These include Creative Development, Fine Motor Skills, Imaginative Play, Language & Literacy Skills, Memory Skills, Numeracy Skills, Problem Solving Skills, Science STEM skills and Social skills.

With so many choices available, buying the best toys for 5 year boys can be a tricky task. But we’ve narrowed down the 5 best products in these skill categories to ease your buying decision.

1. Toys for Creative Development

What are Creative Development Skills?

Creative development toys are those that foster creativity in your child. Artistic activities play a pivotal role in your 5 year olds learning and development, and while they help nurture imagination, they simultaneously help develop problem solving, thinking and motor skills.

Fact is that you can certainly try to teach your 5 year old boy to be innovative, but you need to foster creativity first.

Rivers, Roads & Rails

Awarded the Parents Choice Award, Rivers, Roads & Rails is bound to give your 5 year olds creative mind a good workout. The game is all about building roads, railroads and waterways by connecting the illustrated cards and watch the landscape take flight. The game features a transportation theme, and allows your 5 year old boy to imagine, play and discover with play based concepts and simultaneously provides unique learning features.

Brought to you by one of the biggest names in the kids toy space – Ravensburger, Rivers, Roads and Rails helps your child make the right connections, and practice related skills for each of the three different transportation modes highlighted in the game.

Each game is different owing to the cards being drawn turn by turn and can be connected in several different combinations. This matching game is perfectly suited for up to 8 players and includes instructions for two different play options.

It comes with 140 colorful cards, and can be played on a large table or a floor, and also improve social and interaction skills. The size of each tile is roughly 2” so it might pose as a choking hazard for kids under the age of 5.

Squigz – Benders Building Set

Brought to you by Fat Brain Toys, Squigz is a multi faceted toy per se given that it not only addressed creative skills, but also playful experimentation, interaction and fine motor skills.

The Squigz benders actually bend, twist and loop, and can be connected with each other and to any solid, non-porous surfaces. They are a species of their own, and the box includes original Squigz characters (Wonkity, Pip, Skootch, Yoink, Gobnob and Zorbit) and 12 benders.

Perfectly suited for 5 year old boys, the Squigz set includes 18 characters in all. Each one is 100% silicone, making it extremely safe and comfortable for your little one.

The set is extremely portable and provides hours of imaginative play on long trips. They stick easily to windows, bathtubs, tabletops, school lockers and even office desktop, making them a great fit for most environments.

Playstix Super Set

Brought to you by Popular Playthings, the Playstix Super Set makes a perfect creative toy for a 5 year old boy and for several reasons.

For starters, it comes with 300 pieces, 8 large wheels, 6 small wheels, a 50 page idea booklet, building base and even a plastic carrying case.

Apart from encouraging creativity, the Playstix Super Set also enhances social, learning and interaction skills, and inspired kids to build remarkable toys.

With the large number of pieces included, kids can build a variety of things right out of the box, and there’s even a 50 page booklet to guide them on the right track. The included storage case is large enough to store up to 600 Playstix pieces so you can always add more as your 5 year old masters his building skills.

2. Best Toys For Motor Skills

What are Fine Motor Skills?

Fine motor skills are those actions when your 5 year old boy uses his small muscles such as those in the hands, fingers and wrist. This set of skills develops after gross motor skills, which control actions such as jumping, walking and kicking balls. Although there are several ways to develop fine motor skills, toys prove extremely helpful in assisting your 5 year old boy to grow, learn, develop and thrive and also aid in physical, social, and cognitive development.

Backyard Barbeque Get Out ‘N Grill

Boys love grilling and the Backyard Barbeque Get Out ‘N Grill is as close as your 5 year old boy can get to the real deal. Another great addition to the Little Tikes range of products, this toy grill helps develop fine motor skills as children use their muscles to grab, hold and place food items on the grill and serve food during imaginative play. This 8-piece playset is appointed with a towel bar and grill cupboards for easy storage.

This toy grill is easy to assemble and comes with several accessories to assist in your 5 year olds cooking adventures including 1 ketchup bottle, 1 spatula, 1 hot dog and 1 hamburger. It is perfectly suited for both indoor and outdoor environments and is lightweight yet robust so wont tip over easily.

Bristle Block Spinaroos

This toy set is really an all rounder as it helps develop fine motor skills as well as interaction and social skills. A product of B. Toys, the Bristle Block Spinaroos set comes with a reusable plastic storage bin to house the pieces when not in use consequently reducing clutter. The package even includes a fabulous booklet of concepts to help guide your child’s imagination.

Measuring 15.5 x 13 x 5.2 inches and lightweight at just 14.1 ounces, the B. Bristle Block Spinaroos set provides your child with the potential to create literally hundreds of unique ways to build unique characters and shapes. It comes with 75 pieces and four character faces and is a great way to enhance fine motor skills.

WEDGITS Deluxe Toy Set

Winner of several prestigious awards, this Wedgits set contains 30 pieces and a design booklet to teach your 5 year old boy geometrical patterning, Apart from encouraging motor skills, Wedgits also stimulates spatial thinking and encourages creativity. The package includes two, clear plastic storage stands to store the pieces when not in use.

All pieces in this Wedgits set are crafted of high quality plastic material and can even be other Wedgits sets. If you’re looking for a toy that will enhance fine motor skills and simultaneously provide hours of fun, the Wedgits Deluxe 30 piece set is a must have.

3. Best Toys For Imaginative Play

What is Imaginative Play?

Imaginative play also known as pretend play or role playing is basically acting out experiences that may be of interest to them or ones they might have had. This allows them to engage and make sense of the world and also learn practical life skills.

Before setting out to buy toys for imaginative play, it is important that you set a nice space for this activity such as separate room, corner of a room or even a nicely spaced built-in wardrobe.

Backyard Barbeque Grillin’ Goodies

A best seller and for several good reasons, this 20 piece barbeque lunch playset has enough pieces for 2 kids. Perfect for 5 year boys, this BBQ playset by Little Tikes aids in developing imaginative play, sharing and social skills.

Furthermore, this set is great for kid’s playhouses, picnic sets as well as Little Tikes BBQ play grills. It comes with all the accessories to get grilling right out of the box including veggies, condiments, two big hot dogs and two big burgers.

Weighing just 1.4 lbs, the pieces in this Little Tikes grilling set are chunky and well built yet lightweight. They are perfectly sized so much so that your 5 year old can also use the silverware for real meals. All the pieces in this 20 piece BBQ playset are crafted of high quality plastic, and make a great starter play food set for kids.

Toysmith Kid’s 3-Piece Garden Tool Set

Gardening is not just a girl’s thing, but you’ll be surprised how much boys love this activity. 5 year old boys just love to mow the grass, dig a garden, and this 3-piece garden tool set by Toysmith is as close as they can get to the real deal. This set includes 3 must have gardening tools – rake, trowel and shovel, and each is crafted of metal. They are finished in bright, fun colors and measure roughly 8.5” in length.

The tools aren’t appointed with holes or loops to hand them up, but they can definitely be used to help you in the garden given their realistic construction. The trowel in this garden tool set does have a sharper edge so it is best to be used under supervision.

The handles are crafted of high quality hardwood, making it comfortable for little hands. If you’re looking for a young assistant in the garden, this is the perfect garden toolset for him.

John Deere Sandbox Vehicle

John Deere is a household name in the agricultural industry, and this two pack truck and tractor set is a true replica of their lineup. Crafted of superior quality plastic, the tractor and dump truck are appointed with free rolling wheels to make the vehicles suitable for play even on rough and uneven surfaces. The main parts of both the vehicles in this John Deere set are fully functional including the front loader and dump bed.

Both the vehicles in this set are finished in the exclusive John deer green and yellow color scheme, and are officially licensed by John Deere. Each vehicle measures roughly 6” long, making them perfect for sandbox play. 5 year boys who love cars and trucks and bond to enjoy hours of pretend play fun with this John Deere truck set.

4. Best Toys To Develop Language & Literacy Skills

What are Language and Literacy Skills

Although building language in literacy skills in 5 year olds starts at their infancy, you can however foster literacy development by responding to, reading with them and wit the right toys. Enhancing literacy skills can support your child’s overall learning and lay the base for pre-reading and writing skills also known as emergent skills (story comprehension, building vocabulary, building letter and word knowledge and phonemic awareness.

Tinkertoy 100 Piece Essentials

Made in the USA by one of America’s renowned toy companies, Tinkertoys is designed for kids of ages 5 and over, and snap together and stay that way for long lasting play. They allow kids the flexibility of imaginative play and simultaneously encourage language and literacy skills.

This 100 piece set is literally an all rounder as it also helps 5 year olds develop fine motor and problem solving skills. The Tinkertoy essential set includes rods, flags, spools, end caps, washers and more.

The pieces of the set can be neatly and easily stored away in the included storage container, and are compatible with the old wooden version. Awarded by Grandparents.com with being the top retro toys in 2013, Tinkertoys was conceived in by Charles Pajeau in 1913.

Brought to you by K’NEX, Tinkertoys allows kids to create unique designs and use them as they see fit. A part of the National Toy Hall of Fame, Tinkertoys is one of those toys that will never go out of style.

Crayola Ultimate Crayon Case

There’s no better way to encourage and enhance language and literacy skills in your 5 year old boy than with a set of crayons. We agree colors can get messy, but every child should have a good collection of crayons, and this Crayola crayon set is simply a small price to pay for literacy skills learning opportunity.

This 152 crayon set includes key primary and secondary colors and bright vibrant colors. All the colors can be neatly stored away in the included plastic container, which is integrated with convenient tuck box storage.

This ultimate collection of crayons can be neatly displayed with the included bright yellow, desktop caddy, which is appointed with a lid to cover the crayons when not in use.

The caddy can be replenished with other sets of crayons by simply removing the inner sleeve from the box and placing them into an empty space in the caddy. The package also includes a sharpener and is the ultimate way to get your 5 year old boy’s imagination run wild.

Thinkfun Roll and Play Board Game

Taking turns and sharing are two of the most important skills for any 5 year old, and the Roll and Play Board Game helps them hone them as they play along. This early cooperative game is perfect for building vocabulary, matching, social language skills and more. Gameplay is simple, where you toss the big plush cube and ask your child to identify the color that’s on top somewhat like rolling dice. Then your 5 year old boy will have to choose a matching color card and perform the activity.

Designed for children and parents to play together, the 48 cards are 8 categories (8 cards each), and these include body parts, emotions, animal sounds, colors, counting and actions. The game draws out natural behaviors, and allows your child’s abilities and interests to take shape as the game unfolds.

5. Best Toys for Memory Skills

What are Memory Skills?

There are several reasons 5 year old boys break rules, most notably because they can be impulsive or their memory isn’t fully developed yet. Fact is that children at the tender age of 5 are just beginning to remember house rules, people’s names, objects, places and understand many words. Enhancing your 5 year old boy’s memory skills is an important part of hi cognitive growth and here are 3 toys that can really help.

Seek-a-Boo Game

Seek-a-Boo is essentially a seek and find memory game and is not only an excellent way to improve your child’s memory through matching and reputation, but also builds your child’s vocabulary. The game has six color coded categories namely toys, things, shapes, colors, shapes, animal and foods.

Additionally, the game also comes with an interactive parent guide that provides detailed instructions on a few more ideas for gameplay. Seek-a-Boo can be used as memory game, and simultaneously for as a matching game.

The game allows you to increase or decrease difficulty for younger and older children and you can even configure it to play with multiple children. Adding to this, you can switch roles (great for pretend play), and even practice taking turns. The package includes 36 square Find Me cards and 36 circle Seek Me cards so the possibilities are literally endless.

Melissa & Doug Deluxe Jumbo Cardboard Blocks

Brought to you by one of the most respected names in the kids toy space – Melissa & Doug, the Deluxe Jumbo Cardboard blocks set includes 40 pieces divided into 3 different sizes.

Each block is crafted of extra thick cardboard, where the red blocks can withstand up to 150 lbs. Additionally, each block features colorful graphics, making it easy to remember how to piece them together. Included in the package are detailed instructions to make gameplay fun and easy.

This cardboard box set by Melissa & Doug allows kids to create the best lots of color, lots of pieces and lots of space. Your 5 year old boy will be able to build large, life size structures such as bridges, walls and forts. The three different block sizes allow kids to conceptualize math as well as cement a string building foundation.

In addition to developing memory skills, this building block set also encourages skills and teamwork. Crafted of premium quality cardboard, these blocks are extremely lightweight for little hands to lift yet strong enough not to fall apart during gameplay.

Memory skills are enhanced with kids having to remember to put the three colors together, which are blue, yellow and bright red.

Peg Board Set

This color recognition game includes 30 pegs divided across 6 colors. The set comes with a large foam board that measures 8.5” square, whereas the each peg measures 2″X1.25″.

Although these pegs are large size, they are easy to grip and stack on the pegboard to build towers. Apart from building memory skills, this Peg Board Set also encourages hand eye coordination, visual and perception skills and fine motor skills.

Your 5 year old can use the game to learn color recognition, sorting, patterning, and basic math skills such as subtraction, counting and addition.

The Peg Board comes with Skoolzy drawstring backpack to store the pieces when not in use and avoid clutter. With the purchase of this Peg Board, parents are granted direct access to a downloadable activity guide.

This toy is highly recommended by medical professionals especially occupational therapists. The Peg Board is highly portable so you can take it along when you travel and still keep your 5 year old entertained for hours on end.

6. Toys To Develop Numeracy Skills

What are Numeracy Skills?

Fact is that 5 year olds develop numeracy skills throughout their daily routines and activities. These skills are highly important for preparing for school, but this doesn’t imply taking out the calculator each time. Before starting school, children must develop some level of numeracy skills through everyday interactions.

You can also develop math skills through toys, and listed below are 3 of the best numeracy skills toys available in the market.

50 Counting Bears

Brought to you by Eureka, Counting Bears is a fun and educational toy that is primarily designed to enhance numeracy skills. The package includes a plastic tub that measures 3 3/4 x 5 1/2 x 3 3/4 inches, and can be used to store the pieces of the set for future use.

The set includes 50 plastic bears divided between 5 colors along with 5 cups in the colors that match the bears. The colors of the pieces/bears are red, purple, green, yellow and blue. Each bear is roughly and inch tall, making it easy for your 5 year old boy to grip onto.

The Counting Bears toy will help your child better connect with math equations, and get a better understanding of adding, subtracting and counting. The 50 bears in the set are crafted of sturdy plastic, and are quite cute to say the least.

Your 5 year old boy will have hours of fun pouring the bears on the table, sorting them by color and then filling the cup with matching color bear.

Match It

Match It is a counting set that teaches numbers 1 through 20, and comes with 30 self-correcting puzzle pairs. The set features colorful illustrations, and not only builds self confidence, but also enhances numeracy skills. The bright illustrated puzzle cards are bound to keep your 5 year old boy engaged in counting for hours on end.

Gameplay involves matching the correct number with the correct number of objects to complete the puzzle. The puzzle is self-correcting, meaning no two puzzle pieces are the same, and is a great introduction to the concepts of number recognition and mathematics.

Each The 20 words spelled out by the puzzles include car, dog, pig, cow, bus, dug, frog, shoe and sock. The cards of the set measure roughly 3” by 3” each and 3” by 6” when fitted with the matching card.

Match It is another great addition to the award winning Learning Journeys range of toys, and will definitely give your 5 year old boy a head start in improving his numeracy skills.

MathLink Cubes

Brought to you by Learning Resources, the MathLink Cubes is the perfect toy to help your child make the connection between fractions and equivalents, ones and tens, numbers and quantity, and much more. Although designed for children of ages 5 years and older, the versatility of this play set makes it a great educational toy for different grades, ages and levels of learning.

The set comes with 100 connectable plastic cubes that are each crafted of high quality, and divided between 10 bright colors.

The cubes of the MathLink set link together on all sides to allow your child to allow your child to explore and build spatial relationships. The geometric shape cutouts of each cube make it possible to explore more complex patterning activities.

Adding to this, the cubes can be combined with other linking cubes, and are great for sorting, counting, measurement, and graphing among others.

7. Toys for Problem Solving Skills

What are Problem Solving Skills?

Problem solving skills also known as cognitive skills refers to how your child thinks, perceives, and understands his world, and includes problem solving, remembering and decision making.

Regardless of their age, fact is that kids actively learn through their experiences, but it is important to provide new sounds, sights, opportunities and activities in order to improve problem solving skills.

That being said, there are certain toys that can provide these important elements and enhance your child’s problem solving skills as they play.

Early Reader Treasure Hunt Game

The Early Reader is yet another great game by uKloo Kids Inc, and is designed to make reading fun and promote sight reading. The game comes with a picture helper poster and gets kids moving as they read clues and search to locate a hidden surprise.

The included picture helper poster allows kids to find words when they aren’t able to. Kids often are so engrossed in the treasure hunt game that they often begin reading without ever realizing it.

Apart from building sight reading, the treasure hunt game introduces the basics of sentence structure, research skills and consequently boosts self confidence. Additionally, it builds problem solving skills and promotes independence skills while offering a physically active reading approach.

Named 10 Best Classroom Games and Toys by the American Association of Educators, the Early Reader Treasure Hunt Game is 3 color coded levels, a picture helper and blank Cue and Surprise cards.

Pretend & Play Teaching Cash Register

Another great addition to the Learning Resources lineup of products, the Pretend Cash register as you might have guessed allows your child to practice early money and math skills through pretend play fun. Dealing with cash means problem solving including addition and subtraction hence this game is the perfect toy to enhance skills in this area.

This highly interactive cash register is equipped with a scale, scanner, sounds, coin slot, voice messages, and comes with life size money, credit cards, and coupon cards.

The pretend play cash register is appointed with large buttons to help little fingers total up the orders easily. Winner of numerous awards, this toy helps your 5 year old boy develop reasoning, logic and coin recognition skills among others.

It even features an onsite LCD screen that displays the transaction values in easy to read large numbers. Furthermore, this pretend play cash register comes with four interactive learning games to provide your child with multiple levels of play, and allows you to increase difficulty levels as they surpass their math skill levels.

Yoga Spinner Game

Think Fun is one of the most reputed names in the kids toy arena, and the Yoga Spinner Game is yet another great addition to their award winning range of products. This fun yoga game mainly focuses on yoga and balance, and not only strengthens the body, but mind as well.

It encourages problem solving skills by encouraging your child to think and perform the yoga position mention on the specific cards. Adding to this, it simultaneously also encourages teamwork and consequently builds social skills.

You child gives the included spinner a whirl, and then is required to perform the pose displayed on the corresponding card. If your 5 year old boy is successful at maintaining the respective pose for 10 seconds or more, he keeps the card, and the first person to collect a card in each of the colors is the winner.

This game is a great choice for kids of ages 5 and over and both boys and girls.

8. Toys to develop Science – STEM Skills

What are Science – STEM Skills?

Your child is a STEM (Science, technology, Math, Engineering and Math) enthusiast who is eager to explore and invent. Spend a few minutes with them and you will have a range of questions to answer also known as STEM inquiry.

Supporting and guiding this curiosity does have lasting benefits and certain toys make the task even easier. Fact is that these four subjects are most important for kids to learn at this tender age, and the toys listed below will help them get on the right track with their ideas.

Math Dice Jr.

Brought to you by Think Fun, the Math Dice Jr. game offers simple rules, and is basically a brightly colored dice that makes math fun for early learners. Weighing just 4 ounces, the game comes with a game go bag, instructions and a 12 sided dice.

The dice offers a great hands on approach to improving math skills mostly simple mental math for adding and subtracting. It is a building block to the advance Math Dice, which is designed to allow kids to learn all four functions – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Snap Circuits Lights Electronics Discovery Kit

The Snap Circuits Lights toy takes your music to a whole new level, and allows you to control the onsite color component with your voice, finger, MP3 player or iPod. The game features a strobe light, an infrared detector, a strobe integrated circuit, fiber optic communication and glow in the dark fans.

The game is an excellent way to introduce your child to the world of electronics and comes with over 50 color coded real circuit components that snap together quite easily.

This set provides the potential to create over an astounding 175 projects, and comes with several pieces including a strobe IC and infrared receiver. They combine to allow your child to create working circuit boards similar to those found inside televisions.

Although there are no tools or soldering required, adult supervision is recommended considering there is some level of electrical mechanism involved.

Education DUPLO Tubes Experiment Set

Brought to you by Lego, the DUPLO tubes experiment set comes with tube shaped pieces that allow your 5 year old to explore dimensions and shapes consequently developing engineering and fine motor skills. This Lego set is perfect for both group activities as well as individual play and is bound to keep your little one engaged for hours on end.

This Lego set comes with 147 pieces, and is a great way to excite your child’s imagination. The round and tube shapes encourage your 5 year old boy to investigate cause and effect, input and output and gravity in action. The package includes a storage container fitted with a transparent lid and activity cards.

9. Best Toys for 5 Year Old Boys – Social Skills

What are Social Skills?

Fact is that not all children have the need to develop social skills, but there are a few that could use the extra help. It is important to note that there are several different types of social skills and the ones your child needs practice will depend on his age.

5 year olds can generally identify common words such as thank you and I’m sorry, and are more inclined to play competitive games and also understand fair play and craftsmanship. Social skill development goes hand in hand with emotional skill development and when children play with the following toys, they learn both!

Gather Round Dinner Game

Just like the name suggests, the Gather Round Dinner Game encourages healthy eating as well as builds social skills, and allows your child to explore 132 different activities. It simply makes meals fun and requires 2 AA batteries (included), and is played with the push of a button. When the button is pushed, the game lights up and allows your child to choose 1 of 132 dinnertime activities. The game is a perfect break between traditional dinnertime routine and adds great fun to family meals.

The game does not consists of any boards or pieces hence is clutter free and even encourages your child to finish their milk and eat veggies.

My First Daily Magnetic Calendar

Calendars are a great way to keep social appointments in check and allow kids to express their moods. Brought to you by Melissa and Doug, the My First Daily Calendar is designed to display days of the week, weather, date and special events.

The game comes with two dry erase boards – one with a calendar template and other blank. Adding to this, the package includes 80 magnets including months, years, and numerals for dates, special events, holidays, emotions and even a sliding temperature indicator.

This game allows kids to post the date, day of the week, and special events on the large magnetic board, and there’s even a space to post their moods. Adding to this, they can even create their own custom magnets using one of the two dry magnet erase tiles. There are fields for season, date, day temperature, weather, activities, mood and holidays.

Let’s Go Fishin’

This one is truly a classic, and is bound to keep your little one engaged for hours on end. This fishing game comes with 4 fishing poles and 21 fish, and a game board that spins to allow the fish to open and close their mouths. The base of the game is crafted of premium plastic so it will definitely last for years to come. This is the original version of the game you as a child have grown to love, and provides plenty of fishing fun for the competition.

This fishing game is designed for kids of ages 5 years and older, and works well as a home based or travel game. The challenge of the game is to spin the board and catch the fish with the included 4 fishing rods.

1o. Best Games For Just Plain Fun

Regardless of your child’s mood, the following games will keep them engaged and allow them to have fun for hours on end.

Chutes and Ladders

Another classic game, Chutes and Ladders offers a bit of a challenge, where your child is tasked with scrambling to the top of the game board without sliding down. They will need to land on good deeds in order to progress through the ladders, and the first player to reach the 100 square is the winner.

Brought to you by Hasbro, the winner in the Chutes and Ladders game is declared when someone reaches the square marked 100, and your child simply has to spin the spinner to see how many spots they’ll progress.

Connect 4 Game

The classic Connect 4 Game provides hours of dick dropping fun, and comes with 21 red disks, a slider bar, 2 legs, a grid, and 21 yellow disks with instructions. Gameplay involves challenging a friend to drop your yellow or red disks in the grid, and get 4 in a row to win.

You can block your opponent should they get too close to 4 in a row, and the person who wins is eligible to pull out a sidebar and reshuffle the disks and start all over again.

Another great product by Hasbro, the Connect 4 Game can be played individually or in a group, but either way is bound to provide great fun for hours on end.

Hungry Hungry Hippos

This classic game comes with 4 hippo bodies and heads and 20 marble for them to chomp on. The goal of the game is to protect your hippos from the others, and join in the feeding frenzy by releasing the marbles. Weighing just 1.7 lbs, this game is perfectly suited for individual as well as group play and encourages motor, social and social skills.

If you’re looking for a game that will encourage several skills including motor and social skills, the Hungry Hungry Hippo game is worth a second look So there you have it, the best toys for 5 year old boys across any developmental area you would like to focus on. I’m sure that you’ll find something that will spark the imagination, promote enjoyable and most importantly be fun for your child.