Five is the age of independent competence. Children at this stage are starting school or just about to — reading their first words, counting with growing confidence, managing more of the world on their own terms. The things they want to do are more defined, more sustained, and more particular. A child who loves dancing has strong views about dance. A child who's started looking at the night sky wants the night sky explained properly. The best gifts for this age respect that seriousness without turning play into something that feels like homework.
Our gifts for 5–7 year olds collection brings together toys, books, creative kits, and the kinds of experiences that support children through this particular transition — still deeply playful, but with a new appetite for challenge. Here are some of our favourites.
Outdoors and adventure
Five-year-olds are ready to take the outdoors seriously — to go on a proper expedition, find actual things, and record what they've discovered. The Tender Leaf Toys Forest Trail Kit is built around exactly that. A wolf-character canvas shoulder bag containing everything needed for a real nature trail: a 142cm x 142cm waterproof illustrated groundsheet that can become a den, a tent, or a picnic base; a magnifying glass for searching for minibeasts; a nature trail whistle; an owl compass; and three activity cards for leaf hunts, nature trails, and den building. The groundsheet alone — illustrated with forest floor treasures — is a beautiful object. Made by Tender Leaf Toys, who plant a new tree for every reclaimed rubberwood tree used in their products. From 3 years, but it really comes into its own at five.
Forest Trail Kit by Tender Leaf Toys
Music and making
Five is often when a passion for music starts to crystallise — when a child stops banging things and starts trying to play them. The Vilac Red Guitar is a beautifully made first instrument. A lacquered red wooden body with six real nylon strings, a spare string, and a pick — sized at 52 x 18 x 6cm for children's hands but substantial enough to produce a genuine acoustic tone. Made by Vilac, who have been crafting wooden toys in the French Jura since 1911. From 3 years, but this is the age when a guitar stops being a toy and starts being an instrument a child genuinely tries to learn.
For creative making that ends with something genuinely surprising, the Janod Phosphorescent Sands Glitter Magic Night is one of those kits that delivers a real wow moment. Five boards to decorate by lifting pre-cut sections and filling them with phosphorescent sand and glitter — pictures that look beautiful in daylight and glow in the dark. The process is absorbing and the result is genuinely striking. Kit includes two tubes of phosphorescent sand, two tubes of glitter, a spatula, and an instruction booklet. By Janod, designed in France. From 5 years.
Phosphorescent Sands Glitter Magic Night by Janod
The Tender Leaf Toys Home Baking Set takes role play into the kitchen in a particularly satisfying way. A wooden stand mixer with a metal swivel whisk and clacking on/off button, a wooden bowl, a kitchen scale, and all the ingredients needed to make a cake: a wooden egg that opens to reveal a felt yolk, a pack of butter, and a box of flour containing 15 white felt discs. Mix everything together and bake it in the included wooden cake tin. The kind of gift that works alongside a play kitchen or perfectly well on its own. From sustainably sourced rubberwood with non-toxic paints, by Tender Leaf Toys. Ages 3 and up.
Books for five year olds
Five is when books become proper companions — when a child's relationship with reading shifts from being read to into reading alongside, and then increasingly on their own. The books that serve this moment best are those worth returning to.
Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright! is one of the most beautiful books we stock, full stop. Selected by Fiona Waters and illustrated by Britta Teckentrup, it gathers 366 animal poems — one for every day of the year — from Shakespeare and William Blake to Roger McGough and contemporary voices from around the world. Published in partnership with The National Trust, it comes in a lavish hardcover with cloth binding, full-colour illustrations throughout, textured paper jacket, and a ribbon marker. The kind of book that earns a permanent place on a shelf rather than moving on to a charity shop. Published by Nosy Crow. Ages 4–11.
Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright! selected by Fiona Waters, illustrated by Britta Teckentrup
The Questioneers Picture Book Collection is a five-book hardcover box set featuring the New York Times bestselling series by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts: Iggy Peck, Architect; Rosie Revere, Engineer; Ada Twist, Scientist; Sofia Valdez, Future Prez; and Aaron Slater, Illustrator. Each book celebrates a different kind of curiosity and creative thinking — architecture, engineering, science, community action, art — through characters who are funny, determined, and unapologetically themselves. Published by Abrams Books for Young Readers. Ages 4–8, and the kind of set that gets read and reread.
For children who have started looking up at the night sky, Glow: A Child's Guide to the Night Sky from Magic Cat Publishing is one of the best introductions to astronomy we know. An award-winning guide to constellations, moon phases, and the wider universe — with practical stargazing guidance that makes it as useful outdoors after dark as it is beautiful on a bookshelf. One to pair with the Janod Planetarium Projector from our loves space collection.
Puzzles and creative challenges
Five is the sweet spot for puzzles — children can sustain attention through a genuine challenge, feel real satisfaction on completion, and often want to go back and do it again. The Janod Dance Academy Puzzle is one of the most distinctive 100-piece puzzles in our range. A beautifully detailed illustration of a Parisian dance academy across six scenes — classes, costume-making, the balcony, the performance — that invites as much storytelling as piecing together. Made in France from FSC-certified cardboard with plant-based inks, and stored in a round hatbox case with a fabric handle. A poster for reference is included. Ages 5+.
Coding and early technology
The Makeblock mTiny Smart Panda Robot is the most distinctive STEM gift in this guide — an adorable panda-shaped robot that introduces the logic of coding to children aged four and up without a screen in sight. Using a tap pen controller and 81 physical coding cards, children give mTiny instructions — direction, movement, music — that the robot then follows. Twenty-four themed map pieces form the world mTiny navigates, and its 10-plus expressive facial reactions and 300-plus sound effects make it a toy as much as a learning tool. It reacts differently depending on the tile it stands on — making bamboo chomping sounds on the bamboo tile, closing its eyes to snore on the sleep tile. Comes with three character dress-up masks and a storybook activity pack. USB rechargeable, up to two hours per charge. From 4 years.
mTiny Smart Panda Robot by Makeblock
Browse our gifts for 5 year olds
All of the gifts featured here are part of our gifts for 5–7 year olds collection, which is also the entry point into our wider juniors collection covering ages 5–11. Browse by interest: picture books and stories, activity and sticker books, loves space, and paints, pens and crayons. Our bestselling gifts and birthday gifts collections are always worth a browse too.
We offer premium gift wrapping using FSC-certified, sustainable paper in nine beautiful designs, with every gift hand-wrapped in plastic-free packaging. Add a personalised message and we can send directly to the recipient — a fifth birthday gift that arrives ready to open is one of the nicest things to arrange.
Frequently asked questions about gifts for 5 year olds
What are the best toys for a 5 year old?
Five is a particularly interesting age for gifts because children are moving from pure play into something more like purposeful exploration — and the gifts that serve them best tend to offer both. The Forest Trail Kit gives a five-year-old a reason to go outside and look properly. The mTiny Robot introduces the logic of coding in the form of a character they'll want to spend time with. The Dance Academy Puzzle offers a genuine challenge with a satisfying result. The common thread is that each of these respects where a five-year-old actually is rather than where we might want them to be. Browse our full gifts for 5–7 year olds collection for the complete range.
What makes a good birthday present for a 5 year old?
A fifth birthday is often a significant one — it coincides with starting school for many children, which makes gifts that honour that transition particularly apt. The Questioneers Picture Book Collection works on this level brilliantly: five books celebrating engineering, science, architecture, democracy, and art, all wrapped up in characters children genuinely love. For something more immediately hands-on, the Forest Trail Kit or the mTiny Robot both have the kind of unboxing moment that makes a birthday present feel genuinely special. Our birthday gifts and bestselling gifts pages have more ideas across all price points.
Are there outdoor gifts for 5 year olds?
The Forest Trail Kit is our strongest outdoor gift for this age — a genuinely comprehensive kit for exploring the natural world, at a scale and level of detail that five-year-olds can engage with seriously. It works in a garden, a local park, or a proper woodland walk, and the activity cards (nature trail, leaf hunt, den building) give the outdoor time real structure without making it feel like homework. Beyond this guide, our gifts for 5–7 year olds collection has more options for children who are happiest outside.
What are good STEM gifts for 5 year olds?
The Makeblock mTiny Robot is our top STEM gift for this age — it introduces the fundamentals of coding (sequencing, direction, cause and effect) through an adorable panda character and physical cards rather than a screen, which means children can work with it completely independently. The Questioneers Picture Book Collection serves a complementary role, giving the idea of science, engineering, and creativity a genuine narrative home. For children interested in space, our loves space collection brings together books, kits, and discovery toys for budding astronomers.
Do you have creative gifts and craft kits for 5 year olds?
Yes — this is one of the strongest categories for this age in our range. The Janod Phosphorescent Sands Glitter Magic Night kit is a particular favourite: the process is absorbing, the glow-in-the-dark result is genuinely surprising, and it produces something children are proud to display. Our paints, pens and crayons collection is worth exploring alongside our broader juniors collection for more creative options at this age.
