Best Gifts For Kids Ages 3-5

Here is my list of toys that would make great gifts for kids who are ages 3-5.  These are all toys that we own and that I would recommend.  I haven’t included anything on the list that we haven’t personally played with!

Hands-On Fun:

Magna-Tiles Clear Colors 100 Piece Set   We have the 100 pc transparent set and the kids all added more Magna-Tiles to their Christmas list.   My kids have had fun building castles, garages, farm buildings for their tractors and animals, space vehicles, and of course, towers!  I was leery of buying these because of their price but we’ve had them over a year and the pieces still all look brand new and have lasted wonderfully.  This is one of those toys that we will be keeping for a very long time.

LEGO Duplo Building Set-71 pieces (5506)  Duplo’s are great blocks to begin building with before Legos.  I especially have liked Duplos for when there are younger children in the household so there isn’t as high of choking hazard.  My kids love making towers and houses with these.

Mindscope Turbo Twisters, Red  The boys got these last year from Grandma.  They loved them! They love all things remote control and these did not disappoint.   The only thing I didn’t like was that the tires come off, but they do go back on quite easily.

A to Z Lower Case Crepe Rubber Puzzle – Package Colors May Vary  We bought this puzzle along with the Lacing cards in a home school kit.  The puzzle was so popular I ended up buying another one so now we have 2!

Melissa & Doug Slice and Bake Cookie Set  All of the kids have loved to “Play Kitchen”.  I highly recommend a toy kitchen for young kids.  We have had the Dora one below for over 8 years and they’re still using it.  Melissa & Doug play food is high quality and fun to play with.  We have the Cookie Set and it probably gets played with the most out of all of the food.

 

A toy kitchen is so fun for both boys and girls.  I used this image because this is the kitchen we have.  I bought this about 8 years ago and it has lasted through all 5 kids (and they’ve all played with it!)

Melissa & Doug Shopping Cart We have 2 of these!  They’re sturdy, realistic, and the kids love to haul everything in them.  One thing I’m not real fond of is that they are bulky to store, and the red seat can come out (but has been easy to put back in when that has happened).  These get played with a lot here!

Lacing Shapes These came in the same home school kit as the Lauri puzzles.  My kids have enjoyed lacing them and trying to sew them together!

Melissa & Doug Abby & Emma Deluxe Magnetic Dress-Up Set  I recommend these for quiet times and they are a good starter before Barbies as the kids can change their clothes much easier than a Barbie doll.

Melissa & Doug Giant Fire Truck Floor Puzzle I think we own at least 7 Melissa & Doug floor puzzles.  They are fun shapes, nice colors, big pieces and hold together well.  The favorites have been the Fire Truck and the Alphabet Train.

Melissa & Doug Jumbo Coloring Pad – Pink  These coloring pads are very fun for the kids to color.  They have fun pages and themes that my kids are interested in.

Do A Dot Art Marker Rainbow 6-pack I bought these in August for the first time for a 4-year-old birthday present for my son.  He didn’t have the best motor skills yet and these have been fun for working on his name (I write it and he “dots” the letters, and just for making pictures with.  All of the kids have ended up having fun with these markers.

Crayola Washable Kids Paint set of 10 Bottles (2 fl oz/59mL)  Painting is a very popular activity to do here.  We have used these and the kids love the vibrancy of the colors.  Don’t forget the paint brushes!

Crayola 24ct Mini Twistables Crayons  This is a fun way to change up crayons!

SAN20071 – Mr. Sketch Scented 18 Color Set  I loved these markers when I was a kid.  They all have their own smell and are fun markers to use.  My kids love them as well and always choose these over Crayolas.

Play-Doh: Case of Colors

LeapFrog Letter Factory Phonics

Minnie Mouse Matching Game

Chutes and Ladders

Playchest Games Go Fish This is a fun game for younger kids as they are learning to play games.

Hi Ho Cherry-O Definitely a nice game.  Our 2-year-old can play this game.  Advantages I’ve seen are counting skills and they can play by themselves with limited supervision once they know how to do it because of not having to read!

Candy Land – The Kingdom of Sweets Board Game  This is the classic game to learn for young kids.  It’s fun whether you are 3 or 33!

Connect 4 Game

Trouble Game

Eeboo Old Maid Playing Cards

Books, Music, & Movies:

The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name

The One Year Devotions for Preschoolers (Little Blessings Line)

Bob Books, Set 1: Beginning Readers

 Fat Cat on a Mat (Usborne Easy Words to Read)

 I Stink!

 Pete the Cat: The Wheels on the Bus  I actually found the video for this on Youtube before I knew there was a book!  I knew the kids loved Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons and did a search and found it.  The Youtube and book are a little bit different but this is my 4-year-old’s favorite book!

 Thumpy Feet  This is my 5-year-old daughter’s favorite book.  She is a cat lover and we read it a very animated voice.  We found it at our library (read here how we save money at the library) and this was added to her Christmas list right away!

 LeapFrog: Letter Factory My kids all learned their sounds (including my 2-year-old who knows most of her sounds) from LeapFrog DVD’s and toys.  The DVD’s are educational and the kids enjoy them.

 The Ultimate Christmas Collection All of my kids, including the oldest, love Veggie Tales.  Our library carries about all of them and we’ve had several the kids have liked so much I’ve purchased them for our house.  We have found the movies to be funny, have a good message behind the theme, and have catchy songs in them that the kids remember easily.  Our favorites are, , any of the Christmas ones, and .

 Peppa Pig – Muddy Puddles  My 4-year-old and 2-year-old love Peppa Pig.  These are the same cartoons that are on Nick Jr.  (We’ve checked it out from the library multiple times!)

 All About John Deere for Kids, Part 4  My farm boys love all of the All About John Deere DVD’s but #4 is our favorite (I think we’ve owned 3 of just this one DVD because they’ve gotten so scratched we’ve had to replace them!)  I’ve learned a few things watching them too!

 Mighty Machines: Mega Machines  Mighty Machines are similar to the All About… DVDs.  The boys like the construction ones, especially dealing with excavators.

 What would you add to the best gifts list?  Have you tried any of my best gifts?  

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