We keep ours in the living room, where our kids hop on and off it throughout the day. Unlike other balance boards, the Spooner is made from durable plastic material and has a uniquely curved shape that allows for standing, twisting, and rocking, as well as spinning. For those who don’t want to be constrained by the limits of four walls, there’s also an outdoor version, which we haven’t yet tried.Ĭreated in a surf shop in San Diego, the Spooner Freestyle Balance Board mimics the feeling of surfing-with some skateboarding and snowboarding thrown into the mix. And my son takes pride in getting to show off his growing knowledge of the world, like words that rhyme and objects that we use in our daily routines. I like that this game can be played for whatever length of time you choose-complete two cards or 20. If you’re playing as a twosome, the 50 game cards offer supplemental questions or additional tasks for the child to complete, like using their newly found object to write the first two letters of their name. The cards direct players to find objects around the house (or indoor space), with prompts ranging from straightforward (“An object that you can write with”) to more complex (“Something that is the color formed by mixing yellow and blue”). Or you can play it with just one child, as we’ve often done with our son. If you have a bigger group, you can designate a reader to ask the “Can you find … ?” questions on the cards, with kids competing to be the first to locate a particular item. When they want to get started with a project, I just hand it over to them-or I can ask them to put their supplies away themselves when they’re finished … in theory, at least.Īn elevated scavenger hunt, the Skillmatics Card Game: Found It! Indoor Edition can be played at home without lifting a finger to prepare. And since it’s open at the top (unlike some of the lidded or latched organizers we’ve tried in the past), my kids don’t need my help with it. The container has rubber pads on its underside, so if you grab something out of it or bump it, it won’t send the whole container skittering. With five compartments in varying heights, it accommodates a range of different-size drawing tools, from tall to short (though even the shortest compartment isn’t short enough to properly house our teensiest crayon nubbins-once they disappear into a cubby, fishing them out is a nuisance). This rainbow-shaped Flytreal Acrylic Pen Holder is the best solution we’ve landed on so far, and it doesn’t hurt that it’s also kind of adorable. With two prolific kid artists in residence, my family has struggled to find a good method for corralling our assorted markers, crayons, and colored pencils. (Just keep in mind that kids develop at different rates, so all age recommendations should be taken with a grain of salt.) And please share your own best ideas in the comments below. We also have guides to gifts for tweens and teens. If you’re looking for more kids gift ideas, check out our guides to the best gifts for 1-year-olds, 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds, 6-year-olds, 7-year-olds, 8-year-olds, 9-year-olds, and 10-year-olds, as well as thoughtful stocking stuffers for kids. We relied on the advice of Tenuto and other experts-as well as that of parents and caregivers on our staff-to identify memorable and engaging gifts for 5-year-olds. Books to build their library are wonderful choices, and board games are also great, especially cooperative ones that require working together as a group. You could look for gifts that complement a child’s natural curiosities, whether they love to create art, grow stuff, play sports, make music, or get up close and personal with insects. Kids automatically get an educational benefit from any number of well-designed, engaging toys, said John Tenuto, a sociology instructor at the College of Lake County, in Grayslake, Illinois, who has studied toys and collectibles (and is an expert featured on the Netflix series The Toys That Made Us). Learning is at the center of a 5-year-old’s life, but that doesn’t mean they need so-called educational toys. Toys and kits that let them engage in project-based inquiry-such as performing simple science experiments and exploring nature-can help them make connections between what they’re exposed to in the classroom and what they experience out in the world. Many 5-year-olds are starting kindergarten, and they’re exploring new subjects and ideas in school for the first time. By the time kids are 5, they’re developing skills and more-specific interests that open up new gift-giving possibilities.
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