Updated November, 2023
Another year has passed and your child is definitely their own little person now. Their early years are going to be coming to an end soon! Their working on being more independent and their imaginative play is going to explode. It’s getting hard to keep up! We want to keep challenging them with age appropriate toys and supplies. So these are the best educational toys for 5-6 year olds.
Books
Longer attention spans means longer and more in depth books. Keep their attention with beautiful artwork in intriguing stories. Towards the end of this year, and depending on your child, it may even be appropriate to buy some early reader books.
Top Picks
- The Lorax
- Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls
- Tikki Tikki Tembo
- STEM Books
- Best Books for Preschoolers
- Best Books for Learning to Read
Dramatic Play
Your child still wants to be just like you or other people they know and see every day. Expand their dress up selection to include occupations. Anything from doctor and vet to artist and mechanic. Let them act out their imaginative worlds with a few accessories.
For clarification, I’m not talking about cheap, plastic tools that they pretend to build with. At 5, your child is ready to do some real wood working with a little supervision. Wood glue, a hammer, a screw driver, and other simple materials are great for challenging them. Grab a few pieces of scrap wood for them to practice on and let them build their own creations. If you are nervous to start this type of work with them, Home Depot or Lowes sells small little starter kits or offers birdhouse classes.
Table Toys
Caution, these beads may get everywhere and are sometimes addictive for children (I once had a class of 4-5 year olds that would spend all day everyday on them for almost 6 months!). This fine motor skill is amazing, and some kids get really into it, making fine designs and really letting their creativity fly. Ironing them is a way to keep their design lasting forever, or you can dump and reuse your beads over and over again. Weird update, everyone in my life calls them Perler beads now. I don’t know where I got fuse beads from, but I refuse to change the name,
Okay, I am a 90’s kid, so forgive me for the throwback. And honestly, I cannot find the original gearopolis easily. It takes some serious searching. However, gears of any type are fun. I’ve linked a picture of the closest I could find to the original gearopolis.
First Board Games
I specify easy because I wouldn’t run out to buy Pandemic for a 5 year old. Games such as Chutes and Ladders, Sorry, and Operation are a lot of fun though. And they learn how to play a game with others and follow structured rules that they didn’t make up themselves.
Another 90’s throw back here! Especially a great party game, tuba ruba is a whole body experience for children. You can make it as easy or as difficult as you want. I will admit to playing with this even as an adult. Again, finding the original, original tuba ruba is difficult. But there are some alternatives, such as I have pictured here, that are reasonable substitutes.
Large Motor
Just like on the bike, a skateboard offers your child a new physical challenge for them to master. Just make sure to have a helmet and maybe some knee and elbow pads.
