toys is more important than ever.
By now your child may be becoming more social, probably preferring to play with friends more than on their own. They may also be getting better at expressing their feelings, and play is the perfect way for them to navigate these emotions.
So, whether your 5 year old is creative, or an enthusiastic problem solver, they may require toys with some focus, or a way to include imaginative play.
Your child can also use their fingers much more flexibly to control crafting tools and tackle more complicated construction or technology toys. Of course, anything that's fun, loud or messy, and that makes them giggle is a surefire hit.
With that in mind, here's our picks for the best toys for 5 year olds, tested by children and parents.
Best toys for 5 year olds at a glance
Best educational toys for 5 year olds
- The Mood Bears, £22.99
- Plus-Plus 100-Piece Tube, £11.99
- Kinetic Sand Sandisfactory, £26
- Vtech KidiZoom PrintCam, £79.99
- Tobi Robot Smartwatch, £49
Best imaginative play toys for 5 year olds
- Barbie Dreamhouse Playset,
£169.99£159.99 - Goo Jit Zu Hero Creator Pack, £20
- Play-Doh Marvel Hulk Smash & Squish Playset, £18
- Teksta Purro The Interactive Smart Kitty, £50
Best role play toys for 5 year olds
- DesignaFriend Tilly Bumper Doll Set, £37.50
- Little Live Pets - My Puppy's Home Dalmatian Edition, £70
- Mini Barbie Land Fashionistas Dolls, £20
- Monster High Haunted High School Doll House, £199.99
Best skills-based toys for 5 year olds
- Forme Cubley 14, £289.99
- Aquabeads Beginner's Carry Case, £13.99
- Treasure X Minecraft Caves & Cliffs Ender Dragon, £24.99
- VTech Kidi DJ Drums, £60
What are the best toys for 5 year olds?
Jump to:
- Best educational toys for 5 year olds
- Best imaginative play toys for 5 year olds
- Best role play toys for 5 year olds
- Best skills-based toys for 5 year olds
Best educational toys for 5 year olds
1. The Mood Bears, £22.99 (mini version £12.99)
Available at: Mood Bears and Amazon
Age suitability: 0+ | Best for age: 5+ | Batteries: None
Is your child feeling sad, happy, calm, or nervous? There’s a Mood Bear for that. Help them talk about their feelings with this collection of colourful teddy bears designed to support positive mental health. Each of the bears is named after a specific emotion and has a distinctive colour to match the mood, based on colour psychology.
Mood Bears have paw shapes indicating the mood they depict and come with a poem that helps the child understand and talk about their feelings. There are 8 Mood Bears in the range, and 3 of them are talking bears. They are available in full size and smaller, collectible form.
I want to play with him every day, he is my best friend, and when I am scared, he helps me calm down.
2. Plus-Plus 100-Piece Tube, £11.99
Available at: Amazon
Age suitability: 5+ | Best for age: 5+ | Batteries: None
Ideal for busy builders, the Plus-Plus 100-Piece Tube is a great, low cost and versatile construction toy. The pieces come in a range of colours and fit together to make satisfying 3D shapes. The tube comes with a small instruction booklet with a few suggested constructions, but you can build pretty much anything you can imagine, and the pieces allow for you to create some pretty impressive constructions. They also come in a range of colours including vibrant neon, rainbow and pastel options. But you can also buy tubes of one specific colour.
The Plus-Plus bricks are great value for money. They are durable so will withstand lots of play. They are a great stocking filler or pocket money purchase as they are very reasonably priced.
3. Kinetic Sand Sandisfactory, £24.50
Available at: Amazon
Age suitability: 3+ | Best for age: 5+ | Size: Various | Batteries: None
This sand-moulding kit contains nearly 1kg of red, blue, yellow and black squishy, sensory sand that stays together when you shape it and doesn’t shed little grains all over your floor. It has already turned the heads of experts at toy retailer The Entertainer, who named it as one of the top toys for Christmas 2023. The set comes with instructions and more than 10 tools for sand-slicing, marking, scooping and shaping, including 2 moulds for making ‘cakes’ of black sand with rainbow colours inside.
The cube mould is Oliver’s favourite – he loved slicing it open to reveal the surprise coloured stripes. I especially like the scoop tool: it makes it so much easier to make ball shapes, which Oliver's always struggled with before.
4. Vtech KidiZoom PrintCam, £59
Available at: Amazon and Hamleys
Age suitability: 5+ | Best for age: 5+ | Batteries: 1 x rechargeable (included, with USB charger)
This chunky camera , complete with flip-up lens and a zoom function, makes it easy to take photos or selfies and instantly print them in black and white on thermal paper. It also boasts some clever features like being able to print out photos as line drawings or with special effects, stamps and borders. The camera shoots video as well, and has 3 games to play. The camera comes with a wrist strap and 1 roll of thermal paper. You can buy more paper – and a storage case – separately.
I like it because it has games on it too and because it can flip up so you can take selfies and print them out using the printer button. The Clown game is my favourite.
5. Tobi Robot Smartwatch, £44.99
Available at: Amazon
Age suitability: 4+ | Best for age: 5+ | Batteries: 1 LiPo rechargeable battery (included)
This kid-friendly digital watch features an LED robot with hundreds of friendly facial expressions, moving arms and legs and responsive sound effects. It can play games (with rewards to unlock), and has 2 cameras for video, photos and selfies, as well as a pedometer, a timer, a stopwatch, a calendar and an alarm. You can also now buy the (purple) Tobi 2 Robot Smartwatch (£64.99), which is aimed at children aged 6+ and allows them to play games ‘head to head’ with owners of other Tobi 2 Robot Smartwatches nearby.
Best imaginative play toys for 5 year olds
6. Barbie Dreamhouse Playset, £169.99
Age suitability: 3+ | Best for age: 4+ | Batteries: 3 x AA (not included)
Host the ultimate Barbie pool party with the iconic deluxe Barbie Dreamhouse. Discover an incredibly spacious floorplan with 3 levels, 10 different play areas, integrated lights and sounds, a working lift, a 3-storey spiral slide and over 75 accessories and customisable spaces. There’s also a puppy figure included with plenty of pet-friendly features such as a doggie door, pet elevator and pet slide and pool.
I've never seen my daughter so excited for a new toy and it really is a Dream House. She has been playing with it every day since it arrived. It offers endless opportunities and hours of imaginative play so overall I personally think it is an amazing playset.
7. Goo Jit Zu Hero Creator Pack, £20
Available at: Hamleys and Very
Age suitability: 4+ | Best for age: 4-5 | Batteries required: None
You can now make your own Goo Jit Zu Hero from scratch. Simply mix water, plenty of goo and a few fish and pump it into the figure, then watch as it comes to life. Once filled, your Goo Jit Zu's body can be stretched to three times its size.
“Making it was really fun and at the end I liked that you could move all the bits that were inside it and stretch it. I like the weird noise he makes when he has liquid in him. I would play with it again and I am going to refill it again soon.”
8. Play-Doh Marvel Hulk Smash & Squish Playset, £18
Available at: Hamleys
Age suitability: 5-6+ | Best for age: 5+ | Batteries required: None
Use the Play-Doh mould set to make tanks, trucks, pipes and more, and then get ready to Hulk Smash it to a pulp! The Hulk Toy is a bendy 5-inch action figure who comes with a power suit and plenty of rage.
9. Teksta Purro The Interactive Smart Kitty, £50
Available at: Amazon
Age suitability: 5+ | Best for age: 5+ | Batteries required: 4 x AAA (included)
Purro is an interactive smart kitty made from knit fabric. It responds to touch, sounds, and music, moving by meowing like a real cat. You can feed Purro magnetic fish, watch it chase a mouse toy, and enjoy its touch-sensitive tail, wiggling ears, and light-up smile. With over 75 different meows, purrs, and sound effects, there's plenty to keep you entertained and it might be enough to stop your child asking for a real cat!
My daughter was instantly drawn to Purro’s adorable appearance and her face lit up once Purro came to life and started meowing with glowing cheeks and bright eyes. Purro has multiple features and accessories so whether it be brushing her tail, feeding her, or dancing along to her music, there is a lot of fun to be had.
Best role play toys for 5 year olds
10. DesignaFriend Tilly Bumper Doll Set, £50
Available at: Argos
Age suitability: 3+ | Best for age: 5+| Batteries: None
Play dress-up, hair stylist and more with the Tilly Bumper Doll Set, a stylishly dressed 46cm fashion doll that comes with a comb and hair care tips to keep her tresses looking tip-top. Tilly offers a fashionable twist on traditional dolls and comes dressed in modern clothes, including a long-sleeved grey top with a rainbow graphic, pink metallic leggings, a headband, and metallic pink trainers with silver laces. Additional outfits are included, with accessories such as a jacket, tutu, sunglasses, sandals, bag and hair clips. Tilly’s ears are pierced, so she can wear earrings.
The doll also comes with a silver DesignaFriend charm bracelet for the child, and each additional outfit you buy comes with a unique charm for you to add.
She is magical, and it is my favourite toy. I like that it has loads of clothes to change into and I like that she has a box so I can put her to bed.
11. Little Live Pets – My Puppy’s Home Dalmatian Edition, £70
Available at: Argos
Age suitability: 5+| Best for age: 5+ |Batteries: 2 x AA (included)
Whether you’re feeding it, holding it or putting it to bed, this cuddly toy will react with a series of whimpers and barks. Plus, you can build the kennel for yourself, which Hallie found a bit tricky but enjoyable, and fill up your puppy’s water bowl, which will make footprints appear on the welcome mat like magic.
12. Mini Barbie Land Fashionistas Dolls, £20
Available at: Very
Age suitability: 4+ | Best for age: 4+ | Batteries: None
Inside each of these five lipstick tubes sits a 1.5-inch Barbie doll, wearing a fabulous surprise outfit. Each doll can bend at the waist and has a heart-shaped base tailor made for the Mini BarbieLand playsets (sold separately).
13. Monster High Haunted High School Doll House, £199.99
Available at: Argos
Age suitability: 4+ | Best for age: 4-5 | Batteries required: None
This is the ultimate set for Monster High fans. The Haunted High School Doll house has over 35 pieces of furniture and accessories and 7 play areas. Plus, if you explore you may find a few hidden trap doors and secret passages.
Best skills-based toys for 5 year olds
14. Forme Cubley 14, £289.99
Available at: Bike Club
Age suitability: 3+ | Best for age: 4+ | Weight: 6.12kg | Batteries: None
This super-lightweight aluminium-framed starter bike is designed to be used as a balance bike at first (the pedals are easy to remove). This is great if you’d prefer to get your child used to steering and balancing on their new bike before mastering the pedals. It also has a nice adjustable-height saddle, narrow-set handlebars, full alloy wheels with grippy Kenda Small Block 8 tyres, alloy V-brakes, single-speed gears and – thrills! – a bell.
It’s not cheap, that's for sure, but there's no doubting its quality and how easy and smooth it is to ride. If your child doesn’t have siblings to pass the bike on to in a few years’ time, quality kids’ bikes like this have a really good second-hand value. Alternatively, you can rent one from The Bike Club and then trade up to a bigger model when your child grows.
It’s a supersonic bike that helps me cycle on my own. I love my new big-girl bike!
16. Aquabeads Beginner's Carry Case, £13.99
Available at: Toy Shop and Very
Age suitability: 4+ | Best for age: 5+ | Batteries: None
This bead-crafting carry case opens up to reveal a tray containing 900 solid, jewel and star beads, separated by dividers into 24 colours that you select and assemble on a 'creation display’ board to make all sorts of designs. And if you use the included sprayer to wet your design, the beads will stick together like glue (without the glue!). It comes with template sheets (including patterns for a rabbit, dinosaur, rainbow and dolphin), an instruction manual, and a double-sided Aquabeads pen.
It’s brilliantly portable and good value for money, as there are so many beads and it would last a long time. Izzy did struggle a bit with the pen, though. She found it easier just placing the beads with her fingers.
17. Treasure X Minecraft Caves & Cliffs Ender Dragon, £24.99
Available at: The Entertainer and Amazon
Age suitability: 5+ | Best for age: 5+ | Batteries: None
An unboxing treasure hunt for Minecraft fans, this toy has 20 levels to go through before you can build the Diamond Steve and Ender Dragon figures and find your dragon egg – and maybe, if you’re lucky, a gold-dipped Ender Pearl.
The finished figures are a good chunky size but the thrill is really in the half an hour or so of unboxing experience, which involves a cracking through the layers with a tiny pickaxe and plunging your fingers into slime and (mercifully unsticky) sand. At the end, there are little fast-bonding Aqua Stick Hearts to use to glue the various parts of the figures together.
I really liked finding the bits, putting the hearts on the Ender Dragon and Diamond Steve and putting the water on them to lock them in. I also liked the slime, as it was very gooey!
18. VTech Kidi DJ Drums, £60
Available at: Amazon, Currys and Argos
Age suitability: 5+ | Best for age: 5+ | Batteries: 4 x AA (included)
This light up drum kit is the pitch perfect way of getting your child into music. With 4 light up drum rings and 2 cymbals, there's so many notes and melodies to create! You can also use the built-in Bluetooth to play and drum along to the music of your choice. Plus, coach modes to teach you how to play and 25+ songs already loaded in.
This drum set is so cool! My favourite thing about it is listening to my songs and playing the drums at the same time. There's no way I would change anything about it!
About the author Helen Brown
Helen is Deputy Editor of MadeForMums, the author of Parenting for Dummies (Wiley, £17.99) and the Head Tester for our MadeForMums Toy Awards. She has written about parenting for Mumsnet, Pregnancy & Birth, Prima Baby, Boots Parenting Club and She Magazine and she's also been Consumer Editor of Mother & Baby. She has 3 boys and a heavy-duty washing machine.
We've got more top tested and rated toys here...
Authors
Helen is author of the classic advice book Parenting for Dummies and a mum of 3. Before joining MadeForMums, she was Head of Community at Mumsnet and also the Consumer Editor of Mother & Baby.
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