25+ holiday gifts to delight any 5-year-old

These surefire hits provide plenty of opportunity to learn and explore–without even realizing it!
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I say this basically for every age, but 5 might be my favorite. Their whole personalities start to shine. We’ve seen their personality traits at every stage until now, but 5-year-olds are fun because they are just so thoroughly them. You can have serious and silly conversations. You can have hard truths slung your way and knock-knock jokes that make no sense. And above all, they know what they want and they will tell you.
That said, it makes picking out the best Christmas gifts for 5-year-olds both harder and easier. Because they can also change their mind on a dime and the thing that was beloved before might not be anymore.
At 5, you’ve likely got a kindergartner on your hands. They’re hard at work learning to read and write and developing all kinds of new social skills. There’s so much that they can continue to learn through play and so many fun tools out there to do just that. The best holiday gifts for 5-year-olds provide them plenty of opportunity to learn and explore–without even realizing it! From board games the entire family can enjoy to arts and crafts supplies that get their creativity flowing, we’ve curated a list of gifts every kid will be excited to open.
Looking for more gift ideas? Check out all of our holiday gift guides!
Our favorite Christmas gifts for 5-year-olds
A version of this story was published November 10, 2021. It has been updated.